Month:

What is the weight of an ice rink?

  • September 9

Ronald Kirk Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas, connecting downtown Dallas and West Dallas. It is over 2,000 feet long and 60 feet wide. What would happen if water froze on the middle of the Ron Kirk Bridge? Could we create an ice rink on this bridge? talkSTEM members explore this question and estimate how much weight an ice rink would add to the bridge.... CONTINUE READING

What is a Mathematical Fossil Hunt?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, takes us on a mathematical fossil hunt as we observe a modern water feature at the Texas Sculpture Walk. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here: https://talkstem.org/talkstem-activity-guides/ Support for these guides was provided... CONTINUE READING

How is Spaceship One Uniquely Designed to Achieve its Goals?

  • September 9

SpaceShipOne is a rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s). Its unique design features a “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms fold 70 degrees upward. Watch the video to understand the function of this unique design. Also, learn how you can do a simple experiment at home to see the rationale behind this design. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at th... CONTINUE READING