ECSU Planetarium Videos/DVDs/Laser Disks SCIENCE VIDEOS BIOLOGY The Human Body Grades 5-12 20 minutes Many young people take being healthy for granted. Do your students realize that all of the body systems work together and rely on each other to make the body run? Through fun demonstrations, this enthralling program helps young people understand how the body functions. Includes Teacher's Guide The Unknown World Grades 6-12 60 minutes “Explore the Unknown Worlds around us, on us, and even in us!” This video will reveal an unknown world where: billions of bacteria exist in a single drop of sweat, Hair follicle mites live in holes in the human scalp (when they’re not on our eyelashes eating mascara), armies of creatures eat the dead skin cells we are continuously shedding. Students will discover that no matter how small they are, there are no insignificant creatures; that each plays a part in the drama of life. Sir Isaac Newton 50 minutes By the age of 23, he had invented calculus and begun investigating motion, gravity and light. His discoveries earned him the title “Father of Modern Science.” GEOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Ascent of Man Series 676 minutes An American Film Festival Award winner, this 13 volume series attempts a massive survey of science, from flint tools to the theory of relativity. The series, a co-production of the BBC and Time-Life Films was made as a science counterpart to “Civilization”. Dr. Jacob Bronowski makes for an unorthodox narrator, his non-scripted delivery ranging from hushed awe to trembling passion. He uses the crawling infant, the performing athlete, the development of the hunt and the discovery of fire to illustrate the most distinctive feature of man: imagination. Buried in Ash 60 minutes Over ten million years ago, the North American landscape teemed with camels, rhinos, zebras, and other animals we normally picture roaming the grasslands of Africa today. What were they doing here and why did they die out? The stunning answer came when paleontologist Mike Voorhies, unearthed animal skeletons in Nebraska almost perfectly preserved in volcanic ash. A massive volcano had erupted, devastating a vast section of the west and burying thousands of prehistoric mammals under ten feet of ash. Chasing El Nino 60 minutes Chasing El Nino is an eye-opening exploration that goes far beyond the three- minute feature story you’ve seen on the evening news. Through spectacular film footage, ground-breaking research, expert interviews and colorful diagrams, NOVA explores El Nino’s myths, reveals its devastation and explains its fascinating origins. Dinosaur Giants: Found 60 minutes Three new dinosaur finds on one video! Go behind the scenes to uncover some of the latest dinosaur discoveries with National Geographic. Includes "Africa's Dinosaur Giants," about the recently unearthed Jobaria dinosaur; "Dinosaur Egg Hunt" about the search for fossilized eggs and baby dinosaurs; and "Sue the T. Rex" about the largest, most complete T. Rex skeleton ever found. Habitats of the World I Video Quiz 23 minutes Grades 3-5 This program examines the wet dry cycle of the saltwater marsh and how animals have learned to adapt to this harsh environment. Students will also visit African grasslands to see the life cycle found in this diverse habitat. Habitats of the World II 22 minutes Grades 3-5 The temperate forest is a unique habitat found in only three places around the world. Students will visit the Olympic Forest in the Northwest of the United States and see what grows among the trees. They will also visit the tropical rainforest, which is another diverse habitat. The animals and plants have their own special way of living in this environment. Historical Geology: A Glimpse of the Earth’s Past Grades 9-12 30 minutes Like a window into another world, this video briefly explores the Earth’s 4.6 billion year history of life, land and climate. Using an interactive learning format, information about each eon, era and period of the geological time scale are covered based on the perspective of current scientific thought. Live video, graphics, and fossils tell the never-ending story of plate movement, mountain formation, climatic changes, ancient life forms, extinction, and present day life forms. In the Path of a Killer Volcano 60 minutes In the path of a killer volcano, local tribes people were the first to see the signs. “There was a flash of light from the sky,” said one. “I thought it was my time to die.” Tornado! 60 minutes Tornadoes, one of nature’s most powerful and frightening weather phenomenon, occur in this country at the alarming rate of over 1,000 a year. At peak speeds of 70 miles per hour with interior winds of up to 300 miles per hour, they are massively destructive to society, with 10 percent of these storms causing over $300 million in property damage and at least 125 deaths each year. PHYSICS/ASTRONOMY The Best Mind Since Einstein 60 minutes NOVA series - his documentary focuses on the life and work of the brilliant American physicist Richard Feynman. Learn about this Nobel physicist, atomic bomb engineer and teacher. Calculus Applications to Physics 30 minutes This enriching presentation shows why a solid grasp of calculus is vital for an understanding of physics. The program includes Newtonian mechanics, the laws of motion for an object with one degree of freedom of movement, the concepts of potential and kinetic energy, and the conservation of energy and gravitation. Students discover that math and science work together! The Expanding Universe: From Big Bang to Big Crunch? 20 minutes Far from being a stable assembly of stars, the galaxies interact, entwine, and sometimes even consume one another. This program examines the universe as continually expanding. It takes a hard look at cosmology’s most popular theory: that everything started in a cataclysmic explosion, and will reverse, energy expended, to end in a great crunch. Electron Arrangement and Bonding . Electron Arrangement 10 minutes When physicists Erwin Schrodinger and Werner Heisenberg applied wave mechanics to the atom, they theorized that Bohr’s energy levels consisted of sub-levels, or orbitals. This program demonstrates the importance of the number of electrons in the outer orbitals of the properties of the atom. How Atoms Bond 10 minutes The forces of attraction and repulsion within atoms are examined, and the difference types of bonds that form are shown. Covalent bonds, in which atoms share electrons, and ionic bonds in which an electron is traded from one atom to another are explained. Introducing the Players 10 minutes This program introduces the atom and the three main subatomic particles-the electron, the proton, and the neutron. The location, charge, and relative mass of these particles are demonstrated. Ernest Rutherford’s model of the atom is reviewed in terms of its advances and shortcomings. Molecular Substance and Covalent Crystals 10 minutes The program explains stable and unstable atomic bonds. Diatomic molecules form when atoms share pairs of electrons, held together by covalent bonds. Polar molecules, produced by a combination of covalent and ionic bonds, occur when one nucleus has a stronger charge than the other. Metals and Ionic Solids 10 minutes The common properties of metal-its conductivity and malleability can be explained by the types of bonding that occur between metal atoms. The properties of metals, which are covalent solids, are contrasted with those of crystals, which are ionic solids. The Rutherford-Bohr Atom 10 minutes With his concept of energy levels, Bohr saved Rutherford’s model of the atom. This program explores Bohr’s hypothesis that electrons can occupy only definite energy levels. The transfer of electrons between energy levels and the relationship between the properties of an atom and its electron arrangement are also discussed. Celestial Mechanics 15 minutes One of the major problems facing early astronomers was determining the distance to various celestial bodies, and questions regarding cosmic distance scales continue to interest space scientist to this day. In this program, students investigate the distance from the Earth to the Moon, measured using a clock and simple relations of mechanics and gravitation. This program presents observations made over a period of days, allowing a test of celestial mechanics not otherwise easily performed within the confines of the classroom. Experiments on the Doppler Effect 15 minutes Detection of the Doppler effect—the frequency shift between source and receiver when they are traveling at different relative velocities—is common in everyday activities. In this program, students quantitatively examine this shift for sound waves from a source traveling at uniform speeds on an air track and a stationary receiver on the end of the track, and from a traveling receiver and a stationary source. The frequency shift is measured by displaying the sinusoidal signals from the source and the receiver on an oscilloscope and measuring the distance between the maxima for each wave. The beats of different frequency from the source and receiver are also clearly heard on the soundtrack. The speed of the rider is measured by detectors on the track whose pulse output is also displayed on the oscilloscope. Millikan’s Oil-Drop Experiment 15 minutes This program uses a modified version of the Millikan oil-drop apparatus to measure the radius and total charge of oil droplets. Students measure the terminal velocity of an oil drop falling under gravity in order to calculate the radius of the drop. The drop is then charged. An electric field is applied across the Millikan chamber so that the drop is suspended between the plates. The total charge on the drop can be calculated by students from the voltage required to suspend the drop.