Ask Dad! (Daylight Saving and Atomic Energy)

Blood is thicker than knowledge.

Dad

What is Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight Saving Time is a trick people play on Nature.

Around the equator, people have all the sunshine they want whenever they want it. But in countries that are north or south of there, the light sloshes around during the year. In the Northern (“Our”) Hemisphere, it’s hot in summer, but in the Southern Hemisphere (“Them”), the opposite is true. Santa has to visit Australia in the Summer, so he drinks big cans of Foster’s beer and then helps them design their animals.

Meanwhile, in the North, we save up our sunshine during the Winter. That makes it kind of gloomy and people say mean things in February. But then, when Daylight Saving Time comes around, we can take that sunshine out of the “bank,” and have more time to play outdoors. We “spring forward” to make room for the extra sunlight.

After we’ve stretched the days out like that for four years, we have to “Leap” out of the way when the time snaps back. February 29^th is like Spandex for the calendar so the days don’t start flopping around all over the place.

So, more playtime for everyone in the summer (or winter, if you have to live “down under.”) And Mother Nature still hasn’t figured it out.

I won’t tell. Will you?

How does atomic energy work?

First, remember that everything is made up of atoms. Atoms are like teeny tiny Lego® blocks. Even the most brilliant experts have to squint very hard to see them. Some atoms are simple like the “doggie” you used to make when you were two. Some are really complicated like Downtown Manhattan at Rush Hour.

Atoms have different quantum characteristics, or “personalities.” For instance, hydrogen is common and will bond with just about anything. Some atoms, or elements, are helpful. They get along with other atoms and make useful molecules like soap or cheese.

Carbon is an important element. If you go to a cookout for a couple that just got engaged, you can see carbon at work. It’s in the charcoal in the grill and it’s in the diamond on her finger. It’s even in the lovebirds themselves, since people are “carbon-based.” But if the man thinks some backyard cookout is enough celebration for their engagement, you’ll see carbon split.

Splitting is very important for the heaviest atoms. Uranium is the biggest atom you can get without doping. Uranium is very pumped up and it has an attitude problem. You knock a piece off uranium and it’s gonna knock a piece off another uranium atom, even if that atom was minding its own business.

Scientists discovered that if they sneaked up on uranium and clipped a piece, they could get it to start swinging until all the uranium was brawling and giving off sparks. Then they channeled that heat under a lot of water to make steam, which ran a heavy pinwheel to generate electricity. That’s a “nuclear reactor.” Think of it as a $2 billion-dollar teakettle.

That’s a way to power our towns without giving off gasses that kill penguins. But you do get nuclear waste, which is like poison ferret poop that lives forever.

Fun Fact: Uranium has a cousin, plutonium, that is just mad-dog crazy and will go off at anybody for no reason at all. It makes a whole lot of heat, but you don’t want to mess with it. If someone offers you plutonium at school, tell an adult and then take a long shower, even if you don’t smell bad.

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