This page contains the material submitted to the local paper - The Davis Enterprise - for Explorit Science Center's news column published in that paper on Fridays.

Ever wonder about the air we share? We breath it everyday and it surrounds us even though we cannot see it. Air even gets in places we don't notice. It is always flowing within each of us and outside us. As we sit here breathing it in and out, air is like an invisible life force that is actually attracted to itself. How can this be? It sounds as if air acts like an inter dimensional Halloween ghost, whirling all around us yet absent to the naked eye.

How does air flow work if we cannot see it? This puzzle and others can be experienced and unraveled tomorrow during Free Saturday at Explorit. One of Explorit’s exhibits for "Figure it Out! Puzzles and Challenges" can show you how to see air in action. Just look for the corner exhibit with what looks like a crumpled blue bag, look closer and you'll find... Heyyy, I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to find out for yourself.

Explorit’s air exhibit presents a small scale but powerful demonstration of how air flows. It even teaches how to problem solve by offering an open ended way to experiment with air flow.

The air exhibit demonstrates Bernoulli's Principle. The principle partly shows that there are a variety of things that exist—they have matter and take up space—but we cannot see with the naked eye. While the wind blew last weekend, we could feel the air as it moved at a blustery 30 miles per hour.

Do this air experiment at home to also show Bernoulli's Principle in action. Take a 8 1/2 by 11 piece of plain paper and hold one edge to your mouth. Blow air over the top of the paper. What happens?

The air flow over the paper creates a pressure lower than that of the air pressure below the paper, causing the paper to rise. This is why airplanes can fly with the help of aerodynamic wings. The shape of an airplane wing is built to speed up the air flow over the top of the wing, creating the low air pressure above the wing.

Take the same piece of paper. Try blowing with different pressures. What happens if you blow softly? What happens if you blow with a lot of force? Try these with a smaller piece of paper. What if you blew over a lighter piece of paper?

Tomorrow you can test Bernoulli's' Principle and other experiments to solve challenges. Children and parents curious about air and other puzzles can test their wit and have fun at it. There will be many colorful and tactile projects to stimulate your mind and teach yourself and your children how to solve puzzles by doing mazes, animal classification, games and making electricity.

Make sure you check out each mind boggling exhibit, and don't forget to pick up the scavenger hunt form in the Help Room for a special secret message at the end of your exhibit journeys. If you happen upon a mysterious crumpled blue bag, please know that it is not a ghost from Mace Ranch, but a key to learning about the nature of air.

More information about Bernoulli's principle and its equation P + 1/2pv2 + pgh = [constant], can be found by going to www.treasure-troves.com/physics/BernoullisLaw.html.

You can perform more air experiments by checking out this ingenious Web site as well: www.exploratorium.org/snacks/bernoulli_levitator.html.

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Interested in the evening stars? Understanding the nature of stars—how old they are, how far away they are and what they’re made up—is a unique science.

But perhaps you’re more interested in the myths surrounding stars and constellations. Who is Cassiopeia and where is the sea monster? Learn about the vain African queen whose daughter is rescued from the sea monster by Perseus.

Explorit’s Astronomy Club meeting, “Clash of the Titans!” takes place Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8p.m. This gathering is free and open to the public of all ages and celestial knowledge.

Come learn about our celestial sky and hear ancient stories handed down by earlier cultures that explain the constellations in the sky. After the slide presentation, the meeting will, weather permitting, step outside to view the constellations.

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