Any suggestions for a good venue for a slap-up Lockdown Survival Lunch for later in the year? I’m sure venues will be clamouring for our custom! In the meantime enjoy your home-made meals until we can meet again. Bon appetite!
Message from the Chair
As we approach almost a year of varying levels of lockdown it prompted me to think about how that time has passed by. In some ways my perception is that it has passed quite quickly contrary to the often used expression ‘time flies when we are having fun’.
If so, then it may be because it seems faster compared to when we are bored and thus paying a lot of attention to the passage of time (remember ‘clockwatching at work’?). It is possible that our change of lifestyle to conform to the restrictions mean that to some extent we found ‘fun’ in some of the new things we have done? I’ve certainly enjoyed discovering some interesting local walks, cycle routes and increased reading time.
One theory contends that time speeds up as we get older if we consider the proportionality of time perception related to age. The older you get, the smaller one year is, as a percentage of your total life. So the years go by faster and faster. For young children Christmas and birthdays seem to take ages to come round again, not so for us older folk.
What has been missing is the mingling and social interaction with families, friends and in our u3a.Time will tell but optimistically once we get through the next few months things we have missed will start to return into everyday life.
Our February monthly meeting is a talk about ‘Poisons for Medicines’. I have seen it, found it very interesting and I do recommend it to you. There are more details later on this website.
David Rose
Science Group 2 – January 2021
Science 2 – January 15th Meeting – The theme was ‘Rocket Science’
Rocket science is all about using rocket propulsion to move anything from a firework to a manned spaceship. At the heart of rocketry is Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion, something that’s been established for over 300 years. It says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you stand in front of a wall and push it hard, you will move backwards.
In a rocket, the ‘object’ being pushed is the end product of burning fuel, which shoots out of the back of the rocket as the fuel burns, forcing the rocket to move in the opposite direction. There are three basic requirements to a working rocket: get it moving, overcome the pull of gravity and plot a course. Each of these depends on physics that has been known since Newton’s day.
One of the biggest differences between the rockets of early science fiction and the actual ones that took people into space was that the real rockets had multiple stages that fell away as the rocket left Earth. The stages reflect the need to carry a lot of fuel to allow the rocket to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. When the fuel tanks are empty, they’re just extra mass that needs to be accelerated, wasting fuel. By dropping off a stage when its fuel is exhausted (or having disposable external tanks like the Space Shuttle), the remaining craft becomes much lighter, needing less fuel to accelerate it.
We also watched a short video about the Elon Musk’s innovative SpaceX Falcon rocket the first stage of which returns to land on Earth and can be reused.
The International Space Station
Next Meeting: Friday, February 19th, at 10.00 am – I am pleased to announce that we have a guest speaker-Professor J J Turner FRS Emeritus Professor of Chemistry University of Nottingham.
He writes: I am clearly a retired academic, but perhaps more importantly I was a founder member of Beeston u3a, the first Group Coordinator, and Science Group leader for many years. The talk, ‘What we owe to Einstein’ lasts 45 minutes, is designed for a “lay” audience; there are two elementary pieces of science and quite a bit of history. Thus it would be appropriate to extend the invitation to a wider audience than the science group.
David Rose
Scam News – ‘Nottngham Knockers’
Scam News February 2021
There have been reported incidents of doorstep callers often referred to as ‘Nottingham Knockers’.
These individuals will offer household goods for sale, at inflated prices, but often this sale is a ruse for checking out a person’s home. They may claim to be on a rehabilitation scheme trying to find work and may have a false trading permit or some other kind of official-looking identification.
However, they are not part of any legitimate rehabilitation scheme. There is a Government-backed ‘Community Payback’ scheme for offenders who have been sentenced to carry out community work, but this does not involve door-to-door sales.
Please be vigilant when answering your door and do not feel compelled to enter into any conversation with them, if you do not wish to. If you have elderly friends, relatives or neighbours, it’s important to keep a lookout for them too and report any suspicious activity to police.
If you are concerned and wish to report any instances of this behaviour call 101. As always, if it is an emergency please call 999.
David Rose
Guest Speaker – ‘What we owe to Einstein’ – All welcome
An open invitation to Zoom talk entitled ‘What we owe to Einstein’ on Friday 19th February at 10.00 am
Guest Speaker, Professor Turner, FRS, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, was a founder member of Beeston u3a, the first Group Co-ordinator and Science Group leader for many years.
The talk lasts 45 minutes and is designed for a ‘lay’ audience. There are two elementary pieces of science and quite a bit of history.
A link to join this talk will be sent out to all members on Wednesday, 17th February, 2021. All are welcome.