Walking
around the school I was struck by the number of scientific objects in open view
that we take for granted and that fade into the background. First of all, the
most famous scientific object in the school is the wind vane on top of the
“Torre”.
Wind vanes
are used to indicate the direction of the wind. It points in the direction from
which the wind is blowing. Winds are named after the direction they blow from,
so a northerly wind blows from the North. So the wind vane points to the name
of the wind. Unfortunately our wind vane doesn’t work anymore. What was the
direction of the wind when it stopped working?
Another
interesting thing is that the compass points are fixed and these show the
orientation of the school in relation to north and south. Interesting in the
fact of the number of students I have encountered recently that didn’t know
where south was.
Another
object of interest is this plaque on the wall outside of the Science labs.
This plaque
indicates the height of this position (the central line) above sea level. This
measurement has been made by the Institut Cartogràfic I Geològic de Catalunya
who also supplied the plaque. On further inspection of this group’s website I
encountered this map where if you zoom in on the school it shows the various
heights above sea level. And they seem
to disagree! Maybe they need to come back and do another survey or change the
plaque!
What other
interesting Science objects can you find around the school?
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