(Opening Scene tree house detectives watching Franz on big screen)

(C) " That is amazing"

(Jason) Thanks Dr. D. I am sure we will be back!

(Jacob) I hope he remembers to take the investigation log sheet. ."(turn to camera) Now if you go on your own field trip, this is a great work sheet to take to record some of the information.

Clayton: I use light to study our atmosphere.

" You know, in our other cases, sometimes our hypothesis was not always correct. "

Stay tuned for more of the Case of The Mysterious Red Light.

(Tree house detectives playing with mirror.)

( K) " What’s that spot on my clothes? Where did it go? It disappeared!"

(Jacob) "There it is on the wall. How did it get over there?"

(B) " With this mirror. When light hits the mirror, it bounces around the room."

( K) " Light can bounce? I’m confused. I thought we learned from Mr. Turner that light travels in a straight line."

( J) " That’s not what this is doing."

( B) " We need to find out because these might be low frequency waves bouncing around in the sky."

( K ) " Where should we go?

( J) " My class went on a field trip to the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia. They do a lot of research on light."

( B) " Let’s Get Up and Go"

(Jefferson Lab With Michelle Shinn)

(Michelle) Hi! I’m Michelle Shinn. Welcome to Jefferson Lab.

(B) Hi, Mrs. Shinn. This is a neat looking place. What do you do here?

(Michelle) I am a laser physicist, a scientist who makes lasers and uses them to study their effects on objects that they hit.

(B) Lasers like in Star Wars?

(Michelle) I guess you could say that. What can I help you with today?

(B) We were using mirrors this morning and noticed that light bounced around the room. We want to know more about how light can bounce.

(Michelle) Light that bounces off an object’s surface is called reflective light. The type of surface that light strikes determines the kind of reflection that is formed.

(B) A mirror is really shiny. Does that make a difference?

(Michelle) Yes it does. With a very smooth surface, there is very little scattering of light, so the image you see in the mirror looks exactly like the object and is called a regular reflection.

(B) So a surface that is not shiny and smooth will scatter light?

(Michelle) Correct. You catch on quickly.

(B) Does light only reflect?

(Michelle) No light can also be refracted.

(B) What does refracted mean?

(Michelle) I think it would be best to show you. Come over here to my lab table.

(Michelle) This is a laser pointer, and I am going to shine the laser on the gelatin. Look closely and tell me what you see.

( B) I see some of the laser light coming off the gelatin. That must be reflection.

And I also see the laser light bending. Why is that?

(Michelle) When light travels from one medium, such as the air, to another medium, such as the gelatin, its speed changes. This change of speed causes the bending we call refraction.

(B) Does the speed of light slow down or speed up when it goes through the gelatin.

(Michelle) Good question. It slows down because gelatin is denser than air.

(B) I wonder if magicians create some of their magic with mirrors. Are there different types of mirrors?

(Michelle) Yes there are. The mirror you have in your home is a flat mirror, called a plane mirror. There are also concave and convex mirrors.

(Michelle) Probably. A concave mirror or lens is curved inward and the image that it forms is upside down.

(B) That would be an easy way to stand on your head.

(Michelle) A convex mirror curves outward like the surface of a ball.

(Michelle) That’s right. Another place that uses all types of mirrors and lenses is NASA.

(B) Why would NASA use mirrors and lenses?

(Michelle) They use them in telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, on satellites like the Mars Global Surveyor and the GOES weather satellites.

(Michelle) You’re welcome; come back anytime.

( Tree house)

(Jacob)" I wonder if that illusionist, Franz Harary, uses mirrors to make things disappear."

(Bianca) " Like he would tell us his secrets."

(Jacob) ( Turn to Camera whispering ) I’m never telling them mine. Maybe we should go to Franz’s web site to find out more about him.

(Jason) Oh, look, he’s doing a live chat. Just click here and we can talk to him.

(Jacob) Hello Franz,

(Franz) Hi guys! Who are all of you?

(Bianca) We are the tree house detectives, and we want to know how you make things disappear.

(Franz) Why don’t you come out to NASA Dryden, I’m sitting in the 747 Space Shuttle transport plane. I’m looking at the coolest jet air craft and I’m thinking of making it disappear.

( thd) You can do that?

(Franz) I’m not going to give you my secrets but you can check it out for yourself.

(Jacob) Yeah right, how are we going to get to Dryden Research Center in California?

(Franz) Here just touch the screen hold on tight and I’ll zap the two you out!

(Bianca and Jacob will be standing outside near the 747)

(Jacob pinching himself)

(Jacob) " Wow, we really made it!"

(Bianca turns to camera) I can’t believe he really got us to California.

( Jacob) Where’s Franz?

(Franz standing on the wing of 747)

(Franz) How was your trip?

( Bianca) Where is he? Look, he’s up there!

( Jacob) Our trip was pretty wild, I like that magic

( Franz is magically transported in front of them)

( Bianca) How did you get down here

(Jacob turns to camera) I love this magic stuff

(Franz ) Pretty cool out here! How can I help you?

( Bianca) We are investigating a

problem, dealing with the properties of light

( Jacob) I’m a big fan of yours and I think you use "light" to help things disappear.

(Franz) Well, sort of. I can’t tell you everything. But, I can show you something come with me.

(Quick montage of kids and Franz walking to hangar, quick tour around. Hangar has six NASA planes.)

( Jacob talking to Bianca)

( Jacob ) I bet he’s going to make one of these planes disappear.

( Franz) Come over here I want to show you something? Tell me do you think light is important to doing magic?

( Bianca) Well, I think light can play tricks on you.

( Jacob) Yeah, does light trick your mind because sometimes when I look at headlights and I turn to look at another spot , I still see those lights

( Franz) Ad libs shows experiment with plane, laser pointer and a mirror.

( Jacob) I watched you on TV and I saw you made the Shuttle Endeavor disappear. Could you do that again?

( Bianca) That would be great.

( Franz) Well, I’ve made this prototype rocket for NASA researchers and I’m hoping they’ll use it for future space missions. Do you want to see it?

( Jacob) Does it mean you’re going to show us some more magic.

(Franz) Let’s go outside and look at it.

( outside by rocket)

( Jacob) Is the natural light outside going to help you with your magic act

( Franz Adlibs)

(Franz does show)

( Jacob) That’s amazing.

(Bianca) Franz, was that just an illusion?

( Franz)( Ad libs)

( Dr. D’s Lab)

( Dr. D walks in carrying a lot of stuff)

(Catherine) Hi, Dr. D!

(Jason) " What’s all that?"

(Dr. D) " I thought I might be able to help you with your light experiment. Where’s Jacob and Bianca?

(Catherine) " I don’t know they were supposed to meet us here.

( Dr. D’s phone rings)

( double box effect)

Hello!

(Bianca) Hello, this is Bianca calling from Dryden Research Center in California. We’re running a little late. We’ll be right there.

(Dr.D) Where are you?

(Bianca and Jacob wide shot

with Franz)

( Bianca) We will be there in a minute

(Franz) See you guys around. Good luck.

( Bianca) Thanks for showing us your tricks.

( Franz) Puts up Sheet kids are gone

( Dr. D’s Lab)

( Bianca) Where are we?

( Jason) Where’s Jacob?

( Bianca) I don’t know Franz must have sent him back to his house.

( Dr. D) Wow, How did you get here so fast?

( Bianca) Just magic! (Turn to camera ) Or is this an illusion?

(Dr. D) That was quite a trick. What are you guys up to?

(Catherine)) We have been learning all about light to solve this red sunset problem.

(Jason) Yes, I went to the Boston Science Museum . I learned how light travels in a straight line and in waves

(Bianca) And We also learned a little about mirrors, lenses, and even about reflection and refraction.

(Dr. D) And a little magic too. Have you found out about the difference between transparent, opaque, and translucent yet?

(Bianca) Trans…. What?

(Dr. D) OK, let me explain. Light can pass through a transparent object and make an object on the other side clearly visible.

(Catherine) You mean like a window?

(Dr. D) Yep! Take a look at the light bulb on this generator. Can you see the filament clearly through the glass as I turn the crank?

(Jason) Yes, look at that!

(Dr. D ) What else is transparent.

(Jason) A car’s windshield.

(Dr. D) That’s correct. At least until it gets all fogged up; then it is translucent.

(Catherine) Oh, so translucent means that light can get through, but just not very much.

(Dr. D) You are getting so good at this. With something that is translucent, the light is diffused and objects cannot be seen clearly.

(Bianca) That would make it hard to drive.

(Dr D) How about opaque? Do you know what opaque means?

(Bianca) I think it means that no light can get through. Things that are solid like rock and concrete are opaque.

(Dr. D) That’s right, but it is much more interesting than that. Look at this example. Here we have two sheets of light-polarizing material. Can you see me clearly?

(Catherine) Yes, it is a little darker, but it is clear, so it is transparent.

(Dr. D) Now, look what happens when I rotate one of the two sheets.

(Jason) Wow! You disappeared. Just like magic!

(Bianca) It became opaque. Everything went black.

(Catherine) I think I understand transparent, translucent, and opaque now.

(Bianca) "The sky is transparent---most of the time."

(Jason) "Clouds can make the sky opaque."

(Catherine) " I wonder if clouds could be causing the problem."

(Jason) "I don’t think it is clouds, but lets go back to the tree house and organize all this information."

(All) Bye Dr. D. Thanks!

Tree House

(Kids are experimenting with various materials, noting which are transparent, translucent, or opaque.)

(Jacob) "This one is definitely transparent."

(Kali) "That one is translucent, only a little light comes through."

(M) "Then this one has to be opaque because there isn’t any light getting through."

(K) "Dr. D would give me an "A."

(J) " On a clear night, the sky looks transparent. But why does it look translucent during the day?"

(M) "Yes, I wonder why it is blue during the day, but red at sunset and sunrise."

(J) "This is all so confusing. Maybe we should go to our problem board and try to figure out what we need to learn next."

(M) "We know the sky is still bright red."

(K) "And light travels in waves and is a ray."

(M) "And now we know that light can be reflected and refracted."

(J) "But maybe if we knew what causes the color of the sky to be blue during the day, it would help us find out why the sky is red at sunrise and sunset.

(K) I think the night sky is transparent, and the day sky is translucent. If that is true, what makes the sky different?

(M) One variable that is different between a night sky and a sky during the day is the Sun.

(K) Maybe we need to learn more about the Sun.

(J) "I just did an internet search and found our next expert. Lets call NASA AMES in Mountainview, CA. They have an expert on the sun.

(See-U See-Me TV)

(Pilewskie) "Hi, I’m Dr. Peter Pilewskie here at NASA AMES Research Center. How can I help you?

( J ) We’re trying to solve a problem, and we want to know why the sky is blue during the day.

( Pilewskie) Before I answer that question, there are some things you need to know about the Sun. (graphic of Sun pops in)

the Sun is "white" light, which means that it is a mixture of all the colors.

( M) If sunlight is white then why is the sky blue?

(K) We learned about reflection at the Jefferson Lab. Could the sky be blue because it’s reflecting blue off the ocean?

(Pilewskie) No, that’s not the reason. The Earth has an atmosphere made up of molecules such as nitrogen and oxygen. There are also tiny little particles of salt, dust, minerals, ash and sulfuric acid from volcanoes. They are called aerosols.

(J ) I don’t see anything in the air.

( Pilewskie) That’s because they are so tiny.

( K ) How do aerosols affect the color of the sky?

(Pilewskie) Well, what do you know about light?

( M) We learned at the Boston Museum that light is a wave and it’s made up of photons.

(Pilewskie laughing) When light hits a molecule in the atmosphere, it sort of bounces and goes in another direction. That’s called scattering.

Let me show you what I mean.

(Pilewskie demonstrates with milk and water.)

(Pilewskie) I'm going to add a few drops of milk to this beaker of water. What do you think the milk represents?

( K) The molecules and particles in the atmosphere!

( Pilewskie) Correct! As I shine the flashlight to one side of the jar, the color from the water appears blue.

( M) Just like the sky looks blue!

But, I still don’t understand why.

( Pilewskie) Remember light is made up of all colors and think about photons as having colors. Some are red, blue or green. It turns out that the molecules bounce the blue photons better than the red. So the sky looks blue because the molecules scatter blue photons better.

(J ) So why do we see red skies at night and in the morning?

(Pilewskie) Let's look directly at the beam coming out the beaker: it appears red. The beam represents the sun. It appears red because the blue photons have been removed by the molecules and particles.

During a sunrise or sunset when the sun is on the horizon, the light has to travel through a very thick portion of the atmosphere containing a large amount of molecules and aerosols. This means that there will be lot more scattering (compared to an overhead sun) with more blue photons taken out leaving more red photons in the sun’s beam.

(M) That makes sense.

(Pilewskie) Look at the beaker and watch what happens when I add more milk making the "atmosphere" thicker.

(K) Wow, the light is redder now. That’s cool. What are some variables that could be making the atmosphere thicker than it is normally?

(Pilewskie) Something might be adding more aerosols into the atmosphere. Some kind of pollution. But I am not a pollution expert. I just happen to know a researcher who studies pollution. Let me give him a call."

( J ) Wow this looks like we found the right place!

( Matt) Hello Mr. Vaughan?

(Mark) " Yes, What kind of help do you need?

(J) "We need to know more about what causes air pollution."

(Mark)" Lots of stuff. Most people would think of the stuff people put into the air-like automobile exhaust and those big plumes that come out of factories. These kinds of things make up about 10-percent of pollution. But, the fact is that Mother Nature is the big culprit. She pollutes the other 90-percent.

(Jason) "Mother Nature! I always thought of nature was clean and natural. How could nature cause air pollution?"

(Matt) "How do you know how much dirt is in the air?"

( Mark) Let me shine a little light on this. Here, hold these two erasers. You can take this laser pointer when he claps them together. Just watch (pointing to other child). You shine the light.

(Matt) Wow that looks like sparkles!

(Mark) "You’re right. But, to get full use of this technique, you do need a lot more power. When we measure aerosols, we use lidar. Look it’s right over here

(In front of lidar)

(Jason)"That’s a big machine, what does it do?"

(Mark) "This is a telescope

(Matt) "I’ve never seen anything like this. What do you do with the green beam?"

(Mark) "Lidar is an active remote sensor that measures aerosols or pollutants way, way up in the atmosphere. With these gizmos, we can detect aerosols that are entirely invisible to the naked eye."

(Matt) "Could the aerosols from pollution cause the sky to be red at sunsets and sunrises?"

(Mark) "Yes they can.

(Jason) We learned from Dr. Pilewski that more aerosols scatter more blue photons and leave the red for us to see.

(Mark) "That’s correct. An increase of small particles scatters more of the blue wavelengths than the red, and as blue is removed, the red begins to dominate."

(Matt)

"Thanks a lot for your help."

( Mark) Good luck on solving the problem.

( Jason) "Well, I think we need to change our hypothesis."

(Matt) "Especially since we just learned how pollution can make the sky red."

(Jason) "Our hypothesis wasn’t wrong. But, it really didn’t explain where the low frequency waves came from.

(Matt) "A stronger hypothesis would be if there is pollution in the air, then the sky will be red."

(Jason) "Yes, but the hard part is to figure out what could be causing the pollution."

(Turn to camera) "I know we will figure it out."

What’s Up?

Is light being reflected or refracted?

Can air pollution be causing the problem?

Are there any other variables that have changed to make the sunsets and sunrises so red? If so, what could they be?

Dr. D’s Lab (Kids come in just after seeing a rainbow outside)

(Jason) "That was so neat! I love all the colors in a rainbow."

(Kali) "How many colors are in a rainbow?"

(Matthew) "I don’t know. Lets ask Dr. D."

(Dr. D) "How many colors do you think are in a rainbow?"

(Jason) " Roy G BIV."

(Matthew) " Who?"

(Jason) " It’s a guy’s name. To remember the colors in a rainbow, you just have to know his name, ROY G. BIV, (use fingers to count letters.) That would be 7 colors."

(Dr. D) "Lets use P.J’s prism from the Boston Science Museum and look at the colors of the rainbow.

(Dr. D will make a rainbow using the prism.)

(Dr. D) "Let’s count them."

(Kali) "I see red and orange."

(Jason) "And there are yellow and green."

(Matt) "Blue is really clear, but the colors on the end are blurred together."

(Kali) "I know that is purple, but what is the color next to it?"

(DR. D) "Some people think that it is indigo, but scientists have been able to use more advanced instruments to see the colors in light, and they have discovered that indigo is not really a color of the spectrum."

(Jason) So now it is ROY G BV?

(Dr. D) Afraid so, but it still can help you remember the colors and their order.

(Jason) I am confused. Purple doesn’t start with a "V" so is it really purple?"

(Dr. D) "It is called violet which is another name for purple."

(Dr. D) There is another way to look at the spectrum with something called diffraction grating.

(Kali) I hope it is not like grating cheese. That hurts my knuckles.

(Dr. D) Nothing like that. Here are some glasses with diffraction grating. Put them on and look at this bright light. What do you see?

(Matthew) Wow! It’s the same rainbow of color that we saw before, but the rainbows are everywhere.

(Dr. D) Now let’s try something a little different. This is called a spectrum tube, and it is filled with helium gas. What do you see?

(Jason) Its really different. All of the colors are not there--only some of them.

(Kali) I only see blue, green, yellow, and red. There are spaces between the colors.

(Kali) I think that it might be wavelength. We learned from Mr. Turner at NASA that colors like red and blue have different wavelengths.

(Dr. D)" That’s right. They are two of the colors in the visible spectrum. You might want to learn more about the visible spectrum."

" I know a NASA Langley researcher, Doreen Neil. She’s going to be over at the Virginia Children’s Museum."

(Kali) " That sounds like our next stop."

Doreen Neil, Portsmouth Science Museum

Ms. Neil is looking at a CD in the sunlight, and the colors are highlighted.

(THD) Are you Ms. Neil?

(Doreen) Yes, and you must be the tree house detectives.

(THD) Yes we are. Wow, look at the colors on that CD. It looks like a rainbow. We were just talking about the colors in the rainbow.

(Doreen) What can I help you with?

(THD) We need to know more about the visible spectrum.

(Doreen) Tell me what you have learned so far.

(THD) And that those frequencies are different colors.

(THD) And the longest is red.

(Doreen). You have learned a lot. The order of the wavelength and their frequencies is called the electromagnetic spectrum.

(THD) That is a mouthful. What is the elec-tro-magnetic spectrum?

(Doreen) It is a spectrum that contains radio waves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and gamma rays.

(THD) Wow! No wonder it is such a big word.

(Doreen) Only a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible to our eyes. That is why we call it the visible spectrum.

(THD) That makes sense. Do the other parts of the spectrum do anything?

(Doreen) Oh yes. Televisions, radios, cell phones, microwave ovens, radar, medicines, X-rays, and many more! (GRAPHIC)

(THD) So tell us more about the visible spectrum.

(Doreen) The visible spectrum consists of many different colors that our eyes can see.

(THD) Like–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet!

(Doreen) And all those colors can be mixed in various ways to make all the colors we see. When you add all the frequencies together, you get white light.

(THD) How can you see the colors in white light?

(Doreen) We use a spectrometer to pick out the different frequencies.

(THD) Mr. Clayton showed us one of those!

(Doreen) Right again. Mixing all the colors of pigment gives you black because the pigment subtracts all the frequencies of the light that it hits.

(THD) That’s with pigments, but what about light? Is it different?

(Doreen) Yes it is. The primary colors of light are red, blue, and green. If you mix all three of them, you get white light.

(THD) That is different. I learned in art class that the primary colors of pigment are red, yellow, and blue.

(Doreen) The museum has a neat shadow box that you might want to explore. It will help you see how the primary colors of light can be separated.

(THD) Thanks Ms. Neil. Bye.

(Doreen) Bye.

(Inside Tree house)

(Cather.) " What are you doing?"

(Jason) " I’m experimenting with colored lights. Watch, I’ve wrapped each of these different lights with colored paper and foil

(Cather.) " Okay"

(Jason) " There’s red, green and blue."

( Jacob) " Why do you use the foil?

(Jason) It keeps the light shining in one direction.

What do you think happens when I bring all these colors together?

(Jacob) I don’t know, maybe you have a lot of mixed up colors.

(Jason) Watch (actor shines all colors on a white screen) It makes a white light. I saw this experiment at the Boston Science Museum.

(Cath) That’s right.White light breaks up into colors of the rainbow."

(KSNN )

TUNE (In news studio, sunglasses on. Inset screen shows volcano graphic.) I'm Ted Tune with this KSNN Special Report. Mount

Luminous, the active volcano on the Western Pacific island of Fugu Puku, has erupted yet again just this morning. We flew our reporter,

I.M. Lissning to the scene and she brings us this live report. I.M.?

LISSNING (Lissning is gray, covered with ash. Clouds of ash float by.) Thanks Ted. Mount Luminous is really blowing its top, launching

ash thousands of feet into the atmosphere and coating the nearby town in a blanket of gray volcanic dust.

TUNE (Studio, Ted, excited) IM, can you tell if there are rivers of gushing red-hot lava, or giant flaming boulders crashing down from out of

the sky?

LISSNING (Screen is totally gray as ash clouds drift across view. IM, exasperated) No Ted. Apparently Mt. Luminous is a cinder cone

volcano (cough) and doesn't spew lava or launch flaming boulders. And quite frankly, (cough) I can't see a darned thing. We're out of

hereS(coughs)

TUNE (Studio. Inset screen totally gray.) Well, there you have it. That was IM Lissning at the site of the lame, non-lava gushing,

non-boulder hurling volcano.

I'm Ted Tune saying that's all there is for today. Join us tomorrow when we'll be sending IM Lissning out to find a really good volcano

with lava and flaming boulders and stuff.

(Jacob) " I got it" Volcanoes erupt lava

(Bianca enters stage) What are you talking about.

( Catherine) KSNN is on the scene of an active volcanoe

( Jason) " And lava is red."

(Bianca) " Maybe the red color from the lava is reflecting back into the sky."

(Catherine) " Oh yeah, we learned about reflection from the Jefferson Lab."

(Jacob) "Maybe we have a new hypothesis. If a volcano has erupted red lava, then the sky will be red due to reflection."

(Catherine) " I think we need to learn more about volcanoes."

(Jason) Ooo I have to go study for a test . See you guys

( All ) Later. Bye

(Jacob) " I have this book about volcanoes. Let’s look up Mt. Luminous."

( Graphic inserted)

(Catherine) " There’s Mt. Luminous. It’s located in the Pacific Ocean near Japan"

(Bianca) " The book says something about its being in the ring of fire. "

( Matthew walks on stage) I have that book. Oh there’s the ring of fire.

(Catherine)" The Ring of Fire?"

( Mathew walks on stage) I have that book. Oh there’s the ring of fire.

(Catherine)" The Ring of Fire?"

(Jacob) " Well, if there’s a ring of fire in the ocean, maybe that’s why the sky is red."

(Bianca)(Looking at a globe.) Let’s get the globe."

(Matthew) " We’re here. ( turning globe) And here’s the Pacific Ocean."

(Jacob) " That’s a long way from us."

(Catherine) " In Social studies, we learned that a globe has a scale. Here it is."

(Matt) " One centimeter is equal to -------kilometers."

(Jacob)

" So we need to measure how far Virginia is from the

Pacific Ocean."

(Bianca) " Okay let’s see it’s ------ centimeters

(Matt) "That’s about ______km or 7,000 miles.

(Bianca) "I think 7,000 miles is too far for the reflection from lava to be seen."

(Jacob) "As scientists, we need to do a little more research and experimentation (Turn to camera) That’s before we jump to any conclusions."

(Matthew) "Dr. Pilewski said that volcanoes can add a lot of pollution to the air. Maybe it is the pollution causing the sunrises and sunsets to be so red.

(Bianca)"I don’t think so. 7,000 miles is still a long way for even pollution to travel."

(Cath.) "Well, you never know. There may be different types of volcanoes that cause different types of pollution."

(Jacob) " So what do we do next?"

(Matthew) "I think we need to see if anyone in the NASA "Why?" Files Kids club has done research on volcanoes."

(All) Hi Kali

(Kali walks onto set) "I knew I could help you guys out. I’ll send the question to all our club members."

( Catherine) Good because I have to run.

(Matthew) Me too. Bye!

(Jacob) Bye! "I wonder what makes a volcano erupt?"

(Bianca) "Is it like an earthquake?"

(Jacob) "I don’t know. ( turn to camera) But, don’t want to be around for either one!"

(Kali) "I’m getting a response from Mr. Charles Thomas’s class at Burbank Elementary school in Hampton, VA."

They are studying volcanoes and have even made models .

(Bianca)"Let’s see if we can do a teleconference to find out what they know about volcanoes."

( Pushes set up. Appears on plasma.)

( Student) "Hi, I’m, ____ a 3^rd grade student in Mr. Thomas’s class."

(Bianca) "Hi.What is your project?"

(Student) "We have been studying volcanoes, and we found that there are three basic types."

(Jacob) "What are they?"

(Student) "Let me show you a few of the models we made."

"This is a composite volcano model. Its eruptions vary between quiet and violent ones. When the volcano has a violent eruption, it throws out ash and dust. This part is its tephra layer."

"Watch this" (model spews dust and ash into the air.)

(Kali) "Wow, that’s cool. What are the quiet eruptions like?"

"When the volcano erupts lava like this." (lava spews)

(Matthew) "What are the other two types of volcanoes?"

(student) "There is a cinder cone volcano that only erupts ash and dust like this." (demonstrate)

"And there is a shield volcano."

(Jacob) "A shield, like the one knights used to protect themselves?"

"Well, it is sort of shaped like a shield. Take a look at our model. As you can see, the lava flows differently. It forms very flat layers, and these layers have very broad and gently sloping sides."

(Bianca) "That’s interesting. We learned a lot. Thanks for your help."

" Bye From the NASA Why Files Kids Club in Hampton, Virginia.

(Kali) " See you later. We should build a volcano. That looks like fun."

(Matthew) "Let’s do a little more research. I wonder what Dr. Textbook has to say about volcanoes."

(Dr. Textbook Insert)

( announcer voice) " And Now Volcano History. Here’s Dr. Text Book. "

Hello! The word volcano got its name from the Roman god Vulcan. The early Romans believed in their god of Fire.

And The early Hawaiians told legends about their "goddess of Fire, Pele."

In August, AD79, Romans gave the first eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption. Falling ash spewed out of Mt. Vesuvius. Ash and mud flows buried about 2000 people in Pompeii alone. Almost 2000 years later, archaeologists found Pompeii and unearthed the ancient city.

In April 1902,

Mont Pele in the Caribbean Sea exploded, killing 28 thousand residents in just seconds, in the town of St Pierre.

And closer to home. in March of 1980, the sleeping giant Mt St Helens woke up to become the most destructive volcano in U.S. History. The eruption that equaled 10-million tons of dynamite shook the Cascade mountain range in Oregon and Washington.

And now I will attempt to examine what really makes a volcano come alive ( camera starts to shake)

( volcano starts spewing over Dr. Textbook)

Not a very good idea.

( announcer voice) This is Volcano History.

(Kali) See you Dr. Text book. He’s so funny "Lets research Mt. Luminous."

(Matthew) "I saw an article on Mt. Luminous in the paper today. Maybe it will have some information for us."

(Bianca) "It says that Mt. Luminous is a cinder cone and the first eruption was a month ago."

(Jacob) "Then Mt. Luminous can’t be the problem because why would the sky all of a sudden be such a deep red if it erupted a month ago.

(Bianca) "I don’t know. I think we need to know more about volcanoes."

(Kali) Solving problems is hard work!

Bianca "My mom is going to California on business--to NASA Dryden Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Maybe we need to go with her."

(Jacob)Okay let’s see if we can go.

( at Dryden in front of Er 2)

( Bianca) Hi, You must be Dr. Pieri. What’s that plane behind you?

(Jacob) I’ve never seen anything like that before.

( Dr. Pieri) It’s a little different looking. It’s called an ER-2, and NASA uses it as a high-altitude airplane.

(Jacob) What kind of research does NASA do with this plane?

(Dr. Pieri) The plane has very high powered cameras and scanners to record lots of different kinds of earth phenomena–like volcanic eruptions, floods, and hurricanes and it can even monitor ozone in our atmosphere.

( Bianca) Do you mean you actually fly into the volcano when it’s erupting?

(Dr. Pieri) No, we don’t because we’ve learned that volcanic ash can cause a lot of damage to a plane.

( Dr. Pieri) The ash is light and stays in the air for a long time, sometimes for months, and it can travel thousands of miles away from the volcano.

( Bianca) Where are most of the volcanoes located?

( Dr. Pieri)

There are active volcanoes on just about every continent and in every ocean basin. Most volcanoes are under water and formed by the ocean basis spreading away from mid-oceanic ridges . Sometimes, volcanoes form in the middle of continents and ocean basins because of hot spots under the plates.

(Jacobs) Plates?

(Dr. Pieri) The earth’s crust is broken into pieces that we call plates. The other area where volcanoes occur is where one plate slips underneath another plate . And this happens in the Pacific Ocean.

( Bianca) Are you talking about the Ring of Fire?

( Dr. Pieri) Yes. The ring of fire is actually a ring around the continents that touch the Pacific Ocean such as North and South America and Asia.

( Jacob) Oh neat. We learned that Mt. Luminous is a cinder cone. Could you tell us more about cinder cones?

( Dr. Pieri) The magma from a cinder cone is so sticky that it can’t flow. And the gas trapped inside the magma can’t leak out so the magma literally explodes forming a lot of "pyroclastic" material. As the magma explodes in air, it rapidly freezes into very sharp pieces like bubbly black broken glass, called "scoria.". Under a microscope, you can see the very sharp edges and that’s why it is so abrasive to airplanes.

(Bianca) Thanks Dr. Pieri "We have learned so much about volcanoes."

(Dr. Pieri) I hope this information give you your answer. Good luck.

(Jacob) "We know that Mt. Luminous is a cinder cone so it doesn’t even have lava."

(Bianca) "That means our hypothesis is wrong."

(Jacob) "I don’t think we have enough information yet to make a new hypothesis. We need to do more research and experimentation."

(Bianca) Let’s get back to the tree house.

What’s UP?

Could the volcano be causing the red sky?

Could it be that all colors other than red are being absorbed by something? (This may change dependent on if we talk about absorption.)

(Tree house)

(Jason) What are you doing?

Magic?

(Jacob) No. It’s actually a science experiment. I punched a hole in this paper cup and filled it with water.

(Matt) What happens?

(Jacob) Okay, turn the lights down and watch this.

(Jason) Wow! That looks like a stream of light.

(Matt) The light is bending. It’s an example of what we learned from Dr. Shinn at the Jefferson Lab.

(Jacob) It’s neat. But, we still need to figure out why the sunrises and sunsets are so red.

(Matt) " I think pollution could be the cause."

(Jacob) "But what is making the pollution? I don’t think it can be from the volcano because it is too far away."

(Jason) "Maybe the wind is blowing it our way."

(Jacob) "Yeah right. I don’t think the wind could blow it this far."

(Matt) "Not unless it had a lot of hot air like someone we know."

(Jacob) "I know you‘re not talking about me."

Let’s go to our problem board and try to figure out what to do next."

(Matt) "We know the sky is still very red."

(Jason) "We know that light travels in waves, that it is a ray and that visible light is a small part of the spectrum."

(Jacob) "And don’t forget that light reflects and refracts."

(Matthew) "Pollution can cause red skies."

(Jason) "Volcanoes cause some air pollution when they erupt dust and ash."

(Jacob) "We need to know how far ash can travel in the air and if it can travel long distances.How can we find out?"

(Jason) "We need someone who knows a lot about wind. "

(Matt) "Wind has to do with weather, and I am sure that NASA has a weather expert. Let’s look at the NASA Langley web site."

(Insert URL for NASA Langley)

(Jacob) "Wow! Look, NASA has a really neat place called the CAVE.

(Jason) It’s a computer system that you can use to look at weather in 3D.

(Matt) Let’s go over there.

(At Langley)

(M) This must be the CAVE.

(Olson) Hi, I’m Dr. Jennifer Olson.

(M) Hi I’m Matthew, one of the tree house detectives and we’re trying to learn more about wind. We want to know if volcanic ash can blow all the way from the Pacific Ocean to Virginia?

(Olson) No it doesn't. I'm looking at some wind data here in the CAVE . Do you want to come in with me and take a look?

(M) Sure!

[move into the CAVE here - CAVE is at the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center - will need to take off shoes and put on 3d glasses]

(M) Wow! This is neat.

(Olson) We're looking at wind vectors over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S.

(M) What’s a wind vector?

(Olson ) See the yellow arrows.

(M) Oh yeah. Lots of them.

(Olson) Those are wind vectors. They show which way the wind is blowing. Their size tells you how fast the wind is blowing. The longer the arrow, the faster the wind.

( M) What about the wind vectors way up there?

(Olson) Those vectors are 10 miles above the Earth. That’s way above most of the Earth's weather.

(M) Those arrows look like they are all pointing in one direction. Is that normal for high altitudes?

(Olson) Yes, if you’ll notice, the arrows are pointing mostly from west to east, which is what we call a zonal direction that forms global wind patterns.

(M) How fast are they blowing?

(Olson) At 12 miles up, most wind speeds are 40 or 50 mph. In the upper atmosphere, there is also something called a jet stream.

(M) You mean like the white stuff coming out of a jet we see high up in the sky?

(Olson) Good guess. But the jet stream is like a river of very fast moving air where the winds can reach a few hundred mph. Let’s step outside into my lab.

(Enter lab)

(M) What’s the second thing that affects how far wind can transport particles?

(Olson) It is the "lifetime" of a particle.

(M) I didn’t know particles had a life!

(Olson) Its lifetime refers to how long a particle stays in the atmosphere. Surface particles like ash and dust stay in the atmosphere

for only a few days before they're removed by rain or turbulence in weather systems.

(M )So ash from a volcano wouldn’t have a very long lifetime?

(Olson) Not necessarily. If a particle is injected very high in the atmosphere into the layer we call the stratosphere, then it is above the weather and can stay around for weeks or months before it settles due to gravity.

(M) Would the zonal winds then be able to carry the ash all the way to Virginia?

(Olson) Yes they can. If the volcano is strong enough to inject particles into the stratosphere, they would not run into any weather and their lifetime could be several months. Add a strong fast wind, such as the jet stream, and they could go a long distance.

(M) But the Pacific Ocean is a long way away. It would take forever!

(Olson) Let’s do a quick calculation. The distance from here to Mt. Luminous is about 7000 miles. If we take typical upper atmospheric wind speeds of 40 mph, it would take about 175 hours, or just about a week to transport the dust plume to Virginia. In fact, it can be transported completely around the Earth in about a month.

(M) The sky is so deep red, is there anything about this eruption that is different?

(O) Yes. I read that this eruption also injected a lot of sulfur dioxide gas and water vapor into the stratosphere. These two gases react to form tiny sulfuric acid particles.

(M) We learned from Dr. Pilewskie that particles scatter the blue light.

(Olson) That’s right, and these particles are small enough to work with the molecules in the atmosphere to scatter even more of the blue light from the Sun's rays.

(M) That’s a long time.

Thanks, Dr. Olson I think we now have a new hypothesis. (Turn to camera. )

This is it.

If the zonal winds carried the ash from the volcano to our area, we would have red sunsets and sunrises.

Smart thinking !

(Tree House)

(Cath) Matthew said the Cave was so cool. I wish we had one here in the tree house.

(Kali) That’s pretty high tech even for our tree house.

(Jason) You know I’ve been thinking, and I don’t believe our new hypothesis is correct.

(Cath) Why?

(Jason) Well, remember Mrs. Olson said that the zonal winds would have carried the ash and dust to our area in about 7 days.

(Kali) Yes.

(Jason) Well, we saw the really red sunrises and sunsets only 3 days after Mt. Luminous erupted.

(Kali) So it couldn’t be from the volcano because it was too soon.

(Cath) Guys, you are forgetting that Mrs. Olson also told us about the jet stream and how it travels really fast.

Maybe the dust and ash got here sooner because of the jet stream.

(Jason) It looks like we need to find out more about jet streams.

(Bianca walks in )

( all ) Here comes Bianca

(Bianca) Are you talking about jet streams.

( Cath) Yes.

(Bianca) The weatherman from WAVY TV came to our school last month, and he said that we could contact him if we had any questions.

I’ll e-mail him and see if he can meet us.

(Weather Expert)

(Catherine) Thanks for seeing us Mr. Yco We need to know more about the jet stream.

(Fred) Sure, let’s go over here and I can show you a jet stream.

(Bianca) You have one here?

(Fred) Only on a screen. What do you know about jet streams.

(Catherine) We know that they are like a river of wind way up high in the atmosphere.

(Bianca) And that they travel at speeds up to a few hundred miles per hour.

(Catherine) Is the jet stream always in the same place?

(Fred Yco tells about how jet streams move location and why and how there can be multiple streams.)

(Bianca) We need to know if the jet stream was passing over our area the week that Mt. Luminous erupted.

( Fred)Let’s look at the data from that week.

(shows maps for about 5-7 days that depict the jet stream flowing over our area)

(Catherine) That has to be it then. If the jet stream traveled at 100 mph and Mt. Luminous is 7000 miles away, it would have taken 70 hours for the ash to arrive in our area.

(Bianca) With 24 hours in a day, 3 days would be 72 hours. That means that the jet stream could have made the sunrise and sunset look so red.

(Fred) I think you guys have solved the mystery!

(Catherine) Thanks Mr. Yco We really appreciate your help.

(Fred) Anytime for the tree house detectives

(Tree house)

(Jason) I am so glad that we have finally solved the mystery.

( Bianca) Maybe we should email our kids club members and ask if any of them have been seeing redder sunrises and sunsets.

(Jacob) That’s a good idea. That way we know it is not just happening in our area.

(Jason) Great. I’ll do it now. I’ll also ask them when they first noticed the change.

Time goes by.

(Bian) We are getting a lot of emails from all across the United States. Most of our club members are writing the same thing. " We have been seeing redder sunrises and sunsets"

(Jason) Let’s organize the emails by states and see when everyone first noticed the unusual skies.

(sort emails)

(Jacob) Wow! There is a pattern with the states on the West coast . This E mail says we saw the redder skies just 2 days after Mt. Luminous erupted.

(Bianca) And the ones in the center of the US saw the unusual skies about 3 days after it erupted.

(Jason) Except for the school in Dallas. Their E mail says we saw the redder skies just two days after the eruption That’s strange.

(Jacob) Remember that the jet stream traveled down into that area before it came up our way to VA.

(Bianca) You’re right. I think that these emails now remove all doubt that it was the eruption of Mt. Luminous that caused our unusual red sunrises and sunsets.

Review with Dr. D

(Bianca) Hi Dr. D

(Dr. D) Hi. Did you discover the solution to your red sky problem yet?

(Jason) We are pretty sure that we have.

(Catherine) And we did it together.

With the help of the scientific method.

(Bianca) we learned a lot about light along the way.

(Jason) That’s right. We learned about how light travels.

(Bianca) And we learned about frequency and wavelength. Our first hypothesis was that there were a lot of low frequency waves in the sky.

(Catherine) There was really nothing wrong with our statement, but it didn’t really explain why the sky was red.

(Bianca) At first we thought that the explanation might be that light was bouncing around the sky, but that was just a wild guess.

(Jason) You then told us about transparent, translucent, and opaque and thought that maybe clouds were the solution.

(Bianca) But after Dr. Pilewskie told us about aerosols and scattering and why the sky was blue, then we were pretty sure that this was the real answer.

(Catherine)We thought it had to be something scattering more blue light than usual and leaving a lot of red.

(Jason) The real problem was figuring out what was causing the scattering.

(Catherine) And then we thought about pollution. But, what was causing the pollution?

(Bianca) Then we got really sidetracked. We heard a report about a volcano called Mt. Luminous that was erupting. We decided that the red might be somehow connected with the red lava.

(Catherine) We really weren’t listening very carefully because the report clearly said that there was dust everywhere.

(Jason) That should have been a big clue. But the volcano was so far away that we didn’t even consider that.

(Catherine) Even though our idea was way off, it did lead us to study volcanoes.

(Bianca) When we heard about volcanic ash and how it can stay in the air for months at a time and travel thousands of miles, we began to get back in the right direction.

(Catherine) So we didn’t give up. We went back to our hypothesis about pollution, but this time we wanted to know if the volcano could be the source of the pollution or aerosols.

(Jason) We investigated wind and wind patterns and how wind can carry aerosols for long distances.

(Bianca) We learned that the higher in the atmosphere the aerosols are, then the longer they stay up there.

(Jason) Most importantly, we learned from Dr. Olson that it really was possible for the winds to bring the volcanic aerosols to Virginia, about 7,000 miles away!

(Bianca) And don’t forget the jet stream helped to bring the aerosols to us even quicker.

(Catherine) The fact that Mt. Luminous produced sulfur dioxide gas also helped to explain why our sunsets and sunrises are such a deep red.

(Jason) Yes, but after we got all the emails for other "Why?" Files Kids’ Clubs saying that they too were having red sunrises and sunsets, we knew for sure that it had to be the volcano.

(Bianca) I also did some research online and discovered that many volcanic eruptions have caused red skies.

(Bianca turn to camera) We are excited to finally have the answer!

(Dr. D) That is great. You kept on track, researched carefully, kept an open mind, revised your hypothesis, and finally came up with a possible explanation.

(Jason) It was fun and a lot of hard work. There wasn’t just a magical solution that’s for sure!

(Dr. D) No it isn’t easy, but it looks like you have come up with the most likely solution to this "red sky" problem. Congratulations.

(Tree house)

TUNE: (In studio, sunglasses.) This is KSNN, and I'm Ted Tune. NASA is shedding some new light on the mystery of the red skies.

Apparently dust and ash particles from Mount Luminous have been changing our blue skies to red.

(Lifts sunglasses to forehead.)

But enjoy those beautiful sunrises and sunsets while you can. Our skies will gradually return to normal as the particles filter out of the upper

atmosphere.

In the meantime, sailors everywhere can relax. IM Lissning has more on this storyS

LISSNING (On boat, sailing away.) Yes, Ted it seems that Captain Mac Arel has gotten over his earlier uncertainty and decided to take his

cargo to Australia. However, he forgot to let me off the ship.

TUNE :Well, IM, until the station buys a news helicopter it looks like you're the new KSNN travel correspondent!

LISSNING :Ted! Get me off this ship!

TUNE Congratulations, IM! I'm Ted Tune saying good night from Kids Science News NetworkS

LISSNING :TED!

(Tree house)

(Matt)KSNN forgot to mention us.

(Bianca) Why would they? NASA solved the problem, not us!

(Kali) Yeah, but we were on top of it!

(Jacob) Now, for my final magic act. I’m going to make us all disappear.

(Matt) Are you still at it? Give it up!

(Jacob) Abba Ka da bra. Send them back to their homes.

(Jacob) I think it worked.

This is great!

( voices only)

(Bianca) Jacob, we’re still here.

(Kali) You made us disappear. But, we’re still stuck in the tree house.

(Matt) Try it again. PLEASE!!!!!

(Jacob) PSST. Come here.

Is this magic or just an illusion?

See you!