The Nonfiction Minute

Marquis de Lafayette: Revolutionary Hero and Washington’s Adopted Son

1/28/2022

Selene Castrovilla
Empathetic Historian

“My heart was enlisted,” the Marquis de Lafayette wrote in his memoirs, “and I thought only of joining my colors to those of the revolutionaries.”

          Who were the revolutionaries Lafayette referred to? Americans, bien sûr!

          Lafayette was just 19 when he paid for his ship, hired a crew and set sail from France to attach his colors to ours. He defied his king, who denied him permission to leave, and left his pregnant wife and child behind.

          Seasick every day of his month-long voyage, he nevertheless learned English along the way. Docking at Charleston, NC, he trekked hundreds of miles to Philadelphia, suffering a month of broken carriages, lame horses, and nightly mosquito raids. He remained buoyant, and dedicated to our fight.

          Finally at Continental Congress, he enthusiastically introduced himself—only to be turned away. There were too many foreign officers, they told him.

          S'il vous plaît, Lafayette pleaded. He’d come so far—and he would work for free.
          They accepted his services, but refused to give him what he yearned for: troops to command.

          At least Lafayette could stay—and meet his idol, Commander-in-Chief George Washington!

          Lafayette felt an instant connection with Washington, who invited the young Frenchman to live with him. Washington was diplomatic. He knew Lafayette was of noble descent, and he needed France’s aid in order to win the revolution. But Lafayette mistook the invitation for affection. “I am established in his house, and we live together like two attached brothers…” he wrote his wife.

          It wouldn’t be long before Washington felt genuine affection for Lafayette. As the situation in Philadelphia grew dire—they were surrounded by the British and awaited an inevitable attack—Washington took a moment to have a “great conversation” with Lafayette. Think of me as your father, he told him. Lafayette was touched in the deepest way.
          At the Battle of Brandywine, the Americans were overwhelmed and defeated. Our soldiers panicked—deserting their lines. Lafayette requested permission to rally the troops. Though he feared for Lafayette’s life, Washington granted his wish.

          Lafayette’s great spirit convinced the troops to stay. The Americans still had an army, to fight another day. A musket ball ripped through Lafayette’s leg! He eventually collapsed. Back at headquarters, Washington instructed his personal physician, “Treat [Lafayette] as if he were my son. For I love him the same.”

          “

Lafayette journeys from South Carolina to Philadelphia! He walked the 670 more miles to meet Washington. illustration by Drazen Kozjan

Lafayette charges into battle! At the Battle of Brandwine, he convinces the terrified American troops to stay and fight another day. illustration by Drazen Kozjan

The father/son relationship of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette developed while they were under British siege. A multiple award-winning choice in history books for kids, and a compelling account in American history by a research-loving writer!
You can buy it here.

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If the Earth Were a Button

1/27/2022

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David M. Schwartz
The amazing, engaging, math exponent

Imagine Earth as a button. I don’t mean you’re going to sew it onto your shirt. But imagine the planet Earth shrunk to the size of a button. (Of course Earth is not flat like a button but we’re giving our shrunken Earth the same diameter as a shirt button.)

Go ahead and draw a circle around a shirt button. Call it “Earth.” Suppose you wanted to draw Jupiter, the largest planet, at the same scale as this micro-Earth. That means you’re going to shrink it to the same fraction of its original size as our button-Earth. What size would little Jupiter be?

One way to find out would be to calculate how many times bigger the real Jupiter is than the real Earth. Earth’s diameter is about 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers). Jupiter’s is about 88,000 miles (143,000 km). Divide the size of Jupiter by the size of Earth to see that Jupiter is about 11 times bigger.

So, since Jupiter’s diameter is 11 times that of Earth’s, put 11 buttons in a line to show the diameter of Jupiter. Then draw the circle that represents Jupiter. If you don’t have 11 buttons, just look at the picture. Did you think the Earth was a big place? Look at it compared with Jupiter!

     But what about the sun? The sun’s diameter is about 865,000 miles (1,400,000 km). That means it’s almost 10 times bigger than Jupiter. Can you find a way to draw a circle 10 times the size of our Jupiter? We’ve drawn part of it for you, on the same scale as our button-sized Earth. On the picture, it’s labeled “our arc.” (An arc is part of a circle.) Looking at the arc, you can imagine the rest of the circle and compare the sun to Jupiter and Earth. A minute ago, you thought Jupiter was big. Now it looks shrimpy compared to the sun!

      But is the sun really gigantic? Do some research to find out the size of a red giant star like the strangely named Betelguese (pronounced “beetle-juice.”) Figure out what it looks like compared to our sun, which is a medium-sized star. You may be amazed at the difference. And you thought the sun was big!

      Is anything truly big? Is anything truly small? Or does that depend on what it’s being compared to?

If the Earth were the size of a button, Jupiter’s diameter would equal eleven buttons because the diameter of Jupiter is eleven times that of Earth.

Both images are by Marissa Moss, the illustrator of David M Schwartz's book, G is for Googol.

Extend “our arc” to complete the circle and you’ll see what the sun would look like if the Earth were the size of a button. (An arc is part of a circle.)

G is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book is a wonder-filled romp through the world of mathematics.
For more information, click here.
David Schwartz is a member of iNK's Authors on Call and is available for classroom programs through Field Trip Zoom, a terrific technology that requires only a computer, wifi, and a webcam. Click here to find out more.

MLA Citation
Schwartz, David M. "If the Earth Were a Button." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think
Tank, 16 Jan. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
If-the-Earth-Were-a-Button.

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Sun Attack! 1852 When Earth Needed Some SPF8000 Sunscreen

1/26/2022

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Jan Adkins
The Explainer General

September 1, 1852, British astronomer Richard Carrington was sketching the pattern of sunspots being projected from his telescope onto a white panel. Suddenly, a rare white-light solar flare outshone the rest of the image. Trouble was on its way!

The revolving molten core of our Earth generates a magnetic field – the magnetosphere – that not only orients our compasses but protects us from the sun’s lethal radiation. Intense charged particles from the sun are magnetically bent around the earth. Some follow magnetic lines into the poles and light up the arctic and antarctic skies as aurorae. Periodically, during times of intense surface disturbance, giant flares of energy can burst out of the sun: CMEs, coronal mass ejections. They’re directional and they seldom hit earth. When they do, the most powerful can punch through our magnetosphere.

On September 2, 1852, Carrington’s flare energy reached the earth and danced along the copper wires of our (then) new telegraph system. Hundreds of miles of wire burst into flames. Telegraph offices burned down, operators at their keys were knocked back by severe shocks, instruments and switches melted. For two days the telegraph system that wasn’t destroyed sent nonsense. Then spectacular aurorae that lit up the skies, they, finally, proved that the sun’s energy was the aurora’s source. Aurorae were seen all over the world, even near the equator. After two days the effects ceased.

Could it happen again? It has. In 1882, a flare melted telegraph equipment in Chicago. In 1902, solar energy disrupted the Atlantic telegraph cable and shut down Swiss electric trollies. In 1940, hundreds of miles of American telegraph and telephone lines were destroyed. A solar flare in 1989 almost forced the Space Shuttle Discovery to return to earth early and knocked out Quebec’s electricity; only quick action in New Jersey, where a major transformer melted, saved the United States’ east coast from a long blackout. In 2003, a powerful flare destroyed or disabled many satellites, damaged instruments on our Mars orbiter, and sent the crew of the International Space Station into its flare-shielded module. In 2005, our GPS navigation satellite constellation was knocked out for 10 minutes.

All the life and energy we have comes from the sun. But that energy, itself, is dangerous. We’re partially protected by our magnetosphere. Hope for the best and reach for the sunscreen.

A solar flare erupted on the right side of the sun on Oct. 2, 2014, while a cloud of solar material just below was flung out into space. Image Credit: NASA/SDO/ Wiessinger

Adkins new book is about the first drive in an automobile. The wife of the inventor took her kids to see their grandparents.

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Take the Helicopter Pilot Challenge

1/25/2022

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Vicki Cobb
The Master Chef of Kids' Hands-on Science

Think you might like to be a helicopter pilot?  If so, here’s what the U.S. Flight Aptitude Selection Test for helicopter pilots says:  “Helicopter pilots must pass some of the most demanding physical tests of any job in the military. To be accepted for pilot training, applicants must have excellent vision and be in top physical condition. They must have very good eye-hand-foot coordination and have quick reflexes.”

    A sense of balance is also extremely important because sometimes instruments alone are not enough to keep a helicopter oriented properly in the air.  Pilots may have to make very subtle corrections. So here’s a test for balance. Be forewarned. Not many people can do this, maybe one in twenty.

1.    Stand at attention.

2.    Make two fists and extend your arms straight down by your sides. Point your index fingers to the ground.

3.    Close your eyes.

4.    Bend one leg back at the knee so that your lower leg is parallel to the floor and you are standing on one foot. Don’t let your foot droop. You must maintain your knee at a right angle.

5.    Keep your eyes closed and hold this position for ninety seconds.

6.    Try not to shake.

    I learned about this from a Scotsman who told me about this test to qualify for the British Royal Air Force.  He couldn't pass it, nor could I.  In fact, no one I knew could rise to the helicopter pilot challenge except a Navy pilot in my family.  He held the position perfectly for two minutes. Solid like a rock.  No problem.

    It’s clear that when it comes to certain skills not everyone is equal.  Some people are not even close.  So very few people are in the running to become helicopter pilots. You're probably not one of them but this may change with training.

This young man is an athlete who actually wants to be a helicopter pilot. He passed the test and is holding the correct position. Not sure if the bare feet helped. Photo credit: Alexandra Siy

Vicki Cobb is a former science teacher with a M.A. in secondary school science. She is also the founder and president of iNK Think Tank, the group that is producing The Nonfiction Minute. Thanks, Vicki!

Check out How Could We Harness a Hurricane?. To find out more about this book and other books that Vicki has written, click here.

Vicki Cobb is a member of iNK's Authors on Call and is available for classroom programs through Field Trip Zoom, a terrific technology that requires only a computer, wifi, and a webcam. Click here to find out more.

MLA 8 CItation
Cobb, Vicki. "Take the Helicopter Pilot Challenge." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 4 Jan. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/ Take-the-Helicopter-Pilot-Challenge.

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Morty Makes a Stink

1/24/2022

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Peggy Thomas
Curiosity Queen: writing science, history, and everything in between

Regular visiting hours are over at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens, but the line to see Morty reaches out the door. It’s an event that comes once in a decade, so I’m happy to wait for my chance to see, and smell, what’s inside.

A year ago the Botanical Gardens acquired corms or bulbs of a tropical plant called the corpse flower. These aren’t little tulip bulbs you hold in your hand. The corpse flower corm weighs 120 pounds and looks like a giant potato. A corm that big needs a lot of energy to grow, so, it spends several months dormant underground. When the first hint of green peeks through the soil, it’s a guessing game as to what it will look like. Most of the time, the corpse flower will send up a slender shoot and one complex leaf that looks like a tree canopy. Through photosynthesis, this leaf will provide energy that will be stored in the corm. When there is enough energy stored up, Morty will flower. And that’s what I’m excited to witness.

Weaving my way through displays of cactus, palms, and banana trees, I wonder if someone forgot to take the trash out. The odor of rotting meat wrinkles my nose, and I realize why Morty is called a corpse flower. As we move closer, the air grows thicker. This plant has been dumpster diving.

The stink Morty sends forth is the plant’s way to attract pollinators in its native jungle of Sumatra. The flower only lasts a day or two, so the scent has to be pungent enough to quickly draw in dung beetles and carrion flies that will collect the pollen and distribute it to other plants before it wilts. It’s curiosity that lures me in.

I round the corner and catch my first glimpse of the stinker. Since it poked out of the ground it has grown five to six inches every day, and now Morty’s seven-foot spire, called a spadix, towers over me. I have to step back to catch the entire plant in my camera lens. Like a wicked witch’s collar, Morty wears a single pleated, blood red flower petal wrapped around the spadix. By midnight the flower will be fully opened and have reached maximum reek.

I click more pictures and take a deep breath. It will be a long time before Morty blooms again, and I want to remember every smelly detail.

Peggy Thomas certainly is a Curiosity Queen. You'll recall that her last Nonfiction Minute showed her taking an elephant's temperature -- not an easy task. Her book Anatomy of Nonfiction shows other authors how to write about real events.
To read about some of Peggy's other adventures and to find out about her books, visit her website.

MLA 8 Citation
Thomas, Peggy. "Morty Makes a Stink." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 9 01 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/Morty-Makes-a-Stink.

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Marquis de Lafayette: Revolutionary Hero and Washington’s Adopted Son

If the Earth Were a Button

Sun Attack! 1852 When Earth Needed Some SPF8000 Sunscreen

Take the Helicopter Pilot Challenge

Morty Makes a Stink

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