The Cobra Snake

Cobra Snake

Cobra snakes belong to the elapidae family which are a family of venomous snakes found in tropical environments around the world. There are 270 different kinds of cobra snakes. When they are threatened or angry their necks flatten and make a hood kind of shape. This is an advantage to search for food.

They live in places in Southern Asia, Africa and East Indies. Cobra snakes enjoy the hot weather so its unlikely that they’ll be found in cold areas like Canada and places in Europe. Their habitat is in forest and near streams.

These snakes are 6 ft (2 meters) long and can vary to yellowish to dark brown in colour. Their skin is scaly and they have small heads. Cobra snakes are famous for their hoods. They flatten their necks into a hood, making it more menacing.

Cobras are cannibals which means that they eat the same species as themselves. They also eat other things including birds, rodents, bird eggs, and small mammals. The venom from cobras are deadly to humans but they aren’t capable of eating and swallowing a whole human.

They have a lot of venom in them. A single bite from these snakes can have the power to kill 20 grown men or one fully grown elephant. Cobra snakes are considered to be one of the most venomous snakes in the whole world.

The Penny Farthing Bicycle

WALHT: Use information skills to find information and combine it together using words and images to inform others.

Penny Farthings

The Penny Farthing is a type of bicycle that has two different sized wheels. One large front wheel and a much smaller wheel at the back. The front wheel can be up to 5 ft high which makes it harder to ride on. This bicycle was popular in the 1870’s till the 1890’s which was in the Victorian era.

Invention and Inspiration

It was invented in the 1870’s by James Starley and was given the name ‘Penny Farthing’ when the bicycle was nearly outdated. The name of this bike got it’s inspiration from the old British coins, pennies and farthings. When the penny is on the left and the farthing is on the right it forms the shape of the two wheels.

Getting on the Bicycle

The disadvantage of this bicycle is that it’s difficult to get on and off, and falling off of it is a serious hazard. To get onto the seat of the bike one foot would have to be placed on a peg behind the back wheel. The rider gets a hold onto the handlebar and lifts themselves onto the saddle. In most photos of people riding penny farthings they’re on clear roads since it’s most likely they’re avoiding potholes, stones and animals on the road.

Riding the Bicycle

Riding the penny farthing is similar to riding a normal bicycle. To avoid falling it’s important to pedal steadily and to keep balance. When people ride penny farthings their backs are always straight. If not it’s most likely they’ll fall off which can cause bad injuries.

The Penny Farthing Today

In the year 1888, John Dunlop re-invented his son’s tricycle which made it the new trend. Because of this it made the penny farthing obsolete (out of date). Five years later penny farthings were no longer being made. People who were interested in this bicycle adapted the design and built new penny farthings that are much more safe and easier to use.

Underwater Viewer Experiment

On May 10th, Room 8 went out on their very first scientific expedition to find out what sat at the bottom of the sea. Underwater viewers were designed and constructed to help with Room 8’s discovery. The purpose of the underwater viewers were to see things clearly beneath the water.

Our location was set at the Tamaki River. The seabed was muddy and surrounded with mangroves and mudflats. Some of the areas were easy to walk on while other surfaces were more difficult since there weren’t a lot of shells which meant it wasn’t as firm.

A lot of creatures were found on the mud including shrimp, crabs, sea slugs and sea snails which were mainly found underneath rocks. Some sea creatures left behind shells which were scattered along the areas we were examining in. Non-living items including tyres, pipes from drains, broken glass and rusty chains from the boats were also found.

The difficulty of this expedition was reaching the waters edge because at the time we experimented the tide was low. The closer we came to it, the mud became softer to a point where we got stuck. Our underwater viewers weren’t used during the expedition. If the tide wasn’t low that day, the area where we found things would have been under the water. Without the help of our device we still discovered what sat at the bottom of the sea.