Science Year - the big jump

August 23, 2001

Are anyone`s school children (who are already back at school) taking

part in the big jump? I heard about it from a New Sccientist Mailing.

Sadly it is only 2 days after ours go back to school - so not much time

for them to to get involved - though I will tell the school what I know.

Info follows. Barbara

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SCHOOLKIDS will be jumping up and down all over Britain in two weeks'

time. The Giant Jump, which launches Britain's Science Year, will take

place on 7 September at 11 am and go straight into The Guinness Book of

Records as " the greatest simultaneous jump in history " .

Everyone taking part will jump for one minute, and the results will be

monitored on seismometers and sensing equipment. Although this is the

largest jump that has been attempted, it will not be the first time that

people jumping up and down have caused the ground to shake. Alice

, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey, recalls: " In

November 1995, Londoners contacted Scotland Yard claiming they had

experienced an earthquake tremor. Investigations revealed that 20,000

rock fans had been jumping up and down to Oasis in Earl's Court, and

tremors were being reported from up to one mile away. It will be

interesting to see if hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of

school students can beat Oasis. "

Science Year, which runs from September 2001 to August 2002, aims to

raise awareness of science among young people aged 10 to 19 years. See

www.scienceyear.com to find out more. If any readers further afield have

seismological equipment, let us know if the tremors caused by the

British jump travel round the world.

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