How to Clean Dust out of your computer without Compressed Air

Okay, Today at work a computer tower was acting up.  It was covered in dust and beeping like crazy.  I really don't know what's wrong with it, so I decide to start the only place I know, to clean it.

Dusk in a desktop, or even a laptop, can cause a lot of problems.  I try to clean mine out once a year.  Well this computer has never been cleaned.  Amung all of our cleaning supplies, we do not have a can of condensed air.  But I knew that we had a balloon hand pump!

I have to say, I've cleaned computers MANY times, but this was one of the fastest.  I always struggle to clean the fans, but the hand pump cleaned them off within seconds.  It was wonderful.

I'm going to have to get one for home.  They are cheap, I just looked up the price at party city (since it's on my way home from work) and I can spend under $10 and have a few options.

Anyway I thought I would share this discovery today.  I'm sorry I've been rather awol.  There has been a lot going on right now and I'm just trying to focus on work and home for a time.

Never stop learning or questioning!
Alison

Camp: The First Two Days

I have been busier than I thought I would be the last few days.  On the upside I've been having a blast!

After my first afternoon doing this science summer camp I told my mom "I can't wait until I'm doing this for the rest of my life."  Even when I get frustrated I'm happy.  This past spring I kept thinking the words "I've arrived" when I was out at the observatory during a public night.  I keep thinking those words again.  What I mean by this is; I've become comfortable enough that I can answer most questions without prep and I am also comfortable with what I don't know.  I can enjoy the process of finding out myself or learning that I have more to learn.

Shanda and I are goofing around here.  We found these masks among other  supplies.

For example, we were talking about evaporation.  Shanda, a teacher I'm working with, posed the question "What happens if you add food coloring to water and let the water evaporate?  Does the food coloring stay in the cup or does it evaporate too?"  We were not sure of the answer and we had a discussion with the kids.  During the next break when the kids had some play time we realized that we had all the components to concoct an experiment.  In the discussion I pointed out that if you boiled sea water, you would be left with salt.

Our experiment was set up like this:  we put water, salt and blue food coloring into a ceramic mug.

Regular table salt and blue water.  Plus you can see that I took off my mask.

I then heated the mug on a hot plate to expedite the evaporation process.

Boiling blue salt water!  Next is a video if you are interested.

 We determined that we could make blue salt!  The kids thought this was very cool. 

 We had a lot of fun with this.  (Well I did at least!)  Soon we will be doing some crafts with the kids.  Hopefully I will get some good pictures of that.


I will answer the second question that I proposed soon.  I just wanted to share this first.  Again, my schedule has gotten away from me but I'm enjoying every minute of it.

I can't wait for tomorrow at camp.  Night everyone!