Wednesday, March 21, 2007

They Might Sing Science

I've been working on a project involving 5th grade science today. One of the questions is about the sun, and, since I spent a fair amount of time reading statements like, "the sun is only a medium sized star", I had The Sun Song running through my head for much of the day

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on Earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives

We need its light, we need its heat
The sun light that we seek
The sun light comes from our own sun's
Atomic energy

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The original version is by Lou Singer and Hy Zaret (1959), but I first heard it when They Might Be Giants sang it. You can hear it at about the 14 minutes mark of this concert which is available at NPR.

They Might Be Giants sang a couple other science-themed songs. Mammal is one that comes to mind.



What other fun science songs to you know of?

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