11-24-21

Some of you may have already seen my post on Facebook so this won’t be news. But one of G3’s short stories has been accepted for publication. It will be in a print journal — which is awesome because he will always be able to keep the book in which his first story appeared — that publishes work written by high school and middle school students. He is really excited about this. I think he feels as proud of himself with this as he did when he earned his black black in Taekwondo. Of course, I, too,, am exceptionally proud of him. The story that was accepted many of you probably already read last year. It’s the one about the wooden horse. It’s a story G3 wrote all on his own with absolutely no prompting from me. Though I was happy to critique it and act as his editor. He is now working on another short story, “If I got one published, that means I can probably get others published too, right?” He asked me, excitement derailing all of his other work yesterday. I nodded. There is no reason he can’t get more of his work out into the world, especially since he is still so young and creative. 

But unfortunately, he can’t spend his entire day working on fiction. He is only in sixth grade which means he has to push his way through the core subjects as well. One of those core subjects is science which as you already know I not qualified to teach. I do my best, but I am still terrible — the main reason we need to get G3 back into school soon. To compensate for what I can’t do, I’ve had G3 work on his research and writing skills. He may have some catching up to do as far as content and and lab work, but he will be more than prepared to write papers. Reading, extracting information, and conveying it in a cohesive manner is something he can do well. I am curious to see how his skills will serve him once he does return to real school. 

For his latest research paper, I allowed him to choose whatever topic he wanted to explore as long is it somehow touched upon science. Even when he looks at something scientific, you can see he is still influenced by literature and culture. I guess that just makes him a little more well rounded. Yes, the science interests him, but also the mythology behind the science. You saw that in his paper about the constellations, and you will see it again here in his paper about the Giant’s Causeway. This paper is just one more reason for me to get him back into real school. Hopefully, once he can enroll in school, I’ll be able to find a paying job and then we can both go visit all these lovely places he has explored while he’s been my student.

Giant’s Causeway

When I was at my grandparents’ house as a toddler, my mom read me a book about Finn McCool every time I visited which was once or twice a month. I loved it. Now, almost seven years later, I am writing about the causeway he built. But I didn’t write this paper because of the book. I am writing this because I saw a documentary about the math aspect of the causeway. The documentary showed how hexagons are the most natural shape. They appear more than any other shape in nature. This gets me to telling you what I will write about. I am obviously writing about the Giant’s Causeway, but I will write about the science and the mythology behind it.

According to Irish mythology, Finn McCool was a half divine giant and an Irish hero. He was unbeatable in a fight. But a Scottish giant kept yelling insults at him across the Irish Sea because he thought he could easily beat McCool. According to different stories I read, his name is Benandonner or Finn Gaul. One day, McCool had enough. He started building a giant causeway across the Irish Sea. Cutting the stones into hexagons with his axe he built his causeway all the way to Scotland to Finn Gaul’s cave (or house). When McCool saw the size of Gaul he ran home because the giant was bigger than he was. When he got home, his wife, Oonagh, knew Gaul was soon to follow, so she dressed up her husband as a baby and told him to go lie down in bed. As Oonagh suspected, Gaul came and Oonagh told him that her husband was soon to be home. He noticed McCool’s “baby’’ and thought: “If that is the size of the baby then how big is the father?” He ran back home to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he went. That is why the only two pieces left are The Giants Causeway in Ireland and Fingal’s cave in Scotland. The cave is called Fingal’s cave in honor of Finn Gaul. 

Now the real and scientific explanation is much different. The causeway was made from basalt. This is a type of rock that is made from cooled lava. From samples of the basalt, scientists estimate that the causeway is between 60 to 50 million years old. It has about 40,000 columns that have four to eight sides but most of them are hexagons. Hexagons are very important in earth science. This is because polygons are the most natural shapes and the easiest to make. This is due to some very hard formula. Another example of hexagons appearing in nature is honey combs. Scientist think the causeway was created when there was a flood of lava. Then, due to both the cooling air and water, the basalt started to settle. Finally, the basalt cracked into many polygonal shapes. The basalt is thought to have cracked between 1,544 and 1,634 degrees Fahrenheit.

Giant’s Causeway is one of nine places in the world with hexagonal columns. Another one of these mathematic wonders is Fingal’s cave. Places like these even exist on mars. All these places did have different cooling rates for the lava. The Giant’s Causeway is, I would say, the most famous. This is probably because of the mythology. With columns reaching 330 feet high, it was deemed a world heritage site in 1986. Scientists have studied it ever since 1693 and Thomas Molneux proved it occurred naturally in 1694. Thirty thousand people visit this causeway every year. When it was first opened for tourists in the 1700s, people were allowed to take pieces of the causeway with them as souvenirs. This atrocity did stop, however, in 1949. It was later given to National Trust for preservation. Of the 200 acres of protected land along the sea, the Giant’s Causeway is clearly the most popular attraction. But the land also holds many beautiful seashores, marshes, grasslands, and fifty bird species.  

This is now on my list of places I most want to visit. It is because the land is just probably beautiful.

Bibliography

“Giants Causeway.” Encyclopedia Britannica,https://www.britannica.com/place/Giants-Causway

“Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast.” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/369/

“How Giant’s Causeway Formed the Spectacular Array of Columns.” Smithsonian, https://www.smithsonianag.com/smart-news/researchers-reveal-how-gints-causway-was-formed-18096880/HowGiantsCauswayFormedItsSpectacularArrayofColumns

“Scientists Solve Mystery of How Giant’s Causeway Was formed,” The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/12/scientists-solve-mystery-of-how-giants-causeway-was-formed

McInerney, Kellie. “The Legend of Giant’s Causeway.” Highlights for Children, vol. 62, no. 3, Mar. 2007, pp. 40+

“Giant Mystery Cracked. (Discoveries).” Current Science, a Weekly reader publication, vol. 87, 

no. 14, 22 Mar. 2002, p.13.