Thanksgiving Day science - Collecting wishbones

Showing my wishing rock at a recent workshop....

Hey, ​young scientists,​ I thought you would like to do some Thanksgiving Day ​ science.

What do you think? Are you up for it? :) I bet you are...........so, here goes:
​

WISHBONES
I collect chicken and turkey wishbones.

Why? Well, because I can break them with someone and we can both make a wish and send it to someone we care for.

But, as exciting for me, I collect them because there’s a great deal of scientific interest in chicken and turkey wishbones.

The V shaped bone that we call the wishbone is named the ​FURCULA ​bone by the​ ​scientists who dig for dinosaur fossils. It turns out that bird-like dinosaurs​ had the same shape bone, and is, thus, a major link to the modern bird!!

Can you imagine that? Chickens and turkeys -and all birds, in fact - are descendants of dinosaurs? Amazing, isn’t it?

After Thanksgiving Dinner, I clean my wishbone in warm, soapy water. If I want to make it shiny white, I put my wishbone in a small saucer of hydrogen peroxide.​ ​

When it's bleached a really shiny white, I take out of the saucer, dry it and put it into a pocket museum!! I write a little note about who I had Thanksgiving Dinner with, add the date, and, hey, then, it’s added to my growing collection of pocket museums (I’ve lost count as to how many I have :) ).

Why don’t you do it? Oh, one thing, though. I don’t know when bird-like dinosaurs​ the ​ lived on planet Earth. Can you find out for me?

OK, that’s it, your Thanksgiving science..........:) 

Enjoy!

JP

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John Paull/wishbones/Thanksgiving Day science