Everybody heard about Morse alphabet and I am sure you would like to know how it looks like, how we can use it in our life and at least how it looks like to message "SOS" in Morse code. Maybe you noticed that some modern cell phones signal ’... -- ...’ are indicating activity of the “Short Message Service” - "SMS".
At first lets speak about Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) who is known for the invention and transmission of Morse code . He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Samuel Morse went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of religious philosophy, mathematics and science of horses. In 1838, Samuel Morse and his assistant, Alfred Vail, demonstrated successful telegraph device which sent messages using a special code - Morse code.
There are a lot of applications of Morse code in Mathematics, but today I want to suggest you to make Morse code too funny and interesting game for you, for your friends and your child.
So here is the Morse Code Alphabet (International):
A . __
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E .
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I . .
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M __ __
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Q __ __ . __
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U . . __
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Y __ . __ __
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B __ ...
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F . . __ .
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J . __ __ __
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N __ .
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R . __ .
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V . . . __
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Z __ __ . .
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C __ . __ .
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G __ __ .
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K __ . __
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O __ __ __
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S . . .
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W . __ __
| |
D __ . .
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H . . . .
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L . __ . .
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P . __ __ .
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T __
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X __ . . __
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Beginning of transmission __ . __. __ ; Error . . . . . . . . . . ; End of transmission . __ . __ . ; period . __ . __ . __ ; comma __ __ . . __ __ ; question . . __ __ . .
For the game we need 2 pens 2 pieces of paper and 2 flashlights. Practice by writing out a word or two using dots and dashes for letters, as shown on the chart. You'll quickly see the advantage of keeping messages short and simple. Write out a short message to your partner in Morse code, while her or she writes one to you. Leave a space between letters. For example:
. . .
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__ __ __
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. . .
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S
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O
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S
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or
....
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.
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.__..
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.__..
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__ __ __
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H
|
E
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L
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L
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O
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Take turns using the flashlights to exchange the messages. Use long and short flashes to convey dashes and dots. As you receive your partner's message, you can write the dots and dashes on paper. Then it comes more interesting part to decode the messages.
Thank you and
__... __.__ __ .
