Questions

Bethany
Mrs. Medenica
Science 7B
May 13, 2013

Questions

1. In my model the large styrofoam ball represented the sun that stayed in one place the smaller one was used for the moon that rotated around the sun.

2. Half of the moon is showing when you shine a light on the moon which looks like the First Quarter or the Third Quarter.

3. The drawing that has no shadow over the circle is a full moon. A new moon has a shadow over the entire thing. A waxing crescent has a shadow over most of it on the lift side. A waning gibbus has most of the moon covered on the left side.

4. Whenever you rotated the light the ball always lit up halfway since the ball was always in one place and the light shone on different parts of the moon.

5. The part that was lit by the lamp was the top and bottom because whenever the sun shines on the moon it always shines on one side. I think that the darkness of the moon is caused by an eclipse because the moon eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its shadow.

6. I think that this experiment helped solidify the phases of the moon and how they occur. I was also able to get a clearer picture. Some disadvantages were that you couldn't really see where there was always light. Another way to do this experiment is to use two pieces of paper and show the different phases of the moon while covering the piece of paper. 

Jupiter Still Has Water From 1994

Bethany

Mrs.Medenica

Science 7B

May 6 2013

Article by Meggan Gannon

Published: May 6, 2013

URL: http://www.space.com/20796-jupiter-water-comet-crash-1994.html

Jupiter Still Has Water from 1994



      

        It is known that the stratosphere in Jupiter is filled with water. This was delivered by a  cataclysmic comet crash, on July, 1994, the comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in more then 20 broken pieces. This crash gave Jupiter scars that are large enough to be seen by small telescopes on earth. Comets are made up of ice which dropped loads of water on Jupiter and a little on Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.  Though the scientists are not sure if those three planets got the water from the comet because there are the other possibilities that there was a steady rain interplanetary (between planets) dust particles.  Water vapor was first spotted in Jupiter's higher atmosphere by the European Space Agency's in 1997. Scientists are still thinking about other possibilities about where the water came from they are sure that the water hadn't risen from the inner part of Jupiters atmosphere because there's a vapor-blocking "cold trap" that separates Jupiter's stratosphere from the clouds in its troposphere that is below. Cavalié states in a report written by the ESA, "According to our models, as much as 95 percent of the water in the stratosphere is due to the comet impact," Cavalie also states, "All four giant planets in the outer solar system have water in their atmospheres, but there may be four different scenarios for how they got it." 

       This relates to what we have been doing in class because we have been talking about the stratosphere and troposphere that are on earth. I chose this article because I thought that it would explain whether or not the layers of the earth are similar, same, or different  on different planets. This also relates on what we have been doing in class because we talked about different planets also the atmosphere on earth though this article talked about the atmosphere on Jupiter which was interesting because you get to compare. Overall I enjoyed this article though sometimes it was a bit hard to understand. 



Hurricane Sandy

Bethany
Climate Change Impacts to U.S. Coasts Threaten Public Health, Safety and Economy
1/28/201
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3496#.URnAHx3AeYQ

        There has been another worry in the U.S since according to the new technical report the constant effects in the climate will the health of the U.S coastal communities and social, economic and natural systems. The climate changing also has an impact on on coastal ecosystems and  kinds of scientific data, planning tools and resources that coastal communities and resource managers need to help them adapt to the different climate changes. Since the coast is highly dangerous during the climate change for example: sea-level rise, erosion, storms and flooding, especially in the more populated low-lying parts of the U.S. coast along the Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Atlantic, northern Alaska, Hawaii, and island territories. 

      This relates to what we are studying in class because we are studying earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami's and since hurricanes are caused by the mixing of climate change this definitely relates to hurricanes. Also part of the article related to Hurricane Sandy and it talked a lot about how the climate change was worst near the coast which is true because hurricanes occur most by the coast. Hurricanes occur in water. In conclusion I think this article was very serious and I didn't really enjoy reading it. I think the article should have more pictures to help you explain. Overall I didn't like reading this article but it did have a huge relation to hurricanes which gave me more information about them! 

Hurricanes

Bethany

Mrs. Medenica  

Science 7B

19 March 2013  

                                                                               Hurricanes     

             "A tropical cyclone with winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour or greater that occurs especially in the western Atlantic, that is usually accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning, and that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes" -- Merriam Webster. In other words a hurricane is a storm with strong and violent winds. Did you know that around five to nine hurricanes happen per year (during hurricane season) and also hurricanes are not just a strong wind, they also can cause tornadoes.

           

              Hurricanes occur when hot and cold climates mix together. This forms a cloud, shaped like a funnel. Hurricanes always form over the ocean. Hurricanes form in the Pacific Ocean (most active on the Western side),  The Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic.  For example: In the Atlantic ocean during 2005 there was one of the most deadliest and most destructive hurricanes, this hurricane was called, Hurricane Katrina. 1,833 people died because of flooding. The total property damage was an estimation of $81 billion. This also shows what the results are of a hurricane. There are many effects of a hurricane, one is storm surge. Storm surge is the rising of the sea level. This is caused when strong winds push the water towards land. Another effect is, heavy rainfall. Heavy rainfall is caused by the hurricane because of when the wind is pushing the water toward land. The rainfall varies from six to 12 inches. One more effect of hurricanes are that sometimes tornadoes are produced by them. Some hurricanes produce several hurricanes while some produce none. They are produced on the front, right quadrant of the hurricane. A quadrant is, "Each of four quarters of a circle" --dictionary.com. 

      You may wondering what people are doing to try to find out if a hurricane is coming their way. The truth is that they have many ways. Have you ever wondered when you were swimming in the ocean why there were colorful buoys around you? Buoys provide information that is provided below the sea including air and water temperature, wave height, and wind direction and speed. Another way are satellites, the satellites provide snapshots of the earth. They can also analyze cloud structures and read the temperature of the earths surface. There are three different warnings. The first warning is called a, Hurricane watch. A hurricane watch tells people that there is a possible hurricane in the area. The next warning is called, Hurricane warning. A hurricane warning is when an announcement is made that a hurricane is expected to come. The last warning is, Extreme wind Warning. Extreme wind warning means that the hurricane is traveling 115mph or greater and that you should take immediate action. 

      There are many benefits with many of the solutions to the problems. They are really good because they help us contact the citizens of the town so that they can be possibly evacuated, it could save many lives. When using buoys, this is a really good way to raise awareness on future hurricanes. One it is easy to see, and they are placed everywhere and also it doesn't take much energy. 

       In conclusion as you can see hurricanes are very destructive and science can help us by using buoys and satellites. Science is used when working with buoys because you need to know where to put them. You use science to measure how deep the water is in certain places and where there is the most current or where hurricanes have happened before. Since these satellites are research satellites, different then navigation satellites and communication satellites. The satellites help the scientists by taking snapshots of the world so that they can research them and see if the hurricane is coming toward their city and how strong and fast the hurricane is going. 

       

                                                         Hurricane Sandy 

Works Cited

"How Do Hurricanes Form?" :: NASA's The Space Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Hurricane Basics: What Is a Hurricane?" Hurricane Basics: What Is a Hurricane? N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Hurricane Katrina." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"HurricaneAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Hurricanes and Tornadoes." Hurricanes and Tornadoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Predicting Hurricanes: Times Have Changed." NOAA 200th Feature Stories: Predicting Hurricanes. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"United States." AccuWeather. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Where Do Hurricanes Occur Most Often?" WikiAnswers. Answers, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

"Why Do Hurricanes Occur?" WikiAnswers. Answers, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

Name: Bethany 7B
Title:"Bionic" Contact Lens May Create Tiny Personal Displays
Author: Joab Jackson
Published: January 29, 2013
URL. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080129-bionic-eye_2.html

         "A new contact lens embedded with electronic circuits could be the seed for "bionic eyes" that can see displays overlaid on a person's field of view" researchers say. Did you know that people have made contact lenses that can give you a readout such as driving directions or the go web searching. First they had to find out how to get the surface of the lens so the electronics didn't block regular vision.The researchers also had to find out how to get electric circuit onto the contact lense with only a slight increase of weight. Instead of putting the direct circuit on the contact lense they made a nano size metal components and mixed them together so that they appeared like a fine powder.This powder was then placed in a vial of fluid and poured over a pitted lens surface.

      This is fascinating not only that the lense can help you in many different ways it could also just be used for simple everyday things like driving a car a short distance. In conclusion I wonder if you could be able to see the little electromagnet on the lense when you are wearing it. What would happen if the powder slid off would it just be a normal lense? 
 



 

Making Waves Lab

Bethany
7B
Science
1/12/2012

Making Waves Lab

Guiding Question: 

1. When Water is dropped from a pipette into a pan of water, how does the wave behave?

2. What properties does a mechanical wave have?

3. How do waves interact with each other and with solid objects in their paths? 

Hypothesis (to question 3):

I think that when a wave interacts with a sold object they cannot go through  the barrier. I think that the wave with crash into the solid object and then crash back into a lighter wave. This also will allow a small splash. This depends on how big the wave is. Also if there was a gap I think only a little bit of water would go through because the wave would all be trying to go through the gap at once.

 Data analysis

            Our experiment was to see how the water would react when we put barriers or dropped drops of water in different parts of the container. I learned that when the wave hits a barrier it cannot go through it instead the wave bounces back from the barrier. If there is a gap between two barriers the water will go through the gap once it has entered the other side it grows calm. This is because a drop of water doesn't have enough force to continue the wave. If the drop of water had lots more force, the wave would go between the barriers and still have enough force to continue the wave. When we placed a cork in the water to represent a boat we found out that it needs more force and if the cork did move then it would go very slowly in one direction. If a barrier was in the boats way it would just bob up and down. It wouldn't go through the slit between the barriers. We also found out that it matters where the droplet of water lands. If you drop some water in the middle the waves with be circular. If you drop the water in a corner it would make half circles smaller then gradually growing bigger. If you tap the side of the pan it would make square waves. This is cool because I understood that there were different types of waves but I never did more research to determine how these waves are made!


        When we did the, "Make waves with a faucet" game I found out that it was sort of the same as what we did because if we placed the faucet in the middle it would make circular waves. Same as if we used a pipette. Also the bigger the drop the stronger the wave was. If we did the continuation of drops in a fast pace the waves would never stop or slow down and the waves would be very close together. If we did the drops in a very slow pace the waves would die out until another large drop of water came. The waves slowed down even faster when the drop of water was very small. If the drop of water was tiny there would not be any wave that you cold see. If you looked at the graph there was a small disturbance in the water but not much because of how small the drop of water was. You could also notice the darker the lines the stronger the wave was. I wonder what would happen if the faucet was farther up? Would the wave be stronger because the drop of water was falling from greater heights? Does it matter how high you hold the faucet/ pipette?


         In conclusion my hypothesis was correct for question three because the wave couldn't go through the clay, the wave was not strong enough to create any splash but I think it would have if the wave were bigger. Also my hypothesis was correct and incorrect because I said that only only a little bit of water would escape. This is true but it is also incorrect because the water wasn't fighting to get between the gap. I wonder if we had tiny holes in the clay would water go through them? Next time I think we should try different things with the clay. Also it would be fun if we created bigger waves with heavier forces so that our data can be more accurate! I also wonder what would happen if the white container was tipped slightly!

Rocky Exoplanets May Be 'Squishy' Worlds

Bethany 7B

By Irene Klotz
Thu Nov 22, 2012

http://news.discovery.com/space/exoplanet-super-earth-pressure-heat-metal-121122.htm

Rocky Exoplanets May Be 'Squishy' Worlds

Did you know that Planets beyond the solar system that are bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune could have large areas of liquid metal and life-protecting magnetic shields? As laboratory test shows, “Under the heat and pressure that exist inside super-Earths, magnesium oxide and other minerals commonly found in the rocky mantles of the terrestrial planets, transform into liquid metals” Researchers are trying to figure out if these metals could help medical conditions or help us in any other way. The liquid metal might be able to stop a physics phenomenon called a "dynamo" which means action, which is responsible for generating magnetic fields. "It is often thought that a planetary magnetic field protects life on a planet's surface from harmful space radiation, like cosmic rays. What we find is that magnetic fields may exist on more super-Earth planets than expected, resulting from the transformation of the planet's rocks to metals in the deep interior. This could create new environments for life in the universe," geophysicist Stewart McWilliams. This is really cool because who knew that there could be another life in the universe! The article was really interesting since it talked about different points of view. First the point of view of a scientist and how they zapped a piece of metal to make it liquid, to the point of view of researchers and then to the point of view of a geophysicist. I wonder what would happen if there was another planet that is usable for humans! Would everyone leave earth to go to the different planet?

             

        This is related to science because space is studied a lot in science! Also scientists were involved in this activity by doing experiments with the metal! The article was really interesting and I would recommend the article to anyone who is interested in space. I would also recommend this article to people who enjoy reading a good article that is interesting. This would definitely fit the description if interesting! I really enjoyed it!

Tasmanian Devils to Get Their Own Island

Friday November 16, 2012

Content provided by AFP

http://news.discovery.com/animals/tasmanian-devil-island-121116.html

         

        Up until now I never knew what Tasmanian devils were! Now I am finding out that the Tasmanian devils are being transferred to a small Australian island to start a new life without the scars of what had happened with their species all because of the tumor disease. The Tasmanian devils will be released on Thursday, November 21, 2012 on Maria Island, a nature sanctuary off the state's east coast. This is good because it is a major step to stop extinction of wild animals. "The Maria Island translocation is designed to establish a self-sustaining population of healthy wild devils in a safe haven where they are protected from interaction with the deadly facial tumor disease," Wightman said. Did you know that the tumor was discovered in 1996 and since Tasmania is the only country with these animals roaming freely the numbers of Tasmanian devils have decreased 91% to the low 10,000! Thank goodness that not the entire state has affected the Tasmanian devils there are still some parts that are disease free! “If successful authorities plan to increase the overall population on Maria Island over the next two years to about 50 animals.” Wightman says. In my opinion this is great! I really like how the people in Tasmania are taking action!

            This is related to science because when we study animals we are studying science! When I was reading this article I thought that this connected to what we were studying because we are talking about how science takes action and how we can help. This is talking about the people of Tasmania wanting to help a wild species so they decide to send them to the island! I really enjoyed reading this article because usually I read about depressing articles about animals! In conclusion before I read this article I didn’t know what Tasmanian devils were! Now I want to learn more about them!

DIRT!

         DIRT 

           I have learned a lot more about dirt then I have ever known in my life! For example: How a teaspoon of dirt can be more living then we are! I liked when the school removed sheets of concrete and the dirt cartoon looked overjoyed! I enjoyed watching the school do compost and plant rows of plants! Also there are layers of dirt! Did you know that the earth is 10 percent dirt? Also in this movie I enjoyed hearing different peoples opinion on how the dirt effects there lives! I also found out that some people eat dirt! Imagine having to eat dirt for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I also learned that some farms grow only one crop! This is called monoculture. This is bad because you want to have different types of plants to keep the soil healthy! I also learned that people are farming and then donating to local shelters. This is great because it allows people to have fresh fruits and vegetables! In conclusion I never thought that dirt could be so important! I was especially surprised about my first fact!


      When I think about dirt I think about worms, I personally do not like worms! When i'm in the forest I get very calm but not because of the soil. I hear the birds chirping, and the trees swaying. Basically dirt for me is not calming but the forest is! I was really surprised to here how many farmers in India committed suicide! I was especially surprised that they would kill themselves when they had a family to feed! We can always have more cautious about what is happening to the earth! For example the dirt! If the dirt is all dried up and you can't grow anything this effects lots of daily lives! I think everything you do to help the planet even how small it is you are still helping! Also think about everything you are not doing to help the planet. Pretend that you threw a bottle cap on the grass. Imagine if you threw something on the grass everyday? All of that builds up and you may not realize it. I feel that we should help our ecosystem because this can effect our planet immensely even if it is really small. Just like the hummingbirds!  

100-Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Found in Amber

Title: 100-Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Found in Amber
Author: Megan Gannon 
URL: http://news.discovery.com/animals/spider-attack-amber-121009.html
Article Published: Monday October 8, 2012

          Did you know that researchers have found a 100 million year old spider that was trapped in a lump of amber with a wasp! You could even see 15 intact strands of web! The scientists think that the spider was just enjoying a meal of the tiny parasitic wasp but instead of happily eating the wasp, the tree that the web was in had other ideas... Just than a drop of amber fell onto the spider and the wasp! Poinar and Ron Buckley, an amber collector from Kentucky, described this find in the paper. I quote, "There is no previous fossil record of a spider attacking its ensnared prey." This is also said by Poinar and Ron Buckley. The amber chunk also apparently held a male spider which is assumed to show evidence of of social behavior according to Megan Gannon. Both the spider and wasp species are extinct today.The type of wasp (Cascoscelio incassus) belongs to a group that today is known to parasitize spider eggs, Poinor says, "The attack on the wasp by the bristly orb-weaver spider, might then be considered revenge."

       I really like this article because I think it is very interesting, especially at the end when they say that it might be considered as revenge! This is funny to think because sometimes whenever we get mad at someone we prepare revenge! I also really like this article because of how well they described the fossil. This relates to science because animals are science! Once again I really liked this article and I would recommend it to anyone!

PANDAS

Zoo Panda Cubs Face Tough Beginnings

Article published: September 24, 2012

URL: http://news.discovery.com/animals/giant-panda-cub-zoos-120924.html 

By: Jennifer Viegas                                   

     A panda cub died on September 23, 2012 in the zoo in Atlanta. It is said that the mother had water in her abdomen and a slightly unreal liver. This is bad because did you know that only 1,600 pandas remain in the wild? This is mainly caused by the habitat loss and fragile cubs. Even though scientists have tried placing cameras in the wild to monitor the baby cubs the way the cubs grow up in the wild are different from those who grow up at the zoo. The Atlanta zoo’s pandas have just gave birth to three cubs! They are very protective over the cubs. Just as Snyder says, "It's just that giant panda cubs are extremely vulnerable. They are the most altricial (born in an undeveloped state) of all placental mammals.

      This is related to what we are studying so far because we have been studying placental mammals and this is how panda cubs are born! We have also been studying about invertebrates and vertebrates and a panda is a vertebrate! I think that this was a very interesting article, and very sad because I never knew that there were just 1,600 more pandas in the wild. Of course it is only in the wild not counting zoos. Still if you think about it’s not that much compared to the huge world we are living in now! I really like pandas and I am hoping that their population grows!  

By: Bethany