plasticity! :D

Recently in science class, we experimented with something called plasticity. We basically, simulated how the Earth's mantle moves. We made a mixture of water, corn starch, and food coloring. Adding the food coloring however, was optional. Mixing the water with the corn starch was slightly difficult. Once it was fully mixed, we were dealing with a substance that was half liquid and half solid. Our group mixed a little too much water in, however we were still able to see how this substance was both liquid and solid. When the starchy water was in our hands it was solid and when our fingers spread apart, it would slip through like a liquid. Actually, a drop of the mixture fell onto my shirt. After a a few seconds, the drop solidified. After a while, the water and corn starch actually dried onto my hands. The cleanup for this lab was different than usual. Using water on the tables would only make cleanup more difficult. Undoubtedly, doing this lab was an excellent way to see how the mantle moves.

October Sky

Recently, the Omega Unit has watched a movie called "October Sky". This movie features important connections to science and math. It also includes connections that can be made to character education and the C.A.R.E.S. acronym.

Character Education
C.A.R.E.S.
C.cooperation
A.assertion
R.responsibility
E.empathy
S.self-control

Several instances in "October Sky" had the viewers thinking about the aspects of character in the "C.A.R.E.S." acronym and other important facets of character. Some of these instances include:
-determination: Harvey showed absolute determination to learn about rockets in the beginning. Then he persisted and tested out different model rockets.
-respect: Homer respected the principal when he was questioned about his rocket in school, even though he already had a teacher's permission to bring it in.
-cooperation: The boys worked well together in the process of building the model rockets.
-responsibility: The boys took the responsibility of warning the train that the train tracks were unsafe to ride on.
-responsibility: Homer showed responsibility by temporarily dropping out of school to work on the mine in place of his father.

Science and Math Connections
Several science and math connections were made in "October Sky."
One connection to physical science is related to the rockets. The rockets that were launched in the sky had to come down because of gravity.
A connection that can be made to another type of science in this movie, is chemical science and the incident in the science classroom in the movie. A chemical reaction was made in the sink and caused a fire.
A math connection is made to parabolas. There was a parabola involved in the path of the flight of one of Homer's rockets.

Response to : Cystic Fibrosis

Blogger, Ashanima posted information on Cystic Fibrosis. Being that Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder, I feel that it the victims absolutely do not deserve to suffer the horrid consequences of this disease. Cystic Fibrosis causes the victim to die at the age of thirty-seven. That is a horribly young age to die at. The symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis are harsh on the individual. The fact that it causes 30,000 deaths annually is absolutely depressing. According to this blog, the pain that the individual has to withstand is unbearbable. All in all, I feel absolute sympathy for those affected by Cystic Fibrosis. They have done nothing to attain this disease, for it is simply in their alleles, and they must suffer a great deal.

Ashanima's Blog.

Down Syndrome

Down Syndrome was discovered in 1959 by Jerome Lejuene. This gentleman discovered that Down Syndrome results from having an extra chromosome. Symptoms of Down Syndrome include certain heart malformations, short stature, weak muscles. They will have short, wide necks with excess fat and skin, short arms and legs. It can induce eye conditions and celiac disease. Down Syndrome occurs when there is a second, or even third copy of the twenty first chromosome. Treatments for this disease include vocational training. Vocational training can better the development of children with Down Syndrome. It is imperative that the child with Down Syndrome has regular medical checkups. The average lifespan of an individual with Down Syndrome is 49 years. Down Syndrome occurs one in every 733 live births. This would mean there would be about 5,429 cases per year. Currently, there are 400,000 people living with Down Syndrome in the United States. Down Syndrome can occur in people of all races and economic levels. However, Down Syndrome occurs more in births of children who have mothers under thirty-five years age. As mentioned before, at a "molecular" level Down Syndrome occurs when an individual has two or three copies of the twenty-first chromosome. Personally reflecting on the information on this condition, I feel that Down Syndrome is terrible. Especially since it can affect the victim, only by having an extra copy of a chromosome. I would love to find out more information on this genetic disorder. I hope that more can be found out on Down Syndrome in the subsequent years.

DNA Animal Cell Conclusion

It was hypothesized that if the procedures were followed through correctly strands of DNA would be visible in the sports drink. Observations of this experiment included that as the sports drink was spat back into the cup and poured into the test tube, it was noticed that the color or the sports drink was less blue, and particles were visible throughout the liquid. As the lysis was added, the amount of the liquid in the test tube increased to 9mL from 7mL. As the tube was incubating in the beaker for fifteen minutes no differences were really taken note of. It has been considered that the DNA strands were not visible, because the test tube was taken out of the beaker more than it should have been. Possibly the lysis and the sports drink had not been combined exactly right. The reliability of this experiment is not the greatest, because some directions on the procedures may have been mistaken by the experimenter. However if procedures are followed carefully, the lab shows a pretty good reliability. This experiment was controlled by the fact that everyone had the same sports drink, the same amount, and the same amount of lysis. The cups and test tubes were all the same throughout. From this lab, it was learned that lab procedures must be followed precisely. However by observing another's DNA experiment, it was also shown how DNA strands from our cells appear.

Social Studies Blog 3 (international news)

Wildfire in Australia!

During the weekend of February 7, in Australia a horrid wildfire took the lives of 210. This fire will continue to kill more if the nations arid, dry conditions carry on in the southeast of Australia. So, what this means is that unless Australia receives some rainfall this wildfire will continue to blaze on. In fact Stuart Ord quotes, "This is how it will be until late March-early April unless we get some rain."

Following is the damage done by the wildfire:
2,029 homes were destroyed recently
Previously this number was 1,800.
Reparing this damage would cost in US Dollars about $504 million.
1.1 million acres have been destroyed since November.

A repeat of February 7 is what Ord called a "worst case scenario." Temperatures would rise up to 115.5 degrees Fahrenheit and wind speeds would pick up to about fifty miles an hour. However the next "major challenge" was Friday which would present temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit and wind speeds of thirty-one miles per hour.

"We have to do our very best to manage both the fatigue amongst our crew but keep going hard enough so we can contain these fires and prepare for Friday," says Russel Rees the County Fire Authority.

Hopefully Australia will be ready to take on these challenges.

Link to Original Article:
Australian wildfire danger looms for months: officials.

Roller Coasters and A Website!

Recently in science class, we have been building roller coasters and setting up small business websites for these roller coasters.

Building the coasters:

During the process of building the roller coasters we discovered more about the physics of roller coasters and the necessity life skill of money management. The physics was taught by forcing us to label the highest potential and kinetic points and having to answer inquiries about the following:
-Newton's laws of motion
-friction, mass, and acceleration

Sample Website Question:

How is Newton's first law of motion used?

The cart will stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. The cart will remain at constant velocity unless friction acts upon it.

Making websites for the small business roller coasters was a good experience. We learned how to add pages, upload pictures, and even add extras onto the website. Though there were a few problems in the process of creating the website, we had figured out how to solve it by simply switching browsers. I think that creating websites is an important skill that we should all have the opportunity to learn.

Money Management

While building roller coasters, we needed to purchase certain parts to build them with. So, we had to use none other than the fabulous currency of OMEGA MONEY. We had to learn how to earn enough and how to use it wisely so that we would have enough money to buy the parts that would make a superb roller coaster. We unfortunately did not have much money. However, with what we were given we learned how to purchase just the right amount of parts with money to spare.

Overall, the roller coasters combined several skills that all turn out to be useful. We used some creativity, common sense, money management, and learned how to make a website!

My Roller Coaster Website

Mt. Seeker 

Summer Lunch Program (Social Studies Blog 2)

(TRENTON)
More than 663,000 students receive lunches throughout the school year. A good percentage of those students cannot receive nutritious lunches during the summer, when they are away from school. Several students cannot because their families are not able to afford nutritious lunches. So, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture are offering the Summer Lunch Program. This article provides the following fact:
"In 2008, only 12 percent of the 663,000 children participating in the National School Lunch Program had access to nutritious meals in the summer."
This program began in 1976. It applies to the following people:

-those who are age eighteen or younger who have are not in the best financial situation.
-persons of age eighteen and older who have mental and physical disabilities.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture also has The Emergency Food Assistance Program. This program distributes food to soup kitchens and food pantries.

Governor Corzine earmarked* a total of 7 million dollars in funds for feeding New Jersey's hungry.


*earmaked funds are those that are dedicated for a specific prorgram of purpose.

SOURCE: http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/news/press/2009/approved/press090130.html

SUPERBOWL XLIII

The Physics Of Football
Yesterday February 1, 2009 SUPERBOWL 43 took place. This great American past-time is full of Newton's Laws of Motion. For example throwing the ball is an example of Sir Isaac Newton's first law. This law states that an object in motion will remain at constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This law also states that an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. When the football is thrown it eventually stops because the friction of the air stops it.The friction of the air is called resistance. When the football rests it will stay where it is. Throwing a football is also an example of Newton's second law. This law shows the relationship between force, acceleration, and mass. The amount of force the football player will put into throwing the ball will equal is mass multiplied by its acceleration. Or, the acceleration of the football is equal to its mass divided by the force. Newton's third law is demonstrated when football player's tackle. As one is running down the field the opposing team will attempt to tackle. This action of them tackling causes an opposite action of the other player falling down. Football is full of physics!

And I am very happy to say the Steelers won!

Special thanks to D.R.

Indian Ocean to see Solar Eclipse

Monday, January 26 will bring about an interesting, and sight to people in the Indian Ocean. There will be an annular solar eclipse. An annular solar eclipse is when the moon is positioned between the sun and the earth. However, in an annular solar eclipse the moon does not completely cover the sun, as it does in a total solar eclipse. Rather, you will see a "ring of fire" around the moon. The is depicted in the image to the left.

Fred Espanek, a veteran of eclipse watcher from NASA says that," the total eclipse track will run from west to east on Monday from 0606 GMT to 0952 GMT." Those individuals in Africa, Madagascar, Australia, Southeast India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, are lucky enough to witness the rare annular eclipse. The last annular eclipse occurred on February 7, 2007. The next annular eclipse will take place on January 15, 2010. One more eclipse for the year will be on July 22. This will be a total solar eclipse.

source: Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090123/sc_afp/spaceastronomyeclipseasiaafrica;_ylt=AjBqTLELXXuC.AyqJcFhzXaHgsgF

The Inauguration of Barack Obama, The 44th President

Yesterday, January 20th, 2009 history was made. Barack Obama the first ever African American president was inaugurated in Washington D.C., the Capitol. This post will compare two articles of different sources that have been written and published about the inauguration of Barack Obama, the now-president who has made a remarkable change to history. These articles have been taken from both the Yahoo! News and CNN websites.

The first article of Yahoo! News is entitled "Obama inauguration: Hits and Misses." From the title of the article one can tell that it was written to discuss the successful and weaker points of President Obama's inauguration. This article says that President Obama's speech was a "hit" or a stronger point of the whole inauguration. The article states, "Obama's speech was both pragmatic and hopeful. He acknowledged the nation's grim economic problems, but assured the crowd he would quickly get to work" This basically means that President Obama's speech showed that he is well aware of the nation's problems and that he would begin his work as soon as he could start.

However, the article also states that one of his misses was called "first timers." What they mean by this is that he showed a little bit of nervousness when it came to swearing in, as many witnessed in Washington D.C. or watching at home on the television. President Barack Obama had another hit with the huge crowds that attended this historic inauguration. Generally, this article is honest and to the point. The main gist is that though there may have been a few mistakes President Obama had a successful and great inauguration.

The second article taken from CNN.com is titled "CNN's political team analyzes Obama's inaugural address" Of course with this title being extremely straightforward it can be understood that the political analysts from CNN analyze President Barack Obama's inaugural speech. This article focuses mainly on the speech rather than the other parts of the inauguration of the forty-fourth president of the United States of America.

Gloria Borger says that "The problems that were here yesterday and today are still going to be here tomorrow." Later in her quote she says that the Obama administration says that they are going to take all the problems at once because "they understand this is their moment." John King says that if you read it you will find that it is "a pretty bold agena, an ambitious agenda." He askes the question at the end of his quote, "Can Barack Obama get Washington to do more than one thing at once?" Jeffery Toobin quotes: "I thought this was an extraordinary event; I didn't think this was an extraordinary speech."
As all the other CNN analysts prior to Toobin in this article, he says that there were a lot of topics presented. He found no theme in Obama's speech. A word that has been prevalent in this article so far is "rhetoric". Toobin says that there was "no rhetoric, no phrase that stuck in my mind." Roland Martin, however believes that President Obama's speech does not matter as far as he is concerned. He says that he is the first African American president ever, who has attracted a mass of supporters at the National Mall. It is for this reason that Martin believes that nothing can take away from this day; that the speech is "irrelevant." Hilary Rosen believes that President Obama has come across so strongly especially when he says that he will not change this country; that we will, and he will be our leader.

Generally, with a few exceptions CNN's political team has geared toward the more negative side in their reviews of President Barack Obama's inaugural speech. One mutual point that several of CNN's political analysts agree on is that there was no "lofty rhetoric." As I mentioned previously Toobin said that there was no phrase that stuck in his mind. Yahoo! News's article believed the inaugural speech to be a hit and that he assured Americans that he would begin his work quickly and efficiently.

The sources for this blog post are as follows
Yahoo! News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20090120/pl_ynews/ynews_pl220_5

CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/analysts.reaction/

LG to make Wristwatch Phone

LG Electronics is creating a wristwatch phone with which you can make video calls--similarly to AT&T's Video Share feature. Although many other manufacturers have already made wristwatch phones none can make video calls, as the LG model does. The phone can make a two hour call on a single charge. No pricing has been announced yet, though similar wristwatch phones cost $250 to $300. The phone is not in the United States yet, though it would run on the AT&T network, so this would be possible.

Source: MSNBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28543953/