Conclusion for Plasticity Lab

The mixture of cornstarch and water that we created in class is similar to the Earth’s mantle because they both share the common trait of plasticity. Plasticity generally means ability to be shaped or formed. In our experiment, we mixed corn starch with just the right amount of water. If we put too much water, then we would end up with a mixture that is too much like water. When the mixture was just right, meaning when it was hard to stir it and the spoon started bending; it was mostly like and amorphous solid. It looked as if it was water, but in reality, it was just a solid that transformed into a liquid. We then took it out of the beaker and rolled it up into a ball. When we stopped exerting pressure, it melted and became liquid. This is just like the mantle because if it stopped receiving pressure from both sides such as the core and the crust, then the mantle would melt just like the goo we made.

October Sky

Recently, I have finished watching the movie known as "October Sky". This movie is about a young man who hopes to build a rocket after the launch of Sputnik in the late 1950's. In this movie, there are many aspects of science and math, such as the rocket. Building a rocket is complex because the math used to create it is calculus. The angle of placement of the rocket must be perpendicular to the ground so that the angle of elevation is 90 degrees, causing the rocket to go straight up. Also, the angle of trajectory must be precise so that the rocket does not fall anywhere hazardous when launching the rocket. Next, these young adults were all in a school in hope of entering the Intel Science fair and winning it. This science fair is a place where all of the most renowned high schools students go to show off their amazing inventions. Most people who win get full scholarships to the school of their choice. Over the years, the people who have win the science fair have gone on to make a name for themselves, to become successful, and to have an effect on the future. In my opinion, it is unbelievable that boys from a coal mining town were able to overcome all odds and win the science fair.

Not only did this movie relate to math and science it also related to character education traits. Cooperation, assertion, respect, and self-control are all used well in this movie. It showed self-control because Homer's father never even cared about his hobbies, all he wanted was that he would be a coal miner. Homer never acted out towards his father except in one scene where he yelled at him. In addition, all the boys showed great cooperation and respect for each other because it is hard to build a rocket with your friends, especially when one of the people who built the rocket with them was shunned by all of the other people in the school. They may have gotten into some fights, but they pulled it off. Lastly, this movie showed assertion because above all of the doubters out in the world, and especially to their city, they asserted themselves and believed that they could do it. When they finally looked up and saw that their rocket was out of sight, they knew that they have succeeded. This miraculous story touched my heart and let me know that anything is possible.

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Response to Canavan Disease

Recently, I have discovered about the terrifying disease called Canavan Disease. This disease called Canavan disease is a disease where the child is not able to live past the ge of ten. I can not picture having an abnormally large, poorly controlled head.Also,. According to the publisher, it is known to make you mentally retarded This makes me feel very sad for the people who have come down with this improbable, but highly dangerous disease. It is a disapointment for all of the people who have come down with this horrible disease, which does not permit anybody to who has this to live a long fruitful life. Even though they are not able to live the life they wanted, they have much sympathy from me.

Klinefelter syndrome

Imagine that you are unable to reproduce because of a extra sex chromosome that you were born with. Klinefelter syndrome is disease where you are infertile and unable to reproduce. This disease is named after Dr. Henry Klinefelter, who first found an extra male X chromosome, and was discovered in 1942. Some symptoms of this disease having some degree of increased breast tissue, also known as gynecomastia, which is present in one third of all infected. Also, it inflicts a decrease of testicular hormones, also known as hypognadism, endocrine function, and small testicles. Greater symptoms include germ cell tumors, breast cancer, and osteoporosis. The last symptoms include pulmonary diseases, varicose veins, diabetes, and arthritis. Thus, the genetic variation is irreversible. Testosterone treatment is an option for some people who want to look more manly. People who experience a growth in breast tissue have depression.This disease does not affect females, it is only present in males. Lastly, 40% of the people with the syndrome die every year. In my opinion, it is a dark day in every families household when they find out that their child has come down with such a tremendously horrible disease.

Works Cited-

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/945649-overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter's_syndrome

Science Current Events State/Local

Summary-

Recently, Tuesday, February 24th, a man was killed in a wood chipper accident in Edison. At a wood recycling company early Tuesday afternoon the man fell into a wood chipper, while the full details of the happening are unknown, what they do know is that the death occurred at 327 Meadow Road, and was reported to police at about 12:05 p.m., Lt. Joseph Shannon said. The wood chipper was fed by a conveyor belt and it is thought that the man somehow got onto the conveyor belt.

Work cited-
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090224/NEWS/90224023/1001/RSS09

My Roller Coaster Website

Free Fallin'

Science Current events

Summary-

Scientist at NASA, using the US space agency's Fermi telescope, detected a massive gamma-ray explosion in space. This explosion contained energy ranging from 3,000 to 5 billion times the amount of energy in visible light! Most visible light contains about two to three electron volts, but these explosions had into the million and billions of electron volts. This enormous blast was determined to have occurred about 12.2 billion light-years away. To put it into perspective, the sun is only eight light-minutes away, and Pluto is twelve light-hours. A star has a lifetime, and when it dies, it explodes after its lifetime is up, which is called a supernova. This explosion was equivalent to 9,000 supernovae! Gamma-ray burst happen when stars run out of nuclear fuel and collapse. These can be either long bursts, which last more than two seconds and happen in large stars, or short bursts, which last less than two seconds and happen in small stars. In short gamma-ray bursts, stars simply explode and form supernovae. In long bursts, the core collapses and creates a black hole into which other stars fall. Studying gamma-ray bursts allows scientists to "sample an individual star at a distance where we can't even see a galaxy clearly” says the astrophysicists at NASA.

Work Cited-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090219/sc_afp/sciencespaceastronomy

Class Response 2009 T-2

For three days in class, we worked on constructing a roller coaster that had three hills, another roller coaster aspect, built with paper rolls and tape, and a marble had to go through the coaster. This lesson was both fun and educational. It taught us about force, Newton’s three laws, friction, and acceleration. There were also many more aspects not mentioned. During the construction, we faced multiple problems. We couldn’t get enough acceleration for the marble to reach its maximum speed and go through the roller coaster safely. Also, we faced many problems with tape. A couple of times, the marble got stuck on the tape and would not move so we had to take apart the paper tubes and start all over.

Work Cited-
http://www.digitalradiance.com/rollercoaster.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/roller-coaster.htm

SS Blog international

Summary-

Russia, a neutral country at most times, wants to help the US in Afghanistan. They made this decision after the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan tried to evict a US air base, which would help them end the war quicker. The closing of this base interrupts with Obama’s plan to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. “Russia and other (alliance members) are ready for full-fledged comprehensive cooperation with the United States and other coalition members in fighting terrorism in the region. This fight must be comprehensive and include both military and political components. Only in the case will this have a chance to succeed," Medvedev said. No one knows if “full fledged” meant that his soldiers were ready, or if they were the best out there. The President said that Obama was making the right decision in testing the Afghans stability. Russia wants to help the Americans because they believe that the Americans are right, and not the Afghans. The Americans put the base, called Manas, after 9/11 to keep an eye on the Uzbekistani people. They expelled the troops in ’05 after a dispute over human rights. While the fight for Manas is continuing, thousands of troops are trying to get a new base for 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo. The agreement with the people is that they have to pay $17.4 million to them every year until 2011.

Work Cited-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan_us_base

SS Blog National

Summary-

On Tuesday, January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th United States president. It was a heartfelt moment as Barack, with his wife and his two daughters, solemnly swore to protect the constitution, and made his speech in front of the thousands in attendance and the millions watching at home. In his speech Barack used humility, gratitude, and showed his sacrifice. He did not however show his excitement while being inaugurated, or while giving his speech of humbleness and thankfulness. Once he was sworn in, once the 21 guns had saluted, the military aide in charge of the nuclear football quietly crossed the platform, to stand beside his new Commander in Chief.

Article One-

In this Article, it shows how Obama was not excruciatingly excited, but how he was humble and grateful. This article says that Obama, in his presidency, will take every opportunity to address his concerns and address them with dignity. Obama said, "We are in the midst of crisis is now well understood," he said this to address the fight against terrorism. He addressed this matter on a day so heartfelt, so great for his wife, so great for his kids, and yet for Obama it is a day that he shall take action. It is a day that Obama will speak his mind and to tell America what he wants to do. Obama was brave on a day like this to not celebrate on his day, a day that would be better than his birthday, and yet he was so somber in both his tone and his attitude.

Article Two-

Obama was inaugurated as the forty-fourth president and he is now serving as president. Obama faced a number of challenges trying to get here, but alas, he faces a new challenge; the new era of responsibility. Obama made a remark to his fellow African-Americans, “This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed... why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.” This statement is true. This statement is sadly, sadly true. In his speech, Obama made promises and requests that he wants this country to listen to. He wants to keep his promises, and he trusts us to keep our promises as well. Obama trusts us with his life, why shouldn’t we trust him.

My Opinion-

My intake on the Obama inauguration is that he was humble during his speech, he was grateful during his oath of office, and he was willing to address issues that might not have wanted to be addressed at that time. Obama took a risk, no, he took a leap of faith and he wanted the Americans to catch him from hitting the ground…and we did. I think that it is time for change, it was time for change when the Declaration of Independence was written, it was time for change when the Emancipation proclamation was written, it was time for change when Martin Luther King’s speech was spoken, and lastly, it is time for change now.

Work Cited-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/obama_inauguration/7839229.stm#map
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090120/us_time/08599187273800

Class Response 2009 T-2

What we did in class was that we went around the classroom, with a partner of our choice, and we did ten labs that had to do with reflection, refraction, and diffraction. One of my favorite labs was the one where we went into a dark room; we put a Petri dish on top of a flashlight, and filled it with bubble soap. Then, we each took a straw and took turns blowing bubbles and turning on the flashlight creating a rainbow that was bestowed before our very eyes. We later blew a bubble as big as the Petri dish itself and we found the circumference of the bubble. Another one of my favorite labs was the one were we had to turn on the projector which had a light bulb on it. The light bulb was projected onto a white piece of paper, and with a sick, we brandished and the light bulb appeared on the sick. My opinion on doing many labs by ourselves is that it was a brilliant idea. It taught us the subject in a fun and educational way at the same time. Also, it let us socialize with our peers while doing it.

Work Cited-
http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/phys108/Topics/Reflection-N.html
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/cat_reflectinglight.html

Current Events 2009

Summary-

Andromeda’s little brother, the Milky Way galaxy, has just been found to be pretty big. In fact, the galaxy is estimated to hold up to 3 trillion suns. Therefore, two of the biggest galaxies may smash into each other sooner than expected. To see the galaxy, scientists use the Very Long Baseline Array of ten radio telescopes that can enable astronomers to see through dusty byways. Mark Reid and his 20 colleagues based observations on twenty star formations across the galaxy by methanol masers. Masers need very high temperatures of star forming regions and the astronomers used them when the earth is at opposite sides of its orbit. These measurements were very accurate measurements of the motion across the sky as they orbit the galactic center. From these measurements Reid figured out that the Milky Way spins at a rate of 254 kilometers/second; fifteen % faster than last calculation. Using Newton’s law of gravity, the Milky Way is fifty % heavier; making it almost Andromeda’s weight. Since the increase of the galaxies weight and spin speed is matched with the other galaxy, they will collide much sooner. Most star formation in our galaxy takes place in the Milky Way’s spiral arms, where gas is compressed, triggering the birth of stars. The scientists also learned that the Milky Way had four spiral arms: two dominant ones and two weaker ones. This is a great advantage in our astronomy research. We now for the first time have full three-dimensional information, both location and velocity.

Work cited- http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/39709/title/This_just_in_Milky_Way_as_massive_as_3_trillion_suns