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