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8/24/2007
Find an web article from a reputable news website that contains information about any type of projectile. The article must relate to some science topic (not war, guns, etc.) Write a short (1 paragraph) summary of the article and then describe how anything you have learned in the past week about projectile motion might relate to it (second short paragraph). Finish with a citation to the web article. Enter all of this under "Entry" below.

//Entry:// Specialized imaging Ltd. in September 2007, is going to preview their innovations in high speed imaging at the 20th HyperVelocity Impact Symposium and the 28th Meeting of the Aeroballistic Range Association. They have enhanced and developed new high performance cameras. They have a video projectile tracking system called a Trajectory Tracker which provides consistent and accurate tracking of projectiles in flight. It is on a sturdy adjustable mount. It could improve knowledge of projectile's flights and make analyzing data easier. They also have the SIM-02 Multi-Channel Framing Camera. It is unique from other high speed framing cameras in that it has up to 16 separate optical channels giving 32 separate images. Their Trajectory tracker relates to what Ms. Todd’s class did because they could have accurate data about their dart experiment and about how the angle effects height and range. The videos taken from the Tracker probably are somewhat similar to when they played the water balloons game.

//"Specialized Imaging To Unveil Innovations In High-Speed Imaging." __Photonics Online__ 21/Aug/2007 26/Aug/2007 .////]

//Comment 1: Sarah, you used 3rd person- scientific writing really well. Very detailed but not to much that the readers get lost.You also gave us a picture of what you article was about by telling us what we did in class that relates to that. You picked a very iteresting article to do your blog on. In the 2nd paragraph there could be a little more detail, but very good connections between the classwork and your article. Really good job! - Caroline// Comment 2:

9/24/2007
Reflect upon the mystery density cube experiment. Create a long paragraph addressing these questions:

1.) Was the scientific method necessary in this experiment? If not, why? If so, why? 2.) What made this experiment difficult? or was it easy? 3.) Is density very important in finding the identity of an unknown substance? . //Entry:// The scientific method was necessary in this experiment because without researching and making observations it would have been impossible to identify the substances. Without identifying a method, group members would have argued more over what to do. What made this experiment difficult was finding the densities and information about the substances. It was almost impossible to find all of the information necessary.Density is very important in finding the identity of an unknown substance because many substances look very similar, for instance it would be hard to identify what type of wood something was. However, many things that look very similar have very different densities.

//Comment 1: The writing style was very good in your paper. I also totaly agree with your entry. It was a good point about without identifying a method, group members would have argued more over what to do. I also think your right when you put in that it is almost imposible to find all of the information needed, because it is imposible! Good job overall on the entry. -Eric// Comment 2:

10/16/2007
What is a flame test in your own words? How does this relate to the use of chemicals in fireworks? Make sure to include your MLA citations you may not use Wikipedia! . //Entry:// A flame test is a test where you dip a wire in a chemical and then hold it in the hottest part of a flame to see what colors come out. It is used to identify elements, compounds, and solutions, particularly metal ions. The colors come from the electrons in the metal ions moving. This relates to the use of chemicals in fireworks because fireworks get their colors from chemicals and metals. Chemicals and metals when used in flame tests emit colors. So when the fuse ignites the pellets of metal and chemicals, the fire will make them emit colors. Citations: "How Are Commercial Fireworks Made?." 3D Animation. Knight Ridder/Tribune. 04 Jul 2001. Video Clip. __eLibrary Science__. Proquest. 16 Oct 2007. <[|http://science.bigchalk.com>.Clark], Jim. "Flame tests." __Chemguide__. 2005. Chemguide. 16 Oct 2007 <[|http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/flametests.html>.] "Flame test." //Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia//. Columbia University Press. 16 Oct. 2007. .]

//Comment 1://

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11/1/2007
Go to this site: http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=55. Click on "Watch the Reaction with Sodium and Chlorine" In your own words and in third person, create a blog entry describing the reaction and explaining what is happening in terms of the bonding. Write a long paragraph. Explain in detail.

Entry: The reaction between Sodium and Chlorine to form table salt is an ionic bond. It starts out with Sodium, a soft, violently reactive, silver-colored metal in the Alkali family, and Chlorine, a poisonous green colored gas in the Halogen family. Sodium, or Na, has one electron in its outer energy level. Chlorine, or Cl, has seven electrons in its outer energy level. All elements want to have eight elements in their outer energy level. So, Cl could gain one electron and be happy, and Na could lose one electron and be happy. So, when Na comes into contact with Cl, it starts reacting violently. Each Na atom gives one electron to a Cl atom, and becomes positive ions. An ion is a atom that has an uneven charge, which means it does not have the same number of protons as neutrons. When an ion is positively charged, it has more protons than electrons. In the reaction, each Cl atom gains an electron from the Na. The Cl atoms become negatively charged because they have more electrons than protons. When the two elements have positive and negative charge, they become attracted and attached, like magnets. This results in the compound NaCl, or table salt.

Comment 1: Great job, Sarah! Yours was very good. I'm not sure if the element names need to be capitalized, but I could be wrong there. You explained the reaction very well and your spelling and grammer was correct. The length was perfect, if anything too long. I would give you an A+ because the only thing you could improve on was you didn't need a comma in your second sentence before "and" and you could have talked about how sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal. Great job! - Nicole A.

Comment 2:

Entry 2:The reaction between Sodium and Chlorine to form table salt is an ionic bond. An ionic bond is a bond between a metal and non-metal that results from a chemical reaction in which the metal gives up electrons and the non-metal gains electrons to have eight electrons in their outer energy level. This particular reaction starts out with Sodium, a soft, violently reactive, silver-colored metal in the Alkali family and Chlorine, a poisonous, green colored nonmetal gas in the Halogen family. Sodium, or Na, has one electron in its outer energy level. Chlorine, or Cl, has seven electrons in its outer energy level. All elements want to have eight elements in their outer energy level. So, Cl could gain one electron and be happy, and Na could lose one electron and be happy. So, when Na comes into contact with Cl, it starts reacting violently. Each Na atom gives one electron to a Cl atom, and becomes positive ions. An ion is a atom that has an uneven charge, which means it does not have the same number of protons as neutrons. When an ion is positively charged, it has more protons than electrons. In the reaction, each Cl atom gains an electron from the Na. The Cl atoms become negatively charged because they have more electrons than protons. When the two elements have positive and negative charge, they become attracted and attached, like magnets. This results in the compound NaCl, or table salt.

11/08/2007
What was your favorite project, experiment or topic this trimester and why? (projectile motion, density cube experiment, podcasts, chemical reactions, flame tests, etc.) You can also comment about the snakes. What do you think that you excelled at this trimester? How could you have improved your performance in Science 7? (Make sure to check your spelling and grammar).

//Entry: My favorite project, experiment or topic this trimester was the elemental mystery podcast. I liked the podcast best because I enjoy podcasts and we got to make them with groups, and I liked my group. The projectile motion experiment was fun, and so were the chemical reactions and the flame test, but for them we had too many questions to answer. I think I excelled at the podcast and at learning how elements are arranged and how they bond. I could have improved my performance in Science 7 by doing a bit of the projects, such as the chemical reactions questions, at home before one or two nights before. I hope I will improve upon this next trimester.//

//Comment 1:// Very good paragraph Sarah! In the 2nd sentance you have 1 too many "and"s. In the 3rd sentance, elaborate more on the part where you said that there were too many questions to answer. Explain a bit more about what you could have improved on. Other than this, this is very good! -Alex M.

Comment 2: I appreciate you Sarah!! You were a great partner in the Reactions lab experiment and in the “It’s an Elemental Mystery” podcast. It was very fun with you and Nicole as partners!

**12/18/2007**
Our next unit is about electricity and electronics. In first person write a long paragraph about what you know about electricity and what questions you might like to have answered in our electricity unit. If you could investigate any subject area related to energy in the home, electricity, electronics, computers, etc. what would you like to research or investigate?

Entry: I do not know much about electricity, but I would like to know more. I know that electricity is the electrons jumping and that in cords they jump through the wire, but stop at the rubber. I know that lightning is electricity. I know that metal conducts electricity, and electricity is attracted to metal, and that non-metals do not conduct electricity. Metalloids can conduct electricity. I know how light switches work, and how light bulbs work. I would like to find out how electricity is created in our electricity unit. I would like to find out more about electronics. I would like to find out more about how computers work. Currently, I know nothing about how computers work. This would be fun.

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**1/3/2008**
Our next unit is about electricity and electronics. Observe the following graph, Graph 1 and write an analytical paragraph describing what it means. Make sure to address what trends are observed; how things change over time, etc. Write at least five sentences for the following questions. Write in third person. Directly cite data and identify the graph (1). 1.) Which electricity source in the US has increased the greatest amount over the time period shown in the graph? 2.) Which of the sources listed below directly contribute to global warming? Provide evidence and explain using the Internet (MLA citation). 3.) Describe the overall trends from 1972 to 1985 regarding the US's sources of electricity.

[|This graph can also be seen at this LINK.]

Entry: Graph 1 shows the power per hour for major sources of fuel, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Nuclear Electric Power, Coal, and Hydroelectric Power. As seen in graph one, it appears that overall all major fuel sources are being used more. While the graph shows bumpy lines that at times go down, overall, the lines go up. The exceptions to this might be Hydroelectric Power, and even Petroleum and Natural Gas, but they still moved up more than down. Hydroelectric Power increased very steadily until around 1975, then bumped up and down majorly, but overall staying at around .25 trillion Kilowatthours. Petroleum and Natural Gas First noticeably decreased in 1973, when it went down a bit from .6 trillion Kilowatthours until 1978, when it climbed up again. Later, Petroleum and Natural gas were used much less, but at 2006 they were used more than ever. The source that increased the most was coal. Over the time period shown in graph one, 1949-2006, coal increased greatly. In 1949, coal was used at about .2 trillion kilowatthours. Coal increased steadily until 1971, when it started bouncing steadily upwards until 2006. At 2006, coal was at almost 2 trillion kilowatthours. That is much more than what the other sources were in 2006, by about 1..5 trillion kilowatthours! Therefore, coal increased the most.

According to dictionary.com, global warming is “an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect.” Something that would directly contribute to global warming would be the greenhouse gases. What is most often thought of as the most problematic greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. According to ecobridge.org, coal gives off 93% of the carbon dioxide emitted by the electricity industry. Also according to ecobridge.org, coal emits about 1.25-1.7 times as much carbon per unit of energy as natural gas and oil. This would imply that natural gas and petroleum also directly contribute to global warming. Coal and petroleum and natural gas all directly contribute to global warming.

The overall trend according to graph 1 from 1972-1985 was an increase overall in power. In 1972, nuclear electric power started to rise in power, and increased steadily through 1985. Perhaps because of this, in 1972 or soon after, natural gas and petroleum started going down as a source of electric power. Despite this, coal continued to rise steadily, and this was the time period when coal got ahead of natural gas and petroleum. At 1972, hydroelectric power started to stop rising and started to bump up and down in terms of how much it was used. 1972-1985 was a time period of change.

Citations: "global warming." //Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)//. Random House, Inc. 06 Jan. 2008. . Mohr, Noam. "EarthSave International." __EarthSave__. EarthSave. 5 Jan 2008 <[|http://earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm>.] "Global Warming: The Causes." __Ecobridge__. Ecobridge. 6 Jan 2008 <[|http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm>.]

Comment 1: You did a great job in stating where the evidence came from and what year they were in. Something you could have improved upon was writing the exact amount of trillion kilowatthours the different energies used. Also, your last sentence was extraneous and you already had 5 sentences without that. Overall, you did a great job analyzing the data and citing the draft. -David

Comment 2: You did well of explaining all the changes during this time period. You also did a great job defining all the dates so i knew where to look to check your data. One thing that I would do is add how much the increased like coal so you can get a better idea of the change. I'm not sure if you need the last sentence because you have 5 and it is kind of unneeded. Good work Sarah! -Connor

Comment 3: "The overall trend according to graph 1 GOOD from 1972-1985 was an increase overall in power SOURCES USED FOR ELECTRICITY. In 1972, nuclear electric power started to rise in power, and increased steadily through 1985 DATA. Perhaps because of this, in 1972 or soon after, natural gas and petroleum started going down as a source of electric power DATA. Despite this, coal continued to rise steadily DATA EVIDENCE, and this was the time period when coal got ahead of natural gas and petroleumDATA EVIDENCE. At 1972, hydroelectric power started to stop rising and started to bump up and down in terms of how much it was used. 1972-1985 was a time period of change.CONCLUDING SENTENCE SHOULD BE MORE SPECIFIC" - JT

**1/8/2008**
Please read the paragraph below about energy use to create electricity from 1972-1985 in the US. Observe that the graph is referred to, there is an introductory statement, supporting statements are backed up with data, and that their is a concluding sentence. This would have been a well written paragraph for question 3 in our previous blog entry.

"As seen in Graph 1, there were four sources of electricity production in the US from 1972-1985. These sources were coal, petroleum/natural gas, nuclear electric power, and hydroelectric power. From 1972-1985, the US needed greater and greater production of electricity from these combined resources. This best example of this is that during these years, coal increased from 0.5 trillion kilowatthours to roughly 1.5 trillion kilowatthours. During this same time period hydroelectric sources remained approximately the same at 0.3 trillion kilowatthours. There was a slight increase in nuclear electric power sources from 0.1 trillion kilowatthours to 0.3 trillion kilowatthours during this same time period. Finally, petroleum and natural gas showed the greatest amount of fluctuation during this time period staying about the same from 1972-1980 at 0.4 trillion kilowatthours but then deceasing to 0.3 trillion kilowattthours by 1985. Thus, although greater and greater amounts of resources were needed to produce electricity during this time period, coal accounted for the greatest increase in use." - JT


 * //Using the above paragraph as a model, describe the changes in electricity production sources from 2000-2005. Make sure that you reference the graph (Graph 1). Make sure all statements are backed up with data. Make sure you have an introductory sentence and a concluding sentence that provide an overall summary/statement.//**

Entry: As seen in Graph 1, there were four major sources of electric power from 2000-2005. The sources were coal, nuclear electric power, petroleum and natural gas, and hydroelectric power. From 2000-2005 there was a slight increase in production of electricity from these combined sources. The source that appeared to increase the most from 2000-2005 was petroleum and natural gas, increasing production from around .6 trillion kilowatthours to around .8 trillion kilowatthours. At this time period both nuclear electric power and hydroelectric power stayed at about the same level of production, though nuclear electric power stayed at around .7 trillion kilowatthours and hydroelectric power stayed at around .2 trillion kilowatthours. Coal increased during this time period from around 1.8 trillion kilowatthours to 1.9 trillion kilowatthours. Overall, there was a slight increase in electricity production though petroleum/natural gas and coal accounted for it. -Sarah

Comment 1: Sarah, overall it's very good. The third person was awesome and you did a great job refering to the graph. The last sentence is not very clear, I don't understand the "and coal accounted for it" part. I think in the second sentence you could use "these" instead of "the" and it might sound better. You might want to take out one of the "from 2000-2005"s that are in the middle of the paragraph and instead include that in your concluding sentence. You did a great job and I hope my comments help! -Nicole :)

Comment 2:

Re-Entry: As seen in Graph 1, there were four major sources of electric power from 2000-2005. These sources were coal, nuclear electric power, petroleum and natural gas, and hydroelectric power. There was a slight increase in production of electricity from these combined sources. The source that appeared to increase the most from 2000-2005 was petroleum and natural gas, increasing production from around .6 trillion kilowatthours to around .8 trillion kilowatthours. At this time period both nuclear electric power and hydroelectric power stayed at about the same level of production, though nuclear electric power stayed at around .7 trillion kilowatthours and hydroelectric power stayed at around .2 trillion kilowatthours. Coal increased during this time period from around 1.8 trillion kilowatthours to 1.9 trillion kilowatthours. Overall, there was a slight increase in electricity production from 2000-2005, mainly caused by petroleum/natural gas and coal.-Sarah OUTSTANDING! -JT

 

**2/05/2008 **
 What is a watt? How do you calculate the amount of electrical power that is used in a circuit? Finally, if a lamp with a 200 watt lightbulb burned for 24 hours straight (you forgot and left it turned on), how many kilowatt hours would it use? Make sure to write in complete sentences and in third person. Explain how you calculated the amount of kilowatt hours that would be used in the question above.

Entry: A watt is a unit used to measure electric power. To calculate the amount of electrical power used in a circuit, one uses the equation P=I*V, with P equaling power, I equaling current (the amount of electricity in a circuit), and V equaling Voltage (the potential electric energy for a circuit). If a lamp with a 200 watt light bulb burned for 24 hours it would use 4.8 kilowatt hours. This is calculated by multiplying 200 * 24 to get 4800 watt hours. To get to kilowatt hours, one must divide by 1000, getting the answer of 4.8 kilowatt hours.

Comment 1: Great scientific writing style! One thing that I would change would be instead of saying that "P equaling power", the proper grammar would be "P equals power". You could probably make it a little longer, some of your sentences are a little run-on. Your problem solving was well explained and correct.- Adrienne B-K

Comment 2: Good job, Sarah! You might want to include topic and conclusion sentences. I agree with Adrienne, the correct wording is P equals power. Also, it would be best to write out the equations, instead of using numbers and symbols. You stayed in third person very well and overall, beautiful job! ~ Nicole A. ~ 

**2/28/2008 **
 This trimester we started by finishing up our chemistry unit by doing an acid/base experiment. After this, we started our electricity/electronics unit in which we first made basic series and parallel circuits with buzzers, speakers, motors, and lights. We applied ohm's law to these experiments. Following this, we started working on the Radioshack Electronics Kits where we made complex circuits that had a variety of functions- blinking LEDs, screeching speakers, analog to digital converters, etc. The technology we used this trimester included the pH probes that we connected to our computers to get the pH of household chemicals, using the wiki to create an class test review sheet, the Radioshack Electronic Kits, and creating collaborative lab reports in the wiki for our electronics unit (instead of a formal lab report).

//__In this blog prompt, please write a paragraph long entry (5-6 sentences with a intro and concluding sentence) that addresses what you enjoyed during this trimester and what you have learned. You can also comment on what you would like to improve upon for next trimester or what was difficult for you. Feel free to comment on our snakes- Peppermint and Diablo if you would like to as well as the technology that you enjoyed this trimester. Please check your spelling and grammar as this blog entry may appear in your end of trimester comment. You may want to write it in Microsoft Word to check the spelling, etc. and then copy it in the blog. __//

Entry: This trimester Science was enjoyable. One of the things that I enjoyed was making circuits. They did not always turn out as well as I planned because with the simple circuits there was not always enough current for all of the appliances. With the breadboard circuits, I unfortunately missed two days of the exciting circuit making. I did enjoy making simple circuits more than the breadboard circuits. At the beginning of the trimester when we did acid base experiments the probes and other ways of determination was interesting, and I enjoyed it a bit. I continued to love our cute little snakes, Peppermint and Diablo. I learned about Ohm’s Law, current, and resistance, and electricity, which I knew practically nothing about before this trimester. I preferred writing on a wiki to writing a lab report, and enjoyed this opportunity. It is fun to type and pet a snake at the same time. Science was fun and educating.

Comment one: Sarah, you were a big help when we were doing the simple circuits, both parallel and series. You also helped me a lot with spelling, and writing. It was a pleasure to work with you on the wikis that we did together! Thanks for being a great band, and I can't wait to work with you next trimester!!

4/22/2008
Go to: [|The Tech Museum: Robotics]. Spend 10 minutes browsing the information and museum. Answer the following blog prompt in complete sentences and in third person. Create a full paragraph. If in the future machines have the ability to reason, be self-aware and have feelings, then what makes a human being a human being, and a robot a robot? Explain. Are there any kind of robots that shouldn't be created? Or that you wouldn't want to see created? Why? Entry: If in the future machines have the ability to reason, be self-aware and have feelings, it would be difficult to define how robots are different than humans, but one could do it. One could say that one of the things that makes humans human is that humans have spirits and souls. Humans can love and experience emotions. Robots would only be able to act as if they feel love or have emotions, and would not have random emotions for no real reason. Humans are made out of flesh and organs and cells. Mr. Himburg said last year that a living cell from an animal if separated from its body would move to find food. Humans have a long history of evolution that make humans what we are. Robots would still be programmed, if only programmed to be able to learn. War robots should not be created, because if both sides had them it would be unlikely that the war would stop for a long time because the governments wouldn't really care if the robots were destroyed. While the robots were fighting, the surrounding nature would be destroyed. -Sarah Comment 1: Comment 2: Pasted from 