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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 this could include something having to do with the projectile of bullets or weapons but should not focus on killing!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://

The trajectory tracker measures the trajectory of a bullet. This uses an extremely high speed camera to allow precise tracking of the bullet. It uses a rotating mirror that is controlled by a computer, with a very high-quality video camera in front of it. This allows you to see the bullet go 100 meters with the whole path only being 0.2 degrees off.

This relates to what we are doing in science because we are trying to learn about trajectory and how it works. In the past week we have learned that the trajectory of an object we to be split in half would look exactly the same on both sides. The trajectory tracker shows that with the images it takes with the camera. It relates a lot to what we have been learning in science.

Citation: "Specialised Imaging To Unveil Innovations In High-Speed Imaging." __Photonics Online__. 26 Aug 2007. 26 Aug 2007

//Comment 1:// The first paragraph is very good. In the second paragraph the ending sentence is like a repetition of the first sentence. In the second paragraph there was a lot of "we's". I think you should write more about how the experiment relates to projectile motion. You did good summarizing the article. The spelling and grammer is good.~Ruchi D.

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9/24/2007
Reflect upon the mystery density cube experiment. You may write in first person. 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 we did all of the steps in it, and that is the key to making a good experiment. Our problem was we didn’t know what the 10 cubes were made out of. Then we did research on the problem. After that we made a table with our hypotheses. The experiment was planned for us. We collected data from the web. What made this experiment very difficult was finding all of the actual densities of the materials on the web. Not all websites had all of the actual densities and finding them took up most of the experiment. Density is extremely important in finding the identity of an unknown substance because it may look the same but the density of a substance will always stay the same so if the density is different then you know it can’t be what you think it is.

//Comment 1:// Good paragraph grate content even though the experiment was planed what was it? What did you research? Was there any other way you decided on the object? Try combining some of these sentences, and try using pronouns (e.g. I, he, she, it, they). Other than that no Spelling or grammar mistakes! ~Billy BC

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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 when you burn a substance to find out what it is. Every element emits a different color. This relates to the use of fireworks by, when you want a firework to look a certain color, all you have to do is add a certain element that when burned, emits the color you want the firework to be. This is helpful if you have shaped charge fireworks. You can make those fire work stars look like rainbows by putting the elements of different colors into different shaped charges. This will create a nice crowd pleasing effect. I wonder if anyone has tried to do this.

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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 sodium caught on fire when it was dropped into the chlorine. Sodium as one electron in the outer energy level and chlorine has seven. To make everyone happy, sodium gives up one of its electrons making it positive and making so that it has a full outer energy level. Chlorine picks up the electron so that it now is negative and also has a full outer energy level. The Chlorine atom becomes a anion and the sodium becomes a anion.

//Comment 1:// The entry is very good, it is descriptive, yet it is a little confusing and the grammar is lacking in quality. When you say " To make everyone happy" I have no idea what you are talking about. Do you mean actual people, or the chemicals? About the grammar, there is alot of a's when the a's are supposed to be an's. Also when you say "Chlorine picks up," that does not make sense at all. It is confusing to me because does the chlorine atom physically pick something. The blog is very good just watch the grammar and try not to write confusing sentences. GREAT JOB JOSEPH!!- Alex

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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). After finishing, find a peer in class to comment and tell you what they appreciate about your participation in Science class this trimester.\

//Entry:// My favorite experiment this trimester was the podcast about an element. It was fun making up the lyrics, and finding out all of the crazy things that we could talk about. We could really use our imagination with that project. It was also fun going up in front of the class and expressing ourselves as we rapped, and listening to other people’s ideas. One thing that I think I have really improved on this year is my knowledge of bonds and how they work. I feel that I could improve by asking more questions.

//Comment 1:// You are a great classmate. We have lots of fun working on projects together. You are so funny! - Jared

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__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 know that electricity is what powers a lot of important machines that we use in our everyday lives. The first person to discover electricity was Benjamin Franklin. He went about doing this by flying a kite in a lightning storm. He attached a key to the end of the kite to attract the electricity in the lightning. Then he waited for lightning to strike it. I also know that metal conducts electricity. Rubber insulates electricity.

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1/3/2008
Our next unit is about electricity and electronics. Observe the following graph, Graph 1. Write at least five sentences for each of 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.]

Here is an example statement: "Graph 1 shows that from 1960-1965 there was a steady increase in the use of coal as a source of electricity. It rose from roughly 0.2 trillion killwatthours to 0.5 kilowatthours.

Entry: 1. Almost all of the US electricity sources on graph 1 have increased over the period of time on the graph. The one that has increased the most has been coal. It has increased from 0.2 trillion kilowatt-hours to 2.0 trillion kilowatt-hours. As you can see that is a major increase. In conclusion the use of coal as the US’s electricity resources since 1949 has increased 1.8 kilowatts-hour, which is the most.

2. There are two sources of the US’s electricity that directly contribute to global warming. Those to sources are coal and Petroleum. In factories, coal gives away 93% of all factories carbon dioxide fumes which creates a cloud so the sunlight can’t get away from the earth. Petroleum and natural gases are also contributed to global warming because when you burn natural gases they turn into carbon dioxide and the same thing happens. Those are two things that are bad for the environment. Global Warming Causes." Eco Bridge__. 4 Jan 2008 3. From 1972 to 1985 graph 1 shows that everything increases except for petroleum and natural gasses which decreased and hydroelectric power which stayed the same. Nuclear electric power went up to 0.4 kilowatts-hour from 0.1 kilowatts-hour. Coal went up to 1.4 kilowatts-hour from 0.6 kilowatts-hour. Petroleum and natural gasses went down to 0.3 kilowatts-hour from 0.6 kilowatts-hour. As you can see coal had the biggest increase in kilowatts-hour and petroleum had the biggest decrease.

Comment 1: Your blog is well written. There are 5 sentences and you answered the question well. In sentence one increases is one word and gasses is spelled gases. In sentences 2,3, and 4 you could refer to the time period on the graph when these things happen. Overall your blog is very good.

Comment 2: Your paragraph is written with good scientific writing style, except that in sentence five you said, "As__ you __can see..." You directly referenced the data at the beginning of the paragraph, which is good, and you backed up your ideas with considerable amount of data. However, you could have used dates more often in your paragraph. For example, "Nuclear electric power went up to 0.4 kilowatthours in 1982 from 0.1 kilowatthours in 1972." This is just a suggestion, and I think that this is a good blog entry. -Joseph Cornett

Comment 3: Joseph - Great job! You have good information, and directly quote from the graph. The one thing that you could improve on is by saying something other than the data, and possibly put your opinion in. You used a good scientific writing style, so overall, I like it! - Jared__ _

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.**//

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Re-Entry: In graph 1 it shows that 2 of the US’s power sources went up in kilowatts-hour and the other 2 went down from the year 2000 to the year 2005. The two that went up were coal and petroleum and natural gasses. Coal went up in a steady increase from 2 trillion kilowatts-hour to 2.1 trillion kilowatts-hour. Petroleum also went up as a steady increase from 0.6 trillion kilowatts-hour to 0.8 trillion kilowatts-hour. In conclusion petroleum and natural gasses has increased the most as shown in graph 1, by 0.2 trillion kilowatts-hour.

Comment 1: This is good third-person writing, Joseph. However, you should include information about the two other major sources of U.S. energy which you said dropped in usage (hydroelectric and nuclear electric power) as well as the two which increased in usage. You did a good job backing up your ideas about coal and petroleum/natural gases, and you should try doing the same thing for nuclear electric power and hydroelctric power as well. -Joseph Cornett

Final Entry: In graph 1 it shows that 2 of the US’s power sources went up in kilowatts-hour and the other 2 went down from the year 2000 to the year 2005. The two that stayed the same were nuclear electric power and hydro electric power. Hydro electric power, according to graph 1, was at 0.3 trillion kilowatts-hour in 2000 but then dropped to 0.25 trillion kilowatts-hour in 2001. It rose back up to 0.3 trillion kilowatts-hour in the next year and stayed like that until 2005. In graph 1 it shows that nuclear electric power stayed at 0.75 trillion kilowatts-hour all the way from 2000 to 2005. The two that went up were coal and petroleum and natural gasses SP. Coal went up in a steady increase from 2 trillion kilowatts-hour to 2.1 trillion kilowatts-hour. Petroleum also went up as a steady increase from 0.6 trillion kilowatts-hour to 0.8 trillion kilowatts-hour. In conclusion petroleum and natural gasses SP has increased the most as shown in graph 1, by 0.2 trillion kilowatts-hour. PRETTY GOOD BUT TRY TO PROVIDE A BETTER CONCLUDING SENTENCE AS COAL IS STILL THE OVER RIDING HIGHEST SOURCE OF ELECTRICITY. - JT

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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 the measurement of power. To calculate the electrical power in a circuit you have to multiply current by voltage. If a 200 watt lamp was left on for 24 hours straight it would use 4.8 kilowatt hours. To set this problem up it was necessary to look at the wattage of the lamp and how long it ran. Then those numbers were plugged into the equation. Next the equation was solved by multiplying 200 by 24, and then dividing that by 1000 because it had to be in kilowatt hours. In conclusion the answer to the equation was 4.8 kilowatt hours.

Comment 1: Joseph- Great paragraph! You explained the equation clearly, and gave your answer. A thing you could improve on is to show the symbols in the equation to measure power. Also, in the problem, you should say what you got when you multiplied 200 by 24, because it will make it more clear to the reader. In doing so, you should also include the units, because that will explain why you need to divide it by 1000 to get it in kilowatt hours. I think it was very good overall. - Jared

Comment 2: Joseph very good job, I think that there are still a few things you could change one of them is that I don’t think the fifth sentence is totally necessary. The other is that when you are explaining how to solve the equation I think that you could put what type of unit each of the numbers are. Other than that excellent job. ~Zack L.

Re-Entry: A watt is the measurement of power. To calculate the electrical power(W) in a circuit you have to multiply current(I) by voltage(V). If a 200 watt lamp was left on for 24 hours straight it would use 4.8 kilowatt hours. To set this problem up it was necessary to look at the wattage of the lamp and how long it ran. Then the current and the voltage were plugged into the equation. Next the equation was solved by multiplying 200 by 24, which was 4800 watt hours. After that it was divided by 1000 because the unit needed to be kilowatt hours. In conclusion the answer to the equation was 4.8 kilowatt hours. _

__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 I liked working in groups to build the electrical circuits. I liked this because it was fun collaborating with our group. I liked the Radioshack Electronics Learning Lab a lot because it was a challenge, but it was nice to see it work at the end of the period. When we did a circuit right it was a group celebration. One of the things I have really done well on this year was the electricity unit. One of the things I have struggled with this trimester has been the chemistry unit. Overall, this has been a great trimester.

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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: In the future, if these robots are created with they could use their new abilities to do something like realize that they don't need humans, and then they could rebel. It would be a great idea if they had some kind of safe proof on them that would prevent them from doing that. They would be able to do many more things than they could now. Some ways you could tell the difference from a human and a robot are by small things like a finger print or DNA. In conclusion I think it would be a great idea as long as they didn't have any ability to rebel against humans.

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