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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:// An article was recently written about a newer and better high speed camera. Its name is the “trajectory tracker” and is able of taking pictures of a projectile traveling 4000 meters per second with a blur-free image. The picture is very close to being as fine tuned as film. Which now it can take pictures with 11 million pixels. This could greatly improve the high speed camera and the testing of fast moving projectiles, with its new speed and picture quality. This new invention will greatly impact the research being conducted on the trajectory of projectiles.

This article relates to our experiments and research in school by taking measurements on the projectiles we shot. If we had this camera, we would be able to show the path that the projectile took and how fast it was moving at the time. People around the world will also be able to see what angle the projectile was facing at when it was flying. Chan, Wai. "Digital Imaging for Ballistic Proofing Ranges." __Advanced Imaging Pro__. 22 Aug 2007. 25 Aug 2007 http://www.advancedimagingpro.com/print/Advanced-Imaging-Magazine/Digital-Imaging-for-Ballistic-Proofing-Ranges/1$4410.

Comment 1: David, great first entry but make sure that you are writing in 3rd person- scientific writing. - Ms. Todd Comment 2: David, your first entry was extremely well written. Make sure you are writing in 3rd person. Your citation was good too! great job- Eric

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 you still needed a hypothesis, research, and a conclusion. The first thing was to make a hypothesis on what the different cubes 1-10 were. Next, we found out the density of different materials and saw if they matched the density of any of our cubes. This is necessary for completing any experiment and was needed in this one also. The thing that made this experiment difficult was the fact that some of the densities may have been off a little which could throw off all of your results. Something else that made it hard was that there were 10 blocks and some of them had close to same densities which made it hard to tell the difference between them. Yes it is because you can match them exactly with the density of the other cubes which could confirm your hypothesis.

Comment 1: Good Job, you answered the questions but you should add more detail to the "Is density very important in finding the identity of an unknown substance" question. When you start answering question you need to restate the question so the reader knows which question you are answering. Try to use better language other than THIS, and THING they do not help to prove your point! Excellent job your grammer and punctuation are great!// Marion :) Comment 2:

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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 a test done to find out what element a certain substance is. It is called a flame test because you use fire to burn the substance. Each element emits a color when it is exposed to fire. You would normally do this by putting your substance onto a clean rod or stick and then you would put this rod into a flame and watch what color the flame turns. This is related to fireworks because when the fireworks look like different colors, it is because there are different elements inside of them and when you shoot off the rocket, the flame reaches the element and catches them on fire so they emit their colors. Fireworks are a large scale example of how the flame test works.

Brush, Adam. "Flame Coloration by Element." __Adam's Elements__. 16 Oct 2007 <[|http://webmineral.com/help/FlameTest.shtml>.]

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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: A reaction was conducted between Sodium and Chlorine is made using a ionic bond. Sodium is a silver colored metal and chlorine is a green-colored toxic gas. An electron from one of the sodium atoms transports to the Chlorine atom. The sodium atom is now positive and the chlorine atom is negative. An electron is transferred from the sodium energy shell to the chlorine energy shell. The ionic bond is what holds the atoms together. This forms the compound NaCl. NaCl is commonly called Table Salt.

Comment 1:In the first sentence you do not need the was. You do have 7 sentences but the length of the sentences should be a little longer. You are correct that an ionic bond is what holds everything together. This blog could be better if you put in some more information about what happened between the two atoms. You do not need the part about what color the different chemicals are. I would give you a A- because it has a lot of information, but needs a bit more. -Alex M.

Comment 2: You had great content on this entry. You could have put in a little bit more of information of what happened in the experiment. Other than that your information was great and you did a great job. I give you an A for more information of what happened in the experiment. Eric M

Revised Entry: A reaction between Sodium and Chlorine is made using a ionic bond. Sodium is a silver colored metal and chlorine is a green-colored toxic gas. An electron from one of the sodium atoms transports to the Chlorine atom. The sodium atom is now positive and the chlorine atom is negative. This is because the sodium atom lost an electron the chlorine atom gained an electron. An electron is transferred from the sodium energy shell to the chlorine energy shell. The ionic bond is what holds the atoms together. This forms the compound NaCl which is also commonly called table salt.

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11/08/2007
What was your favorite project, experiment or topic this trimester? (projectile motion, density cube experiment, podcasts, chemical reactions, flame tests) 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 of the trimester was creating a podcast. Mrs. Todd was very generous and let us pick our own partners. We had many different choices to decide on doing, but my group chose to do a rap project. We had to write a rap about an element that we got to choose. We chose the element gold. The other groups tried to guess what element we wrote about. I was with Eric Schwartz and Eric McDonald. I think that in this trimester I excelled at the different quizzes and I also excelled at the different labs that we did. I did very good on the element quiz because I studied a lot for the different symbols and families. I think I could have improved my performance by following the directions on the sheet for each assigned project. I think it would have helped me get better grades on lab reports and recording screen casts. Overall I think i did a great job this trimester and I have the A grade to back up my opinion!

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**12/18/2007**
Our next unit is about electricity and electronics. In third 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, what kind of investigation would you carry out?

Entry: Electricity can be very dangerous, but it is a very important part of our everyday life. It lights our homes through the day and night. Metals conduct electricity which helps electricity travel from place to place. Electricity gives power to different things around the world and is necessary in our lives. Electricity is measured in watts and it usually comes in large amounts. Electricity has many ways of being drawn forth. If I could investigate any subject area related to energy in my home, it would be the computers in my house. There are old and new computers in my home right now. It would help me understand how electronics are used in everyday life and how the different things use different parts. I would also like to compare different computers to test out the different parts to predict how electricity plays a role in each of these parts.

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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 that the electricity source in the US that has increased the most over time is Coal. Graph 1shows it is by far the most major source out of the 4 and it has been on a steady incline over the last 50 years. Coal is now at about 2 trillion kilowatthours in 2006 and it was at about 1 trillion kilowatthours in 1978. The energy source that has been fluctuating a lot between 1970 and 2005 is Petroleum and Natural Gas. Graph 1 shows that the energy source that mostly stayed the same over time is hydroelectric power.

In Graph 1 the energy sources that directly contribute to global warming are coal, and natural gases. Certain websites say that coal emits 1.7 times as much carbon per unit of energy and so does natural gas. Natural gas makes 50% of the carbon dioxide released by coal and 25% less carbon dioxide than oil and they both produce the same amount of energy. Carbon dioxide goes up into the air and then destroys the ozone layer which makes the average temperature of the earth warmer by trapping heat in the atmosphere. __Mirabile, Joe. "Global Warming: The Causes." EcoBridge__. EcoBridge. 4 Jan 2008 <[|http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm>.]

Graph 1 shows trends that from 1972 to 1985 coal was on a steep incline in trillion kilowatthours. In 1972 to 1985 natural gas was on a slow decline but dropped about .25 trillion kilowatthours. Nuclear power rose a lot from .01 to .5 trillion kilowatthours which is a large incline. It also looks like in 1972 nuclear power first started really being used. Overall for all of the 4 forms of electricity there was an increase in the amount of energy used throughout the country.

Comment 1: David- You did a pretty good job on your blog entry. You did well with third person writing, you didn’t use the word “you” or “I” at all. You referenced the graph. You did pretty well with referencing the data. When you re-write you should reference the data for nuclear electric power more thoroughly. You followed the blog prompt and answered the question, and provided evidence. Your thoughts make sense, and you drew appropriate conclusions. You might want to get rid of the word “look” in your fourth sentence. Overall, great job! -Sarah

Comment 2: David- Overall, your blog entry is well organized and has good grammar. You also did well with referring back to the data in the blog, but I recommend that you also refer back to the graph itself. I also think that you could have analyzed the trends of petroleum and hydroelectric power more closely. Other than that, you followed what the question wanted and you also fulfilled the criteria. Great job! -Richard

Comment 3: " Graph 1 shows trends that from 1972 to 1985, coal was on a steep incline in trillion kilowatthours DATA. In 1972 to 1985 natural gas was on a slow decline but dropped about .25 trillion kilowatthours. Nuclear power rose a lot from .01 to .5 trillion kilowatthours which is a large incline. It also looks like in 1972 nuclear power first started really being used. Overall for all of the 4 forms of electricity there was an increase in the amount of energy used throughout the country." Great job overall- JT

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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 there 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: Graph 1 shows that there are 4 main sources of electricity in the US from 2000-2005. These sources are coal, petroleum and natural gas, nuclear electric power, and hydro electric power. Graph 1 shows us that nuclear electric power is WAS at its peak so far at about .8 trillion kilowatthours. Petroleum and Natural gas is WAS at the same amount and at its highest point also, but dropping to as low as .4 trillion kilowatthours in 1985 FROM WHAT. As seen in graph 1 coal is tied for its highest amount of energy used at about 2.2 trillion kilowatthours HOW DID IT CHANGE OVER THE TIME PERIOD. Hydroelectric power has stayed the same since 1965 WE ARE FOCUSING ON 2000-2005 and has continued, with little fluctuation, to be at .3 trillion kilowatthours. Although some people may say that the US is trying to prevent global warming more, coal and petroleum and natural gas have still been rising together 1985 IMPLICATION IS THEY CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL WARMING?. KEEP WORKING ON YOUR WRITING AND MAKE SURE YOU PROOF IT. - JT

Comment 1: In your second sentence, you said "They are..." and listed the sources. When writing in third person, you cannot use these terms even referring to objects. Instead say "These sources are." Other than that, you have written everything else well in third person. You also did a good job referring directly to "Graph 1." There was also a lot of data to support all your facts. It was also good that you mentioned that it was in trillion kilowatthours. Great job! -Cannon

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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 in it burned for 24 hours straight (you forgot and left it turned on), how many kilowatt hours would it use? Make sure to writein 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 measure of electrical power. To calculate the number of watts in a circuit, the equation is P=V*C. The variables stand for power = voltage times current. Electrical power can also be measured in kilowatt hours along with watts. If a lamp was left on for 24 hours with a 200 watt light bulb it would use 4.8 kilowatt hours of power. To determine this, one must multiply the amount of watts by the amount of time used. Then one must divide by 1000 to find the amount of **Kilo**watt hours. This is because kilo means 1000 and before dividing by 1000, the number is the amount of watt hours used. If it costs 10 cents per kilowatt hour it would cost someone 48 cents just for that period of time!

Comment 1:Great length and article. I like the way you told how much it would cost for a total amount of the lamp. However, "Kilowatthours" did not need to be capitalized and could have been one word. Other than that, it was great.

Comment 2: This is a very good paragraph. In it you clearly explain everything. The part when you talk about how much the cost would be is a nice touch. No spelling errors either. Beautiful job David. -Eric S
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__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 has been filled with learning and fun intertwined into each other. We have built many circuits and even one that we got to choose which different circuits we wanted to build. I did well on this because of a camp I went to a few years ago. I did not use any buzzers or LED digital displays. Something that I would like to improve upon for next trimester is the amount of studying that I do for quizzes. They were still good grades but they were lower than my other grade when I had it, which brought my overall grade down a few points each time. Something that was difficult for me this trimester was reading through all of the adobe PDF documents that we had to read for homework. Some of the time I was just focusing on getting the answers instead of actually understanding and grasping the full concept of a new subject. Peppermint and Diablo have been a fun addition to the classroom and got the class in a good mood when they were out and being held. They are fun little snakes and can give you a short break from a long working time.

Comment 1: David, as always, you have composed a winner of a blog entry. You have been a shining star in this class and in my heart. Always have you contributed to science class in ways that are other worldly. You have made this first period class a wonderful whirlwind of wonderfulness with your magical gracefulness and whooping gusto. When I think of you, David, I am reminded of why life is good. I will sincerely miss your tender smile, kindness, and vibrant personality over the trimester break. Bravo on a trimester well done. -Eric S

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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: If machines in the future have these new abilities that are what makes them different from us today, I think that there are still some things that will keep robots from being like humans. These things include creativity and the thought of something that does not happen in the exact time it is supposed to. The world is not perfect and I predict that the robots will expect it to be perfect because they do not account for the possibility that they are wrong. Robots will not be able to keep up with the fact that they were made by humans, and therefore should only have power that humans have, if not less. It will also be hard to make the robots challenge power and elect a leader, because they all think the same.

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