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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://

An article on the web contained information about the explosion of an arsenal storehouse that sent projectiles into a psychiatric hospital nearby. The story focused on the actions of nurse Felisberto Mariamo who saved the lives of multiple psychiatric patients on the first level of the building. In a city the Maputo, which is in the African country of Mozambique, the projectiles from the fire and eventual explosion of the arsenal storehouse showered over the surrounding buildings. There was a wide array of types of projectiles shot through the air including rockets, mortars, and artillery shells. The first floor of the Maputo's Infulene Psychiatric Hospital was hit but two major projectiles leaving larges holes in the side of the building. The end of the article brought good news that the patients had been moved just in time because a fire started in the ward in which they had just been in; however there was also a more sorrow note, the projectiles thrown from the explosion killed multiple people in a village that was closer to the storehouse.

The information learned during the course of the last week in science class related to the article because the article suggested the parabolic motion of projectiles sent from the explosion. The article (quoted): “raining over the city”, this description of course is of the motion in which the projectiles from the storehouse were sent from the explosion. The article proposed that the projectiles had been shot in every direction due to the numerous angles in which they had been shot from. The information taught during class helped make it clear that the distance in which a projectile can go depends of the angle in which it is shot. The projectiles were of different sizes and masses and they were shot at different angles and landed at various points in area around the explosion. All of this makes a bad experiment or place for scientific investigation as there are too many variables.

Citation: "Mozambique: Nurse Who Saved Patients From Explosions Honoured." __allAfrica.com__. 2007. allAfrica.com. 25 Aug 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200708020809.html.


 * Comment 1:** The paragraphs were easy to read with nice clear direct-to-the point sentences. The only sentence problem was the fifth sentence which is hard to understand and possibly has a missing word or grammatical problem. The two paragraphs were written in 3rd person. Each paragraph has an appropriate length of six sentences each. Except for the fifth sentence in the first paragraph, everything was spelled correctly and the grammar was right. Nice! The first paragraph described very well what had happened stating only the core facts, but focused mostly on the ware house exploding and the projectiles flying. There was only one sentence about the nurse and then she was gone. Maybe one or two more sentences about how the nurse had saved the patients could've added to the summary of the paragraph. Other than that the paragraph is a good summary of the article. The second paragraph was perfect stating exactly how what she had learned in class had helped her understand the article and how projectile motion applied to the projectiles. The only problem that prevented the reader from learning more was the hyperlink to the article in the citation. When you click on it, the site doesn't bring you to the article about the nurse. Other than that, it was all great. Good job! **Commented by: Alexandre P.

Comment 2:** You did a great job on your blog! It was easy to understand. The spelling and grammer in it was excellant. The first paragraph had a good summary of the article, however, I think there should be a little bit more about the nurse. Both of the paragraphs were written in 3rd person. The second paragraph gives very good information on how this article related to the projectile motion studies we did in class. Great job!

**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 the steps helped to organize what information needed to be found first or what steps needed to be taken to get the necessary results. The process started out by forming a question or defining the problem. However, this project steered slightly off the course from the scientific method because visual observations were made before the hypothesis and then the research was done to help answer the question. Data was collected from the cubes of mysterious substances and then compared to the research about the whole of choices. Analysis of the research took place and a conclusion was reached. Finally, the results were communicated using the wiki. The scientific method was a big help to this experiment. This experiment was difficult because the research from online often didn’t have the information or results hoped for, there would only be bits and pieces. This was a meticulous process because there were more materials to find information on. The difficulty subsided as the research became clearer. The density is very important in identifying the unknown substances. This is because the density of the certain cubes used in the experiment and the density of all the substance options can be compared to see which of them match up. It is easy once the densities are matched up to use the visual observations from the cubes used to the possible substance options to make a final estimate on the substance of each cube.

Comment 1: Very good content, Rachel! Every reflection on the experiment was thoroughly explained. I really like how you described how the experiment was conducted when you wrote about scientific method and difficulty. I agree that researching each possible subtance was hard and took a long time, but that it slowly became easier the more you researched. I can not find anything to change in this paragraph. Great job Rachel! :) **Commented by: Alexandre P.** 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 an investigation to determine the identity of an unknown metal with a salt base. Each salt turns the flame a different color, and each color is unique to that ionic salt based metal. The sample metal is dipped into an ionic metal or salt and held in the flame. Depending on the metal and its characteristics, the flame will turn a different color. There is chart with predetermined colors and metals that cause that color that is used to help establish what metal is being investigated. The flame test shows what colors are created by different chemicals when burnt. Fireworks use heat to create the color of the light. The use of chemicals in fireworks relates to this because the different colors of the fireworks are created by different chemicals. The colors of the fireworks are a result of the electrons becoming excited after absorbing the energy and it is unstable. Once the electron returns to a lower energy status, it releases the energy in the form of light or photon, the energy determines the color or wavelength. The flame test is most important to the fireworks because they determine the color of the burst.

Citation1: "Chemisrty of Firework Colors." __About. com: Chemistry__. 2007. About.com. 16 Oct 2007 <[|http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa062701a.htm>.] Citation 2: "Qualitative Analysis-Flame Test." __About.com:Chemistry__. 2007. About.com. 16 Oct 2007 <[|http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa110401a.htm>.]

//Comment 1://

Comment 2:

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:// Sodium and Chlorine form an ionic bond reaction. The ionic bond occurs because sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal, ionic bonds happen when there non-metal and metal is the reaction. Sodium gives up an electron to chlorine because it only had one electron in its outer most energy level and chlorine has seven in its outer most energy level. Sodium becomes positively charged for it has one less electron and chlorine becomes negatively charged for it has one extra (negatively charged) electron. When Sodium and Chlorine bond they become NaCl or table salt. This is a chemical reaction because a new compound or substance is formed. The reaction is an endothermic reaction. In the simulation of the reaction, the sodium is silver colored solid metal and chlorine is a green colored gas. There is a violent reaction of the sodium and chlorine when the sodium is dropped into the chlorine. With further magnification of the bonds on an atomic level it can be seen what was explained earlier about the ionic bonding. This reaction is a great example of ionic bonds and can easily be used as a teaching tool for learning about ionic bonds.

Citation: http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=55 ||
 * Anthony Carpi, Ph.D. "Chemical Bonding," //Visionlearning// Vol. CHE-1 (7), 2003.

//Comment 1:// Rachel, you did a good job on your entry. You might want to in the future send your entry through spell check because solid is spelled solid, not solide. All of your information is accurate. You gave a good amount of information. You might want to change your second sentence because it is difficult to follow. Maybe you could say, “The ionic bond occurs because sodium is a metal and chlorine is non-metal, ionic bonds happen when there __is a__ non-metal and __a__ metal __in__ the reaction.” Otherwise your entry is wonderful. Great job! -Sarah T.

Comment 2: Rachel, your entry is very good. It has a lot of information but it needs some work with spelling and grammar. Your paragraph is very long and good, all of your content is correct. One thing that you could have improved upon is not going into so much information. I will give you an A because you did a very good job in writing it. -Alex M.

Comment 3: Great Job with this entry! You included a ton of content, and spelled everything right exept for solide, which is a minor error. You included a citation, and you did a great job listing the reactants and products of the reactions. You included a comparison of classwork and included terms that we had in class as well. I give this blog an A to an A+, because it was very well written, except for the one small spelling error. Griffin S, Blog Editor Extraordinaire

Comment 4: You did great on your entry. I'm not sure that this experiment was an endothermic reaction. Also you accidentally spelled solid wrong. But overall you did a great job explaining the experiment. Neal P.


 * REVISED BLOG ENTRY: Sodium and chlorine form an ionic bond reaction. The ionic bond occurs because sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal; ionic bonds happen when there is a non-metal and a metal in the reaction. In this bond, sodium gives up an electron to chlorine because it only had one electron in its outer most energy level and chlorine has seven electrons in its outer most energy level. An atom wants to fill its outer most energy level to be satisfied. Sodium becomes positively charged for it has one less (negatively charged) electron resulting in a greater ratio of protons (positively charged) to electrons (negatively charged). Chlorine becomes negatively charged for it has one extra (negatively charged) electron. When sodium and chlorine bond they become NaCl or table salt. This is a chemical reaction because a new compound or substance is formed. The reaction is exothermic. In the simulation of the reaction, the sodium is silver colored solid metal and chlorine is a green colored gas. There is a violent reaction of the sodium and chlorine when the sodium is dropped into the chlorine. With further magnification of the bonds on an atomic level, it can be seen what was explained earlier about the ionic bonding. This reaction is a great example of ionic bonds and can easily be used as a teaching tool for learning about ionic bonds.

Citation: http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=55 || Picture:
 * Anthony Carpi, Ph.D. "Chemical Bonding," //Visionlearning// Vol. CHE-1 (7), 2003.

Picture 1: Sodium bonding with chlorine

1/08/2007
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 this trimester was the chemical reactions experiments and demonstrations because it was a totally new thing for me. Along with being a new and educational experience, the experiments were pretty awesome! The table that went with experiment was a way to improve my observation skills and force me to apply the information learned in class and from the real world in my observation in the products and reactants. I excelled in analysis and explanation of experiments and why things happen the way they do in science (ex: bonds, angles, etc.). My analytical skills are good in other classes too, but analysis is bigger part of the curriculum in science class (which is a good thing for me). My performance in science could have improved if I asked more questions about reactions and things of that sort when I didn’t understand the end result. As for the snakes, they were really cool and are a great addition to the classroom. The snakes bring a opportunity for fun and a way for people to try something new (or get over their fear of snakes, which I saw on multiple occasions).

//Comment 1: I really enjoyed Rachel's motherliness. She helped me stay safe, and she explained many things to me. She was also a very good partner.

Comment 2://

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 got a lot of questions I have about the upcoming unit of electricity. To start out, what is electricity? What is made of? How does it work? I’ve got a little background knowledge of energy from a fifth grade science project about tide turbines. The energy of the tide or wind or solar is harnessed using a generator. I understood that energy is created from motion (and the heat is a form of motion), but I really never understood what the energy was. What are the fundamentals of what is it made of? I would be interested in learning new ways to produce electricity in a sustainable form to insure a healthy environment for the future generations. Maybe methane? Turbines? The Sun? What sources can we use that are unlimited and have no negative effects on the environment. I am open to new possibilities of alternate energy sources other than fossil fuels. Now would be a good time to start the search...

Comment 1:

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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: The electricity source in the US that increased the greatest amount over the time period of 1950 to 2005 graphed on Graph 1 is coal. It rose from nearly 0.1 trillion Kilowatthours in 1950 to 2.0 trillon kilowatthours in 2005 which is an astounding increase. There high demand for electricity in the production of the stuff that Americans can’t seem to stop buying. With the population at an all time high, the US needs a source of electricity to power the bustling society and heat and cool homes. On a steady incline, the use of coal in the US had increased tremendously and has no indication of slowing down.

The burning of fossil fuels (including coal) produces carbon dioxide which causes global warming. Carbon dioxide is released from burning fossil fuels into the ozone creating a barrier for the heat that the sun releases into the atmosphere from getting out. The heat is trapped inside our atmosphere creating a hotter environment with higher temperatures. There are other gases aside from carbon dioxide that are released such nitrous oxide, methane, and fluorocarbons which all together are known as greenhouse gases. Cleaner sources of energy are renewable and are natural sources that can manipulated to provide a never ending supply of electricity like tide, wind, solar, and hydroelectric powers.

Citations: Hopwood Nick, Cohen Jordan. "Greenhouse Gases and Society." __UMichigan__. UMichigan. 6 Jan 2008 <[|http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/greenhouse.htm>.]

Overall, the trend from 1972 to 1985 according to Graph 1 in the US is that demand increased for electricity. The use of coal continued on a steady incline as did the use of nuclear power. The use of petroleum and natural gas had a short decline before going on to surpass nuclear electric source in 2000 after a close increase pattern. Hydroelectric power stayed on a fairly level pattern showing only slight decreases and increases. What all of this means as far as environmental issues, is that the increased rate that coal and other fossil fuels are being burnt is producing more greenhouse gases which are trapping in the heat from the sun increasing the temperature of the earth and in turn causing global warming.

Comment 1: Overall this was a great blog entry! I liked how you referred to the graph in the first sentence, and how you elaborated on each of the different electricity types. Good job typing in third person too. your blog was great. -Jen

Comment 2: Rachel, overall you did a great job with the Scientific writing style and the content of your blog entry. You wrote in third person, as directed, and also you did a great job directly referring to the graph. You did a thorough job backing up your drawn conclusions and you used data to do so. Great job following the blog prompt and addressing the question given. Your blog entry was very understandable. Great Job Rachel. -Jordan

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: The US has used four main sources of electricity in the years from 2000 to 2005. These sources are coal, petroleum/natural gas, nuclear electric power, and hydroelectric power. The overall production and demand of electricity has skyrocketed since 1950. According to the Graph 1, coal has held a steady lead with a nearly 1.1 trillion kilowatthours increase over the leading competitor from 2000 to 2005. Since 2000, the production of coal has increased from 1.9 trillion kilowatthours to 2.3 trillion kilowatthours and it shows no sign of slowing down. Natural gas and nuclear electric power have been in a close race for second. Petroleum/natural gas has increased from 0.7 trillion kilowatthours in 2000 to 1.0 trillion kilowatthours in 2005 while nuclear electric power has increased from 1.8 trillion kilowatthours in 2000 to 1.0 trillion kilowatthours in 2005. Showing little change, hydroelectric power has fluctuated only slightly from 0.4 trillion kilowatthours in the year 2000 to what appears to still be 0.4 trillion kilowatthours in 2005. The production and demand for electricity is higher every year and coal still takes the leads over the other electricity sources and the largest source of electricity in the US.

Comment 1: Good job Rachel! You wrote it in third person, and referred to the graph frequently. However, when you say: :while nuclear electric power has increased from 1.8 trillion kilowatthours in 2000 to 1.0 trillion kilowatthours in 2005", you say that it has increased, yet the numbers you quote say that it decreased. You need to make that clear whether it increased or decreased. You did a good job with all your information making sense and leading up to a strong conclusion. Overall, a very good blog entry. -Elizabeth

Comment 2:

Re-Entry: The four main sources of electricity in the US between the years 2000 to 2005 are coal, petroleum/natural gas, nuclear electric power, and hydroelectric power. The overall production and demand in the US of electricity has skyrocketed SW WORDING since 1950. According to Graph 1, coal has held a steady lead with a nearly 1.1 trillion kilowatthours command over the leading competitor WORDING from 2000 to 2005. Since 2000, the production of coal has increased from 1.9 trillion kilowatthours to 2.3 trillion kilowatthours and it shows no sign of slowing down. Natural gas and nuclear electric power have been in a close race for second. The production of petroleum/natural gas has increased from 0.7 trillion kilowatthours in 2000 to 1.0 trillion kilowatthours in 2005, while nuclear electric power has increased from 0.8 trillion kilowatthours in 2000 to 1.0 trillion kilowatthours in 2005. Showing little change, hydroelectric power has fluctuated only slightly from 0.4 trillion kilowatthours in the year 2000 to what appears to still be 0.4 trillion kilowatthours in 2005 GOOD. The production and demand for electricity is higher every year and coal still takes the lead over the other electricity sources as the prime source of electricity in the US. With global warming showing a greater impact on the environment every year, it might be in the best interest of the US and the world to look for cleaner sources of electricity that do not produce greenhouse gas emissions like wind, solar power, and tide. EXCELLENT. SEE MY FEW CHANGES. -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 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 unit that power is measured in or the measure of power. To calculate the amount of electrical power in a circuit, one must multiply the current which is measured in amps by the voltage flowing through the circuit which is measured in volts. To answer the final question, if a 200 watt light bulb burned for 24 hours straight, it would use 4.8 kilowatt hours. To start, set up the equation: 200 * 24 and then divide by 1000. The 200 in this equation is the power and the 24 is the number hours the light bulb burned, to convert to kilowatt hours it is 1000. To produce actually answer the question, 200*24 = 4800 and when divided by 1000, it becomes 4.8 kilowatt hours. Knowing the equations and formulas involving power & current will make solving equations like these a breeze! :)

Comment 1: Good job Rachel!!!!!!! I REALLY like it. My one thing that I think you could have done better on was the wording. I think that if you explained while you were going instead of saying it right out it would be better. If that doesn't make sense I will go into more detail. So, where you say "to start, set up the equation..." and then you go on. I think instead of saying the equation first you should explain it all the way through and just use the equation in the end like you already have it. If you wanted to be totally totally particular, you could add another sentence because it's only 7 sentences right now. But that's not a biggie. Overall that was AMAZING. Good job!

-Meredith

Comment 2: Overall, really good job. I can't find anything I would change. You thoroughly and accurately answered the questions and left nothing out. Nice :)! -Alexandre

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 fantastic! The labs required much involvement and answers to questions in the form of blogs, lab reports, tables, and of course regular problems. I feel like I have done a great job this trimester in science not because of my grade but because I am learning. The term ‘learning’ has often been thrown around as the same thing as memorizing facts, when really it is much more. Learning is a true understanding of a concept and in this trimester, I have truly grasped almost all of the units, from acids & bases, electricity, and electronics [circuits]. I feel ready to apply these new concepts to real life, as I already did when the electricity went out in half of our kitchen – I recognized that it was part of parallel circuit because all the electricity did not go out. Oh, I almost forgot about the snakes: they are so entertaining to hold and play with! This trimester in science has been fun (and educational), so I can hardly wait to finish off the year the same way! :) //

Comment 1: Rachel has done an excellent job in science this trimester. She has been really helpful to anyone who had a question, and really helped me understand some of the harder concepts. Great job Rachel! Elizabeth 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:

The future of humans can be enhanced, but not replaced with robots. It is free-will & emotions that define human as humans, because robots can sense/touch, "see" or detect color, and sense sound just like humans. But robots only act upon codes & numbers while the body acts/responds to electric charge signals from the brain that travel through spinal cord and to the rest of the body. It is doubtful that that prophecy of __I, Robot__ (a movie: about a futuristic world where robots helpers to humans & then they revolt and attempt to overthrow the world) will ever come true, with a free-thinking robot revolt as robots can only act upon things that they have been "taught" or programmed to do. If in the future machines can be self aware & have feelings, humans will be set apart from robots because they have a belly button from live birth & humans can reproduce naturally.Robots should be used to improve medical technologies or quality of life; an aid to humans. Robots that can think for themselves should not be created because they could do things that humans cannot that might have a negative impact. Robots that can be used for military purposes are a bad idea as well, while from the surface it might seem to reduce human casualties, the robots could wipe a human opponent quickly. Advances & improvements in robot technology are being made every day...

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