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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:// This article is about a new game on the internet that in valves hitting enemy ships with projectiles. In the game there is only one variable that you can control and that I how much spin is on it. As the projectiles are launched spin is put on the projectiles casing them to “fly in a curved trajectory”. This game can be bought as a disk for $20. This relates to our experiments in class due to the fact that it involves mishearing and altering a projectiles path. Of course we must take in to account that this is assuming that there are on other variables to consider. From this article I learned that there is at least one variable that we did not tale I to account during our experiments and that is any spin on a projectile that could alter its course. I think that testing the curve of a projectile would be a cool experiment.

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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?

In the density cube experiment, it was extremely important to use the scientific method in this experiment. The reason it was important is because we had no clue what the substances were, this made the experiment extremely difficult. So to find the real answers we had to do every step of the scientific method. the experiment was to test the density and other observation of the substances and then finish. The research The main way we found the identities was by finding the densities as well as the physical properties.

//Comment 1:// The content in this paragraph was quick and to the point, which is good. I think you could elaborate some more on how some of the parts of the scientific method were important. Other than that it was very well written. There were no spelling or mistakes but I think you need to add a comma after the first words, “In the density cube experiment”. ~Joseph

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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 chemical help determine it's identity. Some examples of information you can gather by using this is i fit burns, how large it burns, and what color it burns. This relates to the use of fireworks because when someone is designing a firework they need to plan how large they want the firework to be, what color they want it to be, and what shape you what it to form using the chemical flam test they can determine what elements they need to form the firework out of, as for the shape of the firework this can be formed by using shaped charges. A shaped charge is an explosive that is in a particular shape so that when it ignites it will make an explosion in the shape that is desired.

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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:// In this reaction when chlorine and sodium bond the form an ionic bond. This is an ionic retraction and it is particularly violent. They form ionic bounds because sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal. In this reaction the sodium gives up an electron and the chlorine takes an electron.

//Entry:// In this reaction when chlorine a clear green gas and sodium a white chalky metal form an ionic bond. This is an ionic reaction is particularly violent, the sodium detonates and I flame is produced. They form ionic bounds because sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal. In this reaction the sodium gives up an electron and the chlorine takes an electron. The compound that is formed is NaCl or sodium chloride also known as table salt.

//Comment 1: Positive: You described what type of bond is made, why it is made, and what is happening with the electrons. You did put in all of the necessary parts of the paragraph as described in the prompt, although you didn't really elaborate. Negative: There were a lot of typos in this entry, such as 'the form an ionic bond' and 'ionic retraction'. This was supposed to be a long paragraph, but you did put in the essentials, so I suppose this paragraph was alright. You could have put in observations of the sodium and the chlorine and how they provoked the reaction (by placing the sodium in the chlorine).//

Comment 2: Positive: Your blog entry was good. You put down what kind of bond there was and why that happened. Negative: You had made a lot of spelling errors in your blog and you need to say what charge was put on the atom after the bond was formed. You could describe what happened in the first reaction. You could also say what the product was after the first reaction.

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 project this trimester was the flame test experiment. This was my favorite project because I like flames, I liked my grope, and it was an interesting concept. I also like the snakes, one thing I really liked was helping prepare the cage and find the snakes on the internet. I think I excelled at understanding the various concepts of the atoms and elements. I could improve my performance in science 7 by studding more and reviewing my homework.

Peer Comment: I thought that Billy did very well in this class. He completed all his work, and followed procedures in the lab to the letter. He conducts himself well in class, and is helpful to other students. He also, is the only one in the class that can light one of those hotel matches in one stroke. Overall, he is an exceptional student. //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: In the period shown on Graph 1 coal was he us power source that increased the most. As seen in graph one from 1950- 1973 coal increased from .2 killwatthours-.8 kilowatt-hours, but the next closest in natural gas witch increased from .2 kilowatt-hours- .6 kilowatt-hours. In the next 10 years coal rose to 1.4 kilowatt-hours, but natural gas which was still seconded dropped to .4 kilowatt-hours. By 2005 coal is at 2 kilowatt-hours, but natural gas was only at .8 kilowatt-hours.

In the UC from 1972- 1985 there was a shift in the materials used in the production of electricity. One example is natural gas usage fell drastically from .7 kilowatt-hours to .4 kilowatt-hours. During this time nuclear power went from almost 0 kilowatt-hours to .4 kilowatt-hours. Meanwhile coal usage continued to raise going from .8 kilowatt-hours to 1.4 kilowatt-hours. The drop in natural gas usage probably happened because people were switching from it to nuclear power.

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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 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 in the US there are four main energy sources. CAPITALIZE the most commonly used one was coal SPwitch at the year 2000 was producing 1.9 trillion kilowatt-hours, the second most commonly used was nuclear power at about .9 was natural gas it continued to rise steadily over all 5 years.RUN-ON SENTENCE The there’d ? most common at .8 trillion kilowatt-hours stayed about the same. The least common hydro electric power also stayed about the same. Over alSP through these years there was no major shifts in usage. BILLY, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO PROOF YOUR WRITING AND CHECK YOUR SPELLING BY WRITING IN MS WORD. YOU ALSO WANT TO FINISH YOUR PARAGRAPH WITH A STRONG CONCLUDING SENTENCE. - 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 light bulb 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 number of volts in a circuit multiplied the number of amps. To calculate the amount of electrical power that is used in a circuit by dividing the voltage by the resistance. If a lamp with a 200 watt light bulb burned for 24 hours straight then that would be 4800 watt-hours of 4.8 kilowatt-hours.

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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 was very fun and interesting. My favorite thing about the trimester was the snakes peppermint and Diablo. I also liked building the circuits especially the random number generator. Another fun thing was performing the flame test. One thing I think we could improve on was we could have had more examples of elements.

Comment 1: You had a great trimester, Billy! You aced all your tests and quizzes, and knew everything about the breadboards. I liked that you always knew what to do in this class. Great trimester, Billy!--//Colin//

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/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 robots are self-aware and have feelings then the only difference is that humans were born and robots were built and that humans are living flash and robots are not. Yes I think that there are robots that should not be created one robot I don’t think should not be created is a humanoid robot that can think for itself because it could be used for dishonest peruses and would be hard to find.

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