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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 talks about underwater weapons and their effectiveness. There are many different kinds of underwater guns, and many types of projectiles, but the most effective bullet is a bullet with a blunt tip. The bullet creates a cavity in the water, so that the drag is less. It creates the cavity by pushing the water around it away. The cavity then forms because of a very low velocity. The most effective projectile was a rocket torpedo that made a cavity, and then kept the cavity there with rocket smoke. The rocket paves the way so that more bullets can come through the cavity made by it.

This article relates to what we are learning very much.It talks about how the water drags on the projectile. The water is like the wind resistance, except stronger. Underwater is basically an environment where the wind resistance is very high. We learned about wind and how it affects projectiles. Velocity, which is important in making and maintaining a cavity in the water, is a crucial part of the effectiveness of the gun. - Victor W.//

David, Hambling. "Splash, Splash, you're dead: the military's next-gen water gun." __Splash, Splash, you're dead: the military's next-gen water gun__. June 4th, 2007. wired. 26 Aug 2007 &lt;[|http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/underwater_guns&gt;.]

Comment 1: This is a nice article. The first article is a bit confusing with the blunt tip. Some people might not understand the blunt tip/cavity concept. There was one spelling mistake that I fixed. That's about all that needs fixing. Colin Comment 2:

24/09/07
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 the density cube experiment. This is so because we made a hypothesis, tested it, and since our hypothesis was wrong, created a new one. The scientific method is a way of solving a problem in an orderly manner. We went through all of the steps of the scientific method, so we used it. This experiment was very hard. It was difficult because the densities were easy to calculate, but it was hard to find the densities of all the possibilities. Density is actually the most helpful piece of information in finding the identity of an unknown substance. This is so because any piece of the same material is the same density, so if you look up the densities of some different possibilities, than the density that matches is the real density.//

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16/10/07
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 burn a chemical to see what color the flame will be when you burn it. Each chemical turns a different color when burned, so the color of the element when burned is a key part to figuring out what it is. This relates to the chemicals in fireworks because when a firework explodes, the chemicals start burning, and the burning chemicals make colored "fire". Fireworks have different chemicals inside the firework, making different colors.//

MLA Citations: "The Flame Test." http://www.soinc.org/events/forensics/flametest.pdf__. Soinc. 16 Oct 2007 http://www.soinc.org/events/forensics/flametest.pdf.

Rebecca, H. "The Chemistry of Fireworks." CM1 internet project on fireworks. 1997. 16 Oct 2007 &lt;[|http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects1997/RebeccaH/&gt;.]

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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: This reaction is an ionic bond, because the sodium gives an electron to chlorine. In this reaction, a chunk of sodium is dropped into a beaker of chlorine gas. When the sodium is dropped in, it gives up an electron to chlorine, and turns into salt. In this case, since it was the sodium giving up electrons, the sodium atom is positive and the chlorine atom is negative. -Victor Walker//

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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: //Electricity was discovered by Benjamin Franklin. It is energy that travels through metals to create movement/light. I would like to know many things about electricity. One question i have is//

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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: //This graph (graph 1) shows the major sources of electriciity in the U.S. This graph shows that coal has always been the biggest source of electricity. Coal has been steadily increasing until it has surpassed the others by trillions of kilowatthours. from just 1982 to 1986, the amount of coal used increased by .3 trillion Kilowatthours. Coal has definitely been the source that has increased the most.//

//In this graph, there are two sources of power that directly harm the environment. One of the sources is coal. Coal releases CO2 when it is burned for power, therefore making the heat bounce off it and come back to Earth. The other source is Petroleum and Natural gases. This harms the environment because it releases greenhouse gases when burned, also clogging up the atmosphere and keeping the heat in.//

//MLA Citation: Couric, Katie. "Air Pollution Facts." __CBS news__. 31 Jan 2007. CBS News. 6 Jan 2008 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/26/fyi/main2126583.shtml.////

From 1972 to 1985, the Petroleum/Natural Gas source of electricity dropped very quickly.The coal source, however, kept on climbing and didn't go down at all. Hydroelectric power stayed about the same through the entire period. The nuclear electric power climbed almost as steadily as coal did, and didn't go down. Both the nuclear electric and coal went up for the entire period.//

Comment 1: Victor, you did a good job answering the question directly and clearly, and you stayed in 3rd person the entire time. It would have been helpful to state that the information came from Graph 1, so that a reader who hadn't read the questions above would know what your sources were. Also, the last sentence is difficult to understand; what do you mean 'they went up for the entire period?' Other than those few things, excellent job! ~Katie

Comment 2: Victor, you wrote in thrid person, you refered back to the graph yet you did not add any statistics. Also you never stated where the information came from. The only down side to this blog is the last sentance. It could have been more descriptive. Also on the last sentance you want to look out for typos, you said "went up for the entire period". Other than that the blog was great- Alex

Comment 3: Victor good job on writing in third person. However you didn't put exact data. Also you should have refered to the graph directly so it would be clear where you got the information from. Other than that you information was correct. Nice job! -Adit

1/8/08
//From 2000 to 2005, the four sources of electricity, coal,nuclear electricity, petroleum and natural gas, and hydroelectric power, all either went up or stayed the same. Coal went from a spike of 2.0 trillion kilowatthours, back down to 1.8 trillion kilowatthours, to the end of the graph, where it is at 2.1 trillion kilowatthours. Nuclear electricity stayed at .8 UNITS the entire time from 2000 to 2005. Petroleum and natural gas, however, started out tied SW with nuclear electric power at .8 trillion kilowatthours and rose to .9 trillion UNITS, passing nuclear electricity along the way. Hydrolectric power started out at .3 trillion kilowatthours, dipped down to.1 kilowatthours, and then came back up to .3 trillion again. WHERE IS THE CONCLUDING SENTENCE? WATCH YOUR UNITS. OVERALL SUMMARY NOT JUST REPORTING! - JT

Comment 1: Victor, overall your blog is good. There are places with grammatical errors and places where words do not fit in. In the first sentance you made a simple typo by saying "coal,nuclear electricity". You need a space between the comma and the "nuclear". Also in the first sentence you said "all either went up or stayed the same", you can make that clearer by saying something along the lines of "all energy sources either increased or decreased". In the second sentence you said "to the end of the graph", what is the end of the graph? Is it a year? You need to label what year the end of the graph was. In your third sentence you said "Nuclear electricity stayed at .8 the entire time", what is .8? You need to also label that. In your fourth sentence you said " and rose to .9 trillion," Again, you need to label that, the reader wouldn't know what trillion you are talking about. Also in your last sentence you need to label the ".3 trillion". You also need to make a concluding sentence. Other than that your blog was good.- Alex//

//Comment 2:// Good entry and good explanation of the individual sources and there activity, but you should explain overall trend of the time. Other than that no major errors and good job.

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 measure of power. The formula for watts is Watts = Current times Voltage. If a lamp using 200 watts of power is left on for 24 hours, the amount of kilowatthours would be 4.8 kilowatthours

Comment 1:Very nice blog entry, Victor. You wrote the whole blog in third person. You used the correct way to find the watts and the kilowatts. You also did a very good job of describing how you got the kilowatt hours. You don't have any grammatical but, a few spelling errors(kilowatt hours not kilowatthours). Other than that, Great job. Colin

Comment 2: Good job on your blog entry. However the entry was a little short. You also did not answer one of the questions which was to explain the problem and how you got to the conclusion of 4.8 kilowatt hours. If you had answered the last question your blog entry would ---have been complete.

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 have the ability to reason, then what sets a machine apart from a robot would be what they are made of, and not what their level of intelligence would be. This would set them apart because humans would be made of skin and bone, instead of metal. I think that soldier robots that should not be made. I think this because then they might rebel and then machines would control us, instead of the other way around.

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Adit

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 year was a great year and was very fun. I really enjoyed the radioshack circuit building, because of the col things we got it to do. Another thing I enjoyed was the snakes Peppermint and Diablo. They have gotten much biger over the course of the year, and they are a lot of fun to hold. I learned a lot about electricity that I didn't know before, and I used that knowledge a couple of times already. All in all, it's been a really good year.//

Comment 1: You did great during this trimester Victor. You knew how to put most circuits together, and you knew which chemicals not to mix. I enjoyed that you also knew how to take care of Diablo and Peppermint. Overall a Great Trimester Victor!--//Colin//

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