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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 explains about a threat to the US by a ballistic missile armed with nuclear. The US could be in danger if hit. However if to hit the US from over the Atlantic or the Pacific the ballistic missile must travel through outer space to hit a target more than 100 miles away. The ballistic missile has to journey over 125,000 feet to bypass Earth’s atmosphere. In fact, intercontinental missiles, as the US would call them, can reach a distance of 1000 miles above the surface of our planet. The missile is required to voyage so high for a couple of reasons. The first reason is because if the deadly projectile travels to low intercontinental then gravity will pull the missile down before the warhead could reach its destination. The other reason is because if the highest point of the trajectory is too low then the extreme temperatures and the air friction because of the high speeds in the atmosphere will burn the object of mass destruction. To reach its highest speed, its destination and survive, the missile has to travel through space because lack of air. In order to reach the destination, many features apply. Such as weight, angle, speed, and the wind speeds. The missile must be aimed at the right angle and launched at the perfect speed to ascend the Earth’s atmosphere. The wind must be checked to see how fast and in what direction it is traveling in. For example, the jet stream might affect the path of the missile. If the missile is heavy then the speed and angle might have to be adjusted. Launching a missile once took a long process, but thanks to computers this process is sped up to only a few minutes. One day the class was playing a game called Water Balloons. The point of the game was to hit the person on the ground with a water balloon. To aim and hit the person, you had to adjust the wind, gravity, angle, or the velocity had to be changed in order to hit the target. This relates to the missiles because of the correct angle and speed the must be achieved to withstand the gravity and the wind.

Citation: "Physics of Ballistic Missiles." __MissileThreat.com__. 26 Aug 2007. A Project of Claremont Institute. 26 Aug 2007 <[|http://www.missilethreat.com/overview/pageID.155/default.asp>.]

//Comment 1: In the second paragraph the first sentence says "one day the class was playing a game called Water Balloon". It would be better if it had a little more description other than just "the class was playing a game called Water Balloon". Try something along the lines of "In 7th grade class Science 7 the students played a educational game called Water Balloon". Everything else is perfect in the blog, just watch how you explained the missiles. It may not be clear to readers who do not have the background information about the missiles Great Job, I enjoyed the topic also!.//- Alex Comment 2:

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://

1.) The scientific method is your hypothesis, experiment, results, and then your conclusion. That is everything that is in the experiment. The scientific is the basis for all experiments including the density cube experiment. The scientific method is to describe how you conducted the experiment. The scientific method is done so you can repeat the experiment.

2.) The problem with the experiment was mainly the research. It takes some time just to research the different densities as well as choosing which cube relates researched cube. Over all the experiment was difficult in terms of finding the densities of the cubes and choosing which cube is which.

3.) Yes, the density is very important to finding the identity of a unknown substance. The denser an object is the heavier it is. If an object looks the same as the other, yet there is a drastic difference in density they are not the same substance.

//Comment 1:// Overall your blog was good! Although, you were supposed to put it into a paragraph form while you did it in bullet form! Make sure to read the questions correctly because, your first paragraph was off the topic. The first part of the paragraph was supposed to state if the scientific method was needed but, you just explained what the scientific method was. Your explanation of the scientific method was clear and precise. The vocabulary you used was good and helped the way your explanation turned out. The other components of your “paragraph” were good but, you had some spelling errors! Dismissing your errors, your blog was great! -Myra

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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 used to find out what a chemical by its color. In fire works you see one or more colors that come out of the fireworks when lit. There are chemicals in the fireworks. When they are lit the fire travels up the fireworks and the chemicals are lit on fire. It is exactly like a flame test since the chemicals are burned and the colors are revealed. The difference is that fireworks are lit for fun and a flame test is a mystery.

Citation: Clark, Jim. "flame test." __ChemGuide__. 2005. 16 Oct 2007 <[|http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/flametests.html>.]

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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:// When sodium is dropped into a beaker of chlorine it lights on fire. This happens because the combination creates an ionic bond. An ionic bond is where one atom gives its electrons to the other. An ionic bond forms between a non-metal and a metal. The electrons sodium's energy level are jumping to chlorine's energy level. When this happens, light and heat are created. When the sodium metal combines with chlorine, sodium chloride is formed, which is better known as table salt.

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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).

//Entry:// My favorite experiments this trimester were the chemical reaction experiments. It was very fun and a great learning experience to see what happens when you mix chemicals together. I enjoyed learning to balance chemical equations after finishing the reaction experiments. Anything could happen when you mix chemicals together. The mixture might explode, or it could create very bright lights that temporarily blind you. Mixed chemicals may possibly re-light or put out flames. One of my favorite reactions was when we put a small piece of sodium into a bucket of water. We saw sparks and flames in the reaction since the hydrogen was burning. It was awesome to see sparks flying in the air and to see how much destruction it can cause. I excelled at the blog entries for all topics covered in this trimester. Blog entries were good to do since I learned more than what I was taught in class. For example, I learned about ballistic missiles (an application of projectile motion) when I was writing an entry on projectile motion. I also learned about wiki spaces and how it works. The best thing I learned was searching the web. After each blog entry I became better at searching. Every time I wrote a blog entry, I made sure that I included enough detail. I think I could have improved on the screen cast assignments. I rushed to finish the screen cast; therefore, it was not that good. I was not making any scripts for my screen cast, which made it much harder and much longer to record. I was stuttering on the screen cast, which made it difficult to hear me. On my most recent screen cast, I learned from my mistakes and fixed everything that had gone wrong before. I also wish to improve on my lab reports. I have done only one lab report this trimester and that was on projectile motion. I did not add enough detail in the summary of the experiment and the description of the tables. My title page was missing the date and the team name. I only used one website for reference which was not enough. In the second trimester, I want to fix my mistakes so I can receive a better grade.

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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 do not know that much about electricity. I know that Benjamin Franklin discovered lightning by flying a kite. Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb. I also know that electricity is made coal and uranium. Only some metals conduct electricity, which means that electricity can flow through the metal. I have many questions on electricity. My questions are:
 * How does a light bulb work?
 * How do you make uranium and coal into electricity?
 * What is progress energy?
 * How do you store energy in a battery?
 * Why does electricity effect water?

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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: "In Graph 1 coal is shown as having increased to be used the most out of all the other energy sources. From 1972-1985, the usage of coal has increased from 0.7 trillion kilowatthours to 1.25 trillion kilowatthours." Coal and Oil are the two power sources that are killing the environment. When you burn oil, nitric, sulfuric, and carbonic acids are released into the air and cause acid rain. To stop this we can buy fuel efficient cars or hybrid cars. When you burn coal it creates smoke which is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide keeps the heat in, which causes the global temperatures to rise incredibly. To stop this from happening we can use more uranium to make energy. Nuclear power plants are also environment friendly. "From 1972 to 1985, Graph 1 shows that coal has increased greatly from 0.7 trillion killowatthours to 1.25 killowatthours. Petroleum and Natural Gases were being used a lot in 1970's and then decreased because nuclear power energy was discovered. Hydroelectric power, which comes water, has been stable for those thirteen years.

Citations: Arms, Simon. "How to Reduce the Effect Petrol has on the Environment." __eHow.com__. 4 Jan 2008 <[|http://www.ehow.com/how_2055828_reduce-effect-petrol-has-environment.html>.]

Comment 1: Nice job Adit, not including some minor errors, overall you did a good job on your blog. You wrote in third person and referenced to the graph which mean you followed the instructions clearly. Also, you referenced the data with the dates and data from the graph! One thing is that, you didn’t really back up your data. You included all the content that you needed so, keep up the good work! -Myra

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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: Graph 1 shows that there were four sources of electricity. They were coal, nuclear power, hydroelectric power, and natural and oil gases. From 2000-2005 continues a steady increase from 2 to 2.1 trillion killowatthours. Coal had a small increase which is much different compared to coal usage before 2000. Graph 1 shows that petroleum and natural gases makes a slight increase from 0.7 to 1 trillion killowatthours in the five years. Nuclear electric power, however, stays stable from 2000-2005. It stays at 0.7 trillion killowatthours as petroleum and natural gases cross through it. Hydroelectric power makes a very small increase from 2002-2005 at a rate of 0.3 trillion killowatthours after it dropped in 2001, from 0.4 to 0.1 trillion killowatthours. Coal was the source that was being used the most out of the four sources in 2005, while the usage of other sources were less than coal by at least 1.1 trillion killowatthours.

Comment 1: Very nice blog entry

Comment 2: In sentence three you say that there is a steady increase but you never say what it is. i also think that you could go over and look at grammar but other than that Great job! -Zack

Re-Entry: Graph 1 shows that there were four sources of electricity. They were coal, nuclear power, hydroelectric power, and natural and oil gases. From 2000-2005 coal continues a steady increase from 2 to 2.1 trillion killowatthours. Coal had a small increase which is much different compared to coal usage before 2000. Graph 1 shows that petroleum and natural gases makes a slight increase from 0.7 to 1 trillion killowatthours in the five years. Nuclear electric power, however, stays stable from 2000-2005. It stays at 0.7 trillion killowatthours as petroleum and natural gases cross through it WORDING. Hydroelectric power makes a very small increase from 2002-2005 at a rate of 0.3 trillion killowatthours after it dropped in 2001, from 0.4 to 0.1 trillion killowatthours. Coal was the source that was being used the most out of the four sources in 2005, while the usage of other sources were less than coal by at least 1.1 trillion killowatthours. EXCELLENT- 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 in it 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 unit of power in electricity. Watts= Voltage*Current. If the lamp has a 200 watt bulb and burned for 24 hours then it uses 4.8 kilowatt hours. To figure this out you multiply 200 (the watts) and 24 (the time) to get your answer in watt hours. Then divide 4800 (the answer) by 1000 to get your answer in kilowatt hours.

-Adit

Comment 1: This entry has good content and all of the questions are answered in good detail, as well as being written in third person throughout the entire paragraph. However, there are some corrections which I would like to make to this entry. For example, I //think// that the formula for power begins with "power," not with "watts" because a watt is simply the measure of power, not power itself. Also, that sentence also is not a complete sentence. Maybe you could say something like, "To calculate the amount of electrical power used in a circuit, one must multiply the voltage in the circuit by the current in the circuit." This is simply a suggestion. Also, your description of how many kilowatt hours the light bulb would use might be more clear if you simply stated the formula (which can be found on the web) and then show how you plugged in the numbers to find the answer. If you used that way, the reader would be able to see //exactly// how you made this formula. Besides these things, this is a good entry! //-Joseph C.

Comment 2: You answered all the questions, but you still had a few errors. For one, your blog was too short. You should go into further detail about the questions. Also, does a lightbulb "burn" or does it stay on? Another thing, you could have put the formula in before the answer, saying "//To figure this out you multiply 200 (the watts) and 24 (the time) to get your answer in watt hours. Then divide 4800 (the answer) by 1000 to get 4.8 kilowatthours, which is the answer." Otherwise, it was fine.

Comment 3: Very nice blog entry, Adit. You wrote the whole blog in 3rd person. I don't see any spelling or grammatical errors. Your defenition of a watt is a bit off. A watt is the amount of electrical power used by an item. You explained how to calculate the kilowatt hours nicely. Great Job, Adit.  Colin

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 enjoyed electricity greatly. It was very fun to make circuits in electricity. I really liked making the basic circuits because I learned how fans and light bulbs worked and how they were wired. The radio shack breadboard was much more difficult but a lot more exiting. It was challenging to put the wires and other parts in the breadboard because they come out easily. The tests wewre difficult for me and next trimester I will study harder to get better grades on my tests. I did a better job on my lab report than last trimester which makes me happy that I accomplished my goal.

Comment 1: It was great to work with you this year, Adit. I had a lot of fun collaborating on the Radio Shack breadboard circuits with you during the last week of the trimester. I look forward to working with you next trimester! -Joseph

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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: There is a huge difference between robots and humans, even if future robots have the ability to think, reason, have feelings, and be self-aware. First robots are not living creatures like humans. They do not have bones organs or any inner body parts that humans do. Also a robot would have incredible strength becasue they are made of metal and machines. Also robots cannot die as easily. A military robot or a robot that could aquire a weapon should not be built because it could cause mass destruction. //The Terminator// is a great example of what could happen if those kinds of robots were created. Even if they are created, hopefully people have enough sense of not to use them. - Adit

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