Earth and Environmental Blog Week 8

Monday or October 19, 2015 C.E.:

 No school today!

Tuesday or October 20, 2015 C.E.:

Today we started to wrap up our Sustainable Ecosystems/Eco bottle lab. We took our second to last measurements, and applied the treatment for the last time ever. We went over test and I got 98%. This result is much better than my previous one because I studied. Again it has proven useful to prepare for big test such as this. After this we previewed the next unit. The next unit will be about Tectonic Plates. We talked about the reason the plates move, and what they are.

Wednesday or October 21, 2015 C.E.:

 This is the last day of the Sustainable Ecosystems lab! We collected our last data. On average the controls grew better than the Iron bottles. The difference is only slight on paper, but if you see, the difference is evident. Many more of the control plants germinated compared to the Iron plants. One of the Iron bottles had one or two blades of grass, while a control had more than 20. We also further previewed our upcoming unit.

Thursday or October 22, 2015 C.E.:
Today we completed some vocab cards about our new unit. We also peered reviewed our labs to make sure they are good. After this we started notes on the new Unit 4. We covered the first section. It talked about Earth's oceanic and continental crust. The continental crust is thicker than the oceanic crust, but the oceanic crust is denser. We then also reviewed the characteristics of the mantle, mostly the asthenosphere, and we talked about the core.

Friday or October 23, 2015 C.E.:

Today we completed some more vocab cards related to tectonic plates. We then learned about the second section of the unit. It covers the Continental Drift Hypothesis and continental drift in general. We learned about the reasons why continents could be moving and why. After this we did stations in groups. The stations had all kinds of information of Tectonic Plates in them. We had to list evidence about why Continental Drift Hypothesis is plausible in one station.

Summary: This week was a good week where we learned a lot. I still need to stay focused and make sure I finish my blog in time. I will achieve this by expecting technical difficulties while budgeting my time.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 7

Monday or October 12, 2015 C.E.: 

Today our grass seeds germinated. Two controls germinated and one iron germinated. The control grasses both grew higher than the Iron bottle. We also conducted a quick experiment in which someone in our group blew bubbles using a straw in a solution. We called it the Carbon Breath Test. The solution consisted of a pH indicator called Bromothymol Blue. As someone in the group blew into the solution, the Carbon Dioxide in their breath formed an acid, which I think was Carbolic acid. After blowing into the solution for a couple minutes, the pH indicator changed from blue to green, and eventually yellow.

Tuesday or October 13, 2015 C.E.: 

The plants that have survived are growing considerably. The second Iron bottle has germinated, and the two controls are getting bigger than ever. We also started a new lab called the Carbon Cycle Lab. This lab will be similar to the Carbon Breath Test, but we will be adding an aquatic plant. We will be putting an aquatic plant in similar solutions that have and haven't been blown into. We will also put them in the light and dark closet. We will see how the plants' environments affect what chemical processes the plants will undergo. The plants may change the Carbolic acid present, and thus color of the Brymothymol Blue.

Wednesday or October 14, 2015 C.E.: 

We saw the results of the Carbon Cycle Lab today. I thought it was really cool. We saw how the plants in the dark environment only underwent Cellular Respiration, which adds Carbon Dioxide to the environment. As a result of this, all of the Dark plants' containers had green (acidic) solution in them. The light plants were able to undergo Photosynthesis, which takes Carbon Dioxide from the environment. This made the solution more blue, as the plant caused it to become neutral or basic. After this, we started an excel graph for the growth data of our plants in the bottle graph.  

Thursday or October 15, 2015 C.E.: 

Today we reviewed for our Unit 3 test tomorrow. We split up into partners and I was with Ben. We took sheets of questions that could be on the tests. Each sheet had six questions on it. We then wrote those answers on a paper, and checked them with Mrs.Giacomelli. We also collected additional data for our plants. In the end of the class period we also did a brain dump. We were in groups and wrote everything we knew about the unit on a large piece of paper. I wrote about available renewable resources.

The Unit 3 Brain Dump!

Friday or October 16, 2015 C.E.: 

Today we took our Unit 3 Earth Systems test. I reviewed in class and at home really well, and I am pretty confident that I did well on it. It had questions from the entire unit including questions about the spheres of the Earth and the cycles. There were also plenty of Renewable and Nonrenewable energy sources questions, as well as some vocabulary. The test was a great end to the week.
Summary: This week was a really fun week. The labs we did were really interesting, and the reviewing in class was really productive. I need to remain more focused while doing homework, but I have made good progress.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 6

Monday or October 5, 2015 C.E.:

No school today!

Tuesday or October 6, 2015  C.E.:

Sadly, the Cadmium has not arrived yet. Ben and I have decided, just to plant the grass seeds anyway, and make the two bottles intended for cadmium, controls. We sprinkled a pinch of seeds, into each bottle, and then put a small layer of topsoil on top of them. I then gave each bottle 5 squirts of liquid from a water sprayer. I also added a pinch of Iron powder to the two Iron bottles. It sure is a shame the cadmium hasn't arrived yet.

Wednesday or October 7, 2015 C.E.:

Today we took our quiz for the first 2 section of this Unit. This means it includes Human's effect on the world, all the different energy sources, and Earth's spheres. I made the mistake, not to study, so I hope my grade will not be too bad. Usually, we have a word bank for the vocabulary section, and I am not sure if I used the right word on two. On one of the questions, I put bio matter, but the answer may have been biomass. 

Thursday or October 8, 2015 C.E.:

Today we reviewed the quiz. I unfortunately got a B on it. It is not too bad, though because I have gotten As consistently this school-year, and it will thus not significantly affect my grade. One of the questions I got wrong was the biomass question, I mentioned yesterday. I overthought another, and didn't fully answer yet another. Next time, I need to spend more time studying, and I need to spend more time taking my test. I rushed through the test and I was overconfident. I should always check through the entire thing, before handing it in, but I only scratched the surface of my usual checking process. 

Friday or October 9, 2015 C.E.:

Today our teacher Mrs. Giacomelli, told us to do something, unexpected. We had to take seeds out from salt-water marsh grasses. In this unit, we will be taking thousands of seeds, raising them, and later reintroducing them into the marsh, to build back up the wetlands. We each took a stalk, and huddled over a bowl, and put in the seeds. I thought it would be like talking the seeds off barley or wheat, but it doesn't come off that easily. We had to pluck every seed off manually. Our grass has not germinated yet. I am glad we didn't wait for the Cadmium, because it has not even come yet.

Summary: This week was a very educational week. I was reminded to study and check over my work more, without destroying my grade, as the quiz wasn't many points. I need to make sure I don't rush.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 5

Monday or September 28, 2015 C.E.:

Today we started a new Unit on Earth Systems. We were introduced into Section 1: Human Activity & Earth's Systems. We talked about the explosion of Human population, and the outcome of the Industrial Revolution. We discussed the countless instances where natural resources have been used to create new things, that seem to look nothing like the raw material. One of these instances is how oil is made into a wide variety of plastics. We also talked about our impact on the Earth.

Tuesday or September 29, 2015 C.E.:

We started a new lab today, to go with our new Unit. It is called the Sustainable Ecosystems lab. In this lab we will be growing Rye grass in bottles. I am working with Ben Testori, and we will be exposing our plants to Heavy Metals. Mrs. Giacomelli, our teacher, only has Iron powder, so I decided to buy some Cadmium from unitednuclear.com. After this, we learn more about our current Unit. We talked about what fossil fuels are and why they are harmful to the environment. Today was quite fun, especially because it is always interesting to be introduced to a new unit.

Wednesday or September 30, 2015 C.E.:

 Now that I have ordered the Cadmium, the first problems start to dawn. I notice that the Cadmium that I ordered has not specific shipping date. I am expecting that it will come on Saturday, but there is no guarantee. I also learn that Cadmium is very harmful when inhaled. Normally this would not be a problem, but I am grinding it down into a powder. This will cause particles to get into the air. This means I need a respirator. I do a bunch of research on the hazards of Cadmium, until I know what kind to get. I need a N-100 rated filter for "toxic metals such as Cadmium or Lead" *ouch*. This filter is of such high quality that it can filter a minimum of 99.97% of airborne particles. I do some additional research to find the right model and its cost. I also need latex gloves. For additional safety I need to shower and wash my clothes after immediately after grinding down Cadmium, for increased safety. Today we also learned more about the unit. We discussed the pros and cons of nuclear energy, biomass, solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectricity and geothermal energy. I was shocked at how negatively my classmates were inclined towards hydroelectricity, compared to nuclear energy. Personally, I despise Nuclear Energy more than any other source of energy that we have available, except for coal and oil, and thus I would pick hydroelectric over nuclear any day. Yes, hydroelectric dams are harmful, but if they have a fall height of less than 15 meters, they cannot be too harmful, or at least not as harmful as the nuclear waste that stays radioactive for at least 25,000 years. I think the dams on the Danube river are acceptable, and are not too harmful. Many have systems in place to help fish migrate.

A Danube River dam with a fall height of 10.6 meters

Thursday or October 1, 2015 C.E.:

Today we talked about the Earth's spheres, their composition, and how they are interlinked with each other. The geosphere is the inner portion of the Earth. It contains the core, mantle, and crust of the Earth. The cryosphere is the frozen water of Earth, and the Hydrosphere is all the water on Earth including frozen water. The biosphere consists of all the living matter on Earth. It spans from 11km beneath sea level, to 9km up into the atmosphere. We also talked about the atmosphere's composition. After this, Ben and I perfected our lab procedures and similar things to prepare for the planting of our seeds.

Friday or October 2, 2015 C.E.:

We were supposed to plant our seeds for the lab today, but the Cadmium has not arrived yet. I really hope that it comes soon. In class we finished all the preparations for the results table and all things digitally. We have finished our bottles, prepared our soil, and I even made labels. Now all we need is the Cadmium.
Summary: This week was fun. We were introduced to a new Unit which is always interesting.  I have improved my efficiency while working, but I think I can still decrease the time in which I write my blog.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 4

Monday or September 21, 2015 C.E.:

Today we finished our timeline project. We had to label on the side, what period of time in the geologic timescale it was, and color in a specific color. For the Precambrian super-eon, we had a couple meters of orange to cover. By the way, I did not blog last week, because of our field trip. We took a 1 night field trip to the United States National Whitewater Center. There we went on rope courses, White water rafts, and we went zip lining. Some of the rope courses, were really challenging, yet really fun!

Tuesday or September 22, 2015 C.E.:

 Today we did a lab practicum for our Geologic Timeline lab. It was the first lab practicum that I have ever done. We had to answer questions based on what we learned while doing the lab. The good thing is, that we were able to use the timelines. We had to list the number of million years since something has happened. We also had to answer some questions like "What eon are we currently in?" and "In what period, did land plants emerge?". I think that I did good on the lab practicum.

Wednesday or September 23, 2015 C.E.:

Today we studied for our Unit 2 test tomorrow. We brain dumped, by putting anything that we need to know for the test. I put down something about the geologic timescale, and the three eons in the Precambrian super-eon.We also played a game for review. In this game we divided into 3 groups, and 1 person answered a question per round. If we answer the question, we can take 2 life from the other teams. We can also take a basketball shot, and if we make it, we can take 4 life from the other teams. We did not win, but it was still fun.

Thursday or September 24, 2015 C.E.:

Today we took our test for Unit 2. I think I did very well on it. There was one question on it though, that I don't know if I got right. We had to list what state of matter each layer of the Earth was. I was not so sure about the mantle. Is said that the mantle was a liquid-solid, or something like that. I hope that this is a good enough answer. I can't wait to see the result.

Friday or September 25, 2015 C.E.:

We reviewed our Unit 2 test, and I got a 100% on it! I was really happy. I got the question of the mantle right. We then also reviewed the test. It seemed that many people didn't do as well. This is probably a bad test to not do well, because it is worth so many points. We then looked at videos of coal mines, to preview our next unit.
Summary: This week was a great week. I did well on my quiz. I still need to increase efficiency while doing homework.
 

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 3

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Earth and Environmental Blog Week 2

Monday or August 31, 2015 C.E.:

At the beginning of this new week, we made some new vocab cards. We learned some rather bizarre words today, including: Asthenosphere, Catastrophism, and Uniformitarianism. By the way, Spell check doesn't even recognize a single one. Anyway, Asthenosphere is a layer of mantel about 150km deep, Catastrophism is the idea that the world is shaped by a series of massive, rapid events, and Uniformitarianism, is the idea that the world is shaped by slow processes, like weathering, or erosion. After creating our vocab cards, we worked on our oreo labs.  I was lucky that I already did most of it, because I was finished by the end of the period.

Seems to support Catastrophism, to me

Tuesday or September 1, 2015 C.E.:

Today we started the day by talking about what we would invent to make the world a better place. It was interesting what people said. One person talked about a container, that could dry the contents, and another talked about a container that was almost infinitely large yet small in real life and when you stuck your hand in it, you were presumably sticking your hand into a wormhole, and yet another talked about using an existing quantum theory as transportation to ultimately reduce carbon emissions. After this we filled out a couple more vocabulary cards of words that most of us had never heard of, and then the day was over.

Wednesday or September 2, 2015 C.E.:

We started out to-day's science class by finishing a diagram of the inside of the Earth. We did notes on history of of the universe, all the way up to Precambrian era of the Earth. We talked about how the universe is really old, at 13.7 billion years, and the Earth is also old at 4.5 billion years. We learned that in the early stages, the Earth was molten, and gradually heavier metals sunk to the core, like iron or nickel. Lighter elements, like magnesium, sodium, potassium, and oxygen rose to higher levels.

Thursday or September 3, 2015 C.E.:

Today we started a new lab, simulating carbon-dating. We took 100 pennies, and threw them on the table. This was supposed to represent one half-life. The pennies that ended up tails, represented the carbon-14 atoms that decayed. We then put all the heads back together and threw them on the table again, to simulate another half-life. This was repeated until every penny ended up tails, or every last Carbon-14 decayed into a stable Nitrogen isotope. We repeated the process 1 or 2 times, and then we recorded the number of remaining pennies after each throw into a table. Tomorrow, we will probably start graphing, doing the questions for the lab, and filling out additional information in the tables, like averages.

Each Flask represents one half-life

Friday or September 4, 2015 C.E.:

Today we finished our Radiometric Dating lab. We completed the table and filled out the averages. We then graphed the averages of our data. The X-axis was the number of years that had passed, and the Y-axis was the number of Carbon-14 or pennies left. The graph was very interesting, and made me think of the Zeno's ball paradox. If the top of the crests, were connected with a line, then the following graph, and our graph will look exactly the same.

Summary: The week was an extremely interesting week. I learned about the history of the Earth from a teacher for the first time, rather than a book, and I learned a lot. I can still complete my blog faster and more efficiently, and that is what I will do.