Final Blog Reflection

2014-2015 C.E. School Year Reflection:

          Throughout this school year I was exposed to two broad areas in Science. I gained a basic knowledge in Chemistry and Physics. We learned how to identify general characteristics of elements using the placement of them on the Periodic Table and did not only learn the characteristics by memorizing them. In Physics we learned how to compute basic equations for a variety of different quantities.We can now switch basic equations as we please, to find a variable that is not already set equal to. We learned about how objects move, about energy, and force. 

          Many times over the course of the school year, we did hands-on activities to learn. Of the many that we did, my two favorite were the Flame Test lab and the Egg Drop lab. In the Flame Test lab we took samples of transition metals and burned them under a Bunsen burner. Different metals burned in different colors, for example Magnesium burned a brilliant white and Copper burned an emerald green. The Magnesium was so bright that we could not look at it directly. The Egg Drop lab was the lab where we had to protect our egg from impact after being dropped from high heights. We had to absorb shock from a variety of different heights and ultimately from a helicopter. We used shock absorbing materials like foam, but the foam was too hard so the egg broke after being dropped from the helicopter. In retrospect, I would have made the design our of egg "case" out of bubble wrap, foam pellets, and polyester fiberfill (stuffed animal stuffing).
          The Science final was a very fair test. It tested us on the key points that we had to know. I did not do well on my test partially because I forgot to study for one of the topics that was going to be tested on. Next time I will take a closer look at what I have to study.
           We went to Defy gravity. Defy Gravity is an extremely fun trampoline park and we had almost the entire place for ourselves. We could play dodge-ball in a place full of trampolines, and they had a foam pit that we could jump in. After two hours, we were really tired.

           The Boat Regatta was the last big Science event we had. We had to race our cardboard boats from one side of the Echo farms pool to the other and back. My group consisted of Ben, Andrei, John Stewart, and me, of course. Our boat may not have been that good, but Ben and I practiced paddling, watched different boat regattas, and developed a strategy. In the end we got the second place time.

          Although we were able to participate in the Boat Regatta, I still liked Chemistry more than Physics while studying them, for the sole reason that I am better at it than Physics. This just made it more enjoyable for me because I would understand it faster, and be able to apply it more.
          My thoughts on Science changed drastically throughout the year. Because I have almost completely taught all of my prior knowledge of Science to myself, I really loved being taught it in person. Normally if I didn't understand a topic, I would just move to another paragraph in the book, but now I can understand a lot more. This caused me to enjoy learning Science even more because I didn't have all these gaps in my knowledge. During the second semester I also grew less intimidated by Physics.
          Now that this year is over, I am looking ahead to next year's topic: Earth and Environmental. We will learn about Geology, the oceans, the atmosphere, and about Astronomy. Of these 4 sub-topics, I am looking forward to Astronomy and Geology the most. It will be interesting to learn about the cosmos.
          Among the things I look forward to doing in the next year is improving efficiency. I need to work on focusing for prolonged period to get work done faster. This will drastically increase my efficiency. I also need to adopt better studying techniques, and studying everything that could be on the assessment. Including increasing my efficiency, I also want to get all A+'s on my next Science grade. I didn't achieve that this year.
         All in all, this year was a great year to learn and grow. I learned a lot about Physics and Chemistry, and filled in the numerous gaps in my former knowledge. See you next year!

Science Week 34

Monday or May 11, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we took our Waves quiz. I think I did a good job on it. Did you know that a waves velocity can only be changed with the wave traveling into a different medium. I learned that waves that need a medium to travel through are called Mechanical waves. I am starting to get worried about the final and I better start studying. The waves test is also coming as well.

Tuesday or May 12, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started the last topic we will learn about this year. It is reflection and refraction. We put Pyrex stirring rods into a beaker of water. We saw how the light was refracted because it was "bent". We also used a special brand of oil that has the almost the same angle of refraction as the Pyrex stirrer this caused it to be almost invisible from far away. In the beakers we also put oil and water and we watched the refraction between the separated water and oil. It was really cool and I enjoyed it.

Wednesday or May 13, 2015 A.D.:

We took our Unit 4 test today. It was all about waves. It was not a grade because we are behind and did not have enough time to do it. I got all of the questions right when we went over it. This test was very similar to the quiz we had on Monday. One of the questions was exactly the same! It was good preparation for finals. I was really glad that we were able to take it even though it was not going to be a grade.

Thursday or May 14, 2015 A.D.:

We reviewed for the final with Kahoot. Kahoot is a website where you can make quizzes for a large group of people. It is really cool. If you get the answer right, you get points. The faster you get them done the more points you get on the leader board. We then reviewed in the traditional style on the whiteboard. What we reviewed most was force, but we also reviewed energy and waves. I think I am ready for the final now.

Friday or May 15, 2015 A.D.:

Today the NHD students were not at school to play paintball with Mrs. Ovacz. This caused a lack of people in the class and Mrs. Giacomelli is in Pennsylvania. We reiewed for all of our finals during this period. I studied a little bit of science and a little bit of Social Studies.

Summary: This week was a good week that involved lots of studying. I still need to work on efficiency especially while studying.

Can't wait 'till the end of the exams!

Science Week 33

Monday or May 4, 2015 A.D.:

May the fourth be with you. Today we did a waves lab with slinkies. We took a slinky on both sides and stretched it our 5 meters. We then flicked our wrists to represent a transverse wave or a wave that oscillates perpendicular to the direction it travels. We timed the time for one wave to make it from one side to the other and then we calculated the velocity of the wave.

The Transverse wave we imitated.

Tuesday or May 5, 2015 A.D.:

Today we imitated a new type of wave with our slinkies. We imitated a longitudinal wave by taking a couple slinky rings and letting them go. A longitudinal wave oscillates parallel to the direction it is traveling. After doing this we did the wave questions.
Q: What do physicists enjoy most in sporting events?
A: The Wave


Wednesday or May 6, 2015 A.D.:

No Class We participated in an all day field trip for final review of social studies

Thursday or May 7, 2015 A.D.:

No Class Clyde Egderton visit.

Friday or May 8, 2015 A.D.:



No class We played paintball as celebration for MathCounts and Science Olympiad participants.

Summary: Although this week's class was short, I learned a lot about waves. I still need to work on focusing and getting work done faster.

Science Week 31

Monday or April 13, 2015 A.D.:

Today we reviewed for our Unit 3 quiz. The quiz will contain questions about energy, the Law of Conservation of energy (the energy found in a closed system is always constant) and maybe some momentum. In this unit we will also be tested on collisions and the two types of collisions, although not on this quiz. The first type of collision is elastic collision. It is a collision where no energy is “lost” to friction (it has and will never happen). The second type of collision is an inelastic collision, in which, some energy is “lost” to friction.

Tuesday or April 14, 2015 A.D.:

We took the Unit 3 quiz today.  I am confident that I did well on it and I am glad I studied. The quiz was exactly how I expected it.We only had questions about energy and none about momentum.

Wednesday or April 15, 2015 A.D.:

Woohoo. I got a 100% on my quiz. After we reviewed the quiz we did a quick momentum thing. We took marbles and put them on a groove in a ruler. We flicked one of the marbles into a group of other marbles and watched the momentum pass from the first marble to the outer marble. When one marble of equal mass is flicked at another marble that will move at just under the velocity the other marble hit it with. This is because some energy is transferred as friction.

Thursday or April 16, 2015 A.D.:

Today we had our water balloon lab. We switched around different variables that influence momentum to see what will happen. We took water balloons and threw them around. We learned that impulse is what makes a water balloon break and that it can be calculated by force x time. We changed the throw height (velocity) and the water in the balloon (mass). We found out that the balloons with little mass didn’t break and nor did the ones thrown only to about 3 meters. We enjoyed getting soaked.

Friday or April 17, 2015 A.D.:

Today we finished our study guide for Unit 3. We did the remaining momentum questions that we didn’t do last week. I also finished the lab questions from the lab yesterday. We had to identify the momentum if mass is increased by 10 fold or impulse if force is increased by 5 fold etc.  We were able to finish it all in class and I turned it in today.

Summary: This week was a fun, eventful week. We got to get soaked while learning about momentum. I still need to work on focusing and working more efficiently.

Science Week 30

Monday or April 6, 2015 A.D.:

Today we dropped our egg drop projects from heights of 1,2,3 meters. We took our design and threw it down. 2/3 of all the groups' eggs survived including ours. Yipee! Our total weight was 462 grams which was sort of the average as well. One group used corn syrup and multiple groups used peanut butter.

Tuesday or April 7, 2015 A.D.:

Today we had our second egg drop. We dropped our projects from a 70ft fire truck ladder. Our box's zip-tie broke and our box opened when it hit the ground. We were only allowed to open the boxes at the end of the day to find out if we won, but as we approached it we knew what the outcome was! The box was glistening with blood from an egg. Yellow yolk saturated the foam as we sadly retrieved the mangled carcass of "Pretty" the egg. (Andrei named it) We grieved the loss of our egg and the failure of our package. Next time we'll win with our new plan.
We begun to hatch a plan by just taking slabs of foam with no box and put the egg in a cavern in the middle like before. We will then tape the foam together and cut it for easy removal.

Wednesday or April 8, 2015 A.D.:

FIELD TRIP
NO SCIENCE

Thursday or April 9, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we completed part of the study guide for the Unit test with the substitute Mrs. Trainer. We completed the first 23 questions that we have covered. We did a lot of heat transfer talking about the three types of heat transfer; conduction, convection, and radiation. We also talked about potential and kinetic energy and their formulas. We also had a question about why perpetual motion does not happen and where the energy goes.

Friday or April 10, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we finished our egg-drop projects and we added some minor things. We added compartments of air to the foam to increase the air resistance. We used large bubble wrap and two extremely large air pockets. On Saturday weather-permitting we will drop our projects from a helicopter at 50 meters. I will be there and I can't wait to tell you if we won. We will not win the prize, but we may get the honor of having our egg survive.

Summary: This week was a fun week where got to do a lot of hands-on building. We had to recover from losing in the firetruck and make a better design.  I still have to work on my team working skills.

P.S. We lost. :( 

Science Week 29

Monday or March 23, 2015 A.D.:

Today we finished collecting data for our mechanical energy lab. We dropped the rest of the items and we measured their times. We also started a new section being Unit 3 Section 3 and we cleared out our binders of paper of previous units. We talked about conservation of momentum. Momentum is the amount umph (inertia) an object in change (dynamic) has. The direction of momentum is always the same as the direction of the vector of the velocity. Momentum is calculated by multiplying the kg of the object by its velocity in m/s.

Tuesday or March 24, 2015 A.D.:

We started the lab we have all been waiting for... We started the Egg Drop Lab. In this lab the goal is to create a protective shell of less than 8x8x8 inches to keep an egg from breaking after being dropped from various heights. We devised a plan today and everyone is very excited. My group consists of Ben T, John Stewart, and Andrei. We think that we will use helium and foam to make the impact shock the least. We will put foam on the outside of the box and put the balloon and the egg inside.


Wednesday or March 25, 2015 A.D.:

Today I had no science class because I was at the National History Day competition.

Thursday or March 26, 2015 A.D.:

We thought about our helium design and we figured that the egg would be too heavy for an 8 by 8 by 8 inch balloon so we made a new design. In this design we plan to take a 7 by 7 by 7 box and put in several foam slabs. The foam should fit snugly and we will put the egg in the middle of all the foam in a little container so it is not squished by the foam. Today we cut 1/2 of the foam that will go into the box. I cannot wait until it is done. We will put the egg in an big Easter egg and line the inside with foam. This will give it more protection.

Friday or March 27, 2015 A.D.:

Today we put in the last slabs in place and inserted the egg for testing on Monday. We closed the box with zip ties and put some foam on the outside to increase air resistance and give it more protection.We are going to drop the device at 1 meter height first so we will not start very high yet. We are hoping to throw the devices from a helicopter, but we do not yet have government permission.


Summary: This week was a very productive hands-on week. We had to use our imagination to create a box to keep our egg alive. I still need to work on efficiently and focusing on the goal.

Science Week 28

Monday or March 16, 2015 A.D.:

Today we reviewed for our test by playing a very fun game. We were divided into 5 groups and we were asked questions about the unit. If we got about three questions right in a row (depending on how hard they were), we would be able to take a little ball and try to shoot a basket in a mini hoop. If you missed you would get 2 points and if we scored we would get 4 points. For every point we got, we would cross off one of another team's X. Each team had 10 X's so the X's were quickly gone. Two teams were quickly eliminated because they ran out of X's. In the end there was a three way tie and we got candy.

Tuesday or March 17, 2015 A.D.:

Today was Saint Patrick's Day! But there was a test :(. I think I did good on the test though because I studied a lot. The test was rather easy, although I am glad that I found my calculator just in time. :) The test was on the things we did recently like work, power, and how to find the weight of an object if you only know the mass (on earth).


Wednesday or March 18, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we received our test, and I was thrilled to receive a 100%. Mrs. Giacomelli then introduced us to Unit 3 Section. In this new unit we learn about energy. Energy is the ability for a system to do work. It is also diluted mass, but read a quantum physics book about that because that topic makes my brain hurt. We learned about the different types of potential energy and what Kinetic energy is. We learned that all collisions of objects are called inelastic collision meaning that not all of their Kinetic energy is conserved. This is true for all collisions because when objects collide there is always friction.

Thursday or March 19, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started our mechanical energy lab. Mechanical energy is the sum of the kinetic and the potential energy of a system. We took the mass of a couple of different balls and dropped them from different heights. We found out their gravitational potential energy because we knew their height and their mass. We will drop the objects and we will calculate their kinetic energy. We are hoping that the kinetic energy and the potential energy are the same. This number is the mechanical energy of the entire system (ball we dropped.)