Monday, January 31, 2011

Crystal

Day 3
Nothing different happened on day 3. Everything is the same but i will wait 1 more week to see what will happen. I think that the crystals are not growing because the solution is gone.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Crysral Garden

DAY 2


This is the second day for my crystal growing. I have realised that i have some crystals on the sand that I put. Also I have some crystals growing on my water. But so far, not much on the trees. These are two pictures where I saw the most crystals.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Crysral Garden

In science we started learning about crystals. We had to make a crystal garden. We would make an imaginary garden, nd then add soulution over things to make crystals. The first day i saw a very little amount of crystal groung, but not much. This is how my garden looks like.     


                             


I used many solutions and types of crystals. I used salt, shugar, borax, and magneziam sulfate, (epson salt) solution. Here is the plan of my garden. So the first day of the crystel growing was not that exiting, but next time, it will be better.                                
                                                                                                                                                               
                  

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Early Earth and Plate Tectonics



Here is just a little description of what you will see in this video.
At the beginning this movie will tell you about inner earth and what are all the layers and what they are all made of. Then, they tell you what people think the earth tectonic plates started, but they are not sure if that is right. They also say why and what is moving them. Thus is a little description of the video, I hope you enjoy.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Dynamic Earth!!!

Within Inner Earth, find out the layers of the Earth and what they are like inside. First it’s the Crust, it is cool hard. Then it is the Mantle and it is gooey. After that it is the outer core, it is made up of Iron. And last the core; it contains hot lava, fire and magma. All the layers go from colder to hotter. The crust is the coldest, and the core is the hottest.
In the Unreachable Frontier, find out what meteorites may tell us about space. Once fragments of asteroids land on Earth as meteorites, we glimpse the raw materials that formed pur planet and the secret of its crust. Like the Carbonaceous Chondrite that fell in Mexico. Meteorites are composed of the solar systems original dust.
Also, visit the rocks section in Unreachable Frontier.  Discuss how the special rock called peridotite can give us clues about the Inner Earth. The periodites come from the upper Mantle layer of the Earth. Not that it only tells us what the upper Mantle is made of, it will keep a record of what is happening in this inaccessible layer of Earth.

 How do diamonds grow? Diamonds are made of carbon. The carbon atoms are tightly linked to form the hardest material known.
Where are they found? The first diamonds were found in ancient times in India.   Large diamond deposits were found in Brazil around the 1720's.  Huge diamond fields were discovered in Siberia in 1956.  In the 1860's,  diamonds were found in South Africa.  This led to a diamond rush in the Kimberly Fields.  Now, most of the world's diamonds come from South Africa. 
In  1906, diamonds were found near Murfreesboro, Arkansas.   A boomtown called Kimberly was formed along the road to the mine.  Today the town of Kimberly is gone and the diamond mine is owned and operated by the state of Arkansas.
How do they get to the surface of earth? Diamonds come to the surface when magma from far below the Earth’s surface begins coming up. Since diamonds are found at such incredible depths – three to four times deeper than the depth at which a normal volcano originates – magma upsurges deep enough to bring them to the surface are relatively rare. Once this magma cools, it forms a rock known as kimberlite – or sometimes lamproite – which may be used as an indicator that diamonds may be found in that area.
Where do rocks come from? Anyone who has ever picked up a shimmering quartzite or perfectly smooth gypsum knows that a rock is a treasure. That rock in your backyard may have traveled hundreds of miles frozen in the ice of an ancient glacier. Or maybe it was once molten rock that spewed from a volcano. All rocks come from the earth’s crust.
 How are they formed?  Rocks can be formed by wind and water (sedimentary rocks), volcanoes (igneous rocks), and pressure (metamorphic rocks).
Why are there so many different rocks and colors? Having different types of rocks and colors depends on how deep in the ground the rock or how hot or cold it is at that location. There is different colors and rocks also because they are made up of different materials and surroundings.
What is a mine and how does it work?  A mine is like a cave where you can find all kinds of expensive and useful stuff. There are gold mines, coal mines, diamond mines and many more. Mining can be done by several different techniques, depending on the situation involved and the type of mining being done. Some techniques and tools are relatively simple, so much so that nearly anyone could do it. Other techniques can be very detailed and tough, taking a great deal of knowledge and specific mining equipment.
Why do we need mining? Mining is needed for getting versatile ore types which are used for raw materials production, electrical energy production (coal fired plants), for manufacturing industrial products in many industries (chemical, automotive, electronic, pharmaceutical, jewelry, energy sector (nuclear plants), some ores are being used for weapons productions (nuclear bombs).   
What do we get from mining? From mining we get ores such as: iron, aluminum, copper, coal, gold, silicon, uranium, phosphor, silver, platinum, these are only the mains ones, but there is a lot more.   
How are the rocks processed after dug out from a mine? Depending on what type of rocks have been dug out from a specific mine, certain types of technological processes are applied for transforming certain rocks (ores) into the adequate raw materials (products).

This Weeks Reflection

What I Learned
This week I have learned a lot in science class. We watched Bill Ney the science guy and it was very informational. First we watched a film about the earth and what is inside of it. At the beginning I thought there were six layers under the Earth’s crust. But, unfortunately, I was wrong. The Earth has 4 layers. The first layer is called the crust and that is where we stand, it is cool and hard. The second layer is called the Mantle, it is gooey, and about 1,200 degrees Celsius hot. Then is the outer core which is filled and made out of iron. The last but definitely not least, is the core. It is the hottest part of earth; it is about 1,500 degrees Celsius hot. I have also learned that every time there is an earthquake, the other side of the Earth can’t feel it because the core is stopping the earthquake go further. Also I learned that every year the Europe and America move 2 inches apart.


The second Bill Nye the science guy video was about caves. I learned that caves can be under ground, under ice, in huge rocks, and even under water. Caves that are under water are formed by water going underground and making the whole under water. In any tape of cave everything stays the same for almost forever, the look, and the temperature. I learned that the stalactites are the ones at the top because they have to hold tight, and the stalagmites are the bottom ones because it might touch the stalactite. Also i learned all the kinds of animals that go or live in. There are three kinds, there is the Trogloxenes, which are cave visitors like bats, Troglyphile, which are cave lovers like warms, and the Troglodytes, they are cave dwellers, they can’t see and there are no pigments. And to end this of, i learned that bats are the link to life in the cave, and caves are creepy and scary.


 







 


What I would like to learn

First I would like to learn about what happens to mines once it was excavated? Or what are some other theories about the Earth’s core? Also I have heard that people live in underground cave, I would like to learn if that is true? Also I would like to know how deep are the Earth and what the deepest whole that people have dug is? Also how hot is the hottest part inside the Earth? I would like to study some of the stalactites and stalagmites’ like when they dye and how long do they last before they fall of?  Also how long does it take for each type of cave to be created and how long can it last? I want to learn a bit more about mines and what kinds of diamond and gold you can find there? Or when the mines are excavated, how do the diamonds come back so they can get more gold and diamonds?  And for the end I would like to learn more about the layers of Earth, like how hot or cold they are, what are they made up of and lots more?

Monday, January 10, 2011

Reflection on labs

Making Water Wetter

I am very happy with my results for the making water wetter. My grade was 6 out of 6, but of course there is always room for improvement even if you get a perfect score.  But i also have more good things I did than places where I need to improve. I think that my hypothesis could have been more scientific, also once I finished the lab I realized that my prediction was not as accurate as I thought it would be, my actual results were a little higher than my prediction. I did not have many difficulties because you have all your answers on the graphs and data tables you made, you just have to put those results in words. Also we had example questions that we could answer.

Cooling Races Lab

I am very satisfied with my results for the making water wetter. My grade was again 6 out of 6, but of course there is always room for improvement again, even if you get a perfect score, and I did have some difficulties and improvements. I think that I could have written a bit more about it, but the lab was short I did not really have much things to write about. I did not have many difficulties during that lab. I think that my hypothesis was very right, scientific, and good.