Matter Magic

In science class we found matter magic, got the materials, tried it, and then preformed the magic for some kindergartners. The tricks I did with my partner were; Candle Blow-out and Pepper and Soap Showdown. With the Candle Blow-out trick what we did was put baking soda and white vinegar in a watering can and close it for just a few seconds. Next pour the gas onto the candles without the liquid the gas blows out the candles. How it works is that the vinegar and baking soda make a chemical reaction which releases Carbon Dioxide then you pour the Carbon Dioxide onto the flame and that is what blows them out because fire needs Oxygen to keep on going so when it is surrounded with Carbon Dioxide it goes out. With the Pepper and Soap Showdown trick we put pepper in a bowl of water then we put our finger in the bowl of pepper water and then magically the pepper spreads out all over the bowl. What really happens is we put soap on our finger and soap repels pepper. I think that me and my partner did quite well but we did have some mistakes doing the projects and they did not work but for the most part the tricks worked. Most of the responses from the kids watching were quite good because we let them do some things like letting them do some of the experiment. I also liked that how I explained the pepper trick but I did make some mistakes in my explanations. I also like how i preformed the Candle Blow-out but sometimes i poured out a bit of the vinegar and baking soda on the candle.

Gas Properties

This was an experiment we did on our laptops testing pressure and temperature. I learned that neon, argon, and oxygen all started out as a solid, but they were all at different temperatures so that means they all change states at different temperatures. Another thing I noticed was that water was not really similar to any other one because it had three molecules to make each compound. Oxygen had two molecules combined to make one but it is still an element. Neon and argon are almost the same but neon had smaller molecules then argon. When I heated the neon it turned into a gas and the molecules went everywhere. When I froze it the particles slowed down and finally stopped and turned into a solid. At room temperature which is 9K the molecules of neon moved as one slowly and the molecules also shook.

In this test I measured pressure. I learned that when you press the lid down on something and add heat it will blow the lid off quicker that if you freeze it. I noticed that water could withstand the least amount of pressure. The one that can withstand the most pressure is argon and then neon and oxygen. Another thing I noticed was that when I added pressure to any of them when they were at room temperature they start to move a lot.

The Power of Play

Popular Mechanics November issue
By Jessica Lin, Jessica Matthews, Julia Silverman, and Hemali Thakker No date given

One day four students from Harvard University had a brilliant idea. The people’s names were; Jessica Lin, Jessica Matthews, Julia Silverman, and Hemali Thakker . Their idea was to make a special soccer ball. The ball can light a LED light for about three hours after playing with it for about fifteen minutes. They were trying to find out a way to provide electricity for people who live in places where there is limited electricity .They tested the ball during the World Cup in South Africa. The ball only weighs 5 ounces more than a FIFA ball.
I think that that is amazing how people are coming up with new ways to power things. It is hard to think that only four people came up with that idea. I cannot wait to see what else we will start to use to power different things. One of my questions is how did they come up with that idea and my other one is why did you use a soccer ball why not a basketball or a tennis ball?

Food Coloring in Water

In science class I noticed that when you added the food coloring to the hot water it defused the fastest because it is the least dense so the coloring could move through it easier. The food coloring in the water defused the slowest in the water because it was the most dense. When the food coloring was added to all the water no matter the temperature it went to the bottom of the cup first.

Food Coloring

Diffusion

Density

Particles

Kinetic Energy

Temperature

Heat Energy

Paper Airplane Captures Stunning Images From Space

by Meera Dolasia 11/14/2010

http://www.dogonews.com/2010/11/15/paper-airplane-captures-stunning-images-from-space

One day three men made a special paper airplane. The name of that paper plane was “Vulture 1”. It was made out of tough paper and straws. However, before you start making paper airplanes you should know it is a very advanced design. For fun they put a toy astronaut in it. They put a GPS and a small camera on the plane. When they finished making it they launched it on October 28th. To make fly, they attached a helium balloon over 89,000 feet high until the balloon popped. When it landed it was only 40 miles away from where they launched it. While it was still flying it took some really cool photos.

I think that it is amazing what some paper can do. I want to see the design they used. I also want to see how it looked when the plane was floating to the ground. I think it would have looked very graceful.

Notes for the video "Homogenenous and Heterogeneous Mixtures"

I learned that for heterogeneous mixtures you can see the properties that are in it. I also learned that if something is homogeneous you can only see one of the things that goes into it. Another thing I learned was that orange juice is actually a heterogeneous mixture because of all the parts floating around. Coke is also a homogeneous mixture because of the bubbles in it. Milk is also heterogeneous because
of all the fat in it.

The Mixture I made for The Mixtures Party

I made brownies for this project where the class brings in mixtures. In the beginning the brownies were just separate items but when you mix them together and they were heterogeneous or a mixture because you can separate them and they are not mixed evenly. When you mixed them by stirring in eggs,water and oil,it turned into homogeneous or a solution. Then when I baked it there was a chemical change and when it was all done it was homogeneous(solution).

The Memory test

http://sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20101103/Note1.asp

by Stephan Omes November 3 2010

You might say " Uh oh! We have a test tomorrow and I need to study." When you get home you might read the notes over and over again, but that will not always work. Another thing that does not really help is highlighting the information. You might not like what I am going to write now, but it helps to take many tests. There was an experiment in Kent State (My cousin goes there) in Ohio testing this and they proved that it helps to take tests. What they did was they quizzed some kids and they let the other people study normally. The people who took many quizzes had better scores. As you can see, when you have your next test you shouldn’t read the things over and over again give yourself some small tests.


I think that the article was interesting because I always thought that reading the information helps. I also liked it because now I am going to give myself pretests next time we have a test.

Corn starch + water =?!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU7iuJ98fRQ&NR=1

Here is a cool video

This video shows me that we can also control the cornstarch and water by changing the vibrations. It also shows me that science is a strange thing and there is no end to what you can learn.

In the experiment we did today was a lot of fun. We added water to corn starch to see what would happen and to see how much water you need. It turns out you only need a bit of water. When we made it correct it acted as a solid when you hit it or when you touch it fast and do not leave it still. It acts as a liquid when you do not move while you are touching it.

The Secret Language of Dolphins

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/dolphin-language/

 by Crispin Boyer                         no date given

Dolphins do talk, but not the way we do. A baby dolphin is called a calf. One day a dolphin and her calf talked to each other over an underwater audio link. A strange thing is that they probably knew who they were talking to. Dolphins actually talk to each other quite a bit. However we do not know what exactly they are saying. Dolphins are really smart. In some ways dolphins are similar to us. For example, they are also mammals so that means they have to go to the surface to breath, but they can hold their breath for about ten minutes. Scientists are learning about dolphins more and more, but we still cannot speak dolphin or really understand it.

I think it is really amazing that a dolphin and her calf talked to each other over an audio link. One of the questions I have is that could the mother see her calf? Another question I had is about when will we be able to understand dolphins when they talk? It is really interesting how dolphins can hold their breath for ten whole minutes. How can they hold their breath that long?

Mixtures and solutions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaLYcHkgzU4&feature=related

I learned that suspension is when a mixtures split into layers. Another thing I learned was that colloid is when big particles mix with small particles and they do not settle.

Glogster

I learned a lot about glaciers. One thing I learned was that glaciers take along time to make. They also can shape landscapes. Learning about glaciers is very interesting.Making a glog was difficult at first but it gets easier once you know what to do. I made a power point so I put the information from it to my glog. However I like my power point more because it is easier to read.

Amazing Bats of Bracken Cave

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/bat-cave/

by Catherine Clarke Fox no date given


There is a cave in Texas called Bracken Cave. In that cave, they have millions of bats. In the summer the bats fly out of the cave every night to get food. When they fly out of the cave there are about 20 million of them. You call a group of bats a colony. When the bats fly out the mother bats find their pups by smelling them. The floor of the Bracken Cave is covered in guano (bat poop) which things like fungi and bacteria use as food. Bats also help us. They can eat a lot of insects in one night.
I chose this Article to write about because it is almost Halloween and bats can be spooky. I think this article was very interesting. I would like to see the cave when all the bats fly out. I think it will look really cool with all the bats flying out at one time. I love that the bats eat a lot of bugs because mosquitoes and gnats are really annoying.

Why Mars Is A Lightweight

http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63994/title/Why_Mars_is_a_lightweight


By: Ron Cowen

October fourth, 2010

Mars is not as heavy as Earth and Venus. It is also five to ten times as big as it actually is. When the embryo is stranded it can get as big as Mars. The embryos got closer and closer to the sun and came so close that there was no gap. Mars has more than enough material until Jupiter came and brought gas and it spiraled in towards the sun.

I think that the article was very interesting. It had a lot of information in it. However I think it was written for people a bit older because some of it was a bit confusing. I do not really know what embryo is. I think that you need to read the article more than once to understand it. What do they mean when they say that Mars is five to ten times as big as it really is.

Sleep loss limites fat loss

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101004211637.htm

By: Annals Of Internal Medicine

October 5,2010

Scientists learned that while you diet you should get a good amount of sleep. If you do not get enough rest when you diet you will not lose as much weight as you would when you get a good amount of sleep. They did an experiment with some volunteers and put them all on a diet and some of them did not get enough sleep and some got plenty of sleep. The people with enough sleep lost more weight than the people with a little bit of sleep. When you diet you should get a good amount of sleep.

I think the article was very interesting. I think the experiment they did was very cool. Dose it also affect how much weight you lose if you do not sleep enough when you are not on a diet? I never knew that if you do not get enough sleep when you are on a diet you will not lose as much weight you would when you get a good amount of sleep.

Voyage Of Plastic

http://www.eurekalert.org/features/kids/2010-08/aaft-tlv081310.php

19-Aug-2010

BY: American Association for the Advancement of Science


I think that the plastic floating in the water is an interesting topic because it does not really have any answer. It is about the plastic in the water. Marine life might be getting stuck in it. Scientists have fished and counted how much plastic they got. The weird thing is that the amount of plastic has stayed just about the same even though now we throw away more trash. The scientists think that it might be breaking apart so we cannot see it, or they could have been eaten by marine life, or it could have just sunk. Although nobody really knows why, the amount of plastic has stayed the same and does not go up.


I think that it is very interesting that the amount of plastic has just about stayed the same. One of the questions I had was, will the amount of plastic always stay about the same? Another one of my questions is, are there any more reasons why the amount of plastic has stayed the same?

Matter

States Of Matter	Volume	Mass	Shape	Compress	Heating	Examples
Gas	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Easily compressible	Expands greatly	Helium, Oxygen,  Hydrogen
Liquid	Definite	Definite	Indefinite	Low compressibility	Expands Slightly	Water,  juice, soda
Solid	Definite	Definite	Definite	Almost none compressibility	Expands low	Chair, desk, pencil

All states of matter have a definite mass. All states of matter except gas have a definite volume. All states of matter have a different amount of compressibility.   

What I have learned about matter

I have learned that everything is matter except the vacuum in space.  Another thing I have learned is that suspension is when you add either a solid with a liquid or a liquid with a liquid and they don't separate right away. Something else I learned is that saturated is when you can not add anything else to the mixture without it separating.

What I know about matter and elements

Matter is everything around us. It is liquid, solid, and gas. For example, water, ice, and vapor. The elements are in the periodic table. For example, H (hydrogen) O (oxygen). They can be put together to form to form compounds, as in H2O (water). 

Abby's science goals

      My science goals are to, get more organized, get all sevens, and to not get to class late. I think it is important to get organized because you will fall behind in homework. It is also important to get all sevens because it will feel good and you would have more confidence. It is important to not be late to class late because you will just start to fall behind in work.