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?