The coolest roller coaster ever built is.....

Xy Turtle Blazer, and for those of you that guessed King Da Ka, you're all wrong. You see, in science class we made rollercoasters out of home materials(paper towel rolls, shoe boxes, plastic bottles, wrapping paper rolls, etc.). Anyway, how does this connect to science? Well, it actually relates to frictions, forces and Newton's laws. You see, Newton's first law states that an objectat rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. So, the marble is still at the beginning, but then when we push it it will start to roll and will remain at a constant velocity until it goes down a hill to gain greater speed. Newton's second law states that Force=Mass x Acceleration. So, for the weight of the marble to go faster our rollercoaster will need to give the marble a greater force to act upon, for example maybe a really steep hill. Finally, Newton's last law states that for every action there is and opposite action. So, there isn't much in this project, but when I push the marble my hand goes back one way while the marble goes forward. So, this is a really fun,hand's on learning project that maybe you should ask your teacher about. Until next time, this is Bigdog, and stay in school!!

International News: Tailand

On the day of February 20, 2009 an Austrailian author was released from jail. Now, before we get into the fun detail letme tell youa little bit about Tailand. Tailand is a big country located near the south of China. It is a communism with a prime minister/dictator. Now, recently many of Tailand's citizens have been peacefully protesting for a general vote. Anyway, about the author. In 2005, Harry Nicolaides, an Austrailian author was finally released from prison. What was weird is that he's an Austrailian guy, and he wrote the book in 2005. Anyway, the book he wrote was called "Verismilitude." Obviously in this book it talked about Tailand and madevery crass statements about the KIng and to be crowned prince. WEll, I guess that shows that there is no freedom of speech in Tailand. I'm just glad they letthe author out. I really think it's quite crazy. Well, until next time see ya later.

XY Turtle Blazer

Footbal and Friction:The 2 F's

Football and friction are the two F's and for those of you wondering, no this is not boring. So I recently learned that the highly favored game of football is related to science in many ways. But, the main thing that really interested me is how much friction plays a roll in throwing the football. Personally, I don't like it when they run the football. I actually find it quite dull. But, when they throw the football it is so exciting!!!! Now what's interesting about friction is that if it wasn't around in the air, also known as fluid friction, that ball would just keep going. So there would never be any touchdowns. But the friction pushes the thrown ball down so the wide reciever can catch it. So that is the interesting thing I learned. And soon, baseball will be here!!!!!!!!!!

An earthquake in New Jersey??????

On Monday February 2, 2009 an earthquake hit the town of Denville, New Jersey. Thankfully it was a very small earthquake, seeing it only got a 3.0 on the Richter scale. Scientist, Won-Young Kim, says that this earthquake couldn't and didn't injure anyone, but it does show us that we can even have earthquakes up here in New Jersey and that we should be more prepared for an event like this. One of the local residents was so shocked that he didn't even belive an earthquake had happend. Instead he had thought a tree fell on his neighbors car and blew up. Well, this should all teach us to be more prepared for natural disasters.

Cite:
http://www.news12.com/NJ/article?id=225148

Barack Obama: The 44th President of the U.S.A

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed--why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificentmall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."-Barack Obama

In this article this line means so many things in such little words. These words came out of the mouth of the newly inaugurated president Barack Obama. It's so amazing to think that only a while ago we would drink from seperate watering fountains or eat at different restaurants because we thought that because someone looked different that there must be something wrong with them. It's amazing that only a while ago we would hose these people down because they were protesting for their rights as AMERICAN CITIZENS!!! It is amazing to see that even though the Emancipation Proclimation was written in the 1800's today, yes even today, there are still much hatred, and deep feelings toward each other and different races. But, after looking at all that it is amazing to see that we finally have an African-American president. It is really fun to think that when you have kids and grandkids that they'll be asking you about what happened on that day. The day when one American made history as the first African-American president. And when I answer I will say that when he finished those last words it felt as if the whole country forgot about hate, war, what's mine and what's his and that there was a feeling of brotherhood and love. I hope that this feeling will carry on forever even after President Obama leaves office. In another article they quoted Obama saying.."For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across the vast ocean in search of a new life. For us they worked in sweatshops and setteled in the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe San."- Barack Obama
Yet another powerfule quote, in fact the writer of the article said it was "...one of Obama's best moments in a speech that was as workman like as it was soaring;.."And for the next generation we have led them into an age where they never again have to questionwhy all the president's have the same skin or how come none of them look different. For at the bottom of every poster in a social studies class will be the picture of the 44th president of the U.S.A: Barack Obama. Congratulations Mr.President

For those of you wanting to read these two articles, I got them off of
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/01/obamas_inauguration_speech_fir.html

Flying Cars: Soaring into our world

For those of you that read the titles of peoples articles, my answer is "Yes" that this is about flying cars. It is truly amazing that after many years of dreaming about being able to fly from the comfort of your own car. Well, finally in 2010 that dream is going to become reality when flying cars will be put out on the market. However, these fine pieces of soon to be machinery are not cheap. You will be able to buy one for the price of $194,000. So, it's about the size of a small house. But, this year a Boston-area company is planning to begin flight tests of a two-seater airplane that moonlights as a car. This aptly named Transition takes a chance at bridging the gap between automobiles and airplanes. Even right now as we speak, Terrafugia, a group founded in 2006 in MIT, has taken deposits for more than 40 Transitions, and plan to make deliveries in 2010. One other thing this "roadable aircraft" is good for is that it will also create an easing of government regulations on private aircraft and pilot licensing. So who knows? Maybe someday, all car companies will be changed to flying car companies. but, until then we'll still have to keep dreaming.