Plasticity Lab

Hey there folks, Bigdog here with a fun lab on the topic of Plasticity. Now, some of you may think that the labs I blog about are a little too "Bill Nye the science Guy", but this lab is totally different. This lab shows a hidden trait in the earths mantle called "Plasticity." Now, for this experiment our supplies contained water, food coloring, and cornstarch. This concoction mixed together makes a colorful liquid/solid mix. Now, you get to touch it and feel it but what you really need to realize is that when you add heat and pressure to this mixture, it becomes a solid. Then, when you let up it becomes a liquid. So, this is just like the plasticity in the mantle of our earth's crust.

October Sky Response Blog

Hey kids. Bigdog here with a movie review on the movie October Sky. Of course what would this be without educational fun facts and reasoning. To summarize this movie, it takes place in a town called Coalwood, West Virginia. Now, the main character Homer is trying to find his way in the world. His brother is a hotshot football player, his mom has a loving support group, and his Dad is the leader of the Coal workers, which is the main export in their town. Many people revere Homer's dad, and many people in Coalwood end up going into coal when they grow up. Many Coal mines back in that time frame had their own communities and own money. But, coal was a very important asset to the United States and to many people their lives revolved around it. Anyway, Homer doesn't have anything to himself. Then at the same moment in time, the Russians have launched Sputnik into outer space as the first successful satellite. And every, October it flies over the night sky where Homer lives. So, when Homer saw it he became mesmerized, and the next day wanted to build a rocket. So he and his friends tried to make one but failed numerous amounts of times. They then friended the "class nerd" Quentin and got help from the school science teacher that had faith in them to go to college with their experiment. Now, if you're wondering how they can go to college I will tell you. Every year even today, their is a national science fair held in Indianapolis, and the winners can get into any college they want. before I get to what happened their, I forgot to tell you that when they were starting to get good a shooting rockets, they were accused of starting a fire in a town called Welch from a rocket shooting. Now, for a long half-of-a-year they didn't do any rocket shooting, but then Homer breaks out a book her teacher gave her on rocket angles and trajectory. They then found out that it wasn't their rocket, but a flare from a plane. They then won the regional science fair and the national science fair. All boys the went to college and Homer got a job at N.A.S.A. Sadly, Homer's father died of black lung disease, not from smoking, but from being in the coal mines too long. The teacher also died of Hodgekins disease. As you can see, there were many science and math connections to this movie.
Lastly, I thought that I should connect this movie yo some of our character Ed traits. So, the boys showed much cooperation with each other when they had to keep building rockets, even if they failed. Homer showed much assertion when he sood up to his Dad when he told him he didn't want to be a coal miner. Many people throughout the town had much respect for Homer's father for being head coal miner. The boys showed much empathy for their teacher when she said she was diagnosed with Hodekins disease. Lastly, Homer showed much self-control when his rockets kept on failing and blowing up. As you can see, many character traits existed throughout the movie October Sky.

Response to MetFan20's blog

When I, Bigdog, paid a visit to my good friend Metfan20 and I read a blog that he posted about Cri-du-chat Syndrome. This article gave such impeccable information on this genetic disorder, and it gave me such an emotional feeling. It made me feel sympathetic for those that have this disorder and it made me wonder what life must be like for these people. It also made me feel lucky that I was not born with this disorder. I now feel like it is my mission to do something about it, to help these children.

Genetic Disorders: Cystic Fibrosis

Hi. Bigdog here with some not so pleasant news. I recently learned and did multiple sessions of research on the genetic disorder Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis was first discovered in the 1950’s when it was reported inside of two students in school. Although the symptoms make themselves pretty clear. Symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis include persistent coughing at times with phlegm. Frequent lung infections, wheezing or shortness of breath, poor growth and weight gain in spite of good appetite. Sadly, Cystic Fibrosis gets even worse from there. Some complications of CF include that it clogs the lungs and leads to life threatening lung infections. It also obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. All in all death is a major complication. In fact, the average and median life span for people living with Cystic Fibrosis is 37 years old! That's not even that old! Even worse, is that there is no cure, currently, for living with Cystic Fibrosis. But, there are numerous treatments that a patient must go through. Most citizens living with CF must maintain regular treatments that help their lungs function. They must perform many cough exercises. They also have to attend many therapies. Sadly, even with the numerous number of treatments the mortality of this disorder is 37 years old. It also kills 30,000 people in the U.S. every year, and 70,000 worldwide. It targets mostly Caucasians and is caused by defective proteins and clogged enzymes in the lungs. All in all, Cystic Fibrosis is a terrible disorder that will make you think differently about life.

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.

When boy mosquitoes and girl mosquitoes really love each other... they buzz their wings?

Something wierd odd and great has come upon the researchers at Cornell University. They have discovered that Aedes aegypti misquitoes-the ones that spread diseases like yellow and dengue fever- alter their wing vibrations in a mating signal. So for those of you that are still reading this, if you weren't too grossed out by the title are probably wondering what good comes from knowing this and how does it benefit us? According to Ronald R. Hoy, an authorof the report, the good news is that we may be able to control mosquitoes better.For example, releasing sterile male mosquitoes is one way to reduce reproduction. Observing their mating signals could also provide a wayto determine if the sterile males can carry out courtship with females. So, as you can see much good can come out of just a small little detail. And if you're not into science you can still go into school tomarrow and see if your science teacher knows if mosquitoes buzz their wings when they mate. If they don't you can let them know everyday of the school year until june. This is Bigdog and thanks for reading. Igot all my information off of:
http://www.msnbc.com/id/28562468/

Parasites: Bad or Worse

Hi, everyone Bigdog hear to give you the lowdown on some hot fresh NEW NEWS! Well, in the sports world the giants are still 10-1, the Phillies are still overjoyed from their World Series win and Plexico Burress shot himself in the leg. In other news the market is starting to bounce back. And finally ... SCIENCE NEWS. I have just learned from untold sources that their are these things called Parasites. You see, parasites are organisms that live in or on a host. A host is an organism that serves as food and shelter to the parasite. An example of a parasitic relationship would be fleas on a cat. You see, in a parasitic relationship one organism benefits while the other is harmed. So, while the flea gets hair for shelter and blood for food the cat is harmed with painful and annoying biting. Parasites can also vary from tapeworms, to head lice, or even fungus. So think about it.... are parasites bad or worse.

Market: Problems!

Hi it's me Bigdog and I'm not going to make this sound all great. The economy/market is going through another tough time with the market dropping and getting worse each week. The market is dropping and I just want everyone to be aware that there is a possibility that we could be going into another depression. Now, there are many things we can try to do to save as much money as we can. Sadly, us kids don't have the power or even anything we can do to help this. As of 11/17/08 these are the numbers:

Dow 8,273.58
NASDAQ 1,482.05
S&P 850.75

That may sound like a lot but its really not. But for us kids the only thing we should do is prey to god that a miracle will happen and that the market will go back up. We should also just enjoy being kids. If you want to learn more I got all my information at www.msn.com

Scotch Tape: X-rays of the future

Two weeks off a nobel prize win for work on subatomic particles, physicists are announcing a startling discovery about a much more familiar form of matter: Scotch Tape. It actually turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off it's rolls in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays!! The researchers even made an x-ray image of one of their fingers. Juan Escobar, a graduate of the University of Los Angeles, California or UCLA suggests that with some refinements, the process might be harnessed for making inexpensive X-ray machines for paramedics or for places where electricity is expensive or hard to get. After all, you could peel tape or do something similar in such machines with just human power, like crankig. All in all, it's pretty cool to think that something used lets say in a school building everyday can be used to help the world in a big way.

SMARTBOARDS!!!!!!!

Well, guess who it is. It's me Bigdog! Coming to you live from the Internet. Now, one thing I want to talk about is smart boards. This new piece of technology is sweeping all schools of the nation and making learning science more fun. The smart board is a fully featured interactive white board system and transmit the picture from the computer to a monitor, and then displayed on the board. Now, not only is this very cool but it will make learning science a whole lot easier. For example, right before you do a dissection you can do it on the smart board and see what you will be doing when you actually do it. you can also connect to the internet and broadcast your lessons to promote learners or simply publish your work to a sever for archiving and later use. So, as you now clearly see from my awesome lecture smartboards are in and blackboards are out.

Work cited-
http://www.smart-boards.com/?gclid=Cly-oc_yrpYCFQSPFQodtkxVLg

MATH IS....

Math is many things. Math is going out to the golf courseand knowing how far the hole is and dicifering what kind of club you need. Math is going out to buy a car and remembering to multiply the principle by the rate by the time or I=prt. Math is skateboarding and remembering what angles to do your tricks at and what degree you have to do your sping at. Math is going out to shop and remembering to add the tax and remembering to subtract the coupons and discounts. Math is going out to dinner and remembering to give an 18-20% tip out your whole meal to your waiter. Math is going to a meeting and showing them all your different graphs of your companies ups and downs, increases and decreases, improvments and disprovments. Math is cooking and knowing how much of a teaspoon of that certain ingredient you need to complete your dish. Math is eating a pizza and knowing how much of a sample you took from the whole. Math is taking a survey and being ableto translate it into agraph and then being able to translate that graph into all kinds of forms of information. Math is being a set designer and being able totake something frome one scale and being able to change it to asmaller or bigger scale. Math is almost everything around us,and whats wierd is that we do these things all the time and we don't even know we're doing math. So, the next time youdo one of these things remember that your using math, just in a fun way. Because, Math is all around you.

Diggin' for........Oil?

Hi again, it's me Bigdog!!!! And have I got news for you. During the pass two days, Ms.Nitzke came into teach us about digging for oil, and let me tell you it's a lot more complicated than it sounds. First you need three things to give you an idea of where to dig. First, you need pressure in the ground for the oil to get pushed in. Two, a trap to hold the oil underground. And three, a resevior to hold the oil. If you have all three of those overlapping on a map those are places to dig. Now, just to clarify this isn't the kind of treasure hunt dig. This is the giant machinery kind of dig. And let me tell you digging for oil is not cheap. First you have to pay money every time you move the drill, how many meters you dug, and if you broke any of the drills. Now, many oil fields can be found in Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Texas. So how you ask, was I able to do this without ditching school and buying a fancy plane ticket to Austin? Well, Ms.Nitzke set up squares covered with tinfoil and you would have to poke through it with your "drill" andtry and find the "oil"(syrup) under the earth(kitty litter). And you would have to calculate you money need plus your resevior space and your recovorey rate. So once again, you see that you can learn while having fun at the same time. Catch you kit kats on the flipside

Bigdog

Kites fly! No Lie! You know it! Science!

Well folks if you have a third grade education and can decifer from the title that this blog is about kites. Give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, it is true that in mid-may the omega science classes made kites when the sixth's graders were testing, and then the next week took them out to fly! Now, the kite project came with worksheets, tests and lectures about wind. For instance, when we flew our kites, the wind that picked up our kites was local wind, not global wind. The difference is that global winds travel long distances and spread out, while local winds travel shorter distances and stay in a certain spot. So as you can see, learning about wind dosen't have to be boring, seeing all you have to do is go outside and fly a kite. Later days!

BACK THEN

Well boys and girls across the vast world we call the internet, it is true. There once was a time "back then" when people just like us went to school, ate breakfast and even played sports, but they didn't quite have the advance technology we all know and love. You see, they didn't have flat screen T.V.'s or iPOD's. To make up for those they had mini black and white T.V.'s and they had record players. They didn't have the super cool dyson vacum cleaner that spins on the ball, they had a vacum cleaner on fixed axles. They also didn't have some of the cars we have today. So, as you can see we have a lot to be thankful for boys and girls because we have all this stuff. But, they did have baseball games, and school and all those great pastimes that came before us. So that is what they had back then.