Frog Dissection

  In science class, we had to dissect a frog to see the internal organs and to understand how the different organs work. We were given a frog, and we had to cut along the mid line of the body. Once we opened the frog, we could see all of the organs the frog had. The frog that we were given was a male, so we didn't have to take out all of the eggs. We had to remove the fat bodies. At first, they were very hard to get them out, but we eventually got all of them. As soon as we got the frog open, we could immediately see organs such as the liver, the heart, and the stomach.
  On the next day, we were able to examine and take out all of the organs in the frog. After we saw all of the organs, we had to know what each of the organ does to help the frog. I think that this was a fun dissection to do and I hope that we are able to do more like these in the future.

Lab Response: As the Stomach Turns

In science class, we did a lab. The purpose of this lab was to see what conditions are needed for the digestion of proteins in the stomach. We needed a lot of supplies for this lab, including a test-tube rack, test-tubes, pepsin, water, cubes of boiled egg whites, and many more. On the first day, we labeled 4 test tubes A, B, C, and D, and put 3 pieces of egg white in each of them. In test-tube A we put pepsin. In test-tube B, we put pepsin and water. On C, we put hydrochloric acid. Finally, we put pepsin and the acid in D. Test-tubes A and B had immediate reactions, while C and D didn't. The litmus colors were purple for A, blue for B, and pink for C and D.
On day two, we saw that nothing happened to A, B had dissolved to the bottom of the test-tube, and nothing much happened to C and D. The litmus colors were all the same. The only difference was that B's color was purple rather than blue.

Lab Response: Chicken Wing Dissection

This week in science class, our teacher dissected a chicken wing. The purpose of dissecting the chicken wing was to see all of the muscles/tissues that was in the chicken and relating  it to our what is in our body and how they help our body move. While my teacher was dissecting, she would call us up and show us the different types of bones and what they classify into. I think that his was a good way to learn and remember about the different bones/tissues/muscles in the body. I hope that we can do something like this again.

Diffusion Lab Quiz

The purpose of this lab was to observe the diffusion of a substance across a semi-permeable membrane. Diffusion is a process by which molecules move from an area to a higher to lower concentration. Also, the lab had an example of osmosis. One prediction that was made was that the concentration (iodine solution) would go through the plastic baggie and change the color of the starch inside of the baggie. The beaker with the concentration in it was more hypertonic than the baggie, which was more hypotonic. Hypertonic means that it is a solution with a greater concentration than another. Hypotonic is the opposite of hypertonic.  

            This procedure was just like a cell. When the starch and the concentration met, the water and concentration were like nutrients to the cell. The starch is the organelles, and the baggie could act as a cell wall. After we put the baggie filled with starch in the concentration, we had to wait fifteen minutes so we could see how the concentration affected the baggie. In the end of the fifteen minutes, the baggie turned purple, when it was originally white.

            This lab had a lot of connections to everyday life. My first example is if you put a juice mix such as Kool-Aid into a glass of water. This is just like when the iodine came in contact with the starch. My second example is a balloon filled with air. Another example is a fire place when it is filled with fire. My last example is when you bake cookies and the smell goes into the air, this is like the lab because the smell is affecting everyone. 

Lab Response

This lab was a very fun experiment. At the very beginning, we had to put on safety goggles. First we had to fill our plastic baggies with water and starch. After we tied the baggies around, we had to fill our beaker with concentrate and water. Then we put the baggies in the the beaker. At first, the color of the bag was white and the color of the beaker was tan. After fifteen minutes, the bag turned kind of purple. This lab is very fun so far and I hope that we could do something like this again.

Blog 6: Square seeks to replace cash register with revamped app

My sixth blog entry is about how a new app can possibly replace cash registers. According to the article, once you have signed up for this system, you don't need to carry a credit card. It can only work at the retailers who use this. Since the store has to use this system, the company is now encouraging stores to use this system. In my opinion, I think that this is a very good idea. The inventor of this system said, "We want to make paying with your credit card even more magical," he said. "We want to take away all of this clutter, all of the paper, all of the mess." I believe that if a lot of stores and companies use this kind of system, it could save some people a lot of time. 


Here is the link to the article: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/05/23/square/index.html

Blog 5: In a Changing Antarctica, Some Penguins Thrive as Others Suffer

For my 5^th blog entry, I chose to write about penguins and how the new weather in Antarctica is affecting many of them. They say in the article that one of the reasons the penguins are getting affected is because of global warming. Since the weather in Antarctica is warming up, the penguins cannot survive in the area. Another statistic in the article says: “The mean winter air temperature of the Western Antarctic Peninsula, one of the most rapidly warming areas on the planet, has risen 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the past half-century…” If this is true, the penguins may not last much longer. Another thing is that the warmer weather in this area affects the food chains too. That means that the penguins are running out of resources and the necessities to live.


Here is the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/science/10penguins.html?ref=science

Lab Report: Soaring Straws

In this lab, we had to choose a partner and do an experiment with gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy. With a toilet tube and a rubber band, we had to launch straws from the floor and see how high it can go. I learned a lot about gravitational potential energy and its relationship with elastic potential energy. With these two forms of energy, there are similarities and differences. First of all, these two forms are something different in the lab. The EPE is the stretch that you took. My partner and I have done three different stretches. There were different outcomes for each one. In conclusion, we have found out that the more stretch that you have, the more GPE you will have. Our data graph has showed us that. For example, if you pull 3 cm, we got about 2.20 m. But if you pull 4 cm, you will get a higher height.

            This lab was a fun way to learn about the similarities and differences about GPE and EPE. There could have been some way to enhance the lab. One way could have been that there could have been better rockets. If you had a bigger or better rocket, you could have had more accurate data. I also think that there were some possible errors. One of them could have been that people forgot to convert one unit of measure to another and that caused their data to not be that accurate. But in the end, the lab was fun. 

Lit. Poems

Character Poem

"The Small Time Hero"

Kenny

Smart, Funny, Jolly

Who loves books and reading

Who feels different about his lazy eye

Who needs to stand up to his brother

Who shares his feelings with his sister

Who fears the Wool-Pooh

Who'd like to see Alabama

Who dreams of peace in America

Who ends up accepting what occurred

Diamante Poem

"Unexpected Happenings"

Disasters

Unexpected, frightening

Destroying, exploding, questioning

Sudden, losses, happy, nice

Relaxing, agreeing, resting

Calm, quiet

Peace

By: lakers38

Toothpick Alleles

In the Toothpick Fish lab that we have done in Science class, my partner and I have learned many things. We have learned that the fish population is always decreasing because of threats in the ocean such as sharks and many other things as well. First, I am going to talk the data that we have collected. In the first generation, we have had 8 green fish, 1 red fish, 2 yellow fish, and 1 orange fish. The interesting thing about the first generation was that 67% of the fish in this generation were green. In the second generation, there were 7 green fish, 1 red fish, 2 yellow fish, and 2 orange fish. The third generation had 7 green fish, 2 red, 0 yellow, and 1 orange. Finally, in the fourth generation, there were 6 green, 2 red, 3 yellow, and one orange. That means that there were actually less fish in the gene pool because all of the fish that were yellow died since they were too visible in the ocean and gotten eaten.

In the fourth generation, there was an environmental disaster, Factory dump is put into the ocean and all of the seaweed and algae died. After the disaster, all of the green fish died and are moved to the morgue, I thought that that was interesting because most of the fish were green, and the yellow fish were gone as well. In the end, there were only 3 survivors and all of them were red. If this lab was different than what it was now, maybe the yellow or the red toothpicks could be dominant and the green would be recessive. If that happened, the color of the survivor would be different. This was a fun experiment and I have learned a lot about alleles with it.

Blog 4: BP Oil Spill, A Year Later

My fourth blog entry is about how the BP Oil Spill, a year later is still lingered in the Deep Ocean. However, the oil that is still there does not become a big threat to sea life that is living there. Elizabeth B. Kujawinski said that. She had also said that, “Everything that has been done in the past would suggest that the concentrations that were down there were not toxic,” Government scientists predicted that more than 172 million gallons have spilled out into the gulf's waters. The methane of the oil is gone, but the dispersant is still in the waters. The oil is spread out so much that it could be virtually undetectable for months. I think that it is good that the methane of the oil is already gone from the oceans, but it is also bad that the oil is spread out so much that it could be undetectable for months. 

Here is the link to the article: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/oil-dispersants-lingered-in-deep-ocean-scientists-say/

Blog 3: Antibiotics

The article that I read for my third blog entry was about how a recent study shows how antibiotics can help speed up recovery from ear infections. But if the child takes those antibiotics, they can come with many side effects. Some of these side effects include diarrhea, rashes, yeast infections and vomiting. Since there are side effects like these, careful selection of antibiotics is necessary. According to many studies, ear infections are the most diagnosed sickness that children could get. In some studies it stated that children who take real drugs have much more side effects. I think that if a child really needs the antibiotics because it is really bothering them they should take it. They should also take it as soon as possible because in the article it said that it is not good to be waiting to give the child the antibiotics. But also if the child does not need it, he or she should not take antibiotics because of all of the severe side effects.


Here is the link to the article: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/13/antibiotics-speed-up-recovery-from-ear-infections-in-young-children-studies-show/?hpt=T2