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

Marine Science Project

http://njmarinelife.webs.com/

Commensalism

In this picture, there is an example of a commensalism type relationship.  It is a picture of moss growing on a tree.  This is an example of commensalism because the moss is growing on a tree and the tree is not helped nor harmed by the moss growing on the tree. Commensalism is a relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither helped nor harmed.  In this picture, the species that is benefiting is the moss and the species that is neither helped nor harmed is the tree. The moss is benefiting in this relationship because it needs a damp and shady location to grow.  The tree is not getting either harmed nor helped because the moss does not harm the tree when it grows on it.