Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Today, Mrs. Sorensen passed out an article to our table group so we could read it, find things we didn't already know, and look them up. Then the groups wrote down facts about the articles and any additional information that we wanted to share in front of the class. We were graded on what we learned and everyone must speak about something whether it was facts or just your opinion about the article. She said make sure you know what you are talking about because, she will ask follow up questions to make sure you fully understand. The groups who didn't present their article today must go tomorrow.

Class, October 24, 2011

Today, we talked about pollution and the different types of it. We learned that toxic pollutants are like paint and battery acid that aren't properly disposed of. We learned about sediment and how if too much is in the water, that the water becomes turbid and the light can't reach the plants at the bottom of the water, causing algae to form and vegetation to die. We also learned about natural pollutants like manure and excessive nitrogen. A big part this pollution is golf courses. They use all the chemicals they can to keep their greens green. The last one is bacterial pollution. The main cause of this is farming. Manure runs off of fields and out of coops and such and can run into rivers and streams.

Having class with Mrs. Sorensen has given us the opportunity to think outside the normal classroom project cliche of powerpoints or research papers, and create more extravagant projects. We have been given the chance to make; videos, newscasts, cartoons, comic strips, etc. Anything we can think up (that she approves) is within the guidelines of this project. The project is on water quality in Iowa, and its a great project to do because its fun to make, fun to present, and i have learned a lot from it.

Wednesday, October 19th

Today we went over the assignment from out of the book. It was a short day today, so that's all we did.

Wednesday October 12, 2011

Today was the big Science test over metric system, scientific method, states of matter, change of states, water cycle and water quality measurements. Mrs. Sorensen was gone the past two days and Mama Lester was our substitute (Mr. Lester's Mom). She handed out all different tests to everyone. If you were gone today, i think it is best to go to quia.com and study the study guide that Mrs. Sorensen has provided for you. It will tell you the ones you got wrong, how many, overall view, and percentage. You then can apply that to the test and it will help you!

Tuesday, October 11th

Today in science we went over a paper version of the science quiz that we are going to take tomorrow. It was a little confusing because a lot of the pages were in the wrong place. The quiz was stapled in a jumbled fashion. There were some spelling errors but not enough to distract you from the questions.
The review was over the scientific method, phase changes, the water cycle, acids/bases, and the metric system. The substitute teacher gave us all the right answers at the end of class so that we could have a study for the test tomorrow. I figure that if you study the review for a little while tonight you're going to do very well on the quiz.

In case you forget the study review quiz is at http://www.quia.com/.

Trying to log on to the Computers

Today in Science class the Science Masters went to the library, and it was full of course. We're supose to take some tests on computers, but it took forever just to log on. So long that most of us couldn't even start the test. The test was covering: the metric system, scientific method, states of matter, change of states, water cycle, and water quality measurements. And that is what happend today in science class.

Wednesday Oct. 5th

Today we watched Mythbusters. There were two myths that they were trying to solve. One was the Mentos Diet Coke explosion, and the other was whether or not a postage stamp could crash a helicopter. On the Diet Coke explosion they figured out that some of the ingredients in Diet Coke can help the Mento react better. The three ingredients are Caffine, Preservatives, and Aspartame. The mentos have two ingredients also that help make the reaction better, called gum arabic, and gelatin. The myth was busted because no one had explained what made the explosion happen. They tried to make a lot of different rockets using the Diet Coke and Mentos. They then have a contest to see who can have the highest launch from the Diet Coke bottle The postage stamp started out with the gang using remote control helicopters first to see if the stamp will make the helicopter crash. They found out that it doesn't affect it at all. On the small one the myth was busted. It would have had to been 8,000 pounds more than a stamp to crash the helicopter. This myth was busted.

Tuesday, October 4th

Today in science class we went over pH. We completed a chart on the pH of different substances using a Gizmo. Also, we decided whether or not they were acidic, alkaline, or neutral. Some examples are coffee, shampoo, ocean water, distilled water, and oven cleaner. Most products turned out to be acidic but there were several alkaline products. There were very few neutral products due to the fact that they had to have a pH level of exactly 7. Alkaline was anything above 7 and acidic was anything under 7 so they would obviously have a higher frequency than nuetral.

Testing pH Levels

Today in science we had to bring in three liquids, two liquids of choice and water.  We tested their pH levels with pH paper strips.  We had to test 15 liquids total in class.  After we collected the ph levels for all the 15 liquids.  We tested the ph levels on the probe with the same liquids and compared the ph levels to the ones we found with the ph paper strips.  For example I tested whey with the pH strip and got 6.  When I tested the whey with the probe I got about 6.

River formations- First we poored water into the tubs with the substinces. We then watched for changes of the surfice. Before doing this we made our hypothosis. We thought that if we poored water at the top end of the tub the water would sink and flow through the bottum instead of making a river like formation. We were right, the water flowed to the bottom of the tub.

Acids and Bases

On Friday September 30th we discussed acids and bases in our science class. This stemmed from some online research we did about water sources containing information about the acidity of water. We started off talking about the pH scale; a scale that ranges from 0 to 14 and measures how acidic or basic a substance is. Substances that measure from 0 to 7 are acids, and substances that measure from 7 to 14 are bases. Anything with a measure of 7 exactly is completely neutral. The only substance known to be completely neutral is pure water. For acids, as the number gets smaller the substance gets stronger. So a 1 or a 2 would be a strong acid. Bases go the opposite direction, meaning that and 13 or 14 would be a strong base. The closer to 7 a substance is, the weaker it is.
pH itself means the power of hydrogen. All of the substances on the pH scale contain small particles called ions. Acids contain hydrogen ions, and bases contain hydroxyl ions. When written as a chemical substance, an acid will have the letter H in front of it, and a base will have the letters OH at the end. When pure water is written out, it appears as HOH, a neutral substance.
Some unique characteristics of acids include that they are corrosive and sour to taste. Acids do not burn things they touch, they corrode them away. If you have ever spilled an acid on clothing, it disappears not by burning, but by corrosion. Acids are also sour. Things like lemon juice and orange juice that have sour tastes are acidic. Though it may not seem this way, milk is a very weak acid.
Bases also have distinct characteristics. A base is slippery, bitter to taste, and causes burns. Some substances that are bases include ammonia water, milk of magnesia, and cleaning supplies. If you were to taste a basic substance, it would be more bitter than an acid. Lastly, a base does not wear things away like acids do, but burns them away. If you spilled a base on clothing, it would most likely soak through the fabric and cause severe skin burns. Bases are usually thought of as safer than acids, but both can be extremely dangerous.
Cleaning supplies(drain cleaners, rust/lime cleaners, etc.) are very strong and dangerous bases, which is why you see them handled with gloves. Soda pop and some juices are strong acids along with chemicals and stomach acids. Coca-Cola breaks down some things the acids in your stomach can't even break down! Strong acids and strong bases should be handled with care.