Summarize:

what were the key ideas you learned?

• How to apply what I learned in the first semester to the second semester. Like force, when I did the windmill I then understood how force worked better.
• Inverse Square Law when I did the physics of sports project
• How force, friction, and drag affect a windmill to spin at a high rate of speed.
• I learned what a decibel is and how it works I had to do this to measure the intensity of the sound that came out of the trumpet for my physics of sports project.

What skills did you learn this semester?

• I learned to do something different then norm when I did the windmill project.
• I learned to test things out and test again.
• I learned to use a decibel reader.

Results:

What were your strengths?

• My abiility to take work home and compete it like I did with the windmill project, the paper, poster, some of the windmill.
• My ability to problem solve, we had many problems with the windmill. I had to come up with a different way for it work.
• I get things done on time.

What were your weaknesses?

• I am not a construction person, things do not turn out when I build them. So Teddy and I asked her grandpa to help and some of the other students in the class.
• I need to not wait until the last minute to get everything finished. I need to use my time better.

How can you improve upon your work for next semester?

• Research more about the project that we are working on.
• Plan better what  I am doing.
• Prototype more.

Make Connections

How is your work in this class similar to what you do or have done in other classes?

• I had to come up with something creative like when I did the presentation in Ms. H’s class last year.
• It was simliar because I had to explain my reasoning for doing something when I wrote the techinal paper.

How is your work in this class different than what you do or have done in other classes?

• This is a hands on class. Usually I read about a subject  in a book and work it out on paper.

Grade:

Overall I think I deserve an A. My reasoning for this is I compelte every project on time. With the physics of sports project I did something different and used a band project because it applies to my life and my fellow band memebers more than sports do. I wanted to do that project because the band plays in different places and if there was a difference then when practicing we could adjust for the gym or the football stands. Then with the windmill we stepped outside of the box and did something different. I think there were only like two vertical windmill out of the whole competition at CBC. I also had all of the project finsished for the windmill including a powerpoint. I spent time outside of school working on the windmill and thinking about it. That is why I deserve an A.

Summarize:

what were the key ideas you learned?

• There are different types of energy. The two big categories are potential and kinetic.
• Newton’s Laws
• Force
• Momentum

What skills did you learn this semester?

• I learned how to cut balsa wood
• I learned how to draw a scale diagram
• I learned how to prototype better

Results:

What were your strengths?

• My ability to take work home and work on it.
• My ability to problem solve.
• I get things done on time.

What were your weaknesses?

• I am not a construction person, things do not turn out when I build them.
• I need to work on once I have a plan I need to start on it, and not wait.

How can you improve upon your work for next semester?

• Work in a group.
• Take time in plannning something.
• Be more precise.

Make Connections

How is your work in this class similar to what you do or have done in other classes?

• I have to use creativity when creating a project.
• I have to plan the project first.

How is your work in this class different than what you do or have done in other classes?

• There is not a lot of busy work leading up to the final project. Our work is the project.

Grade:

Overall I think I should get an A. This is because from the begining I was late into class so I did the project by myself and still had it complete and ready to go on egg drop day and I had my presentation done on presentation day and my egg only cracked. Then with the Rube Goldburg machine I helped prototype, plan, bulid, problemsolve, and presented the presentation. Finally, with the bridge I may not have had the prettiest bridge but i did work on it and took it home and worked on it. In the end it did hold 11 pounds which is aleast the wieght holder.

In physics class we are making a rube goldberg machine. For those of you that don’t know what that is  I looked it up:”accomplishingby complex means what seemingly could be done simply.”  Part of the project is that I have to explain the physics imagine that! Our whole machine is broken down into four sections and I am in charge of the first section so that is the part I am going to enlighten you on.

The first step is a torch is going to burn 2 pieces of string.

• The type of energy that applies is thermal energy from the flame. Also radiant energy is in the first step because you can feel the heat.

The second step is two car going on 2 slated track.

•  Gravity is forcing the cars down the track. There is motion energy because the cars are moving down the track.

The third step is the car is going to set off a mouse trap which is going to pull a string.

• mechanical  energy because the mouse trap has springs.
• Also there is sound energy because you can hear the mouse trap snap.

Sources:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rube+goldberg

I have high hopes for this year in physics. I hope to extend my knowledge. I hope to have fun and learn at the same time. Finally I hope to do all of this successfully and will be pleased with myself and my work at the end of the semester and year.
Now I have done a bit of researched and found a few cool projects that I think could be cool to do and I would learn from them.
• The Catapult Project
o Need I say more? How cool would it to learn how to catapult an object? So the next time my sister is being annoying… ops I accidently catapulted her cell phone in to the next field… I would only be grounded for a bit! 
o This project involves investigation of projectile motion.
• Roller coasters

  Story time! In the 7th grade my grandma Joyce, my mom, my little sister, and I went on the roller coaster at the Puyallup State Fair. Now in the 7th grade I thought it was coolest thing since peanut butter and from then on I have always wondered how the engineers construct the object that almost made my mom puke!
o The Objective of this project is to build a paper roller coaster and analyze the conservation of energy experienced by a marble.

I think these projects would be both fun and educational to do! 

Source:

http://cpphysics.homestead.com/student.html

Dmiti Mendeleev

First published perodic table of elements by Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev was the creator of the first periodic table of elements. He was born in Tobolsk, Siberia, Russia in the year 1834 and then died in 1907.  He arranged 63 known elements by atomic mass and similiar properties. Mendeleev left space because he predicted that more elements would be found. He predicted ekaboron, ekaaluminium, and ekasilicon. He published the perodic table in Principles of Chemistry in 1869.  Mendeleev ended up being right, the three elements he predicted were found within 15 years. Gallium in 1871, scandium in 1879, and germanium in 1886. Today the periodic table is used in the field of chemistry and as a teacher resource. This idea was important because it organized the elements into something that was easy to use and the could help find more elements.

Sources:

• http://www.chemistry.co.nz/mendeleev.htm
• http://corrosion-doctors.org/Biographies/MendeleevBio.htm
• http://www.nndb.com/people/593/000091320/
• http://www.aip.org/history/curie/periodic.htm

• What I learned about chemistry  through this project was how to dilute a solution for my project.  I had to take a solution of 1000 mg/L of nitrates to 40 mg/L of nitrates. It took a lot of math and measuring. This is chemistry because you have to make solutions if you are a chemist.

• What I learned  about designing and carrying out an experiment through this project is that it is not an easy process, yet you can learn a lot from it. I had a tough time trying to figure out what my experiment should be. I thought about testing with goldfish or bottled water, but that just seemed too easy. So I decided to see if plants would take nitrates out of the water. The first try didn’t go too great, my plants ended up dieing. So I tried the experiment again just a bit differently. This was very frustrating to me because the plants weren’t taking the nitrates out of the water instead they were adding to the nitrate level. Also, I difficulties with the nitrate probe when trying to measure nitrates. Yet in the end I was happy with what I ended up with because I was able to try my experiment twice and fix problems from the first one.

•  What I learned about myself through this project was that not everything that I do can be done the first time. Usually, when I do something I only have to do it once and it works out. Like when I have to do an assignment or something. Yet with this project I had to do my experiment twice. This for me was a bit frustrating, yet I found out that somethings just need to be done more then once.  I guess overall that is science isn’t it? I am very glad I was able to do this project and learn this lesson.

• If I had to do this project over again I would do a few things differently. One thing would be the level of nitrates I would start out with. So instead of using 40mg/L I would use many 15 or 20 mg/L. This is because I think the level was to high and this is what killed my plants. Another thing is I would have put a lid on top of my containers to prevent evaporation. At the end of the experiment I lost close to 25o mL of water per container in a weeks time.  Lastly, I would use more water so if it did evaporate the plants still had water to survive in.

Conductivity: High concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) may cause adverse taste effects. Highly materialized water may also deteriorate domestic plumbing and appliances. 

Mud Lake

The class data says the water in this area is acceptable for pH, conductivity, nitrates, and ammonium.  Class average for pH is 7.7 and acceptable limits are 6.5-8.5. Conductivity average is 254 acceptable level is less the 500. Nitrate level average 4.1 and the limit  is less then 45mg. Ammonium average is  1.3, and the acceptable level is less then 10 mg.

The class data says for stream water quality, using the class average pH, conductivity, Nitrate, and Ammonium are at acceptable. pH average was 8, conductivity was 154, Nitrate average was 1.5, and finally ammonium average was 2.1.

Toppenish Creek

Mud Lake seemed to be the most human influenced. It had a high pH of 9.2. Virtually no flow rate. Also there were no aquatic lifein the stream that I could see. To me it seemed like the stream made because of the above factors.  

Xavier testing flow rate in the Toppenish Creek

I don’t feel confident with the data my class gathered. This is because even though we were split up in groups there were still problems. For example, my group couldn’t calibrate turbidity probe correctly, therefore we ended up with negative numbers, which is impossible.  Some groups didn’t collect all the data they needed and then used another group’s data. Yet I think a few groups that didn’t collect their data because they had a special data to collect and this took most of the time. I think next time we should calibrate the probes at school before we leave. Also I think we could have used more time because of the groups not able to collect all the data.
Overall, based on the data we collected I think the water is safe to drink. All levels of pH, conductivity, nitrates, and ammonium are at accecetble rates. The only piece of data that says other wise is from my house saying my conductivity is high.  Therefore I think our water is safe to drink based on my class’s data.

EPA targets Groundwater Contamination

by Leah Beth Ward

November 6, 2008

This article is about water contamination in the Lower Yakima Valley. Similar to what we are talking about in class with testing our own wells. One family in the article has a contaminated well with high levels of nitrates. Which is a compound that can be found in water and soil. A study was  conducted 6 years ago and 195 wells were tested in the Lower Valley and the ratio came out to be 1 in 5. It is believed to be the dairy farms as the source of nitrates.   We are learning about water pollution in Chemistry.

Source:

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2008/11/06/epa-targets-groundwater-contamination

Uses

• Titanium is used for alloying with metals such as:
  • iron
  • molybdenum
  • manganese
  • aluminum

• Alloys of titanium are used in aircraft, engines, and aerospace because it is strong, temperature resistant, and lightweight.

• Also, Titanium used in joint replacement implants.

• Titanium is resistant to seawater, therefor is used for propeller shafts, hulls of ships, and

  other structures that go out to sea.

• In the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet Union started to use titanium in military and submarine applications.

• In early 1950s, titanium started to be used for military aviation purposes, particularly in high-performance jets.

Properties

• Melting point: 1668 °C

• Boiling point: 3287 °C

• Electrical Conductivity: 2.6 x 10⁶ S m^-1

• Primary State: Solid 

Facts

• Titanium was discovered by the Reverend William Gregor in 1791.

• This element is named after the Titans, the sons of the Earth goddess in Greek mythology.

• Martin Heinrich Klaproth named titanium after the Titans of Greek mythology.

Works Cited

• http://www.periodictable.com/

• http://www.chemicool.com/elements/titanium.html

• http://www.ptable.com/

• http://www.bing.com

This year in chemistry I have learned a lot.

• I have learned about what the true definition of hypothesis, which is a statement to be tested.
• I really liked the first few days when we were playing with the corn starch mix. That video of the guy running across the pool of it was really cool.
• I learned a lot from the baggie experiment. Like the safety rules, procedure, and how our notebooks are going to be graded.
• I also learned how to design a experiment. This was very hard yet I learned a lot.

What I hope to learn this year is more on how to design an experiment and more on how to write a lab report.   maybe about the periodic table, and maybe how the elements were discovered?

well that’s all for now ttyl!!!

Katie j.