Energy by Caleb

Energy

Energy is very important. It can never be destroyed or created. When energy is used it simply transforms into a different type of energy. An example of a transfer of energy is when you throw a ball straight into the air, the kinetic energy in the ball transfers into potential energy when the ball reaches its peak.

(In the picture below the man is releasing energy through heat.)

            There are two basic groups of energy, renewable energy and nonrenewable energy. The United States produces half of its electricity from coal, a nonrenewable type of energy.  A renewable source of energy, a light bulb, uses only 10% of its energy to create light. The other 90% of the energy is converted into heat.

(In the picture above you can see two types of energy being transformed into different types)

Energy is important because it allows work to be done. Without energy it would be impossible to move anything.  Energy affects all things. Two of the main types of energy are Kinetic and potential energy. Kinetic energy is the amount of energy in objects that move. An example of Kinetic energy is when a car is driving down the road. Potential energy is the amount of energy an object has depending on its position. An example of potential energy is an apple hanging on a tree. I will leave you with a question, if you throw a ball at a wall, where does the energy go after the ball hits the wall?

Geology by Spencer

Geology is the study of the earth and the materials that make it up; the structure of rocks and the process in which the rocks change. It also studies the organisms that live on the earth. Mainly how the earth and the things that live on the earth have changed throughout the course of history.

            Geology gives us understanding of earth’s history; shows us the evolutionary history of life, and what weather and plate tectonics were like in the past. We are able to find out how old something is. We can figure out how old it is with absolute and relative dating.

            The Rock Cycle:
            The rock Cycle is an important part of geology. As said earlier rocks are a major part of earth, and geology is the study of earth. The rock cycle contains three main rock types; sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. The rock cycle shows the relationship between these three rocks and magma. When a rock crystalizes from magma/lava it forms igneous rock. If this rock is weathered and eroded. It would then be deposited and over time becomes sedimentary rock. This rock could then be turned into metamorphic rock by intense and extreme heat and pressure that actually change the mineral content. (An igneous rock could go straight to metamorphic, but it doesn’t have to be in that order.) All of these rocks can be re-melted and created new magma, thus starting over the rock cycle once again.

            Geologists are the people that study the way earth works, like how volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, floods, and other natural disasters happen.  They work to understand the history of our earth. They study the things that are potentially dangerous to people, and help figure out ways to help predict these disasters. They do this so that structures are not built in possibly hazardous places. Geologists were the ones who figured out earthquake proof buildings. These buildings aren’t always 100% earthquake proof, but they are safer than normal buildings. The bottom of the buildings are ball and bearings, so when an earthquakes hits, instead of falling over, they roll back and forth.

                http://geology.com/articles/what-is-geology.shtml

Respiration by Nat

Respiration

Respiration releases chemical energy from glucose and stores it in a form called ATP. ATP goes through Hydrolysis to produce ADP and an inorganic phosphate. This energy release provides muscle contraction and active transport. Glycolysis oxidizes glucose into a pyruvic acid. Although it needs some ATP to get it started, it provides a small profit of ATP with some reduced NAD.

Question: Do all living thing need ATP?

Importance of topic:

The reason why the topic is important is because we as humans should understand how our body is obtaining energy and the processes that undergo for energy to become what it is or will be.

What we are up to

Physical Science:
The students are learning all about energy and work. We have done some hands-on labs figuring out the kinetic energy of different objects, and tomorrow we are going to look at different simple machines- from your kitchen drawers!

Advanced Biology:
After learning about photosynthesis and cellular respiration, the students are putting that knowledge into action, and designing experiments to carry out on one or both of the processes.

Earth Science:
This last week has been all about geology, specifically Idaho geology. We created floods and analyzed the evidence left behind, as well as described the difference between different soils.

Kitchen Chemistry:
We just finished a class experiment using cabbage juice as a pH indicator- now we are moving on to small group experiments.

Biology:
We just created a biosphere in a bottle- the students will be checking the growth of microbes every week.

Chemistry:
We have been exploring group dynamics and team-problem solving skills through activities and models involving numbers, classification of matter, and isotopes.

Experiments from the kitchen: Red Cabbage

This week in the kitchen chemistry class, we are talking about acids and bases. As part of that, we used red cabbage juice as a pH indicator, and tested different household items. You can see the color gradient below:

Stay tuned to find out from one of the students what they found out!

Oil: Cooking Chemistry By Amaize

Why is it important to know the properties of an oil in cooking?

Oils are interesting substances with certain properties that affect the ways they are used in cooking. Oils have many purposes, for example: to keep moisture in. Oils can be used in cooking or as a beauty product. Oils are hydrophobic, which means that they do not mix well with water. Oils are fat substances that have different forms and consistencies. Different types of oils have different properties, uses, advantages, and disadvantages.

Our Cooking Chemistry class performed seven experiments to figure out the differences in olive, coconut, and canola oil. We tested the density, freezing point, smoking point, viscosity, stickiness, and the way they react with water.

Our results showed some similarities in the oils, but they also showed some interesting differences that could help us use oil in our lives. Knowing the stickiness factor of an oil is important because you need to know which oil to use if you don’t want your brownies sticking to the pan. From the experiment on the stick factor we learn that the olive oil greased the pan better to make the least amount of brownies stick to the pan. The coconut oil does not grease pans as well so there was a lot more brownie stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Atomic Structure by Jimmy

This topic on the surface is very basic. By definition it is the structure of an atom. As a quick summary of the topic, the current and generally accepted model that is used is a nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud. The nucleus makes up most of the mass of the atom while the electron cloud makes up most of the volume of the atom. The nucleus is made up of two different types of sub-atomic particles. The particles are called neutrons and protons.

The proton and neutron have approximately the same mass, the neutron is slightly more massive, and the same size. However, they have different electrical charges. The neutron, as suggested by the name, has a neutral charge. The proton has a positive charge. The electron is very unlike either of the particles. While the nucleus of the atom is relatively still, the electrons are constantly moving. Electrons are very small, both is mass and size. It has a negative electrical charge. This negative charge has the same numerical value as the positive charge on a proton. This relationship between the charges makes an atom with the same amount of protons and electrons electrically neutral. Most atoms are electrically neutral, but there are some atoms that have an electrical charge, either positive or negative.

The electron cloud is the most recently developed part of the current atomic model. There have been many different models for the atom. The first model that had different particles was the Rutherford model, finalized in 1911. This model was a central nucleus with free floating electrons orbiting the nucleus in a fairly random pattern. While this model was partially accurate, it has many inaccuracies on the points of the electrons. As it was found out by Niels Bohr, electrons will be in specific orbits, rather than a random pattern. Bohr made his model of the atom in 1913. His model was very similar to that of Rutherford; his model was actually called the Bohr-Rutherford model. However the arrangement of the electrons was defined and exact. He came up with three rules for how electrons behaved in an atom. The first rule was that electrons orbit the nucleus. The second was that the electrons could only orbit at a certain distance from the nucleus. Each different layer of electrons was called an electron shell. His third rule was that electrons could jump up or down electron shells, but it required a large amount of energy. His first and third laws still hold today, but his second law was proven to me incorrect in certain circumstances. The current model for electrons is called the atomic orbital model. This model incorporated both ideas from the previous two models. The model stated that electrons could exist anywhere but they were most likely to be in an area. These areas were represented by a density diagram. The areas of the diagram were most darkly colored were the places that were most likely to hold electrons. 

For a long time scientists thought that the electron, neutron, and proton were the smallest particles that existed. However, there are even smaller particles that exist. They are called quarks. These quarks have 6 “flavors”: up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons and neutrons are made up of up and down quarks. Since quarks are so small, they cannot be observed by themselves. They can only be observed in other particles, such as protons. As science gets more and more advanced, people keep finding smaller and smaller particles. Will there ever be a definitive “smallest particle”?