Chemical Bonds by Jesse

Definition-Two or more atoms that are combined to form a chemical substance. This is caused by the force of attraction by opposite charges between electrons and protons.

Types of bonds-Ionic and covalent.

Ionic bonds form when one or more electrons is transferred to another atom and form ions. The ions than attract because one is negative (anion) and one is positive (cation). Ionic compounds are made up of a large number of ions, both positive and negative, so that the positive charge equals the negative charge. Salt (NaCl) is an ionic bond.

Covalent bonds form when atom needs one or more electrons but the other atom also needs them. To deal with this the electron(s) are shared between the two atoms causing them to bond. A molecule is a group atoms that are bonded together by covalent bonds. Water (H2O) is a covalent bond.

Importance

            Chemical bonds are important because they can take two or more elements and combine them into almost a completely different substance. Salt (NaCl) is made up of two poisonous elements, sodium and chlorine, but is a completely safe edible compound. 

visual

Green electrons are shared

Question

Which bond do you think is stronger or if they are just as strong as eachother?

Experiment by Bryce

Summary- I did an experiment seeing which shape of ice would melt faster and slower. In the research I found the melting rate is directly related to the surface area in comparison to the volume. The more surface area there is the faster the ice will melt due to more amount of area exposed to the heat. To prove this idea I made 3 different ice shapes and did three different tests of each shape. The first shape I did was a crescent shape. This was the shape that was expected to last longest, and in all three cases it did. The second shape and second longest lasting was the store bought cubed ice. The third and fastest melting shape was a ghost shape made by a jello mold. The crescent lasted the longest because it had a low surface area in comparison to the volume. The store bought ice had a hole in the middle of it and was round, but the hole made the surface area greater and not very dense, causing it to melt faster. The ghost shaped ice melted about thirty percent faster than the crescent because there was almost no volume to it, it was all surface area.

3 Facts-

1.    Ice is one of waters forms

2.    It is solid because the molecules are moving so slowly

3.    Round objects have less surface area than square flat objects

Why it’s important- This is important because everyone should know which shape of ice melts the slowest, so they can enjoy the ice in their drinks for longer in the summer. This could also help when it comes to cooking. Knowing that shapes heat up faster when the comparison of surface area to volume could be very helpful in the kitchen. 

Genetics by Michael

Genes are a huge part of heredity in living organisms. They are the molecules that form patterns and codes that translate to the physical traits that we receive from our parents. These physical features that are a product of heredity are called phenotypes. On the chromosomal level, your hereditary code is your genotype.

A genetic code can be thought of as a sentence. In the English language, a sentence is made up of words, and these words are made up of letters. In genetics, nucleotides are the letters. When put together they form “words” or genes. Cells read and translate these sentences of nucleotides to produce amino acid chains. These chains are proteins.

Interesting facts about genetics:

·         It takes about 8 hours for one of your cells to completely copy its DNA.

·         Human DNA is 98% identical to chimpanzee DNA

·         It would take 57 years to recite all of your ATCGs at 100 per minute.

·         If you stretched out the DNA from your 46 chromosomes in one cell, it would be over 2 yards long.

·         1 in 180 babies are born with a chromosome abnormality.

http://dockgenetics.wikispaces.com/Fun+Facts+about+Genetics

Why are genes important?

Without genes, everyone would be the same. There would be no uniqueness in the world. People would all look the same and have the features. Also, without genetics, there would be no evolution. If there was no way to change throughout generations, there would be no way for living organisms to evolve to their environment. 

Self-propelled vehicle video by Jessyka

We had a student absent for the derby in September, so she taped a video of her self-propelled vehicle. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utQ1qgVXF4

DNA by Hannah

DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid. It is the genetic material in all living things that makes up their genes. Multiple scientists – Fredrick Griffith, Oswald Avery, Alfred Hershey, and Martha Case – discovered that DNA was in fact the hereditary material and not protein, which was widely accepted at the time. The structure of DNA, however, was still unknown. Some key figures in the discovery of the structure of DNA were Rosalind Franklin, Erwin Chargaff, and Watson and Crick. The combination of all their experiments results in the structure of DNA. They discovered that the structure of the molecule is a double helix and the sugar-phosphate strands are held together by nucleotides. 

Each nucleotide has three parts: deoxyribose, a phosphate (PO₄) group, and an organic base. There are four different kinds of bases: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine. These bases are split in two groups: purines and pyrimidines. The purines, or larger bases, are Adenine and Guanine. The pyrimidines, or smaller bases, are Thymine and Cytosine. Chargaff’s rules states that DNA molecules always have equal amounts of pyrimidines and purines. The bases are always paired with each other in the same way as well (A = T, & G = C). Hydrogen bonds are then formed between the base pairs. 

DNA copies itself through a process called DNA Replication. During this process, the DNA strands unwind, an enzyme primes the strand for replication, another enzyme builds the strands, and then the new strands are rewound. The enzymes involved in this process are helicase (unwinds strands), DNA polymerase III (adds complementary nucleotides to the strands), primase (synthesizes a primer to begin the construction of the new strand), DNA polymerase I (removes primer and fills in the gap left), and DNA ligase (joins the ends of the newly synthesized segments of DNA). During the process of DNA replication mistakes can occur. These mistakes are called mutations. A mutation is a change in the content of the genetic message. A recombination is a change in position of a portion of the genetic message.

It is very important that we know about DNA for multiple reasons. First, so we can better understand the causes of some diseases and create better preventative medicines. Next, it is important to know how a disease is passed on in order to trace it or predict the chances of someone having it. It is also important to know how our DNA may be affected by certain environmental factors, or how our choices could affect our children’s DNA. How much more do you think future generations will know about DNA than we do now? Do you think there will be more mutations? Why?

Here are a few interesting facts about DNA:

·         “Every human being shares 99% of their DNA with every other human.”

·         “If you put all the DNA molecules in your body end to end, the DNA would reach from the Earth to the Sun and back over 600 times.”

·         “DNA is found inside every cell in our body (apart from red blood cells), and each cell contains roughly 2 meters of DNA.”

Volcanoes by Scott

Definition: “A vent in the earth's crust through which lava, steam, ashes, etc., are expelled, either continuously or at irregular intervals.”

-       Facts:

§  The Ring of Fire, located in the Pacific Ocean, has over 75% of Earth’s volcanoes

§  Volcanoes are usually formed on tectonic plates

§  Mantle plumes are volcanoes formed by hot spots and are located away from the tectonic boundary

§  When a volcano erupts it creates great farming soil

-       Magma

o   Definition: molten material beneath or within the earth's crust, from which igneous rock is formed.

-       Lava

o   The molten, fluid rock that issues from a volcano or volcanic vent.

-       Types of volcanoes

o   There are three main types

o   Shield

§  A broad volcano built up from the repeated nonexplosive eruption of basalt to form a low dome or shield, usually having a large caldera at the summit

§  Tend to have Low Silica Levels

§  Low viscosity levels

§  Has both High and Low gas levels

They are not that explosive

o   Composite (Stratovolcano)

§   A large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.

§  High Silica levels

§  Highly viscous

§  High gas levels

Very explosive

o   Cinder cone

§  A small, conical volcano built of ash and cinders.

§  Low silica levels

§  High gas levels

§  Fountain eruptions

-       Viscosity

o   Definition: the property of a fluid that resists the force tending to cause the fluid to flow.

Lava has uses for farming, but does it have any other uses? Can we somehow harness the power of a volcano to provide heating for homes?

Electromagnets by Steven

Well they work by electric charges that are vibrating. These waves carry energy from one place to another. They don’t require matter to move energy unlike sound waves and water waves. These waves can travel anywhere, even where matter isn’t present. They transfer energy from electric to magnetic fields. Just like magnets electricity has its own field around it. This is called an electric field. The energy carried by an electromagnetic wave is called radiant energy.

Electromagnetic waves are everywhere surrounding us right now. Without them we couldn’t do anything. Since the radiant energy is being transferred this also allows us to feel warmth from a fire and allows us to see.

Vitamins by Zach

Summary:

During this topic the class did a variety of presentations that taught about the effects of each vitamin, amount of each vitamin needed to survive, and how each vitamin travels through the body. We learned about the deficiency and toxicity levels of vitamins and what happens when those levels are reached.

Interesting Facts:

            An interesting fact that the class learned was that a majority of the vitamins found in the human body come from fruits, including:

            *Peaches

            *Kiwi

            *Strawberries

            Another interesting fact that the class learned about during this topic was that Vitamin E causes a degeneration of the central nervous system and peripheral nerves and a an accelerated destruction of red blood cells at a toxic level. The toxic level of Vitamin E for people under the age of 14 is 8 or more mg and for people over the age of 14 is 16 or more mg.

            The third interesting fact that we learned from this topic was that fish such as salmon and sardines are a great source of Vitamin D. Sardines give your body 70% of its daily requirement of Vitamin D. Salmon holds 90% of the daily requirement of Vitamin D needed in your body.

Why is this Important?

            This topic is important because it teaches us the requirements of each vitamin needed in our body so that we do not die due to deficiency or toxicity from each vitamin. It is important to know the symptoms of deficiency and toxicity so that if those things happen to you you know what to do.

Questions:

➔     What are some of the most common vitamins found in your body?

➔     What is the most common source of Vitamin D?

Visual:

            Deficient levels of Vitamin A worldwide.

Mitosis and Cell Reproduction by Luke

Mitosis is the process of cell division. It is important to know about Mitosis because this is how the cells are replaced in your body. If cells didn’t go through mitosis organisms would not grow or heal. Mitosis has four phases, after all the phases are completed the cytokinesis takes place. Cytokinesis is when the two cells’ cytoplasm separates and they finally become two separate cells.

In a life of a cell Mitosis is a rather small part of their lives but some cells can go through mitosis for sixteen years. During the other parts of the cell’s life, the cell does its regular functions and prepares for mitosis by growing in size and creating DNA

Before Cytokinesis happens the cell must undergo the four phases. The first phase is Prophase, in Prophase the nuclear membrane dissolves and spindle fibers form. If you look at a cell in Prophase you can see the individual chromosomes.

The second phase is Metaphase. During Metaphase the original and the copied chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell. Once they line up the spindle fibers connect to the chromosomes. This step is crucial because the chromosomes must be even so that the new cell is not mutated.

The third phase is anaphase. When the cell goes through anaphase the centromeres holding the chromosomes together break apart. Then the chromatids move to opposite sides of the cell. This phase is when the cells basically start separating

Last but not least the cells must undergo Telophase. Telophase is the phase where the cells begin forming their own nuclear membrane, also the spindle fibers begin to break down and the chromosomes uncoil.

Before a cell starts mitosis the original cell checks to see if it is prepared to split, this ensures that a new cell is perfectly formed. Lets say that if a cell goes through mitosis incorrectly, what happens then? When a incorrectly cell is made, the bad cell multiplies itself many times. As an audience, try and figure out what can happen to an organism that has bad cells that constantly reproducing.

Mitosis is the most important key for cells to reproduce because if they go through a stage wrong bad things can happen, but if it goes through mitosis like it is suppose to do, the organism can grow and be successful.  

Cell Transport by Michael

Transportation between cells can happen in three different ways. There is active transport, and passive transport. In passive transport you have Diffusion and Facilitated Diffusion.

            In active transport, a molecule requires energy from the cell to enter and leave the cell. It is required when moving a molecule. It’s when the molecule moves against the grain. This means that they move from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration. For example, if you sprayed perfume in two corners of a room, through active transport, the amount that you sprayed less of would go straight towards where there is more perfume.

            Diffusion is a form of passive transport. It occurs when a molecule moves from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. It spreads out to make all of the room in a cell evenly distributed. Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a membrane.

            Facilitated diffusion is when diffusion needs to be helped. It moves molecules and ions through specific transmembranes. It makes some things easier to pass through the membrane. Some things that need this are glucose, sodium, and chloride ions need to have facilitated diffusion to pass through the membrane.

Magnetism by Lydia

Topics covered in class

➔    Magnets are very useful because they can do so many things. They can help in medicine, around the house, and in everyday life. They can make lives more enjoyable. If someone is deaf they can get cochlear implants. They put magnets in your head behind your ears and then the hearing device sticks to them. There are machines that use magnets, Without those you would have to do the work yourself.

Interesting facts about Magnetics:

➔    Magnets are in almost everything laptops, refrigerators, phones, tv’s, ect.

➔    Magnets are used in everyday life. Most of the time you don't even realize it. Magnets are even used in things such as your speakers.

➔    Magnets are powerful enough to move things. They can move things like black sand, spoons, paper clips and really just any type of metal.

Questions

➔    What makes magnetic polar opposites attract?

➔    How is electromagnetism different from magnetism?

➔    Do all electric motors use magnets?

➔    Are there different types of Magnets?

This topic is important because magnets are so commonly used and so important in everyday life. If people didn't know about magnets we wouldn't have many of the luxuries that we have today. Magnets make life so much easier. For example; without magnets an electric mixer to mix cake, dough, cookie dough, anything like that would make it ten times harder because you would have to do it yourself. With magnets all you have to do is press a button.

Cell Membranes by Darell

A cell membrane is a structure that surrounds the cell and protects it. All cells have a membrane, they have to have them to live. It offers protection, it is a filter, and holds everything together. Without a cell membrane the cell would most likely get a disease or get sick and die.

                                                                                                                              

The cell membrane can have a selectively permeable membrane in which it only lets water and nutrients into the cell and keep harmful molecules out. This diagram shows how the membrane lets the water and nutrients in and out of the cell but keeping the rest out.

For molecules that the cell wants but its too large to go through the membrane it goes through a process called endocytosis. Endocytosis is when a cell needs a large molecule but has too surround it and absorb it into the cell instead of it entering through the membrane.

Diffusion is when the molecules move in and out of the cell from area with high concentration to low concentration until they reach equilibrium.

Experiment, by Marty

My Topic is about putting three penny’s in three beakers of of acid.

1. If you put three penny’s in the acids the acids will change the color of the penny’s.

2. The acids also clean the penny’s like you've never seen them clean before.

3. Some acids could eat the metal.

4. How does acid affect metal?

5. The Topic is important because we should all know about how acids can change the color of the penny’s and how they can also clean the penny’s.   

The things that we have been doing in science is our final assignment. The final assignment is to choose our experiments and to do them in class.    

Sugar, by Spencer

What is sugar? C₁₂H₂₂O_11, commonly known as sugar, is the basis of all life. Sugar gives the body energy, and is digested quickly and turned into glucose, which people use for energy. Sugar is actually the only way for red blood cells and the brain the get energy.

            What should be a daily intake? Sugar should be 10% or less of a person’s daily calorie intake. Each gram of sugar contains 4 calories. If a person eats a lot of sugar at one time, their blood sugar could raise a lot, which increases the possibility of getting diabetes. On average a person should consume 2000 calories a day, so 200 of hose should be from sugar.

            Where do we get sugar? You can get sugar from a lot of different things. Such as candies and sweets to things like fruits and vegetable. A person should know the difference between the types of sugar in the diet. Things with added sugar such as candy bars, soda, etc., are low in nutrients and high in bad sugars. Eating too much of this unhealthy sugar could lead to diabetes, cavities and weight gain. Fruits dairy products and vegetables contain natural sugar, which is actually good for you, and are high in nutrients. These sugars are needed and should be consumes every day.

            What is saturation and how do you saturate sugar? When you add sugar to water, the sugar dissolves into the solution, but you can’t do this forever. When you reach the point where you can’t dissolve any more sugar the water, it is saturated. However the saturation amount/levels is different depending on the temperature of the water.

            There are different types of sugar:

White sugar: The most common type of sugar. It is the sugar you would normally put on your cereal or find in a sugar bowl.

Powdered Sugar: It is the same as white sugar, but it is ground into smaller particles.

Course Sugar: This sugar has larger pieces than the white sugar. It is formed when sugars high in sucrose are allowed to crystallize.

Brown Sugar: It is just like white sugar, but molasses has been added to it. The molasses, as you may have guessed changes the sugar brown and changes the flavor.

Energy Sources by Sophia

Energy Forces

In case you haven't noticed, energy sources come in all sorts of types and take many forms. Some of these forms include nuclear energy and fossil energy. By fossil energy, I mean oil, coal, and natural gas. Then comes the renewable sources. Renewable sources being wind, solar, and hydropower. These primary sources are then converted to electricity, a secondary energy source, and then flows through power lines and other infrastructures.

About nonrenewable sources, about 91% of the energy consumed in the United States comes from nonrenewable energy sources. Only 9% of the energy used in the United States come from renewable energy. Electricity itself is neither renewable nor nonrenewable. Hydrogen, like electricity, is a secondary energy source. Hydrogen stores and carries energy produced from different energy sources.

Genetics, by Dillon

Genetics is a section of biology that covers the science of heredity.  This is the study of genes and the inheritance and variation of traits among living organisms

                An important term in Genetics is Heredity; heredity is the passing of traits from parents to offspring. Our traits come from our genes. Humans have thousands on genes made from DNA that exist in our chromosomes.

                Humans have two sets of twenty three chromosomes there are forty six total. While most cells in our body contain the two sets of twenty three chromosomes our sex cells (sperm and egg) contain one set of twenty three. This is so that every child receives one set of its mother and fathers chromosomes. When a child is conceived it receives random traits from the mother and the father, these results in a completely unique child

                A few types of traits that exist are physical traits such as hair color, eye color and height. There are behavioral traits which are characteristics of the way one acts. This can be observed in dogs like when a golden retriever feels the desire to fetch something. Other traits that can be passed down are medical conditions this can include sickle cell anemia. Cystic fibrosis, heart diseases and certain types of mental illness

                The way traits are determined through what we call alleles, which are expressed through use of capital and lowercase letters. An easy example would the hitchhikers thumb. If you extend your thumb it will either bend back (a hitchhiker’s thumb) or stay straight. We can label the straight thumb with an “h” and the hitchhikers thumb with an “H”. each of us has two alleles for the hitchhikers thumb trait as a result you will have either “HH” “Hh” or “hh” The “H” allele is what we call dominant and when it is paired with a recessive “h” allele the dominant is what shows. As a result HH=hitchhikers thumb, Hh= hitchhikers thumb and hh=a straight thumb. An important thing to know is how we pair the alleles. We use a useful tool called a Punnett square; here is an example for the hitchhikers thumb

	H	h
h	Hh	hh
h	Hh	hh

Chemical Formulas by KZ

A chemical formula is a model of a chemical substance and states the type and number of atoms. The chemical formula uses symbols and numbers that represent the elements. In a chemical formula the symbol of the element is shown with a subscript that tells us the amount of atoms in the element. This topic is important to know and understand because it can convey certain information about the atomic composition of a substance. This makes it easier and more efficient to break down an element.

Facts:

·         The invention of chemical formulas was based off of the “law of definite proportions”.

·         Oxidization numbers are used to write chemical formulas. The sum of the oxidization numbers in a compound needs to equal zero.

·         The chemical formula gives the formula weight and represents the percentages of elements in a compound.

·         Element symbols used in the periodic table are the same in a chemical formula.

·         There are three ways of representing chemical formulas which include molecular formulas, empirical formulas, and structural formulas.

o   Molecular Formula: They show the number of atoms in the molecules of a substance.

o   Empirical Formula: Only use letters and numbers showing atomic ratios.

o   Structural Formula: A graphic representation of the molecular structure that shows how the atoms are arranged.

Question:

·         Can you make a structural formula for any elements in your own way? Or is there a specific way to draw one?

·         How are you supposed to write out a chemical formula?

Example: In water, the chemical formula is H2O. Therefore, the H stands for “hydrogen”, the 2 stands for two hydrogen atoms, and the O stands for one oxygen atom.

Sugar, by Emily

We split up into groups and did experiments. The topic that was covered in my group was about the solubility of sugar with liquids ( H2O, coca-cola, milk, and vinegar). The independent variable is type of liquid, and the dependent variable is time. We would heat up the liquid to 100 degrees celsius then put 3 tsp of sugar in, then see how long it would take for them to dissolve, we did this three different times. What I knew before we started was that it takes sugar water only a few minutes to dissolve in water so I thought that water would be the one to dissolve the fastest. After we got done I found out that vinegar made sugar dissolve the fastest at 15.85 seconds H2O took 20.55 seconds it was 3rd fastest.     

            Some interesting things that happened in our experience was, when we put sugar in the coca-cola it would make a lot of carbonation (almost overflowing the glass). The most dramatic change was the soda it went from 31.84 - 16.18 seconds. The one that stayed the most constant was vinegar it went from 18.18 - 12.68 seconds. It was really interesting to me how the milk didn’t seem any different, but even for a little the soda, vinegar, and water changed a little.  

            My question for this is did the sugar dissolve faster in the last try because maybe the liquid was warmer? The topic is important because  it shows you that something can be changed no matter what. Even if you are adding something that dissolves, interest still changed it and you can not change it back to what the interest way before you added stuff in the liquid. 

Volcanoes by Shylo

Volcanoes- a mountain or hill, typically conical, having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and gas are being or have been erupted from the earth's crust. In class I did the volcano in Indonesia named Mount Tambora Volcano. It was the biggest explosion from a volcano and also cause a tsunami with a wave height of 10 m. The question is; what caused such a great explosion? Was it an earthquake or was it just lava building up? The legend about this volcano is that there once was a village that lived next to the volcano in 1815. That was also the date for the huge explosion from the Tambora Volcano. When the Tambora volcano exploded and covered the village with lava and ash. It was discovered many years ago by scientists and geologists. This volcano caused many global effects by there being no summer for all of 1816. It affected the whole world by its explosion. The Tambora volcanic eruption was calculated to be the largest explosion since the first human existence.