Periodic Table Trends by Ella

What is Atomic Radii?

             By definition atomic Radii something that looks like the radius of a circle, where the center of the circle is the nucleus and the out side of the circle is the electron. As you begin to move across or down the periodic table, trends begging to blend together that help explain how atomic radii change.

This is a representation, since Li (lithium) is closer to the nucleus the atomic Radiis are bigger than the Ne (neon) that is in farther then the nucleus.

 What is an Ionic Radii?

                Ionic radius, is the radius of an atom's ion. Neither of this atoms or ions have specific boundaries, they are sometimes treated as if they were hard spheres with radii such that the total of the ionic radii of the cation (+) and anion (-)  gives the distance between the ions on the nucleus.  

*Note- Ella is one of our foreign exchange students, so she is doubly impressive for creating a blog post in English.

Motors by Jayden

Anyway we learned about motors and we also built some them ourselves. We also built solar water heaters, but as of writing this blog post most of my classmates including me haven’t started yet…so yea.

            So this is going be more of a story than a description on building a motor, so prepare. I started to look at YouTube videos on building a motor, but I ended up using the first result. It first told me what stuff I needed and after the first two days I had everything except for cable clips, which is where it gets a bit more interesting. I decided to use my dad’s cable clips which what I didn’t know until he took them to school for me, was they were at least three times bigger than what the person on the video had.

            Of course they ended up being too big, I tried and tried to get them to work, but to no avail. Santi, my friend and classmate took some to school a day later, and they were smaller, but still were to big. Then I gave up and took the easy way out, which has another story. Ian, discovered this easy way out, It was a way to create a motor really fast. First you get a D-cell battery, about one foot of copper wire and two disc magnets. All you do is connect the two magnets on the positive side of the battery, then shape the copper into a rectangle and create a point pointing down. Then place the battery, magnets down on a table and put the point touching the negative and the other side of the rectangle laying against the magnets. This will get the copper wire spinning.

China is Addicted to Disposable Chopsticks? by Robey

China has quite the addiction. No it is not anything harmful right at this moment, but in the near future it could be fatal. China is addicted to disposable chopsticks. They cut up to 1.18 million square acres of trees a year. That is a ton of trees on that piece of land. Each tree can produce about 4,000 chopsticks, totally out to be about 80 billions chopsticks a year, being produced. 80 billions chopsticks is a massive amount of chopsticks, it is almost unreal. The people of China have started a program to reuse the disposable chopsticks and turn them into chopstick trees that they put up around their towns.

 The government has also had their own plan of stopping the companies that make the chopsticks. They put a massive ta on chopsticks and wooden floorboards, both of which destroy lots and lots of the local forests.  This is kind of working but it is effecting the population negatively, because the price of the chopsticks is going up. There forest in is a lot of danger because of this wood consumption needed to make the chopsticks and wooden floorboards.

          How would you go about fixing the tree problems?

          Is there any way to replace the disposable chopsticks and floorboards?

          How long do you think it will take before China is out of forests and trees?

Ionic Compounds by Summer

This week in chemistry we were working with ionic compounds and how to identify elements with cations and anions. Ionic compound is a chemical compound in which ions are held together in a structure by electrostatic forces. They call it ionic bonding. This compound is neutral overall but consists of positively charges ions and negatively charged ions, which are called Cations and Anions. Ionic compounds can only consist of a metal and a nonmetal. We also learned how to say the proper names of ionic substances and that we have to use the actual name of the elements instead of the symbols.

In this picture it shows the cations, anions, and the compound it forms. In order to find what compound it makes you have to balance out the electrons. When you are balancing the electrons, you need to know what the charge is.

You also need to know the traditional name of the compound. YOu figure them out by knowing whether or not they form one or two ions. For example, NaCl is Sodium Chloride, since it only has one ion. An example of metals that form multiple ions are CuO, Cupric Oxide. It only matters on how many Ions it can form.

Questions;

What are Anions?

What are Cations? 

Griffith Experiment by A.J.

 Frederick Griffith was a microbiologist in 1928. He experimented with pathogenic bacteria. He experimented with mice and infected them with Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and began to notice that the mice were dying of blood poisoning. Next he infected similar mice with a different a mutant form of the bacteria, S. pneumoniae. This bacteria did not have the harmful strain’s polysaccharide capsule. These mice showed no symptoms of illness.

This showed Griffith that the polysaccharide capsule was needed for infection. The form of poison that Griffith used on the first set of mice is the S. form because it is normal and non mutant. The poison used on the second set of mice was the R. form which is a mutant form of S. Later in his experiment the mice infected with the R. bacteria started to form disease symptoms and some of them died. The R. bacteria became live while it was in the mice which turned it into the S. form bacteria. I found this topic interesting because of the way changing one very small part of a bacteria cell can either make it deadly or not dangerous at all.

Questions:

Why did Griffith test mice in his experiment?

How dangerous is the Streptococcus pneumoniae?

How does the S. bacteria cause blood poisoning?

Sugar by Nick

What do we use sugar for?  What do you mostly think of when you see sugar?  How much sugar does a single person use in a year?  These are questions that many of us do not think of and we use sugar daily.

Sugar is basically in everything we eat and consume. the sugars in the scientific name are monosaccharides. sugars are also made with carbohydrates to make sure to have a positive outcome if there wasn’t too much consumed by someone to increase the fats in their body. sugars are just used in breads to feed the yeast to raise the dough in the bread.

Sugars help in baking with the flavor in foods to make sure they are not sour while eating.

The sugars are also beneficial because they can contain the nutrients for necessary nutrients in the body.

If you eat too much sugar the calories can make us unhealthy by creating extra fat.

     Many types of sugars can help with making our taste buds not overreact with something sour. 

     If you eat too much sugar then you may gain fat and have health problems for the rest of your life which isn’t a very good idea to have problems with the fat. 

I have the best students

I really do. They are bright, curious, and funny. They are also kind, helpful and caring.

Yesterday I asked my physical science class to write down their "What if" questions, and I got a bunch of amazing, far out, crazy questions. This one, however, got everyone in the class to pause, think, and go "huh." Here is the question:

If the entire world was white- people, trees, everything- and everyone had crayons, how long would it take to color the entire world?

Welcome back from Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving meal.

Today in class I asked the students to brainstorm questions related to thanksgiving that they could then use to create a science experiment. Some gems:

What is the best method for making mashed potatoes?

Why does cranberry sauce jell up?

Do you need different temperatures to cook a turkey depending on if it is dry or wet?

What makes Thanksgiving food so tasty?

December is the time of projects, and here are some of the projects currently being done in class:

Chemistry we are creating individual element tiles so we can make a giant periodic table as a class.

Both Biology classes are currently learning about genetics- you might ask them about dragon hatchlings and Mendel's pea plants.

Environmental Science is writing a research paper on conservation- ask them about their case study.

Kitchen Chemistry will be making a comic book showing the history and science behind some of their favorite dishes

Physical Science is having a blast creating motors and solar water heaters.

Mendel’s Model of Heredity by Robey

Mendel was a very brilliant man, even though at the time people did not believe so. He studied heredity and how traits are passed on from generation to generation. He discovered that studying pea plants would be a good plant to study in order to have controlled breeding/reproduction, and they reproduced relatively quickly.

The genes passed on come in different forms called alleles. Each allele is responsible for different traits. Some carrier have the same alleles called homozygous or  some carriers have two different alleles called heterozygous. In Heterozygous one allele may be able to mask or cover up the other allele. The one that covers up the other is called the dominant trait, and the one being covered up is called the recessive trait.

Why do you think Gregor Mendel was so interested in heredity?

The recessive trait does not show up if there is a dominant trait, but if there is two recessive traits (homozygous recessive) then the recessive trait is the only trait to show up, because it is the only one present.

There is a somewhat simple way to see the different hereditary combos possible from two different parents. This method came from Mendel himself, but it was not until later that the method was defined. It is called the punnett square.

How do you think that Punnett came up with the Punnett Square?

What was his motivation to continue on after Gregor Mendel?

Through the Punnett Square, there are a couple different types of crossing. There is a monohybrid cross, which is crossing a single trait. There is also a Dihybrid cross, which is crossing two or more traits in a single Punnett Square.

This week in Chemistry by Parker

Summary: This week in Chemistry we are working with specific attribute of the elements on the periodic table. We were each given 4 elements and had to create our own version of periodic table tiles, and had to include the Atomic Mass Units, Atomic Weight, Boiling Point, Melting Point, density at room temperature, state of matter at room temperature, electronegativity,  Color, and isotopes of the elements we were given. This project has demonstrated how valuable the periodic table really is to chemists. The periodic table has many of these things demonstrated on it.

The organization of the periodic table depicts many different attributes of elements as well. For example the periodic table is divided into groups based on  electron configuration. The columns of elements contain the same amount of valence electrons.

I find it very interesting that so much can be represented from this table if you know how to read it. By creating our class periodic table, we are finding that it is difficult to come up with a clear and concise way to recognize all of these features of elements. 

Questions:

What do the Columns on the periodic table show?

Why is the periodic table important to chemists?

What has our class found while creating our own periodic table?

Mitosis and Meiosis by Wrenlie

            In class we have been learning about Mitosis and Meiosis. Whats Mitosis? Mitosis is the usual method of cell division, Cell division starts with the steps Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase. Everyone and everything starts off as one tiny cell, then Mitosis takes place and divides into more cells, this is still taking place right at this minute repairing and growing.

            After Telophase two cells have been made called Daughter Cells. Daughter cells are exactly identical to the Parent cell. What's Meiosis? Meiosis is part of the process of gamete formation. Meiosis occurs after Mitosis and forms much more cells, the two identical daughter cells split and have more daughter cells which are not identical to the original parent cell.

Both of these processes interest me because it's how life was created and why we are the size we are today.

Questions:

Why is there a difference between Mitosis and Meiosis?

How do both of them function?

Who found out about these functions?

Cells by Marty

Here is a picture of an animal cell.  

All living things are made of cells.  Cells are what makes life?  A human has 32.7 trillion cells. Are there different amounts of cells in each human?  Cells are the building blocks of life.  What are the building blocks of cells?  The most important parts of a cell are the plasma membrane, organelles including a nucleus and a mitochondria and ribosomes.  All the organelles are surrounded by cytoplasm.   What do organelles do?   

The nucleus is the most important part of a cell.  The nucleus helps the cell form and grow.  It helps make things move in a cell. 

The cytoplasm fills the cell with a fluid made up of salt and water. It contains organelles. It is in the cell membrane.

The cell membrane controls the in and out of the cells.  The cell membrane protects the cell from from the surroundings. The cell membrane holds proteins. 

Centrosome It serves the cell in the center.  A centrosome can push another centrosome so that centrosome can be made.  It collects microtubule. 

Ribosomes are what give cells energy.  They float around in the cytoplasm.   They bound in the reticulum (ER). 

Golgi body  collects molecules and takes them out of the cell.  It also puts the molecules in vessels.  It creates lysosomes to help things digest.  

Mitochondria it is what keeps our cells alive.  Cells use mitochondria.   mitochondria creates a chain of electrons.  

Vacuoles  collect food for the cells.  It protects the cell from the outside.  They also collect products that have been wasted. 

The nuclear membrane lets a little bit of ions and proteins in the nucleus.  It helps things pass through the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm.   It controls movements. 

Nucleolus it creates subunits for the proteins.   It takes the proteins to the cell.  It holds people's genes. 

The thing I find most interesting about cells is that they are really small, but they have a lot of room. I find interesting that cells are the reason for life to exist.          

  

Three interesting facts about cells.  They are the building blocks of life. The most important part is the plasma membrane. Cells are too small that they can not be seen with a naked eye.

I think cells are really important because they are what keeps life alive.  Cells are what people should all learn about.          

Photosynthesis by Mikayla

     How do you think that photosynthesis affects the world? Photosynthesis is a process, that is used by plants, to make food for the plants. It is made by sunlight and turned into chemical energy.The chemical energy is used to “fuel” or feed the plants. The sugars, which are made from carbon dioxide and water, are stored in the carbohydrate molecules until they need to be used to feed the plants. I find photosynthesis interesting because it just takes natural things and makes it into something useful. Some other things about photosynthesis that many people find interesting are photosynthesis is affected by temperature, light energy is converted to chemical by the chlorophyll  and the process mostly takes place in the chloroplast.

 The equation for photosynthesis is: Carbon Dioxide + Water --light--  Sugar + Oxygen

113 Year Old Lightbulb By Rachael

            Something interesting that I learned in class this week was about the 113 year old lightbulb. There is a light bulb in Livermore, California that has burned for 113 years. This lightbulb is known as the centennial light or eternal light. The bulb is hanging in a firehouse in California and it’s burned for 989,000 hours.

It was first installed in 1901 at a firehouse in California. It’s rarely been turned off since it was first installed and it is a mystery why it’s lasted as long as it did. This lightbulb is a Shelby bulb. Shelby lightbulbs used to be very popular back in the day and they burned the longest.

No one is quite sure why the bulb is still going but there is many ideas. Some people say it’s because things are made with more care than they used to be. Others are saying it’s because the filament is eight times thicker than it needs to be. Others just say it’s a fluke.

            Since it was installed it has been turned off a couple of times. It was turned off for about a week during remodels to the fire station. The next time it turned off they were moving it to the new station. They got it to turn back on pretty quick. Then one of the more recent times it turned off it was because the bulb lost its power source, but they fixed it. Now the bulb is under surveillance so they can see when it turns off for good. No one wants the bulb to go out.

            This lightbulb has burned for 989,000 hours and probably more by now. The bulb has outlived three surveillance cameras and its own power source. It was confirmed that it was the oldest burning bulb in the world by Guinness World Records.

            Right now the bulb is still burning. It only gives off about four watts of light but it’s a miracle that it’s still going.

Questions:

What do you think is making the bulb last so long?

Could it be a fluke?

Lightning by Keyper

lately we have been learning about electricity, circuits, and lightning types. we were each assigned a lightning type to study, and give information about how rare your assigned type is, how often it occurs, why it occurs, and what weather types.

We also have been learning what thing make good conductors, what conductors are made of, and how batteries work.

Questions: what side on a battery is the negative side?

what is the rod inside the battery made of?

what is the most commonly used conductor?

Lipids by Ella

Lipid: What about them?

Lipids are a group of naturally occurring molecules that include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins, monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides and  phospholipids. The main functions of lipids include is energy, and acting as structural components of cell membranes. The term lipid is sometimes used as a synonym for fats and fats are a subgroup of lipids called triglycerides.

Fatty acids or fatty acid residues when they form part of a lipid, they are made of a hydrocarbon chain that terminates with a carboxylic acid group. The fatty acid structure they are very important categories in  biological lipids. The carbon chain, typically between four and 24 carbons long, may be saturated or unsaturated, they are “connect” to functional groups containing oxygen, halogens, nitrogen, and sulfur. If a fatty acid contains a double bond, there is the possibility of either a cis or trans, which significantly affects the molecule's configuration. Cis-double bonds cause the fatty acid bend and as an effect, they can be work with more double bonds. Three double bonds in 18-carbon is called linolenic acid and it is the most abundant fatty-acid.

 Here is an example of the structure of Saturated Acid and Unsaturated Acid

Ecosystem Development by Sophia

            An appropriate definition for an ecosystem is a community of interacting organisms in their natural physical environment. The week of September 28th - October 1st we learned about ecosystem development. My blog post is going to be on ecosystem development. My interest in ecosystem developments include surrounding species, plants, and the impact the ecosystem has.

            Usually an ecosystem development would not be for short-term gain, but to help maintain the ecological processes from around where you’re developing. A few examples of an ecosystem is an ocean, desert, forests, grasslands, wetlands, etc. There is a big deal between genetic diversity and species within each ecosystem. Here are three types of ecosystems and their value.

Components of ecosystems are soil, water, sunlight, plants, etc. Another big thing in ecosystems are insects and animals. The condition of an ecosystem for a certain animal is the only type of habitat it can live in, which is why zoos are not good. It is difficult for animals to adapt to different habitats than what they originally lived in. That is the reason I dislike zoos so much. Why do ecosystems matter to human health? How might ecosystems change? What are the consequences of ecosystem change? These are three very important questions of ecosystem development. Did you know there are theories to ecosystem development?

Soils by Cailtin

Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, organic matter, water, air. Not only is it home thousands of microorganisms, but it is also an incredibly important resource for humans. It plays a key role in maintaining food production and keeping a clean underground water supply. Just remember to not get confused between soil and dirt. There is a drastic difference between the two.

Unfortunately, poor land management practices such as overgrazing, deforestation, and over cultivation have led to serious soil degradation problems. If these problems continue, starvation and water shortage will be prevalent throughout the world.

Interesting Facts:

●       There are 70,000 different types of soil found in the United States.

●       1 tablespoon of soil has more organisms living in it than there are people living on Earth.

●       15 tons of dry soil pass through an earthworm each year.

●       10% of the world's carbon emissions are stored in soil.

Questions:

●       How can we protect soil, so that it can continue to be a valuable resource for us?

●       How would our lives change if we got rid of soil?

Two different case studies by Wrenlie

We learned the best ways to hire people and lipids. How do you hire someone? The best way you could hire a person would be looking at their form. What are their best and worst qualities? Then you would narrow what you like best about that person and eventually you would have a list. Hiring someone is important because extra help is always handy, and it benefits the person you had hired because they get your money. Win win for everyone!

What are lipids? Lipids are any organic compound that are fatty acids. They contain natural waxes, steroids, and oils. Some examples of lipids are oils, butter, cream cheese, lard, and more…

            Saturated fats (lipids) are normally solid in a room temperature. They are believed to promote bad cholesterol. Foods like butter and processed meats are great examples of saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats come from normally plant foods, like nuts and seeds. Examples of unsaturated fats are olives, sunflowers, corn, vegetable oils, and soybeans. Since saturated fats promotes bad cholesterol, unsaturated fats do not, and are also monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats as well. What are monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats? Monounsaturated fats bring down bad cholesterol and polyunsaturated fats are just as healthy as well.

Questions?:

Do all foods have Saturated or Unsaturated fats in them?

What is the best way to hire somebody?

How come Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated are almost the same as Unsaturated?

The Periodic Table By Zachary

The History?

The periodic table was first published in 1869 by Dmitri Mendeleev. Scientists before him,  such as Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner, suspected there was a way to group elements. This scientist in particular grouped the known elements in 1829 into triads, based on atomic weight. In 1864, John Newlands grouped all of the known elements into eight different groups, based solely on physical properties. Dmitri used other scientists’ data such as this to form the first table we have that is similar to the one we use today. His model had holes and predicted several elements we know of today.

            Over the next 150 years, hundreds of scientists have worked together to create a table that has 118 elements, 92 of which can occur naturally. 

Electron Configuration by Amaize

Electron Configuration

Amaize Yearsley

            We have been studying the periodic table of elements. We have discussed the ways of writing the element in different forms, and we have also worked with isotopes. The most recent thing we learned was electron configuration which can be recognized and written like: Li: 1s²2s¹

            A question that could relate to this topic is: Why is it important and useful to know the elements more in depth?

3 Facts:

1)   The electron configuration shows the number of electrons in each sublevel of energy.

2)   The sublevels are letters such as: s , p , and d.

3)   Using a box diagram, we show the electron configuration of nitrogen

as:

Atomic Orbitals By Robey

An atomic orbital is a mathematical function that describes the wave-like behavior of either one electron or a pair of electrons in an atom. This function can be used to calculate the probability of find any electron of an atom in any specific region around the atom’s nucleus. The atomic orbitals can have many different shapes. Each different shape is proof that there are different types of atomic orbitals.

            The different shape of the atomic orbitals mean they are made up of different levels of electrons. Inside the different levels there are different orbitals. In the first part there are p orbitals. For example if we have a beginning of n=2 shell, then each shell has three p orbitals. Because of the different values of M, there will be three 2p orbitals, three 3p orbitals and so forth (depending on the value of M). These different levels of orbitals form a dumbbell shape all around the origin.

            Why does the orbitals make a dumbbell shape instead of something like a circle?

            Along with the p and s orbitals, there are d and f orbitals. When M=3 there will be five 3d orbitals, five 4d orbitals and etc because each shell has five possible values for the M numbers. Depending on the d orbital, will change the shape of the “dumbbell” (orbital cloud). A d-orbital of four shows a “four leaf clover” shape of the dumbbell, with each of the leaves laying on the planes of the axis.

            I personally think the most interesting thing of the orbitals is the shape that they take. Instead of just rotating around a center point, they for more of an ellipse shape forming a dumbbell (seen in the photo above). They form this shape because of the higher energy and various wave lengths that they have. Only a s orbital has a spherical shape and that is because they do not have nearly as high of an energy as the other orbitals.

            The p orbitals form a shape almost like a rounded bow tie. It is two of the dumbbell shapes connected by their smallest ends at the origin of the axis. They only have enough energy to make that single shape, and there is only two of them so only two shapes are formed. The d orbitals make a rounded four leaf clover shape. There are four orbitals, making four shapes that connect in the origin of the axis.

            What is the difference in energy levels in the orbitals?

           

Orbitals were originally discovered by Niels Bohr in 1904. The orbitals were then used to make the basic atomic orbital model to give a visual representation that scientists can look at without having to use the extremely powerful microscopes. This model was also used for a visual representation of an electron cloud of an atom with multiple electrons inside of it.

Ions by Franz

Ions are when a molecule or atom has either an extra electron or missing electron. In some cases an atom could be missing or could have gained more than one electron. Also this will give the atom a negative or positive charge, if electrons are subtracted the atom becomes positive and if added they will become negative. Positive charged atoms are cations and negative atoms are anions. By adding or subtracting electrons this would only change the mass by a little bit. When writing an atom with an ion it would be written in superscript to the upper right hand corner as shown below.

Atoms become ions usually by radiation bombardment and it only affects the valence shell and this is because the inner electrons are too closely connected to the nucleus.

Characteristics:

●       Attracted to opposite charges like positive to negative.

●       Repelled by like charges.

●       When moving they travel in trajectories and are deflected by a magnetic field.

Common Ions

●       aluminum - Al³⁺ 

●       hydrogen - H⁺

●       bromide -  Br^-

●       fluoride - F^-

Questions

1.      How are ions formed?

2.      If you take an atom and take away two electrons what is its charge?

3.      If an ion is positive what would it be attracted to?

Cell Transportation by Javier

Summary- Cell transportation is when particles, molecules and other substances pass through cells through certain ways of transport. Like active transport which takes up energy for it to be passed through the cell membrane it requires energy because it is against the gradient. There is also passive transport and other ways of getting through the cell but active transport is my favorite (As shown Below). Don’t forget about endocytosis and exocytosis which is how an animal cell gets its energy. Endocytosis is when a cell surrounds a substance and passes it through its cell membrane and exocytosis is when it excretes its waste. Cells are interesting pieces of life and we all need to know what they are here for.

Facts

  Passive transport requires no energy since it is going with the gradient.

 

  A selectively permeable cell membrane lets particles pass in through it.

  Diffusion is when particles go through a selectively permeable membrane from a lower  concentration to a higher concentration

Questions

  How can you tell if diffusion is going on or not?

  What is the difference between active and passive transport?

  How many transportation processes are there? Name three of them.

 

  What is your favorite way a cell transports substances?