Summary of My Crazy Year

My favorite part of astronomy that we did as a blog post was the "Sace Exploration". I liked this blog post, because it was a project where we learned a LOT about how astronomers and scientists explore and discover new things in space. I also thought that this was a fun thing to do, because in my opinion all of the tools and shuttles that they use to do all those things is pretty cool! The technology is so advanced that it is difficult to wrap your head around, but the blog post summed it all up in a nut shell for not only me, but the whole world to view.-- Being able to do the majority of my work on computers was definitely the best part of my 8th grade science year, because it is a great way to get connected with the world and learn all sorts of new things, but most of all share your experiences with the entire world!

My favorite part about Earth's Atmosphere was the diagram of "Cloud Formation". I liked this blog post, because we only did it for one class period, but we were able to include good information. I also liked this post, because it was the first time in the year that we used computers to illustrate a picture. This post was also unique, because in order to get the picture completed before the end of class, you and your partner had to cooperate and be focused.

My favorite part of the geology unit was learning about plate tectonics and sea floor spreading. I thought that it was really interesting to learn about the theory of Pangaea and learn about how the hot magma from inside Earth pushes up through the oceanic crust and forces the sea floor to move. I also really like looking at pictures of volcanoes and the different ways they form and different types of landforms they can form. This was my second favorite unit (right behind Earth's Waters), because it was something that I haven't gone too much into detail with in the past, whereas most of the other units we did I have explored in the past.

My favorite part of Weathering and Erosion was learning about the different types of weathering and erosion :) I liked learning about ice wedging and the differences between chemical and mechanical weathering. I also liked learning about how rivers and other moving bodies of water chart their own path and always move downhill because of gravity! This section of the year, I thought, was also really cool, because I never really thought much about how many different types and forms of erosion there are.

Earth's Waters was the quickest unit of the year, since we had to cram it in at the end of the year, but was still really interesting. The whole aspect of looking at water filtration and the difference between a lake and pond was completely new to me. Also, looking at the different types of wetlands was completely new. I was never aware that the Everglades were nearly demolished by man to make "room" for agriculture. I also had no idea that water was made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. I haven't been in a chemistry class yet, so I am far from an expert of the chemical makeup of things. As you can see, it is very hard for me to choose a favorite part of Earth's Waters, because I liked it all! I found this unit very interesting and wish we could have spent more time on it.

Obviously, my 8th grade year was full of tons of info and alot of excitement. I am very glad to have taken the class on comuters, and share my dicoveries with the world. I will definately remeber his class and the awesome teacher who made it all possible, Mrs. Casey, for years to come! I hope the rest of the world that followed my class enjoyed it too!

(Sorry for the cramping of Earth's Atmosphere and Geology AND this comment!! :( I can't seem to fix it) :(

The Water Cycle Re-Visited

1)The water cycle is a continuous cycle through which water is constantly moving through.
2)No, the water cycle doesn't have a starting point; that is the whole concept of a "cycle".
3)A puddle of water may move through the water cycle and fall back as rain when the sun evaporates the water, the water condenses into clouds and mixes with other various molecules, and then falls back down again in some form of precipitation.

Melting Polar Ice Caps Comic

Melting Polar Ice Caps Annotated Bibliography

1) If the polar ice caps melted, how much would the oceans rise?
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question473.htm
This websight explains how much the oceans would rise if the polar ice caps melted. It also explains how the rising coast lines would affect life. I plan to use the website in my presentation by putting in a link so people to explore themselves.

2)No Title
http://www.gemzies.com/img_photos/melting_polar_ice_caps_global_warming_6_67f624662a8531b11823ea862c302016_490x350.png
This isn't a website. It is just a picture. Seeing this picture gave me all I needed to know that the melting of ice caps was effecting animals in a HUGE way! I've already put this image in my presentation and included a slide on it.

Melting Polar Ice Caps

Melting Polar Ice Caps

1)What, specifically about your topic, are you going to research? What are the dangers of the melting ice caps?

2)What conclusions did you come to? What do you recommend average citizens do to make a difference? I have concluded that since in about the last 100 years the temperature on Earth has risen about 1 degree Celsius, that the sea level has risen about 6 to 8 inches. The oceans are rising because the floating icebergs are melting due to the increased heat and when they melt, all of the frozen water that was above the surface, is now part of the surface. If all of the ice in Antarctica alone melted, the sea level would rise about 200 feet! If you take that average number of JUST Antarctica, and added all of the other ice caps and glaciers around the world, imagine how tremendously the sea level would rise!! Some cities could be completely buried in water! Another thing that is affected by the melting ice caps is animal life. Some animals such as seals, penguins, polar bears, etc are all affected by the melting, because the ice is what they live on! Obviously, if the ice melted, they would die off , because they can't survive in water due to the fact that they don't have gills. If these animals die off, the larger animals that eat them may starve or attempt to seek another habitat. I recommend to people to continue to try not to emit greenhouse gasses and to recycle as much as possible so we can reuse things instead of burning or letting the old ones rot! The best thing people can do is let others be aware of the issue and PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH!!!! Source

3) What would happen if, worst-case scenario, nobody listened to your recommendations? Global warming would take control, causing littler precipitation, lots of drought, animal life to go extinct, shore lines to rise, less crops would be able to be grown, temperature would increase, and overall just chaos!

4) What would happen if, best-case scenario, everybody listened to your recommendations? Global warming would disappear, shore lines would reseed (possibly further than before), fresh water would become much more plentiful, the number of plant-able crops would increase, a MUCH healthier environment would exist for all, and if all goes extremely well; polar life may actually increase!

Penny Lab

-First, we put pennies on paper towels. Then we took droppers and put one drop of water at a time on the top of the penny. We saw how many drops of water we could drop on the penny before it poured off of the penny. We dropped the water at different heights and speeds to see what worked best.
-My prediction was that the higher you drop the water from and the slower you do it, the more water drops you can fit on the penny before it flows off. Also, I tried to get my penny flat on my desk so that the water didn't have a slope to trickle down.
-It turned out that the closer to the penny that I dropped the water from and the slower I did it, the more drops i got to stay on the penny. The max number of drops that I got to stay on the penny was 24.
- I think that the water eventually falls off, because the water molecules have to keep expanding in order to connect to each other, and the surface tension decreases as the water droplets increase.