Reflection Post

Impressions of the Blogger assingment:

I think that this assingment was overall very good for several reasons. One of the most important of these reasons was that if we were absent we could learn what we missed. Another was hat many of us practiced writing in English and giving a summary of what we did in class. It also helped us to study for tests. However there were many negatives to this assingment. When you wanted to put photos in your scribe post, you had very little freedom to do what you want, meaning that blogger doesn't allow much freedom in posting. Another was that the comments were pretty much all the same, and weren't too helpful. In conclusion: i didn't really like this assingment, but i do think it is helpful for those absent or wanting to recap what happend last class.

Reflection Post

8th grade has been using Blogger for the past two quarters which at times was fun but sometimes not so much. Lets starts with the positive sides of using blogger; if somebody was sick or just couldn’t make it to school they always had blogger to look at and see what the class was studding while they were gone which is a great use. Another wonderful use is the fact that if we were having a test and needed to study for it we could go back and see what we studied and to refresh our memories! These are some of the good facts about Blogger but sadly there are some things about using Blogger that I wasn’t very happy about, for example: in some of the comments that we had to make I did not see a very scientific side in these comments which I thought was a waist of time because we really didn’t learn much from some of these comments. Like a machined before we had to write this kind of comments which also worth a pretty big part of our grade in science. For next year’s middle school students I think I would recommend using Blogger but just making comments an option and not a mush which means it wouldn’t be part of the grade.

Abigail – reflection post.

Reflection Post 2010

Doing Blogger for three quarters in a row was very helpful. I think that this project help many of the 8th grade students becasue if someone was absent, they could go to Blogger and see what they missed during science. I liked doing Blogger becuase it was very simple and fun to work with. I liked writing posts on Blogger becuase it was very fun and I enjoyed it. The thing that I thought was hard on Blogger was putting pictures becuase sometimes the picture did not appear for me. Also, the thing that was very annoying for me on Blogger was that some of the tools for writing posts were very complicated, but all in all, I enjoyed Blogger. I think that this was a helpful use of technology for our class because any student absent could see what he/she missed during school. I hope that this project will continue next year!

Reflection Post

During the past semester that we've been using blogger for science, I have had many positive and negative views of it; many difficulties and highlights; and most of all, many days when my grades depended on it. Blogger was of exponential use when somebody was absent from school, didn't quite catch what the day's homework was, or needed to review for a test. Additionally, if somebody needed more information or a better understanding of something, a couple of videos that my fellow peers posted up really shone out and explained in ways of a completely different dimension. Blogger was also great in the fact that it let us post picture, videos, change backgrounds and font colors to make our posts more visually enchanting for students our age. As time went on over the course of the past two science quarters, blogging got more and more simple to use and I felt as if the majority of my class used it to save them from getting zeros for things they didn't quite catch in class. However, Blogger did have it's negative attributes. Firstly, when you posted a comment to a 6th or 7th grade blog, the computer made you verify to see if you were human, and if you didn't type anything in, it would not post up your comment. Another negative attribute was that Blogger at times erased your blogs for no apparent reason, which was a huge waste of time. Final summation: Blogger, though it is at times risky and unpredictable, is a miracle when it comes to late night homework sessions, and times when Science just gets confusing.

Reflection Post

Over the course of the last two quarters of science, blogger was of good use. It allowed the students that were absent to catch up on what had been noted in class and gave them a better insight or understanding to what had been reviewed. Blogger gives us the opportunity to be more creative with our works including pictures, color schemes, and attractive layouts. Blogger also gave us permission to use posts for future tests or quizzes as its posts are mainly general recaps of a science class and can be used as a great studying tool. Although blogger was, to a large extent, of good perspective, it did take hold of some negative features. One included erasing the data you posted on blog and having to take zero because it didn't publish. Another feature that had primarily bothered me was that as I was concluding my comment on a blog post, blogger automatically erased the paragraph I had written taking another portion of time from my lunch. Lastly, I didn't enjoy commenting on the 7th and 6th grade blogs as I had to wait for a verification giving me doubts about if my comment was going to post to their blogs. Otherwise, I did enjoy taking part in blogger and thought it was of great help to all students.

Reflection Post

Over the last two quarters we've been using Blogger for science.
In the begining, I didn't really know how to use it, but as soon as I got the hang of it, it was fun.
In my opinion, it was a lot of fun using Blogger! I'm sure it was also very helpful for the people who were absent, or missed a science class. They could easily see what we did while they were gone. Or if there was some information that wasn't clear to them in class, maybe they understood it better from reading their peer's blog post.

Labels- Reflection Post, Blogger, Cornelia

Reflection Post

My impressions about Blogger
My impressions about Blogger are mostly positive. I think the idea of introducing Blogger in our student’s daily life is good. Blogger is a great way for people who are sick to know what happened in class. It also helps clarifies some things you couldn’t understand in class. It is also a way to learn. I also like the fact that Blogger’s interface is easier and nicer than the one in Moddle. Blogger is also like a general base of everything we covered in Science, it is here if you want to print some courses you lost a long time ago. For the negative effect one of them is that Blogger can sometimes don’t save what you wrote in comment which makes it pretty annoying. But in overall all the comments arrive safely to Ms. D. An other negative things about Blogger is the picture manager which is very frustrating, you can’t do everything by yourself, you have to use some standard created by Blogger which decrease the liberty that you want to put in your post.

Study for the exam

On friday June 1st, my friends and I studied for the exams. In class we studied chemistry with all the class. That day we studied all the chemistry paquet with Ms. D. We learned about the periodic table of elements, we learned all the stuff about the periodic table. We learned some symbols from the table, we learned about the atomic mass, the atomic number and the element name and where they are found. We learned also about the molecules in a symbol and we learned to count them. After that Ms. D showed us how to count a series of symbols with the molecules. We talked about all of this stuff that will be on the exam. We talked about the experiment that we did and about the exotermic and endotermic reactions, and Ms. D showed us the table of the endotermic and the exotermic. She explained that one goes up because it is warm and the other goes down because it is colder. After Ms. D gave us a paper that showed all the stuff that we have to study for the exam.

REMEMBER TO STUDY FOR THE EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reflection Post

Looking back, the blogging was actually quite helpful to people who were sick and just generally for getting a grasp into the world of blogging. No matter how complicated and frustrating Blogger gets at times I think everyone should be exposed to this form of sharing work. For me, it helped a lot when I was sick or on CEESA trips because I could just go look on blogger and find out what we did in class. However, Blogger does not only have positives. This quarter I had to use a different computer at home and this computer always signed me out of blogger when I clicked “view blog”. As a result, I had to post almost every blog comment and scribe post at school in the mornings as it was impossible to post from the other computer.

Other than that blogging went quite smoothly over the course of the 4^th quarter; especially now that we know what we actually have to do. One last thought is that this blog will be extremely helpful when we want to study for our science final, because it roughly outlines what we did,provides information and an general overview. All in all, blogging went smoothly with a few faults here and there.

-Ines(:

Reflection Post - German N.

Overall, I enjoyed using Blogger in this and previous quarters. It made my life easier by checking whether there is any homework assigned when I skipped school. In my opinion, next year, we should use Blogger instead of Moodle because it can be helpful for students who skipped school to find out what did the class do on the day the student skipped school. However, I also noticed some disadvantages about Blogger, such as it is not so easy to put pictures where you want them to be in your post, which I found very frustrating when I did my scribe post. Overall, I enjoyed using Blogger throughout the 2nd semester.

Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions

On Friday 28th, after showing our colored periodic tables to ms.D, we were told that we are going do a lab about exothermic and endothermic reactions. We had to read about them for that day, so everybody already knew what they were.
For you people that had the shame of missing our class, or just aren't part of it (which is also a shame), here is a definition of both:

- Exothermic Reaction: A change in which energy (or NRG) is released.

- Endothermic Reaction: A change in which energy is taken in.

So, the purpose question was "How do measured temperatures show the difference between an exothermic and endothermic reaction?"

In the actual lab, we mixed Yeast with Hydrogen Peroxide, and Baking Soda with Vinegar.
Yeast and Baking Soda being the Solutes, and Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar being the Solvents.
After consulting it with ms.D, we decided that the independent variable of the lab was temperature, and that the dependent variable of the lab were the endothermic and exothermic reactions.

The result of the first experiment was that Yeast and Hydrogen Peroxide became instantly very bubbly and hot, and stunk like rotten bread.







The second experiment was a bit slower, as the chemical reaction took longer to occur. The result was lots of bubbles and the container becoming cold.





All of the experiments went without any injury and everyone left with good data.
The whole lab is in our Chemistry Packet, so check it out!

If you still don't understand the difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions, here is a link showing some simple examples of them.

Thank you for reading my scribe post. I hope you enjoyed it and that it was helpful.

The next scribe is... well, I can't find the list of available scribes, so I'll have to ask ms.D.

Reflection Post

I think that this time blogging was easier for us because we understood it much better this time around. Personally blogging was easier and more enjoyable this time. And of course the blogging was great for when I missed some science classes or I needed some homework. I also thought that having th 6th and 7th graders do it was fun because it was interesting to see what they were doing in class. However I still found it annoying that putting in pictures was not so easy and that you couldn't move the pictures on some computers. Also when using subscript it made the font do wacky things. So yes there are still some things that need to be fixed but over all blogger was helpful and fun.

Holly(:

Reflection Post

Reflection Post-Alex

I thought that this 3 quarter blogging project was a good idea. Students are able to look on here when confused, and hopefully will have things cleared up after doing so. I know that I found this helpful previously, and am finding it helpful now when studying for our final exam. I didn't like how there seemed to be quite some amount of technical difficulties when posting things on Blogger. I think it was nice that everyone had to do a scribe post each time, so each person only had to post once for that quarter. Most things about Blogger were pretty easy to use. There were 2 things that I didn't like as much was how difficult it could be to upload pictures, and not being able to copy and paste things. 

:) Alex

Reflection Post - Severyn

As I stated in my previous Reflection Post, Blogger is a great website that helped me and others during the school year. First of all, I didnt had to visit Moodle, which takes a long time to log in - I've just visited Blogger and there it was, my homework.
Other good thing about Blogger is that it is very easy to use. That's probably the fact makes me like it. You just enter the address in the URL box and that's it. I had fun working with Blogger and I think that my teacher, Ms. D should do the same Blogger project with next grades. Severyn :)

Thursday's Reviewing Class

Today, May 27^th, our class was about reviewing things from Chemistry Unit for our final exam. First off all, Ms. D asked us to go Dr. Heslips office. There we took some pictures and later visited Dr. Haddons balcony to take a picture with Mr. Houlis. After taking some lovely images, Ms. D and us returned to the classroom. There we started discussing exercises that were on the chemistry quiz we took Tuesday, May 25^th. Here is the list of the exercises including the answers and the notes we took with Ms. D.

Protons vs. Electrons

Proton is a stable particle with positive charge equal to the negative charge of an electron. It is also found in nucleus and it is made from quarks.

Electron is an elementary particle with negative charge. It is also spinning around the nucleus. It can also be found in a lightning.

Matter vs. NRG

Matter is anything that takes up space or anything that has mass.

NRG is not matter, it is an ability to do work or cause change.

*Mass vs. Weight

Mass is the amount of matter inside an object. Uses kg or g as units. It also stays the same.

Weight is the amount of force put on the object by gravity. Uses newtons as units. It also changes itself depending on the position. (Ex. On the moon, on the poles.)

Solute vs. Solvent

Solute (dissolute) is a mixture that is added to the solvent, where the solvent dissolves it. The process is called a chemical change. (Chemical change – a change in matter that produces one or more new substances.)

Solvent (dissolvent) is a substance that is mixed with the solute.

(Ex. Cedevita: solute = powder, solvent = water)

Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous

Homogeneous mixture is a mixture where you can’t see the different parts. (Ex. Alcohol.)

Heterogeneous mixture is a mixture where you can see the different parts because everything is grouped up. (Ex. Sperm.)

*Capacity vs. *Volume

Capacity is the amount of matter an object can contain.

Volume is the amount of 3-dimensional space occupied by an object.

*SI is the metric system that measures them. Here is the list of some other chemistry-related vocabulary words.

Shape – a 3-dimensional geometric shape.

States of Matter – a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary.

Molecular Motion – the movement (average) of particles in a state of matter.

Molecular Proximity – distance of particles in a state of matter.

To see a Table about the States of Matter, please click on the link below:


States of Matter Table

Last thing Ms. D said is the relation to today’s world; if someone would solve the Filament state of matter, and make it be together and stay for more than one second, that person would create a whole new type of energy, more efficient one. So, that means that no more oil or gas needs to be spent. After the long reviewing session, Ms. D showed us the assignments for homework, located on Moodle.

Due Friday, May 28th:


1. The 7th Blog Comment. Remember, you must have three 8th grade comments, three 7th grade comments and two 6th grade comments.
2. Color in the TWO Periodic Tables in your packet - be sure to read the directions for what you need to do for each.

Follow the link below:

Moodle for 8th Grade


The next scriber is Daniel!

Class On Friday

In class Friday we went over the liquids and solids observed in a lab on Thursday. As a class we decided which substance was compound which was an element and which substance was a mixture. After everyone went up and wrote substance under where they thought it belonged we all went through to check each-others answers. This is what we ended up with:

In the table below the numbers next to the letters underneath "symbols/formlas" are meant to be down lower and smaller-like in this image-

REMINDER:
Quiz tuesday:
-over 3 parts in your book you read as homework
-your chart in the packet
-and the 2 sets of notes

Elements:

• pure substance (simplest)
• can't be divided
• no "+"'s in formula
• and has only one chemical symbol
  

Compounds:

• pure substance
• 2 or more elements combined chemically
• has a ratio (always the same)
• ONE chemical formula

Mixtures:

• 2 or more elements involved
• NOT CHEMICALLY combined
• 2 or more chemical formulas
• formulas have "+"'s
  
  TYPES OF MIXTURES:
  
  Homogeneous- uniform mixture, same throughout
  Ex.cedvita, mineral water, salt water
  
  Heterogeneous-not uniformed mixture, not same throughout
  (Looks like a salad. You can tell where the tomato is, where the lettuce is, where the cucumber is; it all stands out)
  Ex.soil
  
  Solution is a homogeneous mixture.
  2 parts:
  
  -Solute(what you have less of): part that dissolves
  
  -Solvent(what you have more of, and usually a liquid): dissolving part
  
  Examples-
  In salt water:
  solute-salt
  solvent-water
  
  In cedvita:
  solute-orange powder
  solvent-water
  
  In mineral water-
  solute-CO2(gas)
  solvent-H2O (liquid)
  
  Stated by Ms. D, "96% of the time H2O is the solvent"
  
  ONE LETTER ELEMENTS:
  O
  H
  N
  C
  
  TWO LETTER ELEMENTS:
  He
  Cu
  Au
  Fe
  Li
  Cr
  Ge
  
  THREE LETTER ELEMENTS:
  Une
  Uun
  Uuu
  And these are all, man-made solids, and last less than a second usually.
  
  ¬We also figured out how to read the substances formulas' using math.
  
  In the formula above there are 4 hydrogens, because you multiply H x 3 and you get 3 hydrogens. Then add the H at the beginning. and you get a total of 4.
  
  There are also 2 carbons and 2 oxygens used to create the substance.
  
  
  In case you want to look up more formulas, this is a cool site I used:
  
  http://www.chemindustry.com/apps/chemicals
  
  
  Next scriber is Severyn.

Elements, Mixtures & Compounds!

Today in class we had Mr. Tim as our teacher because Ms. D went on a field trip with the 7th graders.Mr. Tim discussed elements, compounds, and mixtures to us.

An element: a substance which cannot be broken down into other substances by ordinary chemicals. Each element is represent by a symbol. Example: oxygen = O , gold = Au, helium= He

Here is a link to "The Element Song" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIvXVMbII0

A compound: two or more elements can be combined to form compounds. Compounds are very different from the elements from which they are formed. Example:NaCl, made from sodium, a dangerous and explosive element, and chlorine, a poisonous gas.

A mixture: made from two or more substances, elements, compounds, or both in definite proportions, and these proportions are not always the same. Example: soil, cake, milk

Homogeneous mixture: the substances in a homogeneous mixture are so evenly mixed that you can't see the different parts. Example: cake batter, petrol, plastic spoon

Heterogeneous mixture: in a heterogeneous mixture you can see the different parts. Example: salad, gravel, car

After discussing those topics, we reviewed temperature, weight, mass, volume, and density. We gave a definition, units, and the equipment used for each property.

Temperature: - a measure of the average NRG of motion of the particles of a substance

- Celsius and Kelvin

- thermometer

Weight: - a measure of the force of gravity on an object.

- Newtons, kilograms

- force scale, spring scale

Mass: - a measure of how much matter is in an object.

- kilograms

- TBB

Volume: - the amount of space that matter occupies.
-centimeters cubed
-ruler, graduated cylinder
Density: - the measurement of how much mass of a substance is contained in a given volume
-TBB, ruler

Finally we got to our rotation lab on matter. In this lab we had to smell and examine 12 different substances and write down their symbol/formula, their physical properties, decide if the substance was a solid, liquid or gas and decide if it was an element, compound or mixture.

Here are some substances that were examined: ^.

• Copper- Cu, solid, element

• Hydrogen peroxide- H₂O₂ , liquid, compound 
• Rubbing Alcohol-C₃H₈O, Liquid, compound

The homework from today is to complete "States of Matter-pg 42-47" and by reading those pages fill out States of Matter Note Taking Section in our Chemistry Packet.

Also don't forget another blog comment is due tomorrow (Friday).

The next scriber is Alex.

Diet Coke and Mentos

On May 14, 2010 we had a short Friday class, first everyone got their constellations project back graded. We watched the Myth Busters season 4 – this time the myth they tested was Mentos & Diet Coke.

Here is a link to the video that inspired the myth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM

This video has gotten so many views on YouTube and all over the internet so the Myth Busters decided to test it.

This video is explaining about what they did in the experiment and what is happening inside the diet coke bottle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjbJELjLgZg&feature=related

Homework – answer the 9 questions about the Myth Busters experiment and read pages 6-15 in the textbook. Do Tuesday.

the next scribe is Holly

by Abigail

Big Bang History & Interesting Facts!

On Thursday in class we learned about the history of the big bang, and its theory. It was first proposed in 1927 by a priest named Georges Lemaitre.

Big Bang Order:

1) We started of as NOTHING!

2) The first big bang is thought to have been equivalent to dropping a 2.2 kg's bag of sugar.

3) What we call the "Real Big Bang'' was an inflation or an expansion of the universe that interrupted the standard linear expansion shortly after the first big bang.

4) Particle Soup- HUGE amount of matter formed which gets cooler and gets a larger volume (plus, - , 0 , Q , N) In other words:

(protons, electrons, neutrons, quarks, neutrino)

5) The first elements after this were;

1) Hydrogen- (first most abundant element/ first created element)

2) Helium- (second most abundant element/ second created element)

3) Lithium- (third most abundant element/ third created element)

What happens next?

Scientists are still debating on which one of the three will happen next.

• Some say the universe will have a continual expansion
• Some say it will have a "big crunch" and it will all crunch together
• Others say that eventually everything is going to stop

At the end of class we got a Chemistry Unit Note Taking Guide and a Chemistry Packet.

In the Chemistry Unit Note Taking Guide we have to do the thirteen questions about Describing Matter which is on pg. 6-15 in the textbook.

And bring Chemistry Packet to every class from now on!!

Next scribe is Abigail


-Cornelia

Stars! & Black holes! & Galaxies

• 

Last Friday, we spent class reviewing eachother's constellation fact sheets. Each student recieved 3 people for whom he or she was to read their sheets and grade them. Because that class was short and unchanging, I am also blogging for today's science class on May 11.


Today at the beginning of class we had a quick discussion about Branimir; the astrophycsicist that came to our class and talked to us last week. We wrote him some of our comments and criticisms on his lecture, which included the following:
Criticisms:
Lack of media
Shorten his bullets on his powerpoint
Speak louder and clearer
Interact with the students more
Simplify some vocab

Compliments:
Showed enthusiasm and true knowledge of the subject
Gorgeous pictures
Interesting at most parts


Branimir has never taught to students our age; and I think he deserves an extra arm of applause for having the courage to do so now. In about three days, he becomes a doctor of astrophysics.

From the discussion, Ms.D continued to show us the Star Notes Powerpoint we had started to watch in one of our previous classes. Our final exam will include most of this information, which is why I will include a summary of the most important facts below.

Stars:
-Blue stars are the partiers. They are hot, big, young and die fast.
-White stars are middle everything. Middle aged, middle sized and middle brightness.
-Red stars are old, colder and dying.

A globular cluster is a glob of stars


Galaxies:
Galaxies are large systems of stars in dust (interstellar matter)
There are several million galaxies with several trillion stars in each one.
There are three main types of galaxy:
-Spiral
-Elliptical
-Irregular

Spiral galaxies:
Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy
Young populations
Have lots of interstellar matter
Has arms and a a black hole in the middle

Elliptical galaxies:
-Old populations
-Very little interstellar matter

Irregular galaxy:
-No shape, distorted due to gravity from neighbouring galaxies

We know other galaxies exist because of the use of math, and pictures taken using radio waves

Additionally, we learned what a Hertzbrung Russel graph is. It is a graph that explains how stars age.

Next, we were taught how a star dies. There are basically three different ways of stellar death, and how they go is based on their mass.

-If the star is the mass of our sun:
Red Dwarf: Running out of fuel
Red Giant: Out of fuel
Nova-Explodes
White dwarf-Hot, small star, dead when it runs out of energy

No worries, our sun won't die for another 4 million years, and we'll most likely die out by then anyways.

-If the star is 4x the mass of our Sun
Same steps as Sun
Past White Dwarf
Electrons+protons combine = neutrons= neutron star!
The neutron star then becomes stronger than nucleur forces inside of an atom

-If the star is 10x the mass of our sun
-Same steps as previous deaths
-Past neutron star
-Collapses past nucleur forces
-Forms a gravity well-cosmic vacuum cleaner
-Which then turns into a black hole

In the middle of our discussion, we also talked about atoms and molecules , and learned that zombies are actually just reanimated atoms.

At the end of class we began a discussion on the Big Bang, but ran out of time. For the next class the volleyball girls will not be here to take notes so I hope the next blogger does a supreme job of summing up the class.

We have no homework for Thursday.
Also the following link is something spiffy I found that stimulates all of the astronomical events we discussed in class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoLvOvGW3Tk

Additionally, something I personally found intriguing was that when we look into space, we look into the past since things are so many light years away. For example, if there is a galaxy one billion light years away, we won't know its dead until a billion years from now.

The next blogger is Cornelia.

My favourite subject in Science

Reflection post about astronomy.

I like astronomy because of many reasons. The one reason is because it's very interesting and unexplored. The space is very, very big and unknown. You never know what you can find in the universe. Maybe there are some other creatures in other planets. We can't never know how are they living, maybe they are more developed then humans and technologicaly. The universe is so big that we can't know if there are some planets that maybe we can live on it. Because of all these reasons, I think astronomy is a great scientific discipline. You never know what can you discover about universe.

The universe!

On Tuesday a guy came in and told us about the universe and wormholes and physical theory and stuff like that. He works as a theoretical Physicist at the university here in Zagreb. The difference between a Theoretical Physicist and an Experimental Physicist is that a Theoretical Physicist makes up mathematics, and an Experimental Physicist tests those mathematics. The man who came in is clearly a Sci-Fi enthusiast, and yes, Star Trek does teach you stuff.

This man went briefly into supernovas. Apparently, there are 5 types of supernovae, each more difficult to explain than the last.

That there is a cool looking supernova, so I decided to throw it in.

Then the guy went on to talk about wormholes and parallel universes. Wormholes are supposed to be like a shortcut in space, its like going across the Pacific in a Honda to get to China, thus far impossible. Not to mention the negative energy and stuff. Apparently, energy can go backwards according to this man (which is supposed to be a violation of physics because all energy needs to move forward or be non-existent) but that is what is theorized to be in the "Throat" of a wormhole. Also, there is no going through wormholes without going backward or forward in time, so it's relatively impractical to be something that is used on a regular basis.

Today, I wasn't there but we had to work on a Constellations project. It is due tomorrow. You can find instructions and Rubrics on Moodle.

Thanks guys!

NEXT SCRIBE IS HANA!

Stars - By German

On Friday, April 30, 2010, our science teacher, Mrs. DiPietro gave us a presentation about stars. She told us that stars differ in size, mass, color, temperature and brightness. The colors that stars have are blue, yellow, and red, and that their life cycle is as long as sun's, which is 9 billion years. If the star is blue, then it tells that the star is young a very hot, about 35,000 degrees Celcius. Blue stars can also die out sooner than other stars. If the star is yellow, then it is middle-age star. If the star is red, it is cold, around 3,000 degrees Celcius, and it is about to die.

Our teacher also explained us about the sizes of stars (see pictures at the left). First, she told us about Supergiant stars. Their size is 1000 times the diameter of the Sun. These star giants include Rigel, Betelgeuse, and Antares. Then our teacher told us about giant stars. They are 10 to 100 times as large as a sun, and these include Sirius, the brightest star in our sky. We learned that the stars come from Nebulae, and sometimes from EGGs (Evaporating Gaseous Globules)

We also learned Binary stars are stars that stay together because of gravity between them, and that there are 88 accepted constellations in our sky.

Homework:

APOD 6 due Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at 08:00 a.m.

Next scribe is Aidan

Tuesday April 27, 2010

Today in science class, we had a shortened period becuase of a Croatian field trip. However when we got back, Ms. D continued to show us a powerpoint of the two comets Halley and Hale-Bopp. The powerpoit explained their revolution and when they will reach Earth again. We also were reminded about the five parts of a comet.

The five parts of a comet are:

1.Nucleus-middle part which is composed of gasses, dirt, and ice

2.Dust tail- composes of dust

3. Ion tail- different color, heating up and exciting gasses

4. Coma- the gasses around the nucleus. They cause the shine

5. Hydrogen cloud- the gasses that are released and left behind

Now a little bit about the two comets Hale-Bopp and Halley.

Comet Halley:

-It is the most famous comet in history

-It proved Edmund Halley's math was correct becuase the comet came back to Earth

-It originates from the Oort Cloud

-It is now currently located in the Kuiper Belt

-The revolution is 76 Earth years (it last came in 1986 and it will come back again in 2061)

-It is the same age as the Sun (4.5 billion years old)

Comet Hale-Bopp:

-It was discovered in July 23, 1995

-Two people discovered it independently Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp

-It is 4.5 billion years old

-The diameter of the nucleus is 40-80 kilometers

-Its revolution around the Sun takes 2,392 Earth years

Here is a video of Hale-Bopp in the sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zen-veDX0zE&feature=related

Here is a video of the revolution pattern of the comet Halley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZVl4jWrJw

After talking about the comets, we continued our forum and concluded it. We talked about Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune. Not having much time left, we quickly reviewed the names of the celestial bodies and their symbols'. We were told that there is a review session on Wednesday during lunch if you want to come.

REMEMBER, TOMMOROW WE HAVE A CELESTIAL BODIES OPEN NOTE TEST! REMEMBER TO COME PREPARED! The test will be timed so organize your stuff well.

The next scribe is German.

Science Class...

During the Science period of Friday, April 23 2010, we additionally explored the activities being held later on this year. In the first minutes of class, Ms. D mentioned that our scheduled "Celestial Body Test" had once again been postponed as the Croatian classes are taking a trip to a theatre. Despite the fact that we are not having our test on Tuesday, Ms. D still highly recommended you prepare yourself (the chart) over the weekend. She took this further by saying that we CANNOT share our notes with anyone in the class as they will be taken away from both you and the person you shared them with. Prior to that, Ms. D made it clear to take blogger more seriously, look at what you are posting, chose your videos wisely, and make sure your commenting is appropriate, as she will be showing this Blog to others. Keep in mind, you need 3 Eighth grade posts, 3 Seventh grade posts, and 2 Sixth grade posts for Blogger. If experiencing trouble commenting on the 6th and 7th grade blogs, scroll to the bottom of the page where the verification button is as this will allow an access to commenting. Astronomy then ends on May the 7th, and we will be moving forward into Chemistry. As discussed, we will only be having Chemistry, and very little Astronomy in our Science Final.

As class prolonged, Cornelia

and Abigail gave there Celestial body presentations, discussing them amongst each class table. Cornelia's given Celestial body focused on Comets. Comets are leftovers from the creation of the Solar system around 4.5 billion

years ago. They are made of ice and are coated with dark organic matter. She also described how Comets are predicted to have shared water and other organic compounds with the Solar System and Earth's early life.

The 5 Parts of a Comet

1.) Nucleus

2.) Coma

3.) Hydrogen Cloud

4.) Dust Tail

5.) Ion Tail

Cornelia's favorite Comet was Hale Bopp. Like other Comets, it has a revolution of 2,392 Earth days and comes from the Oort Cloud. Comets are given the name of icy snowballs or mud balls and when they are in contact with the Sun (around 15 AU's close), they dissolve into gas.

Gas determines the color of the Comet

Red light - Hydrogen

Blue light- Carbon Dioxide

Yellow Light - Oxygen

As Cornelia concluded, Abigail began to tell us about Mars, her Celestial Body. The Planet Mars is particularly smaller compared to other Planets. It is a red color, due to its soil composed of rust. The planet has large dust and wind storms including diminutive tornadoes. Mars has been researched for any sign life. Yet all that has been found was frozen water beneath its surface. This planet holds onto 2 moons. One of them, Phobos, is predicted to smash into Mars since it is swinging closely around its atmosphere. Once this occurs, gravitational forces will shatter the moon to particles. Moreover, Mars consists of 3 rovers or robotic machines developed for taking better pictures and accurate research.

Afterward, the class continued the open forum by adding additional information to both Mars and Comets along with reviewing Questions and Answers brought up by the class.

Dates

-Thursday April 29th is our Open Note Celestial Body Test and remember to come prepared. Ms.D will also hold a review session for this test on Wednesday, April 28th

-Extra Credit is due Friday May 14th. Take a picture with Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, or Pluto for 3 extra bonus points and email the picture to dani.dipietro@aisz.hr or ddipeitro.aisz@gmail.com

-Tuesday April 27th - 5th APOD is due. This one can come from any date from 2000-2010

-April 30th - 3rd Blog comment to 7th or 8th grade Blogs

Here is an Awesome Video on Mars and a helpful one on Comets, also focusing on other Celestial Bodies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWbCeveFptA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsTN-OxBGs

Next Scribe is Arnie