Saturday, April 24, 2010

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


6 comments:

  1. Hey Emma, I think you did a great job on your blog post. I really liked how you explained what Cornelia and Abigail presented! I also think it was a good idea when you explained what a comet is and when you explained more about Mars! Two things you could have done differently were, that you could have made your youtube links hyperlinks and you could have maybe made your writing a little bigger. All in all, I think you did a great job in your blog post!!

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  2. Good job with the post! The colors were appropriate and easy to read. However, the first paragraph was a little too long, and you could've cut it into smaller paragraphs. The due dates that you wote were probably very helpful for the people in your class. Also, You could have made the youtube links hyperlinks. However, your explanations fo what you did in class made me feel as if I had been there! Good job!

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  3. Hi Emma!
    Your blog was really great! Despite the fact that I didn't learn astronomy, I was still able to understand what you are writing about. You also did a good job writing your blog nice and neat. However, next time you might want to write a bit less or create space between the lines so it would be easier to read. Overall, you did a very nice job.

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  4. Hi Emma your blog was well thought through and written well. The information you gave was educational and could help your fellow classmates. I think you could improve on making the point a little more general and make your font a little bigger. Overall great blogging!

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  5. Great Job Emma. I liked it how you included specifically what we went through and what had been discussed during Science class that day as it would have been of great help if I were absent. The pictures you chose were quite insightful giving me a small visual of both Comets and the Planet Mars.The colors used were also bright and clear to read. Moreover, the organization of your scribe post made it easy to take note on and understand. I do,however, recommened that you use a larger font size ,as at times,words became harder to read. All in all, awesome job!

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  6. Emma - nice job on your fourth quarter post. Your spelling and grammar look good, but in some places the vocabulary you have chosen is a bit awkward and confusing. Nice basic coverage of Mars and Comets. Although I think you could have included a bit more information about both based on what we talked about after Abigail and Cornelia were finished. I love the links, especially the ones about Comets - what an excellent way to travel through the solar system. If they could have been hyperlinked, it would have made viewing them easier. You were clear with important dates and assignments. Nice work :) Ms. D.

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