Space Current Event

Name of article: Martian microbes, maybe
Author: Stephen Ornes
Date: March 21, 2013
Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2013/03/billions-of-years-ago-mars-could-have-been-teeming-with-very-small-martians/

During February 2013 the NASA Curiosity rover found a powdery rock sample which have shown that Mars might have been able to support life billions of years ago. Since scientists already know that Mars had freshwater, but now with the collected rock samples they have more evidence that Mars's watery environment could have supported microbes. Last August, the Curiosity Rover landed into the Gale Crater, but soon came to the Yellowknife Bay which looks like a place where a stream could have spilled into a larger body of water. This is where Curiosity took its first sample. The Curiosity Rover also has a drill which allows it to collect rock samples from underneath Mars's surface instead of just taking rocks that have been blown by winds. When Curiosity scooped up a rock, two of it's tools identified it's chemical structure showing that it consisted of 6 different elements which could have supplied energy for the martian microbes and the microbes could feed on them. However, this is only the beginning of Curiosity's exciting adventure on Mars, and scientists need more samples of these elements in rocks on Mars to understand what it was like on the red planet in the distant past.

I think that this is a big success to scientists because they found another clue to life on Mars. I found this article interesting because I didn't know how scientists could find out if there was life on a planet. Also, before reading this article I didn't know that scientists knew for sure that there was water on Mars. In conclusion, I think that this was a very important discovery for scientists but they will need more evidence to get an idea what was happening on Mars billions of years ago.

Current Event

Title: The Buzz on Bees

By: Alexandra Stifferlin

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/buzz-bees/83886 

A new study has showed that caffeine improves honeybees' memories, which makes the pollinate better. This study was conducted by the "Newcastle University" in the United Kingdom. The team decided to teach one group of bees to learn to associate the smell of flowers, with the smell of certain fruits, which contain some amount of caffeine and another group of bees to only go to flowers with sugar, but not caffeine. In result, after 24 hours, the bees that were caffeinated returned to plants 3 times as much as the other bees did. This shows that the bees who went to the caffeinated plants improved their ability to search for food and made them continue to look at return for these types of plants. Scientists have also found out that caffeine has a similar effect on the brains of mammals which  means that they get a better memory. 

This article talks about a study that has been conducted because of the problem of bee population drop. This study gave a good result which might help us in the future if the bee population continues to drop, and we train bees to pollinate better and faster, agriculture will continue to work properly. Also, as stated in the article  this study can be used on other animals, which can help humans and animals in many ways. In conclusion, I think that this was a very useful study and can greatly help us!

Tsunami Report

Nadia 

Science 7B

Mrs. Medenica

Tsunami Report

Tsunamis are a series of giant waves that are caused by underwater disturbances such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides or meteorites. The word “Tsunami” comes from Japanese “tsu” meaning harbor and “nami” meaning wave.  In the open ocean a tsunami can travel almost 1000 kilometers per hour which means that it can cross the whole ocean in just a few hours! As a tsunami approaches a coast it hits the beach floor which causes it to increase in amplitude but decrease in wavelength. Also, tsunamis usually become visible only as they approach the coast and can be only 1 meter tall in the deep sea making them hard to detect. Underwater earthquakes cause about 85% of all tsunamis. In order for an underwater earthquake to create a tsunami it has to have a magnitude of minimum 6.5. The strongest tsunamis occur in zones of subduction which are places where the oceanic crust sinks into the mantle.  About 7% of tsunamis are caused by landslides. Landslides can cause local waves but can hardly create big waves that travel through entire oceans. Volcanic eruptions cause only about 5% of all tsunamis and don’t usually create powerful tsunamis. Almost 80% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, mostly occurring in countries that border “The Ring of Fire”. This is because “The Ring of Fire” is a region of high seismic and volcanic activity and includes several subduction zones.

The results of a tsunami are usually devastating. When tsunamis hit a coast they can cause a lot of damage such as: destroying and washing away buildings, killing or seriously injuring people, washing away resources, trees and vegetation. Hundreds or even thousands of people die because they had very little time to evacuate. Also, deathly diseases can be spread by tsunamis if corpses of animals and people start to rot they will attract insects that will spread sicknesses to the population.

One type of warnings you might get, if you live near a coast, before a tsunami occurs is a strong earthquake. Since the epicenter of an earthquake is usually in the ocean the earthquake on land is much weaker, so if an earthquake starts in a tsunami danger region it is better to get as far away from the coast as possible in order to be safe. A tsunami starts its way to the coast straight away after the earthquake happens, and it will reach the coast in few hours. Another warning is a warning system which consists of a network of sensors that detect incoming tsunamis and a structure that issues alarms when a tsunami is detected. But, this warning system is not always efficient because the time before the tsunami strikes is too short for people to evacuate or move far inland. This is why some scientists say that it is far better for people to start evacuating as soon as they feel a shaking that lasts more than 30 seconds.

If you get a warning before a tsunami and you live near a coast, you should make an emergency kit and evacuate inland or to the highest point possible. Before a tsunami strikes the water usually recedes far away from the coast, baring the seabed for hundreds meters of even kilometers. The most important thing when this happens is not to stay at the beach to collect the shells or fish because the tsunami will occur in several minutes to half an hour. Another way to find out if a tsunami will occur soon is to watch your pets/animals behavior because animals can often feel disasters in advance. During the tsunami go not get close to the beach because you might get covered by the wave and remember to put living beings before you possessions. Do not return to your home before the local officials tell you it is safe and that the danger of an incoming wave is over. Also, you should stay away from buildings in disaster areas that the tsunami has hit because they might collapse.

Scientists around the world are trying to create a more effective way to warn people about incoming tsunamis. The International System of Tsunami Alerts in the Pacific Ocean was created by governments of tsunami dangered countries and scientists. 4 tsunami stations were put to work at the north part of the Pacific Ocean and 3 more stations around the state of Oregon. Each of these stations is supplied with a registrator of pressure which is an appropriate change, since there is a big change in pressure when the giant waves form. After the registrator of pressure records the movement of waves the station gives a signal to a buoy that it on the surface of the sea.  Then, the bouy sends a signal to a satellite which transfers the signal to the Earth’s stations located on land which send a warning if there is a chance of a tsunami.

In conclusion, tsunamis are one of the most dangerous natural disasters and have many disastrous consequences. The main reason for the emergence of these waves are underwater earthquakes. But, the destructiveness of these waves relies on many factors which is why thankfully, tsunamis don’t happen very often.

Sources:

"Tsunamis." Home. FEMA, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.

"Tsunami- EnchantedLearning.com." Tsunami- EnchantedLearning.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
"Effects of Tsunamis." Universe Today RSS. The Universe Today Team, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
"Tsunami Facts and Information." Bureau of Meterology. Australian Government, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. 

Current Event

Name: Nadia

Date: 21 February

Teacher: Mrs. Medenica

Class: Science 7B

Article Title: Space Storm

Date of Article: Kelli Plasket 

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/space-storm/80006 

On February 15th, on a clear day, in the town of Chelyabinsk in Russia, an explosion was heard and a big streak of light burst across the sky. A meteor weighing 10-tons has exploded about 24 miles away from the Earth's surface. It was approaching the Earth at 33,000 miles per hour and its explosion was very powerful and was the largest space rock recorded to hit the Earth in more than 100 years. This explosion injured almost 1500 people the repair of the damage is estimated to cost about 33 million dollars! Meteors are smaller pieces of rocks that break of comets or asteroids. Scientists have found more than 50 fragments of the meteor in a lake located in the Ural Mountains.

In my opinion, this is a very sad event because of the injuries, damage and destruction, however, it is a very good opportunity for scientists to observe fragments of the meteor and find out information. I found this article very interesting because it explained how this event happened and what it cause and explained information about meteors that I didn't know before. 

Current Event

Name: Nadia

Subject: Science 7B

Teacher: Mrs. Medenica

Date: 30 January 2013

 

Current Event

Link to article: http://lightandcolorinnature.org/2011/10/continuing-press-for-triple-and-quadruple-rainbows/

Title of article: Continuing press for triple and quadruple rainbows

Both a rainbow and a double rainbow are beautiful sights, but a German photographer has captured both triple and quadruple rainbows. Triple and quadruple rainbows are an extremely rare sight, and there has been only 5 reports on triple rainbows over 250 years and none on quadruple rainbows! In fact, some scientists even think that these rainbows are just a myth. This is because the first and second rainbows are easy to see since they are farther away from the sun, while the third and fourth rainbow are located a lot closer to the sun causing them very difficult and even dangerous to see from the sun's glare. They can only become visible against a background which is darkened by thunderclouds or during very heavy rain. Also scientists found out that even though these rainbows are created the same way as normal rainbows are only the triple rainbow has three internal reflections and quadruple rainbows have four internal reflections.

I found this article very interesting because before I read this article I didn't know that double, triple or quadruple rainbows even existed! I also find it very interesting that scientists can find out information about such rare things. This article is connected to the unit we are studying in class now because we are studying "Sound and Light" and rainbows are made using light. 

Making Waves Lab

Making Waves Lab

Guiding Questions:

1. When water is dropped from a pipette into a pan of water, how does the wave behave?

2. What properties does a mechanical wave have?

3. How do waves interact with each other and with solid objects in their paths?

Hypothesis: (question 3)

I think that waves interact with each other by rolling one after another in a cycle. If there is a solid object in a waves path, if the object is big enough it can stop the wave and cause it to bounce back, but if the object is small then the wave will just continue its way over the object. 

When doing this lab we needed to drop water from a pipette into different parts of a container which was filled with water and see how the wave behaves. Also we needed to see how the cork that was in the container would behave when the waves were caused. Then we put different obstacles/objects into the container to see how the waves would react to them. 

Data Analysis:

I noticed that first when we were just dropping drops of water that the waves always began from the point/points where we dropped the water from and came one after another each farther away from the point where the water dropped and wider than the previous wave. When we dropped the water from two different pipettes the waves made by one drop of water reached the waves made by the other drop they crashed into each other but still continued going with less power than they had before. After this we repeated all this but with a cork to see how it would react to the waves. I noticed that the cork mostly followed the direction of the waves but didn't go very far because the waves didn't have enough power. When we used a paper towel as a barrier, the waves didn't stop but continued under the paper towel. Then, we put one stick of clay into two different positions and I saw the the waves didn't continue after the barrier but went through the gaps between the sides of the tray and the stick of clay. After we did this, we put in two and three sticks of clay each into two different positions and the waves stopped only where the barriers were and went through the gaps between them and the sides of the tray. 

Conclusion: 
In conclusion, I learned that waves become wider and less powerful from the point where they start, that two or more waves can interact with each other when they crashed into each other by entering the area of the other wave and that barriers can stop waves if they are big and dense enough but the wave will keep on going through the gaps between the barriers. I think that my hypothesis for question 3 was correct because this experiment proved that what I thought before doing the lab was correct.

Wave Interface Program:
In this program there is a tap and a pool of water where the water from the tap in dropping. The speed and size of the drops from the tap can be increased and decreased. I noticed that when the size of the drop is big than it creates a larger wave because there is more power in it. Also the waves become more frequent if the more drops of water are dropped. If there are two taps then the waves continue rolling in circles the way they would if there was only one tap and they interact by coming onto the area where the other tap's waves are forming. Also, on this program barriers can be formed which stop the waves from continuing so they can only continue going through the gaps between the barriers. 

Current Event 6

Gain For Gorillas 

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/gain-gorillas/59721

November 14 2012

By: Cameron Keady

Summary: Mountain gorillas live in groups of about 30 with their leader. The total population of mountain gorillas is finally starting to rise with the help of humans. In 2000 the population of mountain gorillas was only 320! Their population became so low because of illegal hunting, habitat loss and disease. Since then their population is slowly rising with the help of many organizations.They live in only two countries in Central Africa. In the last two years the population of this specie has risen from 786 to 880.  Nearly half of all of the population of mountain gorillas live in national parks in order to get more protection and care. “Mountain gorillas are the only great ape experiencing a population increase,” said David Greer, WWF’s African Great Ape Program Manager. “This is largely due to intensive conservation efforts and successful community engagement.”

Thoughts: I think that this article talk about an event that is very good to our society because people have started taking action to help the population of mountain gorillas rise. I think that people are starting to understand how important animals really are to our planet, and how important it is to help them survive. From this article I learned facts about mountain gorillas and their life and how people are trying to help their population to rise.