Victor's Science Blog

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Scientist Wanted Poster Summary Born on September 29, 1901 from an intelligent teacher, Enrico Fermi had great interest in physics as young kid. At the age of 33, he discovered nuclear transformation, which led to discovery of slowing down neutrons and nuclear fission. In America, he discovered that if uranium neutrons were emitted into fissioning uranium, it would have a chain reaction. He had other experiments which led to the creation of the world’s first nuclear reactor in Chicago. SP8 - Communicating Information This week, I communicated information when I created a scientist wanted poster about Enrico Fermi. I spent days doing research on a scientist I chose, and I chose Enrico Fermi. Using what I learned about him, I made a scientist wanted poster. After creating the poster, I shared what I learned to the class using Flipgrid. I basically summarized what I learned. After that, I made a reply video to one of the classmates about what I learn...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary Do you ever wonder what’s in space? In space, we have the solar system which contains 8 common planets and thousands of other minor and dwarf planets. We also have galaxies which are held in by the universal force called gravity, and it holds billions of stars. There are 3 types of galaxies: spiral, elliptical, and irregular. The spiral galaxy has a distinct winding shape. The elliptical galaxy has a spherical shape. The irregular galaxy is different and has unique shapes which make it irregular. Elliptical galaxies contain mostly older stars. Black holes come from the collapse in the core of a supernova. During a nuclear fusion, 4 hydrogen atoms are fused together to make one helium atom. This is why hydrogen is the most common chemical element in most stars. An astronomer would the measure of distance between stars is light years because you are dealing with things outside of the solar system. When dealing with things inside...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Summary Stress has a lot of effects on the brain and can be both good and bad for you. Stress can be good for you because it increases your performance level. For example, let’s say you're playing a basketball game and you are the person to hit the last shot to win the game. The stress in your body builds up and when you do play, the adrenaline is let out and you play better. Stress can be bad for you because it can have you think about either small things that don’t matter or big things that you worry about consistently. When this stress is constantly happening for a long period time, it’s called chronic stress. Chronic stress can really affect your emotions and can even make you lonely, overwhelmed, or depressed. High stress can affect the size of your brain, which can change how you remember, learn, and control your stress. Stress can affect your mental health, but you can reduce it. One way is to seek mental clarity, such as going to a professio...

The Pipe-a-Phone Project Blog : Victor N. 8B Summary Frequency is the rate at which waves pass in a given time. Pitch, however, is the highness or lowness of a note. The relationship between the two is that frequency influences pitch. If there is a low frequency, there will be a low pitch. The appearance of the wave changes with a change in the pitch because of the higher the pitch the shorter the wavelength. The appearance of the wave changes with a change in the volume because the louder the sound, the larger the amplitude. When you play higher notes, the waves are closer together. Yet, when you play louder, the waves are taller. 'Musical instruments create sounds that can be varied in pitch and volume.' Some instruments give pure tones while some produce a mix of frequencies. Musical sounds are created from vibrations from the device in the instruments. Our task is to use what we know about musical waves and sound and to create an instrument that could play 8 tuned ...

Weekly Blog : Victor N 8B Image Location Summary 'Musical instruments create sounds that can be varied in pitch and volume.' Some instruments give pure tones while some produce a mix of frequencies. Musical sounds are created from vibrations from the device in the instruments. Those devices are wires in string instruments like guitars, drums, and/or reeds in woodwind instruments such as clarinets, oboes, and saxophones. Wires in instruments can affect the tune and frequency of the sounds. They create music when you tap or pluck the string, which vibrates and create compression waves in the air. The sounds of drums are created when striking the head, which vibrates and create sounds. Finally, reeds create sounds when you use your tongue and blow on it, which vibrates and create music. In conclusion, musical instruments create sounds from vibrations and can have different pitches and volume. SP2 - Using Models This week, I used models to demonstrate my understandin...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary Waves carry energy and also carry messages. Signals are created from transmitters which are sent to receivers to receiver and make the message. There are 2 types of signals, digital and analog.  Analog signals record wavelength and the amplitude of the waves. This is to record how much the voice change and to transmit the music. Digital signals are made from analog signals that are continuous and do not terminate. They are also transmitted in digits, 0's and 1's. You can debate on which signal is better than the other. Some can argue that analog signals are better because it records the original information so it must be better. Some can argue that digital signals are better because it's easier to transmit, you can manipulate and edit easier, and there's no undo button for analog signals. In conclusion, there are 2 types of signals, digital and analog. Many argue that digital is better than analog. SP2 - Using...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary Energy is split into waves. There are two types of waves, mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves is light and does not require a medium. When looking at electromagnetic waves, there is a spectrum that it follows: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, invisible light, Ultraviolet (UV), x-rays, and gamma rays. Mechanical waves is sound, and does require a medium. Sound waves are both mechanical waves and longitudinal waves. The medium it requires to travel through are like solids, gases, and liquids. Sound waves travel the fastest in a solid, because the molecules are packed tightly together. Sound waves travel slower but farther in a liquid, because the molecules are touching each other. Sound can't travel through gaps, which slows the wave down. Sound waves travels the slowest in a gas, because the molecules are far apart.  SP2 - Using Models This week, I used models when I was learning more ab...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary Sound is a vibration of molecules that travels through air. Sound can make you see things differently. For example, one scene can have different background music and sounds, and can change the feeling of the scene.  There are 2 types of sound waves, transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Transverse waves are vibrations that perpendicular to the direction of travel. Examples of transverse waves are water, string, and light waves. Longitudinal waves are vibrations that are parallel to the direction of travel. Examples of longitudinal waves is sound. Waves only transfer energy. To model sound, you can make a sound graph. There are 4 factors in a sound graph: the crest, the trough, amplitude, and wavelength. The crest is highest point of a wave and the trough is the lowest point of a wave. Wavelength, measured in meters, is the full cycle of a wave from 1 point to the next point. Frequency, measured in hertz (Hz) is ...

Roller Coaster Project Blog : Victor N. 8B Summary A roller coaster is a track with an operation, that could be a car or cart. There are different elements into a roller coaster, that includes a hill, turn, and a loop. Roller coaster have certain factors that add thrill to the ride, aka "thrill factors." In this Roller Coaster project, we are to create a roller coaster using tubes, dowels, and tape. The roller coaster can only be inside the 4ftx2ft base, and must have a safe stop. I learned that we need to be precise of where we place the tube. If we don't, the tube might be placed wrong, and that will affect our ride. We learned to fix our mistakes, by modifying and making any changes as needed. The ride ended up working as planned. Backward-Looking:  What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them? We had encountered some problems while working on this project. For example, when creating our hills and turns, we d...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Summary When you look at a roller coaster, what do you notice? There are different elements in a roller coaster, containing at least 1 turn, 1 loop, and 1 hill in every roller coaster. Even though you can't see it, it is there. There is some strategy when building a roller coaster, because you need to know what will make the car move. With strategy, there are some constraints into building a roller coaster. You would need to have the roller coaster on a base, and some support holding the ride. And of course, you cannot have the car stop by falling off the track and landing in a pit hole, you need to have a safe stop, so that your riders are safe. As you can see, the elements of a roller coaster makes it so that there is a "thrill factor" in the ride, and so people will be interested in riding. SP2 - Using Models I used models this week, when we started our new project, The Roller Coaster project. We are to create a roller coaster and...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Check out the Kinetic and Potential Energy Song! Summary "Energy in motion is kinetic, energy that's waiting is potential. But whether it's kinetic or potential, both of them are energy." Did you know that the greek word for "in" means "en," and the word "ergon" means work translates to energy? When you put these two together, you get energon / work in, which means energy.  Energy means the ability to work and is split into 2 forms, kinetic and potential.  When you have mass and speed, you have to the ability to do work.  Work is measured in the unit of joules, using the formula Force x Distance = work.  1 joule equals the force of 1 newton acting through a distance of one meter.  Kinetic energy is a scalar quantity and is the energy an object has due to its motion. Kinetic energy can be measured using the formula: 1/2(mass x speed^2).  Potential energy is the energy stored and ...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary Acceleration is an example of a vector quantity, that measure the magnitude and direction. This is the rate of which an object changes its velocity. You are accelerating when you change your speed or change your direction. You can make a case that slowing down and changing direction is not acceleration, but acceleration is change in velocity. Don't be mistaken that 'speeding down' is deceleration, for deceleration is negative acceleration. To model acceleration in a graph, you can make a velocity-time graph. The rise / the y-axis represents the change in velocity. The run/x-axis represents the time. To measure acceleration, you take the change in velocity and divided by time. In conclusion, acceleration is a vector quantity representing the change in velocity. SP2 - Using Models This week I used to models to demonstrate my learning of acceleration. I used models on Wednesday and Thursday when we did the Accel...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Distance-Time Graph Image Location Summary There are different ways to look at speed, how fast an object is moving. But there is one way to find speed. To find speed, you take the distance and divide the time. This is rise over the run, which forms a triangle. You can model speed using a graph or a table. As seen above, the rise / the y-axis represents the distance from the initial point. The run/x-axis represents the time. The steeper the slope of the graph, the faster the object is moving. When the slope is moving up, or in the positive direction, the object is moving to the final point. When the slope is moving down, or in the negative direction, the object is moving back to the initial point. As you can see, a graph is one to find speed, how fast an object is moving. You can find speed, by dividing distance/time. SP2 - Using Models Distance-Time Graph Activity This week, I worked deeper on how to find speed. I used models when my table ...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image of Distance (Left) and Displacement (Right) Image Location : Distace and Displacement Document  Speed-time graph Image Location Summary Motion is the change in position of an object over time. It can be described in terms of scalar and vectors, distance and displacement, and speed and velocity. A scalar quantity is measuring just the magnitude, which is a number. A vector quantity is measuring both the magnitude and the direction. When you are referring to the distance of an object, you need to identify the reference point to see if it's moving. Distance is an example of a scalar quantity, and measures how much an object has moved during motion. An example of distance is "32 kilometers." Displacement is an example of a vector quantity, and measures the shortest interval connect the initial and final points that are straight line. An example of displacement is "66 kilometers east." Speed is an example of a scalar qu...

Charity Fair Project Blog: Victor N. 8B Above : Our Charity Fair Trifold (Created in Elective) Summary To start off, this is my second and last Charity Fair in the AdVENTURE program. My group, Riccardo, Sohini, and I chose to help World of Children charities, by making fortune cookies. I learned that we should always work as a team, whether we are at school or at home. When we were looking for the charity statistics, we learned that not all charities will post past tax and revenue information. While working on the test product, we learned that we needed to change our unit of measurements, from ounces to tablespoons. Personally, I have learned so much from doing this project, from choosing a charity, finding different costs and statistics, thinking of an item to make, making a test product, presentations, and to putting all the money into a special cause. I learned one big thing, Practice Makes Perfect . Backward-Looking During this project, we have encountered minor problems...

Should We Bring Back Extinct Species? by: Victor N. 8B Heard of de-extinction? De-extinction is the process of resurrecting dead species. Now, why are we even thinking of bringing back extinct species? Isn't it humanity the reason why some species are extinct? Isn't over-population the reason for global warming? So if you bring extinct species back, aren't you populating the Earth even more? We shouldn't bring back extinct species, because the risk of hurting the environment is much higher than improving it. Scientists are working together to bring back extinct species through DNA, cloning, breeding, and genome editing. In the Reawakening Extinct Species article (source 4), scientists used the cloning method to bring create a bucardo kid. They transferred the nucleus of cells into different cells and used electricity to grow embryos. Unfortunately, the bucardo kid died few minutes after its birth. Using this method, the chances of the bucardo kids surviving...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location : Source 2 Summary De-extinction is the process of resurrecting dead species. Scientists are working together to bring back extinct species through DNA, cloning, breeding, and genome editing. They are using lots of money to use de-extinction to bring back dead species, like the woolly mammoth as shown in the picture above. In the Reawakening Extinct Species  article (source 4), scientists used the cloning method to bring create a bucardo kid. Unfortunately, the bucardo kid died few minutes after its birth. They also used the cloning method to bring back frogs, that became extinct because of chytrid fungus. In the We Might Soon Resurrect Extinct Species  article (source 3) Steph Yin said, woolly mammoths can theoretically  “punch down the snow in the winter time allowing cold air to come in and in the summertime, they would knock down trees which are very absorbent and release the grasses.” In conclusion, de-extinction is...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image : Journey of Fortune Cookies Map Summary Air pollution can be caused by many things and can really affect the environment. A common way pollution can be caused is through transportation, like vehicles, trains, boats, and planes. Materials in the products we buy, go through a process and travel through a lot of places. You can find how far your product traveled by checking where it's made. When you have found how many miles the product, you can find the carbon footprint. For each mile the product travel, it emits a number of grams of CO2 per kilogram of raw material. This is the amount of CO2 emitted and released in the air, during the trip of your product. The process of a product, like transporting it, is a common way air pollution is caused. S&EP: Using Models / Mathematics This week, my group and I used models when we create our map for our Journey of Fortune Cookies. We created this map to represent the distance that our mate...

FLUXX Mod Project Blog: Victor N. 8B Our FLUXX cards in play. Summary Through this project, we were to work with a partner to create a Fluxx mod. In the Fluxx mod, there are 16+  Keepers , which helps you accomplish the 24+  Goal  and win. Throughout the game, you have to follow the 1  Basic Rule  and the 16+  New Rules  that player put down. 4+  Creepers prevent you from winning and 16+  Action cards is what you have to do. Me and my partner's Fluxx mod topic is Genetics. We had some common key concepts for our keepers like: DNA, genes, phenotypes, and Punnett Square. We use what we know to create relationships between the keepers, for the go als. Fertilization and Mutation make up Reproduction. Whoever has those 2 cards, wins. Fertilization and Mutation make up Reproduction, because reproduction is creating new organisms called offsprings, from their parents. Fertilization help initiate the development of the offspring, and mutatio...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B GOALS KEEPERS Summary Starting this new project seems interesting. We have to work with a partner to make a deck of Fluxx cards with key concepts of a science topic, due on Thursday 11/16. My partner and I chose Genetics. Our 16+ keepers are the key concepts of the topic. For example, we have DNA, genotypes, Punnett Squares, Protein, etc.. Our 24+ goals relationship between the keepers. In the game of Fluxx, whoever accomplishes the goal, wins. For example, DNA and Genes make up Cell Copy Machine. Whoever gets DNA and Genes in their deck, wins the games. Our 4+ Creepers prevent players to win. For example, if the Creeper card says "Protein," whoever has protein cannot win. Our Action cards basically just tells the players what to do, and the Rules cards are the rules of the game and keep adding on. This project should be fun to play at the end of this week. SP2 - Using models Through this week, I used models when my partner and I...