Stars, Galaxies, Solar System - Astronomy I - 5/20/18

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 the solar system, you use the astronomical unit. Speaking of the solar system, it contains 8 planets. 4 of the 8 planets are rocky and do not have rings, while the rest are gas giants and have rings.

SP2: Using Models

This week, I used models to demonstrate my understanding of the solar system. We made a pocket solar system using a long strip of paper. One end of the strip was the Sun and the other end represented the end of the solar system, the Kuiper Belt. We folded the paper in half and marked that Uranus. In between Kuiper Belt and Uranus, we marked it as Neptune. In between Uranus and the Sun, we marked it as Saturn. From here the distances decrease. Jupiter was in between the Sun and Saturn. Then, Mars was in between the Sun and Jupiter. In between the Sun and Jupiter, we had Mercury, Venus, and Earth. All of this is why some planets have shorter days and years than other planets. Giant planets are much farther away from the sun which takes longer to make a complete revolution. This is why they have longer days. Other the hand, the rocky planets are much closer to Earth making them have shorter days and years. 

XCC - Patterns

This week, when learning about stars, galaxies, and solar systems I noticed some patterns. For example, I observed that the 4 planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are all rocky planets and smaller planets. Since they are closer to the Sun, they are warmer. They have longer days and shorter years since it takes less time to do a complete revolution. On the other hand, I noticed that the other half of the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are all gas giants. They all have rings while the other 4 planets don't. These four planets also have moons. Since they are further away from the Sun, it takes longer to complete a revolution. I also noticed that the distance between the inner planets is much closer than the giant planets which have larger distances in between. As you can see, these are the patterns that I noticed.

Popular posts from this blog

Should We Bring Back Extinct Species? - 12/14/17

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...
Read more

The Pipe-a-Phone Project Blog - Sound V - 4/22/18

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 ...
Read more

WAC #1: Is it More Important to Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle - 9/22/17

WAC #1 - Is It More Important to Reduce, Reuse or Recycle: Victor N. 8B Now, is it really important to reduce? Reuse? or Recycle? But, which one is more important. For the short answer, it's important to do all of them. However, there is always one that shines out and is the most important of all, and that is reduce. To summarize, reducing saves you less work than reusing and recycling. I like to think of that's why they put reducing in front of the three R's. Reducing is the best thing to do, you don't even have to anything [to hurt the environment]. For every time you go to the store or restaurants, you come back with packaging materials such as plastic bags and containers. That right there ends up in landfills. According to Bethany Wieman of SFGate in her article of What is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle? Today each person creates 4.3 pounds of trash, a day. By reducing, you are cutting back on anything, like getting containers, saving water and energy, etc... Again...
Read more

EOY Project Blog - 5/21/17

Image
End of Year Project Blog: Victor N. 7A this is our project build/prototype.  Summary This project was quite interesting. Instead of writing about the whole project, I will be focusing on the science portion of this project. In this project, we are to look a different environmental accords, chose one and research different clean cities to look for that accord. We chose the accord, transportation and the city, San Francisco. We learned that San Francisco wasn't always a clean city, because from the all the vehicles driving around which causes pollution to the earth. But then they decided to resolve that. They did by having people drive more eco-friendly vehicles, like electric vehicles. They also suggest people to ride their bikes more. As you can see, San Francisco wasn't always clean city, but they decided to resolve that problem. Backward Looking I didn't really know much about this project, before we started. But I did know that urban village needed somethin...
Read more

Musical Instruments - Sound V - 4/15/18

Image
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...
Read more