Is there life in Space?

News | The Solar System and Beyond by JPL - NASA

Have you ever watched sci-fi movies where there are aliens or extraterrestrial life, or maybe you remember watching E.T., Star Wars, Space Jam or Home as a child? But even now, the search for extraterrestrial life goes outside of the movie theater, it is actually happening outside of Earth's atmosphere. Scientists have been searching for planets that could possibly be home to life for years now, and the question there asking is, is there life in space? Is life in space even possible? The answer is yes. Sci-Fi movies are known for their outrageous ideas, but life in space is actually entirely possible, even if we don't find it in the next 20 years. Scientists have discovered thousands of planets and a good handful of them are a possibility for being a home to life.

Since the launch of NASA's Kepler mission, thousands of planets in our universe have been found by using the Doppler and transit techniques. As of mid-January 2016, scientists had discovered over 2,000 planets. While looking through these new planets, scientists are looking for a planet in it's Goldilocks zone, the zone where liquid water can be found on the surface of a planet, is big enough to have gravity, but not too big, a rocky planet, orbiting a sun-like star and one with the right atmosphere. This atmosphere would be close to the atmosphere of Earth. According to scientists and astronauts have predicted that there are 40 billion planets in their Goldilocks zone and 11 billion of them can be orbiting a sun-like stars. Meaning that they are orbiting yellow, white or red stars, otherwise known as an M, K, G or F star. That leaves us with 11 billion planets that can possibly support life.

11 billion is a huge number, there is a very large chance that at least one of these planets has some form of life, even if it is just a type of bacteria. The universe is a very vast place, we are only a speck within it. With our new technology and ability to find more planets as faster, a discovery is on the horizon. They have been finding more and more planets over the years and have been able to make great cutting-edge technology that can better detect planets through the "noise" cause by atmospheres and space. After all of these new discoveries and predictions, we have a lot of potential life carrying planets on our hands. Lets just hope that if we find extra-terrestrial life it won't end in an invasion.

The Vastness of Space | Galaxies, Solar Systems, Stars, and Planets

Universe by Hubble Ultra-Deep Field

Big. Such a small word for such a big meaning. But how big, is BIG? Sometimes the universe is so hard to imagine because of its vast size. The universe is home to millions of galaxies, billions of stars and the very solar system in which we live. It is so big that we don't have an Earth measurement of a size that would fit the distances that we need to measure. Instead, we measure distances with light years. Light years are the amount of distance that light can cover in a year. This is huge seeing as light is so fast. But even that can seem small when compared to the Universe, so why don't we take a look at a slightly smaller place in the universe, galaxies. Galaxies are masses of stars, planets, asteroids, comets, dust, and gas. There are three main types of galaxies, spiral, elliptical and irregular. A spiral galaxy is a galaxy that has a spiral shape, where an elliptical galaxy is more like an oval. Irregular galaxies, like the name suggests, are shaped irregularly. The galaxy that our solar system resides in is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, and we are only a small part of it. The solar system is just a small part of the galaxy that we are in and yet is it still so big. But we don't need quite a big measurement for our solar system. Instead of light years, we downgrade in size to an Astronomical Unit. This is the distance between Earth and the Sun. There are eight planets currently in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. Then there is the Kuiper Belt which is home to dwarf planets like Pluto. There is also an asteroid belt between Earth and Mars. All of this is revolving around the Sun. The Sun is one of the many stars in our Galaxy. This gassy giant ball is where we come from. After the big bang, the only elements in the universe where helium and hydrogen. During the stars nuclear fusion, other elements were created, allowing us to be made. The Sun is Yellow medium star, though there are many different types. The Sun is actually considered a smaller star and is only one of the millions out there.

S&EP
SP2: Using Models

The universe is really big, but so is our solar system. sometimes it is hard to imagine just how big these distances are. So we used our bodies to see the different proportion. We folded and labeled a strip of paper that is as big as we are tall. Then we made the right proportions for the distances between the planets. This showed us how the distances of the planets in our solar system are so far apart and big.

XCC
XCC: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

The universe is so large that we need a whole new scale of measurement. Everything is very far apart and separated. The universe is such a vast place that everything has such a big proportion compared to earth. Everything is huge compared to what we have on Earth. Not only is everything so huge and spread apart, yet there is so much of everything. There are millions of stars, planets and galaxies, a very large quantity. Overall, everything is on a much larger scale and much bigger.

Earth's Orbit | Seasons, Eclipses, and Tides

Happy Spring! The Vernal Equinox by Mary Bates

Every year, we have many different seasons and weather patterns, but they all come back into four main categories, the four seasons. We all know what they are, the colder winter months, the bright springtime, fun filled summers and golden falls. But what causes all of these different times of the year. The answer is simple, Earth's tilt and orbit. Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees and rotates in  a oval orbit around the sun. This causes for different parts of the Earth to face the sun at different times, making the four seasons. These four seasons are then split into 2 different sections, solstices and equinoxes. There are the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes when the sun is directly overhead at the equator. Then there are the Winter and Summer Solstices when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.

These different seasons don't only affect our activities and weather, they also affect our tides. Many people know that the tides are controlled mostly by the gravitational pulls of the moon. This causes for high and low tides, but also spring and neap tides. When the moon and the sun are in perfect alignment, the earth experiences very high tides on the sides of the earth facing the sun and the moon, this is called a spring tide. Then there are neap tides. This is when the sun, moon and Earth form a right angle. This causes lower tides on the sides of the earth with tidal bulges. Tidal bulges are caused by water being pulled towards the moon and the sun, making a longer oval around the Earth.

While we are talking about the moon, we may as well talk about eclipses. There are two main types of eclipses, solar and lunar eclipses. A solar eclipse is when the moon comes in the way of the earth and the sun. This causes the sun's light to be blocked out from Earth for a period of time. There can also be partial or full eclipses depending on where the moon is. There are the Umbra and the Penumbra parts of an eclipse, for a full solar eclipse, the moon is in the Umbra, and for partial eclipses, the moon is usually in the Penumbra. Then there are lunar eclipses, this is when the Earth comes in the way of the sun and the moon, casting the moon into complete darkness,m for the most part. There are partial lunar eclipses in the Penumbra, full lunar eclipses in the Umbra, and then harvest moons which are full lunar eclipses but in exact alignment with the sun and the Earth, making it glow red.

S&EP
SP2: Using Models

Scientists use models everyday to help them better understand science concepts that they are studying or working on. We used models of the earth, its orbit, tidal bulges and more to help us understand how the Earth and it all works. It helps me to visualize what is going on and how everything was moving. These models showed me how the Earth orbited and what that did to affect the seasons, eclipses and tides.

XCC
XCC:Patterns

The seasons are a yearly reminder of all the patterns in our lives. The same four seasons happen every year in the same order at about the same time. They repeat and repeat in our lives. The same this is true for tides, the high an low tides come in a pattern or high, low, high, low... on and on and on. then we have the moon cycle of waxing, full, waning, new.... on and on. These cycles make up our year and some of the things within it, repeating in an everlasting pattern in our universe. This goes to show just how much cycles are patterns that affect us and the world around us, repeating themselves as time goes on.

Dear Producer | Analog Vs. Digital Recording

Dear Producer,

I know that you want me to use analog to produce my song, but this is not in the best interest of my work and success. Music is a big part of people’s lives. Whether it is background music when working or driving, or it is the list of favorite songs that you listen to when you need to escape, or maybe it is your love, what you listen to day in and day out and you know every word to every song your favorite artist made. Many people listen to music through digital format. This is because it is cheaper to get and produce, easier to save and share, and more convenient and easy to access. Digital music is also produced and shared faster and easier, therefore, digital versions of my new album will be better for me overall and better for my mainstream success.

Many people prefer digital music much more than analog. When you listen to music digitally, it is much clearer and disrupted. There is no hissing of a tape or scratching on a cassette player. In the video, Analog or Digital, by MTV (Music Television) they say, “Digital has so many perfect things about it, it immediately solved all the problems of analog, all the background noise, hiss, wear, pitch control, all those things.” Also, in the video, Analog vs Digital, by Mr. Audio, he states, “When the digital signals are reproduced, any noise by the recording medium is not” This means that more people will want to listen to my new album and it will be free of the annoying background sounds that can cause people to not buy the music because they don’t like it in the analog format.

On that note, many people will choose digital over analog recordings because it doesn’t wear out as much. Digital data can last for a very long time, but analog recordings can fade and wear out. This means that overtime, your record will no longer work. In the article, Analogue Vs Digital: Advantages Vs Disadvantages, the author Charmain 2010 states, “One of the biggest cons with analog is that every time a copy of the audio is made from the original tape, the quality in sound deteriorates a little. This also applies each time the track is played.” In another article, Analog, Digital, what is the difference? by Recording Connection, it states, “And whereas analog technology can wear out or be damaged, digital media can last for an indefinite length of time.” Many more people want to use digital recordings and songs because they are way easier to use and last way longer.

Many people will also choose digital over analog songs because they don’t take up as much space and are easy to transfer. You can take digital songs with you and you can fit 50 songs on a device that can fit in your pocket, rather than having shelves full to records and cassette tapes. n the article, What is Analog Reading?, by Chris Woodford, it states, “Used this way, digital technology has many advantages. It's easier to store information in digital form and it generally takes up less room. You'll need several shelves to store 400 vinyl, analog LP records, but with an MP3 player you can put the same amount of music in your pocket!” Also, in the article, What is Analog Reading?, by Chris Woodford, it states, “Digital information is generally more secure: cell phone conversations are encrypted before transmission—something easy to do when information is in numeric form to begin with.” This means that mymusic can be easily stored and transferred, so more people will want and like it. It is much easier, and ease is something people really like.

Plus, you’ll like this one, it is much cheaper to produce. Equipment needed to produce analog recordings can be big and bulky and cost a lot of money. Not to mention how time consuming it is to edit and record a song when it is in analog format. It you record the song digitally, it will be much easier to produce and edit, including much cheaper. In the article Analog, Digital, what is the difference?by Recording Connection, it states, “However digital is much cheaper. Recording an album with analog technology can require a whole studio full of equipment, but with digital recording technology, it’s possible to record a whole album in a bedroom on a laptop.” In another article, What is Analog Reading?, by Chris Woodford, it states, “You can also edit and play about with digital information very easily” Plus, in another article, Analogue Vs Digital: Advantages Vs Disadvantages, the author Charmain 2010 states, “Analog recordings are much harder and more time consuming to edit. You can’t chop up and edit pieces of audio within minutes… Unwanted noise like tape hisser equipment noise is hard to get rid of. There is also no undo button so if something is accidentally deleted or wrongly edited then it’s gone for good… Analog equipment can be large, bulky and require lots of space to store it. it can also be extremely expensive to repair if it breaks down.” Recording and editing my music in analog format, or any music for that matter, is much more time and money, consuming. You would be way better off if you went digital.

But I do get your main point. When digital songs are recorded, you do lose part of the music and the realistic part of it. Since sampling has to take place for the music to be recorded digitally, the sound can be lost because there is not sampling rate high enough to get every bit of the song like the analog recording does. In the article Analog, Digital, what is the difference?by Recording Connection, it states, “However, to many people, analog sound tends to be warmer, has more texture and is thought to capture a truer representation of the actual sound. Digital is felt to be somewhat cold, technical and perhaps lacking in analog’s nuance.” But that is not all too bad. The digital era of music has adapted and many people don’t care that they don’t get the same experience of music as they would with analog, it is actually very hard to tell the difference. Especially if you don’t use auto tune. I  that same article, it goes on to say, “The idea between digital recording is that our ears and brains technically can’t determine the spaces between the digital values, just like our brains interpret film as continuous motion.” Meaning, we don’t really notice a difference unless we really pay attention and look for it. If we don’t use digital tools to change my voice, I doubt people will really notice a difference in my music.

Digital music is a better choice for our career because more people will be willing to buy it and use it. My music will be more popular if we record and produce it digitally than if we did it through analog. Digital music is much easier to access, store, share and produce. Plato once said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” No matter how we listen to music, it will always be a part of our lives, and I want my music to reach as many people as it can. This is why I ask that you let me produce my music digitally.

-Thanks,

Jane 

Analog vs. Digital Recordings | Sampling and more

Difference Between Analog And Digital Signal by Byjus

Have you ever seen a big, black record, or  watched a movie at a drive-in movie theater where they use film rolls or maybe you remember learning how to read analog clocks? These are all examples of analog technologies. Analog technologies and recordings are when a device uses dials, arms or other measurements to create an analogy of the actual thing. If you measure a paperclip, the part of the ruler that is the same size as the paperclip of an analogy of the paperclip itself. On a clock with hands, the hands of the clock is an analogy of time passing. Then there is digital technologies. These are things like computers and cell phones. Instead of taking things and making analogies of them, digital technologies take the data and convert it into numbers that can be saved in the cloud. This is called sampling. Sampling is when you convert analog data into digital data and the other way around. Many people prefer digital recordings because they are easier and faster to use. They also take up less space. But their are some downsides. No matter how frequent sampling is, you will never get the whole story. This means that you will always be missing part of the picture. But this is something that many people sacrifice in order to continue to use digital technologies.

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SP3: Conducting Investigations

We looked at the differences between analog and digital recordings and found the pros and cons of each. We converted graphs using sampling and looked at different stories at different levels of sampling and through that found which technology we liked better. I personally still like digital data better than analog because though it leaves out part of the picture, you still have much easier access to it. No matter what level of sampling you use, you will still be missing pieces of information but I am willing to give this up for an easier and faster way to find things out.

XCC
XCC: Scale Proportion and quantity

Scale, proportion and quantity are very important when using analog and digital recordings. In analog technologies and recordings, the scale has to be perfect and the proportion can't be off. If it is, you can mess up the whole of the measurement. Take a watch for example. if you misjudge where the hand is pointing, you can get the time wrong. Quantity is also important when you are looking at sampling. Quantity is part of frequency and the frequency at which sampling is performed is important when trying to get almost an exact copy of the data you are trying to convert.

Thumb Drum | Multi use instrument

Interaction Version

Have you ever tried to make a homemade instrument? If you have, have you tried to play a song on it? I know I have. Our instrument is called the thumb drum. A device where you can pluck bobby pins, tap a beat and shake out a rhythm. This was all part of a sound waves unit. Sound waves act and move differently depending on the type of vibration. This is seen through the thumb drum as the different parts of the device make different noises. Playing many different notes, the Thumb Drum is a great musical instrument that you can make using basic at home materials. This instrument was part of a great project in which you made an instrument, played the different notes and studied the different soundwaves and then played a song on the instrument. We found that the appearance of the wave changes when the pitch changes because the waves become closer together when the pitch is higher and the opposite happens when the pitch is lower, we also found that the relationship between frequency and pitch is that the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch of the note, the lower that the frequency is the lower than the pitch of the note is. Overall, this has taught me yet another way that we use soundwaves in our life.

Backwards-Looking

I knew many things about sound waves before I started this project. I had worked on this unit for a few weeks before we started the project and was able to know how soundwaves worked. I didn't know much about how to make an instrument though. It was hard to build the instrument because I didn't have many musical experiences and didn't quite understand the making of wind instruments. In the end, I was able to figure out how to make wind instruments, how instruments worked and a lot more about soundwaves than I had known coming into the project.

Inwards-Looking

What satisfies me most about this project is that I was able to build a working and good looking instrument. This was very fun to do and I especially enjoyed being able to make up an instrument and what it could do. I also had fun making the name, Thumb Drum, because I was able to be very creative and it was an overall fun thing to do. I also had lots of fun and am overly satisfied with the way it looks. It is a light purple that is sort of Ambre and the writing of the instrument is good. I think something else I enjoyed was being able to experiment with the sounds and songs as we learned how to play them on our instrument. This was an amazing experience and I loved having the satisfaction of making my very own inventive instrument.

Outwards-Looking

In this project, my group had the same criteria and constraints as everyone else, but we made the project our own. We experimented with making many different instruments instead of just going with one original design. We also made our instrument a few different types of things that are all related to percussion instead of doing a guitar or wind instrument which is what lots of groups ended up doing. I think that we did our instrument different than others, but when it came to doing the sound waves, our results were quite similar, to those of other groups.

Forwards-Looking

One thing I would like to improve upon is time management and not trying to do too much. In our original brainstorm, we had very ambitious designs. We wanted to do a complicated wind instrument and make it look like different animals and play all sorts of different songs. This backfired on us and we spent a whole week of the project trying to get the wind instrument to work. We learned a lot but ended up wasting a lot of clay and time. If I had the chance to try this over again, I would want to save more time and make something that is not too ambitious for what we had to work with.

Echos, Amplitude and the Speed of Sound

Have you ever gone in a tunnel, spoken and then heard your voice echo? Have you ever wondered why this happens? Echos happen when sound hits a solid barrier that doesn't allow sound to go through it. This means that the sound has nowhere to go but back. This causes the sound to bounce around and causes an echo. But this all depends on how sound moves. Sound moves from molecule to molecule, it means that it vibrates the molecule, which passes the vibration on to the next molecule passing on sound. But what makes sound super loud. If an object or sound moves really, really fast, the object can break a sound barrier, this is a very loud noise that you can hear when you go to air shows and the jets fly overhead at very high speeds. The loudness of a sound is called amplitude, a louder sound has a higher amplitude. Sound is manipulated in many different ways and is very interesting the deeper that you dig into it.

S&EP

SP2:Using Models

We modeled how sound works when we made our own instruments. These instruments have to be able to play a scale of eight notes and demonstrate how sound works. One of these demonstrations that we saw when making our instruments is the air hole in the bottom of most wind instruments. This has 3 sides that are at a 90 degree angle, and one that is at a 45 degree angle. This splits the sound to keep half in and half out. This allows the sound to whistle through the other holes.

XCC

XCC: Scale, proportions and quantity

Instruments rely a lot on the scale and proportions of the instruments. This is important because if an instrument was not proportional or to scale, it could make an unexpected sound or not play a sound at all. In a wind instrument, the air holes have to be the right size or too little, or too much air will escape.

Sound Vs. Light | Mechanical and Electromagnetic Waves and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

16x24 Poster; Electromagnetic Spectrum by Welsh Printing

Have you ever heard the saying, "faster than the speed of light"? Have you ever wondered why sound can travel so fast? Faster than sound? This is because light is an electromagnetic wave. This means that it can travel through a vacuum, or empty space. This means that it does not have to wait for a molecule to be able to move. But why can't sound move that fast? This is because sound is a Mechanical wave, Longitudinal to be exact. Sound waves, being mechanical waves, have to travel through a medium, or matter. This means that vibrations have to be sent from particle to particle, costing time. Thus why it can move faster through solids than liquids and gasses. This is because in a solid, the molecules are very close together, this means that sound waves don't have to wait a very long time to move from molecule to molecule, but in air, sometimes it can take a while to find another molecule to move onto and travel through, ergo, sound travels fastest through solids and denser mediums. But what does this have to do with other types of waves. There are two main families of waves, electromagnetic waves and mechanical waves. Mechanical waves are waves that need a medium to travel through. There are many different types of mechanical waves that include transverse waves, longitudinal waves and even oceanic wave. They also include seismic waves or earthquakes. Then there are Electromagnetic waves. These waves are like light rays and don't need to travel through a medium, meaning that they can travel through a vacuum or space.  In the electromagnetic waves, there is the electromagnetic spectrum, this is the spectrum of waves of the order of radiation The order is, radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-ray, and then gamma rays.

S&EP
SP2: Using models

We used models to see just how sound travels differently in different objects. We also used models to show the different types of waves and how they are different and can be manipulated. This helped because it showed the way that different waves acted and how that changed the outcome of the wave such as the amplitude, wavelength and wave power. It also helped to model what sound travels fastest through because that gave us a better understanding of why sound travels fastest through what it travels fastest through. This is just another example of how models can help scientist to better understand what they are doing and why and how it works.

XCC
XCC: Energy and Matter

Energy and matter are a very important part of telling different waves from each other. Matter can help to separate the two main types of waves, electromagnetic and mechanical. This can help us to differentiate the two waves because mechanical waves need a medium or matter to be able to travel, whereas electromagnetic doesn't. Energy comes into play because waves have different ways to passing on energy. Some waves, like transversal waves, travel perpendicular to energy, where others, such as longitudinal waves, travel parallel to energy. Each wave also carries different amounts of energy. High frequency waves carry more energy than lower frequency waves. These can help us to separate different types of waves from one another and calculate how to find their wave speed and wave power.

Hearing Loss | How loud music affects your ears

The Anatomy of the Ear by Bruce Blaus

Many people listen to music daily, maybe it is country, rock or pop. But did you know, that having your music on very loud settings might be fun, but can ruin your ability to listen to music for the rest of your life. Before we dive into understanding hearing loss, lets understand how you can hear. Sound travels in waves, but to hear them, you have to transfer them into vibrations. First the sound waves travel down the ear canal and reach the eardrum. The eardrum then turns the sound waves into vibrations that travel down the Hammer, to the Anvil and then to the Stirrup. Fun fact, the stirrup is the smallest bone in your body. Then the stirrup sends the vibrations into the Cochlea which is full of liquid. This liquid is sent into movement in waves. This then reaches the hair cells. The hair cells are tiny cells that look like hair, thus, the name hair cells. Each type of hair cell has a different purpose. They each can recognize a different frequency of sound. The small and thick hairs recognize the higher frequency sounds and the thinner and more flexible hairs can recognize the lower frequency. When a sound reaches them they start to move. If the sound is quieter then they move less and if the sound is louder they shake around and move crazily. But if a sound is too loud, they can cause the hair cells to lose the tip of the cell. This causes ringing in the ear. This is because the hair cells leak electric impulses. This is a problem because the electric impulses are sent by the hair cells to the brain to tell it when it is hearing noise and of what frequency, but if it leaks the electric impulses, then the brain gets confused as to what is noise and what is not. Therefore, you can hear a ringing in the ear. This is where hearing loss comes into play. Whereas most of the time, the tips of the hair cells will grow back in a day or two, if you listen to loud noises to often, they won't grow back. Making it harder and harder to hear.

Listening to loud music can add to the growth and beginning of hearing loss because of the damage it causes to the hair cells. These hair cells eventually get so damaged that they don't work as well as they used to. This causes noises to become more muffled. This is because the loud music makes the hair cells lose their tips, then when you come back and listen to it the next day, it damages it more, and more and more until the hair cells can't recover anymore and become useless, this means they can no longer send messages to your brain. So you don't hear parts of the word and noises because quieter because your brain isn't hearing as much, because there are not as many hair cells sending the message. It gets quieter and quieter until you can't hear. So next time you plug in your beats or put on your airpods, take a moment to look at the volume, it may save you some hearing when you are older.

Clown Town, The Clown Coaster | A Thrilling Carnival Roller Coaster Ride

Have you ever been to Disneyland, Disney World, Great America, Six Flags, Universal Studios or any amusement park? Have you ever seen the giant roller coasters that are towering over the people in the park? Have you ever been on them? The fun, thrilling and adventurous rides are made for all different types of daring people all over the world. But they take a lot of physics to make. With gravity-defying loops and corkscrews, hanging people and enormous hills and drops, they have people screaming on the top of their lungs, and scientists scratching their heads. One thing's for sure, if Isaac Newton was alive for the first roller coaster, he would have been the first person hired on the team. Newton's first three laws of physics are seen. The first law of an object in motion stays in motion is seen on the ride as the carts rush through until the end when they are acted upon by the friction, gravity and wind resistance. His second law of F=M*A is seen when calculating the force of the cart on the ride. Newton's third law of everything has an equal and opposite reaction is seen when the cart goes through the breathtaking loops as it goes up and down. This makes for an awesome end of the unit project for students studying physics and energy because of the hands-on building experience and real-life problems. Maybe we can do some more roller coaster design...


Backwards-Looking

I knew a lot about physics before I started this project. I had worked on this unit for a long time and knew how to do the calculations that I needed to do. I also knew how all of Newton’s laws of physics worked. This helped me when it was time to do the roller coaster project because I was able to do the calculations quickly and answer the questions easily. This helped me to overall finish the project even though I had no idea how to construct a roller coaster. I also had a lot of fun doing the sketches and the blueprint because that is something that comes easily to me on the whole.

Inwards-Looking

What satisfies me most about this project is that I was able to build a working and good looking roller coaster. This was very fun to do and I had a lot of creativity when coming up with possible themes and designs. I also had lots of fun and am overly satisfied with the way it looks. We sure decorated to heart's content. This was an amazing experience and I loved having the satisfaction of building the ride and decorating it to make it look really nice.

Outwards-Looking

In this project, my group followed the same criteria and constraints list and we did the same project, but we did ours a little bit different than other groups. For instance, our ride spends 95 percent of the time in the air. The whole structure was built with straws and Popsicle sticks, we had no cups in our design, we had no paper tunnels and many different hills. We also built our roller coaster really fast and spent a lot more time decorating then we did building it and trying to get it to work. Our process was similar though, this was because we did the calculations and questions last, sketched first and built second. This seemed to be the general way to do it.

Forwards-Looking

One thing I would like to improve upon is doing the calculations and the harder and more tedious things, before doing the fun parts and building. This is because we could have built the basic working structure, then done the calculations, then made any decorations or changes to the ride and update the calculations. That way we would have a basic outline or format and have it be easier to work with. It also would have helped us to not go so crazy with the theme and decor because that was not the main part of the project.

Energy types and transformations | Fans, lights and electricity

 













Millions of people all over the world turn on lights and fans every day, and in America alone, millions of people plug in their phone per day. Electricity and electrical stuff we now take for granted, but there is a science behind it all. There are six general forms of energy, chemical, mechanical, thermal, light, electrical, and nuclear. Chemical energy is the potential energy stored in chemical substances. Mechanical energy is the type of energy that is acquired or released by moving an object. Thermal energy which is the type of energy made by the motion of molecules, this is seen a lot when heating things up. Light energy is the form of electromagnetic energy. Electrical energy is the type of energy that is a product of the movements of electrons, this is what we use to power fans, blow dryers and more. Finally, nuclear energy is the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom. All of these types of energy can be converted into another. Actually, most things require a lot of energy transformations for them to happen. But with this comes the law of conservation energy. This states that energy can not be created nor destroyed; rather it can only be transformed from one form to another. We use energy transformations every day. From turning on a fan to eating dinner, we are transforming the energy that we will then use and pass on for it to be transformed yet again.

S&EP
SP2: Using Models

Models and simulations help scientists picture and test things on a daily basis. It helps scientists to come up with an explanation and/or a solution to a problem or idea that they had. Models can help scientists to understand energy transformations. By using models and simulations, I was able to identify what type of energy transformation was happening to make some of the things we use every day, be usable. This was a way of me seeing how energy transformations worked and how they affected our daily lives just like the science in our lives shows up daily.

XCC
XCC: Energy and Matter

Matter makes up anything that has a mass, it makes up you and me and the people around us. Energy is the force that allows us to do stuff and for things to happen, like electricity or being able to move. Many parents allow a time for their children to "let their energy out" But how is energy let out of things that aren't living, breathing, objects? Take the cable that your phone was probably plugged into at some point today. How does the chord transfer electricity (a form of energy), out and into your phone/device? The answer is simple, energy transformations. Energy transforms into different types of itself to perform different tasks. For example, you can't use wind energy itself to power your phone, but you can use the output of windmills, electricity. The electricity is just being transformed in the process of wind to your phone so that it can charge it.

Kinetic and Potential energy | The physics behind trampolines

Potential Energy on Shelves Gizmo : Lesson Info : ExploreLearning by Mary Christine

Many people have been on trampolines before. The springy surface throwing you back up and into the sky everytime you come back down. Not only are trampolines a great way to get moving and have fun, but they also show us a ton of physics. Your kinetic and potential energy changing with every jump. But how? Let's freeze time right as your feet hit the trampoline. There are two types of energy happening because of your recent motion. Kinetic and potential energy. Kinetic energy is the energy that an object has when it is in motion. Otherwise known as the energy of motion. Currently, your kinetic energy is at its peak, just before you hit level ground. Potential energy is an object's stored up energy, what energy the object can use when moving. Your peak of potential energy is the same number as the peak of your kinetic energy, they just happen at two different points. Right now, with your feet at level ground, your potential energy is at 0, a complete opposite of your kinetic energy which has recently reached its max. We start time again and stop it just in time for your feet to be at their lowest point. The trampoline has bent downwards and is just about to spring you back up and into the air. An example of Newton's third law of physics. At this point, your kinetic energy is at 0 and your potential energy is climbing to its max. We let time go again just to freeze it while you are at the peak of your jump. Your potential energy is now the same as your kinetic energy was when your feet were at level ground, maxed out. Plus, your kinetic energy is at the same as your potential energy was when you were at level ground, 0. Meaning that you energy when jumping on the trampoline were opposites of each other at certain points. If that part seemed weird, you might want to stop jumping on the trampoline because these are the formulas for you to use when wanting to figure out potential and kinetic energy of objects. First off, potential, the formula for potential energy is U=mgh, where u is potential energy, m is mass, g is gravitational acceleration and h is height. Now kinetic, the formula for kinetic energy is K=1/2 m(v squared) when K is kinetic, m is mass and v is speed. Using all of this you can jump into physics with a basic knowledge of potential and kinetic energy.

S&EP
SP2: Using models

Models help scientists understand a lot of things, it can also help scientists to see how things work and why they work. But models and simulations help scientists when testing things an doing experiments. One of the ways that you can represent kinetic and potential energy is through a simulation type model. Like items on a shelf. When the said items are on the shelf, they have no kinetic energy and the max potential energy, if you knock the item off of the shelf, the potential energy decreases as it falls and the kinetic energy increases as it is falling down until it reaches its max. This shows the pattern of potential and kinetic energy in a visual and interactive model.

XCC
XCC: Patterns

Patterns are all around us. You find them in nature, schedules, and science. One representation of patterns seen in science is kinetic and potential energy. This is a pattern because of the way the values of potential and kinetic energy work. When the potential energy of an object is at 0, the kinetic energy value is at its max. Then when you get to a point where the value of kinetic energy is at zero, the potential energy is the same max value that the kinetic energy value was when the potential energy value was at zero. This can be seen on hills. At the top of the hill, the potential energy is at say, 250 joules, the kinetic energy is at 0 joules. Then at the bottom of the hill, the potential energy is at 0 joules and the kinetic energy is at 250 joules. Then you go up a smaller hill and the potential energy is at 100 joules and the kinetic energy is at 0 joules. Once you reach the bottom of that hill, the potential energy is at 0 joules and the kinetic energy is at 100 joules. This repeats over and over as a pattern.

Force | Pushes and Pulls

Forces and Motion: Basics by Phet

Have you ever seen a Star Wars movie or heard people saying “they have the force”? The Star Wars franchise is famous for its use of the “force”, otherwise known as Jedi’s power to move things without touching them. But out of Star Wars, what is a force? It’s pretty simple, a force is a push or a pull. Really? That’s it? Well yes, and no. Forces may be as simple as a push and a pull, but Isaac Newton describes them as more. Newton has three famous laws that are used to determine forces. Number one, an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. But what does this look like. Take your pencil. Say you dropped your pencil off of the table. Your pencil stays in motion until it hits the floor and stops. You could argue that the floor is not a force, but is it? Right now, as you are standing, their are at least two forces acting upon you. Force number one, gravity. Gravity is currently pulling you down towards the earth’s center. This is what keeps you from floating around. Number two, the push of the floor. The floor is actually pushing you upwards. If it wasn’t, you would currently be sinking down into Earth’s core. This brings us back to your pencil, and Newton’s second law. This law states that F=MxA. Or Force equals Mass times Acceleration. Say that you pencil was the size of the desk you are dropping it off of. This would take a lot more push from the ground, or force, to keep this giant pencil from sinking into Earth’s surface. Which brings us to Newton’s third law. For every action, their is an equal and opposite reaction. Back to your pencil, when you drop your pencil it bounces back up a little bit. This is because of Newton’s third law. The action is your pencil dropping, the reaction is it coming back up and off of the ground in the opposite direction that you dropped it. There’s more to forces than Newton’s three laws.

Their is also a such thing as net forces. Net forces are the sum of all forces acting upon each axis. Things brings us back to you and the battle between the ground and gravity. The fact that you are not sinking into the ground, but not floating off to space is because the force of gravity and the force of the ground have a net force of 0. This is because each force is acting upon you with the same strength. The strength of a force is measured in Newtons or N. Back to your pencil, this time, your are sliding your pencil across the table to your friends. If you picture your pencil on a coordinate grid, it might help you. There are about 4 forces acting upon your pencil. Force one, gravity. For this problem, we will say that gravity has a strength of 150 N. Force two, the push of the table. We will say that it also has a strength of 150 N. Since these two forces are equal in strength and going in the opposite direction, they cancel each other out. This means that your pencil is neither moving up nor down. Force three, friction. The friction of the table is pulling your pencil back towards you, or in the opposite direction that the pencil is moving. We will say that it has a magnitude of 10 N left. Magnitude is the strength of the force as well as the direction. Force four, your push. Your push has a magnitude of 50 N right. Now to calculate the net force. The net force of the y-axis (as we figured out earlier) is 0. Now the net force on the x-axis. Since the two forces on the x-axis are going in opposite directions, we can assign the one going left the negative number. This would make the equation 50 N - 10 N. Then just subtract. The answer would be 40 N right, because that is the way that the pencil is moving. There is a lot to forces, but once you get the hang of it, it is pretty simple. A force is a push or a pull.

S&EP
SP8: Arguing from Evidence

Imagine this, hulk and the avengers are having a tug-o-war. Who do you think would win? I don’t have to imagine this. I argue from evidence when I said that the avengers would win because they are actually applying force, and a lot of it. Whereas, the Hulk is just standing there reading a book. Therefore, the avengers would win because they are actually trying. But not only do forces backup tug-o-wars, they also disprove double-jumping. Double-jumping, as I argued, is not possible. To leave the ground, you need the spring effect of you feet pushing down on the ground and the ground pushing up on you. As you probably know, the air does not push up on you, so for you to jump you would need some kind of solid force underneath you. Therefore, you can’t double-jump.

XCC
XCC: Stability and Change

Forces both stabilize thing and change them. When forces are balanced, they can stabilize things and hold them in place. Just like how the push of the earth and the pull of gravity keep you stable and on Earth’s surface. Or when the push of the table and the pull of gravity kept your pencil still on the table. But forces can also change things. Unbalanced forces cause things to change, especially in position and placing. Unbalanced forces is what causes objects to move and change their position. Like when you are rolling a ball, the ball was unmoving, balanced and stable, but your pushing was an unbalanced force that caused the ball to move, changing it’s position to another place. Forces are part of nature and are everywhere, you don’t have to look for when you want to see it.

Driverless Cars | Are They Worth The Risk?

jpartsch0506
Mrs. Garcia
Science 8
Jan 8, 2019

      Technology is everywhere. We see it in our daily lives as we stare at our phone screens, work on our computers and we will even start to see it whenever we get on the highway. Driverless cars, driverless cars are about to become the next big thing in technology. These autonomous vehicles are a topic of debate amongst scientists, some say that it can help to reduce traffic and accidents, but others disagree, arguing that the technology just can’t do what a human can on the road. Though the thought of not having to be behind the wheel is tempting, the risks outweigh the good, and scientists aren’t even at the point where they can guarantee that there will be less accidents and traffic. Not even counting that the vehicles can’t function properly in situations like heavy rain, snow and other bad weather. All of this adds up to the big question; Are they worth the Risk?

      Driverless cars just aren’t worth the risk. Millions of people die each year from car crashes, but scientists can’t even guarantee that these cars will fix that problem. Driverless cars can’t work as well in bad weather and are more prone to hitting pedestrians. In the Tech and Innovation Channel Video, The Pros and Cons of Autonomous Vehicles, their guest, Dr. Billy Abraham, states, “...another concern is that if there are not enough autonomous vehicles on the road we'll have accidents because if you don't have 100% autonomous vehicles it means that you know regular cars will bump into you etc….” If there is not almost 100% of autonomous vehicles on the road, the ‘accident free’ side of the argument doesn’t really work because it needs and all or nothing scenario to fully prove it. Also in the Junior Scholastic article Are Driverless Cars a Good Idea?, Section NO by Jamie Lincoln Kitman, it states, “Although Google’s cars have not yet officially had an accident where they are at fault, critics are still concerned about how computer error may endanger lives on the road, particularly at high speeds…” Also in the NewsHour Extra article Are We Ready for Driverless Cars, by Ibrahim Balkhy, it states, “Take, for example, the idea that self-driving cars will lead to tens of thousands fewer highway deaths each year. The truth is, no one knows for sure how many lives could be saved by driverless cars. That’s because data on the role of human error in crashes relies heavily on self-reporting and is therefore incomplete. If many driverless cars are operating in close proximity at high speed, some accidents are likely to involve more vehicles and be even more deadly than the accidents we know today.” Scientists can’t prove that it will help cause less deadly and just less in general, crashes. There are a lot of things that these cars can do, but the promise of no accidents is just not realistic.

      Furthermore, driverless cars are not very good when working in bad weather or harsh conditions. In areas that get heavy rain, bad storms, and snow, driverless cars aren’t the best options. The weather causes disturbances with the cars sensors, thus making it so that they can’t drive safely. In the NewsHour Extra article Are We Ready for Driverless Cars, by Ibrahim Balkhy, it states, “Opponents also question whether driverless cars will be able to operate in bad weather, since heavy rain or snow could interfere with the vehicles’ sensors.” Furthermore, in the Junior Scholastic article Are Driverless Cars a Good Idea?, Section NO by Jamie Lincoln Kitman, “Currently, the car’s sensors are unable to cope with poor weather conditions like heavy rain and snow-covered streets.” Thus, driverless cars don’t work that well in areas that have bad and/or harsh weather. The cars sensors are messed with and can make for bad driving and more accidents.

      Driverless cars will also put people out of their jobs. Since people will have driverless cars that they can summon, there is no more real need for taxi drivers, truck drivers, Uber drivers and other people who make money off of transportation. All that you'll need to do is go into your app and call a driverless car. Thus, many people who used to be those drivers will now be without that job. In the Tech and Innovation Channel Video, The Pros and Cons of Autonomous Vehicles, their guest, Dr. Billy Abraham, states, “...disadvantages of the autonomous vehicles is the fact that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs according to certain estimates about 4 million people are going to lose their their jobs... 29 states in the United States the most popular or the most common job is a driving job so they're going to lose their job so we're talking about taxi drivers we're talking about pilots ok that means for uber and all those apps lose their job  …” Many people drive and do transportation for a living. Once we make driverless cars a things, they won't really be needed to do that any more.

      Another concern is that they won't actually prevent that much traffic. In fact, scientists have found that it will actually create more traffic. This is because humans have the ability to adapt and be creative. If they are stuck at a light, they might cut through a parking lot. They might take a backroad if the interstate is crowded. Scott Le Vine, Alireza Zolfagharib, and John Polak are researchers from the Department of Geography at SUNY in New Paltz, New York, their work plus other studies disproves the theory that driverless cars will make traffic better. The News Atlas article, The Pros and Cons of a Driverless Future, by Tony Borroz, he states, “In every single test, self-driving cars were calculated to create a comfortable, rail-like ride made congestion worse than it would have been in a baseline scenario with people behind every wheel...Going for high-speed rail style of smoothness, those numbers got even worse: Delays increased from 36 percent to nearly 2,000 percent and intersection capacity fell between 18 percent and 53 percent.” It turns out that driverless cars actually caused more congestion and made it so that their was more traffic on the main roads and highways.

      Their is also a concern when it comes to hacking. Now days, hacking is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. It has been brought up at a political level and is a major problem. Now that our cars will be hooked up to some kind of internet, their is the possibility that they can be hacked, this would then make for a big problem with driverless cars. You wouldn't want someone who has an intention, that is most likely other than your own, having control of the vehicle that you are in. People could use this the wrong way and cause big accidents and issues. In the Tech and Innovation Channel Video, The Pros and Cons of Autonomous Vehicles, their guest, Dr. Billy Abraham, states, "...one of the concerns is that people will be able to hack and even route your  car to a different direction [from] where you want to go..." This means that people could control your car and use it to do stuff for them. This would mean that your life is potentially in their hands. Many people would agree that they wouldn't want someone else controlling where they are going and altering what they were supposed to be doing while in their car. This brings me to legal issues, along with the issue of hacking, another is insurance. If two driverless cars crashed into each other. Who would be responsible? Who's insurance would pay? In the PBS NewsHour's article, Are we ready for Driverless Cars? by Ibrahim Balkhy, he states, "...The question of legal responsibility also remains a sticky issue. If one of these vehicles collides with another, or with a human-driven car, whose insurance pays the claim? If a police officer pulls over a driverless car, who gets the ticket?..." Hacking could also cause accidents, which could make legal issues, this could become a big issue in the future of driverless cars.

      Many people argue that they would rather have driverless cars on the road than 16 year olds and 80 year olds. Many people would agree with this statement. They say that they would feel more safe and comfortable in a driverless car than behind an older person or new driver. They believe that they might reduce the number of accidents because people wouldn’t have older or young drivers on the road that can’t drive that well. In the Wired article, Puny Humans Still See The World Better Than Self-Driving Cars by Aarian Marshall, the author states,‘"You’re probably safer in a self-driving car than with a 16-year-old, or a 90-year-old,...”’ Nonetheless, many people also say that the majority of people would rather have middle aged people on the road that are responsible, rather than driverless cars. They say that middle aged people are more reliable than the driverless car. Plus, middle aged people make up the majority of people whom are driving on the road. In the Wired article, Puny Humans Still See The World Better Than Self-Driving Cars by Aarian Marshall, the author states,  “...says Schoettle. ‘But you’re probably significantly safer with an alert, experienced, middle-aged driver than in a self-driving car.”’ Driverless cars may be a good replacement for people who aren’t as good as driving, but not for those who are.

      Furthermore, driving involves a lot of sensing, hand signals and sight. Drivers can communicate to each other, pedestrians and bikes. There are also pot holes, stop signs, and faded lines that indicate the lane that you are in. Scientists are concerned that the driverless cars won't be able to sense these thing and communicate how drivers would on the road. “Still, many aspects of driving depend on small gestures and signals. Would a driverless car know to stop or slow down for a construction project? Other situations like giving the right of way or waiting one’s turn at a stop sign appear to be issues of judgment that would be hard to perform without a human brain.” states Ibrahim Balkhy in his article Are we ready for Driverless Cars? Additionally, in the article Are Driverless Cars a Good Idea by Junior Scholastic, the author states, “Then there’s infrastructure to consider. Many driverless cars require smooth roads, with clearly painted lines, to safely position themselves. Potholes and other irregularities could become even greater hazards. Our infrastructure is already underfunded. Where will the resources come from to maintain and repair roads and bridges to this new, higher standard?” It is hard for these driverless cars to sense all of this stuff. It would be unreasonable to keep all of the roads neat and cared for, it would also cost a lot of money and time. Thus, driverless cars would not be as good on the road as human drivers.

      Driverless cars do have their upsides, but the downsides are clear. Driverless cars are hackable, puts many people out of their jobs, doesn't really prevent accidents and could cause more fatal ones, causes more traffic and makes for more time on the road, don't work well in harsh or bad weather, can't communicate and be as aware as human drivers, and cause many questions when it comes to legal responsibility. Driverless cars just aren't as good as an alert, middle aged, well taught human adult. Instead of spending so much time on crafting driverless cars, they should spend more time properly teaching people to drive and drive responsibly and safely. The bad parts of driverless cars outweigh the good. So the next time that you pick up your car keys and get behind the wheel, just be glad that the wheel is still there.