Tuesday, May 8, 2012

"Music can change (the way we see) the world"

eatthis.inmusic.ca

news.yahoo.com
Music always seems to bring comfort especially in dire situations. The author of the article describes when she broke up with her first love. Listening to "November Rain" by Guns 'n' Roses brought what the author said "solace and ...a bit of peace". Music may have the possibility of a person' way of seeing things visually. To test the hypothesis, scientists from the Netherlands last year gathered 43 teenagers. The young adults were told to look at a computer screen, where flashes of smiley faces and frowning faces appeared. The teenagers were told to respond To the flashing pictures whether if it was smiling or frowning, and was also told not to respond if the teenager couldn't make of the image. Each subject brought his or her own music, 15 minutes of sad music and 15 minutes of joyful music. The conclusion was that the subjects were more precise in recognizing smiley faces when listening to happy music and more accurate noticing frowning faces listening to sad music.

This can relate to our classroom setting because the researchers developed a hypothesis and then tested it to discover the conclusion. Similar to some of our labs, we find a hypothesis, predicting what would happen. Then, we test it, to see if the prediction is true. Sometimes the hypothesis is right, in some cases it is wrong. The outcome, or the conclusion determines whether the hypothesis is right. The researchers in the Netherlands tested their subjects accurately so the results were precise. Today, we need researchers to develop explanations for things that we don't know much about. It's the scientists that work hard into developing clarifications that help modernize our understandings of science.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

What Prompted the Ruckus About "Pink Slime"? And Is It Unhealthy?

From http://www.takepart.com/

This article is about the affects of the "pink slime", which was brought to the public's attention by Gerald Zimstein, a former USDA scientist. About 70 percent of ground beef products in the grocery store are contain the pink slime. What exactly is it, though? It's fat and meat from standard meat cuts. Then these scraps are "spun through a centrifuge" to keep the beef bits away from the fat. Next, the liquid-like meat cuts are squeezed through a small tube and then receives a blow of ammonia gas. When the gas comes in contact with water in the meat, it reacts to create an amount of ammonium hydroxide. This reaction lowers the amount of acidity and destroys any bacteria inside the meat. Of course, the less disgusting meat tastes better. However, the ground beef with he slime is much cheaper. Though the ammonia in the beef isn't worrisome, many consumers are in disgust of what is in there food.
In my opinion, the pink slime is shocking and people should look for more healthier, organic options. I believe it is a very disturbing thought, no matter how much scientists reassure us that it isn't harmful. I feel this way because it seems as if all beef products are filled with waste products and trash. Also, though the pink slime isn't harmful, too much will. With all the chemicals and waste parts and the ammonia, it is atrocious. In conclusion, the pink slime reminds me of bubble gum, which has my stomach grow in disgust as I come to realize that it's in my hamburger. With now the pink slime publicized, I hope that beef manufacturers go into action by adding more organic and true ingredients in there meat.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

4 Labs, 1 Blog

onemoregadget.com
dreier.com
With four different labs in one week, we were able to learn how different states of matter affect the object. In the first lab, we observed a birthday candle which helped me to learn how to record physical and the chemical properties of an object. Additionally, I learned about physical and chemical changes of an object as well as melting and combustion. I could use these skills in the future if I needed to record the reaction of an object when burned. The second lab taught me how a candle can burn out when exposed to carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide is exposed to the oxygen which keeps the candle lit, the flame dies down because the carbon dioxide took away the oxygen. The third lab teaches physical and chemical changes of a marshmallow and the different phases of matter it can be in. Finally, the fourth lab taught observing the different changes of matter an object can be in with a sugar cube.
womensadventuremagazin.com
How I can use these techniques in the future is in cooking. Sometimes when you cook you have to notice the different chemical changes in an ingredient. Also, moms with children who are picky eaters need to know the physical properties of some foods to make your dish appealing to kids who don't like eating much.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

How to Seperate a Heterogeneous Mixture

1. Use spoon to scoop out plastic bug. Place plastic bug on plastic tray.
www.visualphotos.com
2. Use fingers to pick up toothpicks. Place toothpicks on plastic tray.
3. Use spoon to pick up beans. Place beans in flask.
4. Line filter paper over funnel. Place funnel into beaker.
5. Pour water mixture into the funnel. Let water filter from sand.
6. Place sand on table. Spread sand carefully over table.
7. Wave magnet over sand to collect iron filings.
8. Place funnel onto heated hot plate. Let water evaporate to expose salt.

www.summertomato.com

Items in Heterogeneous Mixture:
-Plastic bug
-Toothpicks
-Beans
-Water
-Sand
-Iron filings
-Salt


This salad is an example of a heterogeneous mixture

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Frog Blog

Picture from Superiortutoring.net, by Randy Glasbergen

Picture from Neatoshop.com, designed by Matthew Lawson
In class, we dissected a frog that smelled really bad. It has similar organs and a similar digestive system, too, helping the class learn how our digestive system works. The digestive system is the system that turns food molecules into nutrients that our body can use for nutrients. The frog had a lot of *cough* liquid inside and THREE livers! I believe a human has one liver, because THREE is a lot! It also had an esophagus(if you pry the frog's mouth open, you can stick your finger down the esophagus), a gallbladder, heart, stomach, fat bodies, and many more organs that humans have, too. 

The frog my lab group had was a female, which had black eggs inside scattered everywhere that looked like caviar with a female reproductive system. Our frog had a pair of oviducts, which are long tubes that are sometimes mistaken for the small intestine. The oviducts transports the eggs from the ovaries to the cloaca, the opening of the frog. We had to remove the fat bodies and eggs to see each organ clearly. I could tell that the frog was ready for hibernation because it had a lot of fat bodies that looked like spaghetti.

Things I enjoyed about this lab is that we were able to understand a little better about the different organs in our body. We also got to take the frog's eyeball out and watch it bounce. What I didn't like about the lab is that the class room smelled really bad and the frog's "liquids". Overall, this experience would definitely be a highlight for eighth grade.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

When The Stomach Churns Lab: Part 2

Today in class, we finished the lab we did yesterday that models how the stomach digestive juices work. The egg whites in each test tube did change in appearence, but the results for the blue papers that change to pink when acid is in its presence were the same as day 1. We learned that the hydrochloric acid and pepsin together helps in the process of digestion. However, the digestion process is slow. The hydrochloric acid is used to help dissole the broken food particles. The reason the food particles are broken down is because the pepsin makes the protiens into smaller pieces. Without pepsin, hydrochloric acid won't work properlly and vise versa.

Monday, November 7, 2011

As the Stomach Churns Lab Report: Part I

Today in class, we filled four different, labeled test tubes with egg whites to see how different amounts of substances, in this case, enzyme pepsin (meat tenderizer), hydrochloric acid, and water, react together. The first tube contained 10mL of meat tenderizer with nothing occurring immediately. Test tube "B" had 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of water. The liquid turned foggy making the egg whites difficult to see. Hydrochloric acid was added to the egg whites in test tube "C". There was no immediate reaction. The fourth tube contained 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of hydrochloric acid; the egg whites started breaking down and the solution became bubbly. We were then assigned to test the solutions with blue litmus paper which turns pink when acid is in its presence. Test tubes A and B stayed the same, possibly because it didn't have hydrochloric acid in the solution. Test tubes C and D, however, turned pink. My guess is that hydrochloric acid causes the litmus paper to turn pink. I await for the results tomorrow.