Weekly blog 3/31/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/18_column_periodic_table%2C_with_Lu_and_Lr_in_group_3.png

Summary:
          A element is something that is made out of only one type of atom. Element's are things that can't be separated. There are over 100 different kinds of elements in the periodic table of elements such as things like gold and hydrogen. A pure substance is something that is made up of only one kind of  matter. Compounds are pure substances contain two ore more different types of atoms such as water. Mixtures are two more molecules that are not chemically combined and can be separated by physical means. An example of a mixture is iron fillings and sand by using a magnet to separate the two.

S&EP: SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
   I worked on play.lol  or an interactive game to find out different way that chemical reactions can happen and different signs of chemical reactions and what different reactions make different reactions make. In a chemical reaction you can mix different things to make different products. Some examples are mixing chlorine and mixing sodium to make table salt. You can also mix things with heat to make different products. Some different ways that you can know if there is a chemical reaction is things such as bubbling, extreme heat, change in color, consistency and more.

XCC: Cause and Effect:
          By causing a chemical reaction you mix two ingredients to make a different product. The reason that we have things like simple table salt is because sodium and chlorine got mixed and when they mixed the product was table salt. The reason that we have carbon dioxide is because oxygen and carbon met to make carbon dioxide. The reason why we have water is because of hydrogen and oxygen meeting to make water. The reason why we have some of the simple things that we do like water, salt and carbon dioxide is because of chemical reasons or two different things meeting to make something new.

Weekly blog periodic table 3/26/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Periodic-table.jpg/640px-Periodic-table.jpg

Summary:

        There are different parts or groups of the periodic table, such as alkaline metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, boron family and more. These are all different because of the amount of electrons in the outer shell and they also are different because of looks, how chemically reactive and more. The numbers of protons is what defines type of atom an atom is and there is typically the same or close to the same amount of protons, neutrons and electrons. The periodic table organizer is Russian Mendeleev and he organized it 25 years before the electrons were discovered.

S&EP:SP1: Asking questions and defining problems:

        I had to find out how many protons neutrons and electrons there were in each kind of element. To do this I found the number of protons by the atomic number and then I found the electrons number because there are the same number of electrons and protons. To find the number of neutrons I took the average atomic mass and I subtracted the number of protons, rounded and found the number of neutrons. We did this for 20 of the different elements that were from hydrogen to calcium.

XCC: Cause and Effect:
        The amount of electrons that you have vs the protons can make it so that the there is a positive or negative or no ion because the charge is unbalanced. When you mix certain elements with things like water and acid it might have a cool chemical reaction because of how chemically reactive a thing is with the other. The reason that the periodic table is formed like it is is because it is from the lowest to highest or the increasing atomic number or number of protons.Another reason that it is formatted like it is is because of if things are metal, non metal etc.

Weekly blog Atoms 3/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Atom_diagram.png

Summary:
       Atoms are the building blocks of life. Atoms are made out of protons, neutron and electrons and the protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of the atom while the electrons float around the nucleus. If an atom were blown up to the size of a football stadium then the nucleus would be the size of a marble. Neutrons have a neutral charge, protons have a positive change and electrons have a negative charge. The amount of protons identifies the type of atom it is. The periodic table is a list of all of the elements. Elements are made up of only one kind of atom and Density is how much stuff is in a given space. Volume is the amount s space that something takes up.

S&EP: Did you plan and carry out an investigation?
        To find out more about density, mass and volume we conducted an experiment to find out about the differences in between them. We had a tub of water and different materials with different densities, mass and volume to see what things had less density and would float on the water. Most of the things sunk because they had more density and mass and they all had the same volume. The things that floated were things like wood and things that were less dense and had less mass. We also had a piece of aluminum foil and when we had it in one big piece it floated but when we folded it and made it more dense and take up less volume it sunk.

XCC:Cause and Effect:
The amounts of protons in an atoms is what identifies the type of atom that it is. If you have an atom that has lost protons that causes it to have a positive charge because there are not enough electrons and it needs more. When an atom has a negative charge it is called a cation. If you have an atom that has an electron added it causes it to have a negative charge or a negative ion. because there are too many electrons and some should not be there. If an atom has a positive charge or a positive ion it is called an anion. The amount of protons effects the type of atom that it is and the amount of electrons effects if there is an ion and if it is a positive ion (cation) or a negative ion(anion).

Eucalyptus leaf beetle invasive species project

http://cisr.ucr.edu/images/eucalyptus_leaf_beetle/04_eucalyptus_leaf_beetle.JPG

Summary: 

        The eucalyptus leaf beetle or the eucalyptus tortoise beetle is an invasive species to California. This species is native to Australia and it came to California in about 2003. This beetle can come in many colors such as red, brown, grey, etc. and it is also a beetle that is about as small as a tic tac. This beetle eats the leaves off of eucalyptus plants and it don't have many predators in California because it is an invasive species. When the beetle eats some of the leaves it damages them and is not good for the plant and the leaf. This invasive species is being biologically controlled so that people can help to make this invasive species less of a problem and a threat. 

Backward-looking: What process did you go through to produce this piece?

        To make this piece we had to first come up with the animal or the invasive species that we wanted to do by looking at a long website with lots of different species. We choose three each as a partnership and then did a little background research. Then together we had to choose the species that we wanted to do. Once we did that we both choose a job and did the research for that job. Then we did research together and we made our poster. Once we made our poster digitally we then printed it and presented.

Inward-looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
        Personally I liked this piece of work because we got to learn more about what an invasive species is. I liked that we got to choose if we made a poster or a flyer or a video etc. because I feel like it gave us some room to be creative with it and to have more fun with it. I did not like that we only had about 5 in class days to work on it because it was hard to have to do the research then make a way to advertise it then present it because to me it was slightly hard to do. I enjoyed this piece of work because we had a variety of species to work with and to choose.

Outward-looking:Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?
        I did my work like some of the class but some of the groups were not teams of two but of three and when there was a group of three they got to work on the endangered species project. ours was different because lots of people choose different species to study and to advertise. Ours was also different because we did not make a brochure or a video or a website but we decided to make a poser/flyer. They were all similar because we all got to advertise a type of living creature and they all related because invasive species can cause or become endangered species.

Forward looking:One thing I would like to improve upon is ...
        One things that I would personally like to change or improve in our project is that we made a poster/flyer and the things that we knew about the species. I would like to do this because I feel like I did not know a lot of things about the species and it made it so that our presentation and product was boring. I also feel like if we made something like a website it would be more interesting and more interactive so that it could have drawn in the viewers . I wish that the end product that we made looked better and was more interesting to the people that looked at it.

Weekly blog invasive species

http://cisr.ucr.edu/images/eucalyptus_leaf_beetle/01_eucalyptus_leaf_beetle.jpg

Summary:
          An invasive species is a species that lives in a natural area or place and then moves to another and can cause lots of problems. Some of the problems that can come out of an invasive species is a mess up in the food chain and overpopulation because of no or little natural predators. There are lots of invasive species around the world and some of them are plants, snails, insects. The eucalyptus leaf beetle is a beetle that eats eucalyptus leafs and is an invasive species. The eucalyptus leaf beetle is a type of beetle that originally lived in Australia and was introduced to California in 2003 and became an invasive species there.

S&EP: Conducting investigation:
          I got a packet of questions about the forest ecosystem and some of the food chain in the forest. I had to use gizmos to investigate what would happen if you lowered or took away the population of certain things. I also had to find if things were decomposers, producers or if they were consumers. Most plants are producers, most animals are consumers and fungi like mushrooms are decomposers. A producer is an organism that can make its own food, a consumer has to eat other organisms for energy and decomposers break down dead organisms.

XCC: Cause and effect:
        The cause and effect in food chains can be major to if organisms survive. Invasive spices can make a major effect because they can take away a certain food source from another and then there is not enough food. The invasive species can also overpopulate because of not having a natural predator in the food chain. The invasive species can cause other problems to food chains because they are not part of that natural ecosystem so when they enter they can make the food chain get messed up which is not good for the organisms in that food chain. When a invasive species come it can cause a bad effect.