Structure of the Earth: Plasticity Lab

Recently, we did an experiment on plasticity in the earth. Plasticity is pressure inside the mantle. In this lab, my group and I were suppose to make a mixture that introduced us to the form of plasticity. The materials used for this lab were cornstarch, water, 2 small beakers, and a spoon. We first put 5 teaspoons of cornstarch in one beaker, and 20 milliliters of water in the second beaker. Then we poured the water into the cornstarch, and stirred. It was difficult to mix this white mixture, and that means we did the lab correctly. The mixture was liquid-like at first, but dried to a solid form. A few of our group members put their fingers in the mixture to feel the substance. When they put their fingers in the mixture quickly, the mixture acted like water and did not do anything. But, when they put their fingers in slowly, the mixture made a solid-like formation around their fingers. Next, one of our group members pick up some of the mixture and played with it in their hands. When the mixture was in a open hand, it was liquid-like, yet when the person closed his hand, he said it felt like a solid. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that when this substance was under pressure and heat, it became hard-like, and when no pressure and heat was applied, it was liquid-like. I also realized that this relates to the mantle of the Earth as well. The mixture was similar by its movement. The mantle moves like a liquid, yet when added with pressure and hear, it becomes solid-like. The asthenosphere is liquid-like because there is less pressure that in the lithosphere, which is solid-like. This lab made me understand more about the Earth's mantle. Another odd job that happened was the cleaning up. We could not clean the tables with water, otherwise the excess cornstarch would get gooey again, so we simply had to wipe it off the table. It was something different that we usually do not do in lab clean-up. Overall, plasticity is very interesting. I wonder how scientists discovered plasticity and how they researched it and are still researching it. It is a very fascinating and pertinent topic to studying the Earth.

October Sky

The movie, October Sky was a very inspirational movie. It showed that if you really want something, you can achieve it. Homer, a child living in a coal mining community, has a very difficult life. Coal mines could kill numerous people, and were very dangerous. In a cold mining community like Homers', the coal mines owned everything in the town, including, houses, shops, stores, and schools. One member of the family had to be working in the mines at all times to live there. Homer's dad worked at the mine and believed the occupations to do after ending school were either getting a football scholarship, or going to the mines. Most people in this town believed in this concept of life as well. Homer, and a few of his friends wanted to think beyond this. With the motivation of his teacher, and the release of a new spaceship Sputnik (first shuttle going into space, built by the Russians), rockets became a fascination for these young boys. After several attempts, even after being kicked off their own land and having to find a clear space eight miles away, Homer and his friends finally launched their rocket. They had help from a couple of adults, but mainly figured it out themselves. Many people attended their rocket launching, and now appreciate Homer and his friend's dreams more. One day, his father gets into an severe accident at the coal mine and his dad could not go to work for a while. Homer drops out of school to support his family, because he doesn't want his brother to, and loose his football scholarship. His father eventually gets better and continues working at the coal mine. Later on, the mayor of the town baned them from launching anymore rockets because he thought one started a forest fire. Homer used math to figure out that it wasn't their rocket, and started working on the science fair rocket with his friends. They won the state competition and later won the national science fair and got a science scholarship. His dad finally starts supporting Homer at science.

This story connects to science and math in many ways. From rockets to the simple health dangers this movie shows, it is very educational. Homer and his friends use the physical science to build their rocket. Newton's laws helped them control the gravity and make the rocket go up, not down. The science fair in the movie involved many different sciences in every station. Coal mines also related to science because the people mining these mines used light underground, and the coal found was used for many different jobs such as creating a fire. In addition, Sputnik and the Russians used physical and earth science to launch their first rocket. They, again, used Newton's Laws, and also when beyond the earth's crust and got a look of earth for a far distance. Safety in the lab was also displayed, when Quentin and Homer throw something in the sink and another girl throws a match in the sink and all the burners in the room lit up. It showed this was the wrong thing to do and that you should never throw something in the sink without a teacher's permission. Lastly, the connection to math was the use of parabolas. Homer used parabolas to find the it was not his rocket that caused the forest fire.

Character Education is an important life lesson to learn. This movie, October Sky, and the characters within the story, showed C.A.R.E.S. characteristics. Homer shows determination because he was trying every way to learn about rockets. Quentin show perseverance when he tried every way imaginable to build a rocket, and was trying his best at it. Homer also shows self-control when his father is hurt and he has to give up school to work in the mine, which is not his favorite job to do. All of Homer's friends showed cooperation and assertion when working together on the rocket and believing that the rocket could fly sooner or later. In addition, Homer shows respect to his father, and listened to him when he said to fly rockets elsewhere, not on the coal mine property. Lastly, Homer showed empathy for his teacher when he found out she had cancer. Character Education was a large part in this movie.

This movie also had a personal effect on me. October Sky was very inspiring and promoted me to try new things. It showed that anything is possible, if you try your hardest. This movie got me interested in Sputnik, and rockets. It makes me wonder about the people working at space research facilities, like NASA. Overall, this was a fascinating movie.

Response: Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle Cell Anemia is a very dreadful disease. It affects males and females, and the patients with the disease are only expected to live 42-48 years of age. Some symptoms of the disease could be chest pain, pulmonary infiltrate, fever and difficulty in breathing. These symptoms restricts blood flow to organs, causing ischemia pain and, may also cause organ damage. Hydration and analgesics are treatment for this disease at the moment. In order to develop more treatments, the people researching must comprehend how sickle cell anemia affects bones, so that a new medicine can be developed, to prevent the disease from eliminating the bone marrow. The population that is most vulnerable to this disease is African Americans, where 1 in 5,000 are affected, as well as 3,600 Hispanic children. Personally, this made me wonder, what people like me can do for people who have this disease. It makes me feel very saddened by the fact that so many people are suffering from this disease.

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Turner's Syndrome

Turner's Syndrome, discovered by Dr. Henry Turner in 1938, is a genetic disorder found in females. This happens when the X chromosome in female body is absent or, missing. Females are more vulnerable to this disease, unfortunately. Symptoms and possible complications of being a patient with the disease are, short neck with webbed appearance, heart defects, kidney abnormalities, various malformations, heightened incidence of osteoporosis, type II diabetes, hypothyroidism, swollen hands and feet, wide and webbed neck, drooping eyelids, dry eyes, and short height. Treatments for this disease are growth hormones and Estrogen replacement therapy, but there is no cure yet. Sadly, the expected mortality, or death rate of the disease is 3.6. Many females are not expected to live after the age of 17. This disorder affects one out of 2500 females’ worldwide. Personally, this disease made me feel saddened for the people that have it. It makes me feel that I am very privileged, and I would like to know what I could do to help these poor, innocent girls.

I got my information from:

http://children.webmd.com/turner-syndrome
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/birthdefects/risk/risk25-turner.shtm
http://www.turnersyndrome.com/
http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/2/97
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/turnersyndrome.html