Journal 1-Conclusion to Prac1

Journal 2-Conclusion to prac 2

Today we modeled the mid-ocean spreading of tectonic plates.We pushed paper out of a small gap out between two tables . The paper represented the ocean floor and bulges of the paper were the lava flow convection currents pushing the paper up. We measured this because the force pushing the paper up was our hands and is in reality the lava flow, but as the paper grew higher in length from the middle, that was the mid ocean ridge across the ocean floor.

Reflection Journal 4

Reflection Journal

1. Likes and dislikes of this project…..any suggestions on how to improve???

I liked my group, because for the first time, i was with my mates that i muck around with at lunch and stuff but when we were in class, we actually got alot more work completed than i thought. Some dislikes were that there were no actual lessons on what some subjects were, like even though we did practicals, i can honestly say that i didnt know what i was doing,but i was trying to. We just need some more help  with things and more explanation.

2. What areas do you think you have improved in from project 1 to project 4?

I have improved in my work ethic i think, because i have realised that me not doing as much work will affect my group members and myself. And also my communication skills havwe improved vigorously, seeing as though i never check my emails, i sent emails to my group members and even checked my email.

3. What further skills would you like to develop over the next few projects?

I think the skill that i would like to improve would be to concentrate better and my focusing skills. Because i know that i fall behind in my time of lesson, and i shouldnt just leave everything to do at home.

Journal 3

1. Analyse why red sunsets can sometimes be more impressive when there is more dust or pollution in the air than usual.

Red sunsets are caused not because of refraction of sunlight, but because of a phenomenon known as scattering in which molecules of gas and dust particles in the atmosphere alter the direction of light rays.

-Science Focus 3,Kerry Whalley,pg110

Sunsets, spectacular as they can be, are in part the result of all the pollutants we have pumped into the air.

Water, dust, and pollutants act as tiny prisms that cause the light to bend. The different particles scatter and change the light by refracting it; each color is produced by different refractory properties of the junk.

If there were no particles in the atmosphere, there would be no sunsets.

-http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_sunrises_and_sunsets_sometimes_red

Describe what happens inside water droplets to cause a rainbow and explain how you can tell whether a rainbow is a primary or secondary.

Small droplets of water behave like tiny prisms in the sky. The droplets will reach our eyes after undergoing total internal reflection. Droplets higher in the sky refract red to our eyes, while green and blue go overhead. We can tell a primary colour because a band in the sky with red at the top and blue at the bottom. And sometimes a less intensive secondary rainbow can be seen above a primary one.Light reaches our eyes from a secondary rainbow after two internal reflections inside each raindrop. This has the effect of reversing the colours so the bottom band is red.

-Science Focus 3, Kerry Whalley,pg 111

Journal 2

JOURNAL ENTRY WEEK 2

Investigate the two types of sight defect- long-sightedness and short sightedness.

Find the following information:

1. what causes the defect
2. the symptoms displayed
3. propose what sort of lens may be used to correct each vision.

1a-Hyperopia- The causes of hyperopia are typically genetic and involve an eye that is too short or a cornea that is too flat, so that images focus at a point behind the retina.

http://www.docshop.com/education/vision/refractive-errors/hyperopia/

  b-syptoms displayed are trouble seeing objects that are close up. In some cases, they may not recognize that they have a vision problem, but will notice that their eyes become tired or sore during such activities as reading or writing.

http://www.docshop.com/education/vision/refractive-errors/hyperopia/

  c-the lens that can correct hyperopia is wearing convex lenses which bend light more so the focus point of the image is brought forward onto the retina.

2a-Myopia-Usually develops in children or young teenagers. You are more likely to develop myopia if it runs in your family. Temporary short-sightedness, called pseudomyopia, can be caused by certain diseases or drugs.

  b-Trouble seeing objects that are far away.

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/nearsightedness-myopia-symptoms

  c- the lens that can correct myopia are concave leses that move the focus point of the image back onto the retina.

Journal 1- Fibre Optics

Fibre optic technology offers many advantages when used in medical applications.

a.     describe how optical fibre may be used in medical applications

b.    identify the traditional medical techniques that optical fibres might replace

c.     Evaluate the benefits of fibre optic technology to medicine 

a. Optical fibres are used in endoscopes. These flexible tubes contain optical fibresand can be passed via the mouth into the digestive system to provide doctors with images(magnified around four times) of the stomach intestinal lining. Tumours that would be impossible to treat may be destroyed by laser light sent down an optic fibre cable inserterd nearby.

b.Optical fibres could replace using a knive to cut open a tumour and destroy it from there but now you can just laser it and its gone. Also having to put a large camera or light down there to try and retrieve images and light.

c.Well now it makes things alot easier for the patient and also the doctor constructing the surgery. Fibre optics can limit the number of unnecessary surgeries that take place as well as examining the problem more accurately.

Journal 5

1.What did you like about the wikispace project? Explain?

I liked the project because in my group we all had different parts to do. And everyone of us in our group got to edit and do other parts of the project. When someone had put something in like had entered a text, other people got to edit it and make it better.

2. What did you NOT like about the wikispace project? Explaion.

The only thing i didnt like was when people didnt put up any work on the wikispace.

3. What did you find hard about working in groups?

I just found it hard when two people would do most of the work and the other person wouldnt do as much or not as much as needed.

4.How did the wikispace keep everyone in your team accountable?

The wikispace keeps everyone working because the teacher marking can just check the history tab to see which person did what. So if you are smart you would want to do your work, because even though your teacher cant see you behind your laptob lid, he can see what work you have submitted and what work you have not submitted.

5. How could you improve your presentation?

I could improve my presentation by putting more effort into the presentation and not reading off the actual screen.

Journal 4

Investigate how Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars in 1967. Write a short account of this event. (5 lines)

An exact extract that well and clearly answers this question perfectly. (i think)

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/bell.html

Bell’s first two years at Cambridge were spent assisting in the construction of an 81.5-megahertz radio telescope that was to be used to track quasars. The telescope went into operation in 1967. It was Jocelyn Bell’s job to operate the telescope and to analyze over 120 meters of chart paper produced by the telescope every four days. After several weeks of analysis, Bell noticed some unusual markings on the chart paper. These markings were made by a radio source too fast and regular to be a quasar. Although the source’s signal took up only about 2.5 centimeters of the 121.8 meters of chart paper, Jocelyn Bell recognized its importance. She had detected the first evidence of a pulsar.

In February of 1968, news of the discovery made by Jocelyn Bell was published in the journal Nature. Further studies by groups of astronomers around the world identified the signals as coming from rapidly rotating neutron stars. These objects, first noticed by Jocelyn Bell, became known as pulsars. The term pulsar is an abbreviation for pulsating radio star or rapidly pulsating radio sources.

Journal 3

Recently NASA was successful in launching a space craft named Phoenix which landed on the surface of Mars.

You are to write a journal outlining why NASA would undertake such an experiment.

• What do you think the Phoenix will find?

I think the phoenix will find out if there is life available on Mars. Whether or not human civilization is able to retreat to a new planet. Also if vegetation and food resources can be supplied by the planet if this planet was to ever support life for us humans. More about the phoenix’ mission can be followed up by this website:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/mission/index.html

• Do you think as a planet we should be researching other planets? Why/ why not?

I am not quite sure about this question but maybe we should research other planets because when we are in need of resources or another planet for life, then we cant always rely on the planet Mars because it may not supply us with what we are looking for.

• Any other comments.

No further comment.

Journal 2

THE BIG BANG:

What contribution did the following scientists make towards the big bang theory?

• Walter Adams.

American astronomer who is best known for his spectroscopic studies. Using the spectroscope, he investigated sunspots and the rotation of the Sun, the velocities and distances of thousands of stars, and planetary atmospheres.

• Ralph Alpher.

Ralph Asher Alpher authored his Ph.D. dissertation on the Big Bang theory in 1948. His mathematical formula brought into being the scientific theory of the origin of the universe. His paper said the universe occurred 14 billion years ago with a superhot explosion and later, in 1948, Alpher showed proof. No one accepted these ridiculous ideas until 1964 when two radio astronomers showed Alpher’s theory was correct. Unfortunately, they received the Nobel Prize, not Ralph Alpher.
http://www.light-science.com/alpher.html

• Robert Dicke.

Dicke (1970) gave an interesting argument that the universe must have very nearly the critical density of matter needed to stop it expanding forever. Standard models of the universe pass through stages dominated by radiation, matter, curvature etc. Transitions between stages are very special cosmic times which a priori could differ by many orders of magnitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Dicke