tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22658752506179523882024-03-13T07:08:00.871-04:00Science LadybugScience activities for the busy teacher.
This blog will be participating in the A to Z challenge for April 2016. Posts are abbreviated for visitors. Pertinent links for more in-depth information are provided. Warning to non-teachers, comments will get very honest answers concerning anything unsafe to do in a classroom. Teachers would not take it personal. Neither should you. Safety is first.Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-34509607765473193532017-05-14T14:28:00.002-04:002017-05-14T14:28:48.433-04:00A to Z Reflections 2017I've been officially retired for seven years and no longer tell people I am a teacher. I don't know that I could manage a classroom anymore. In my thirty plus years teaching, I primarily taught science. For three years, I taught math which was a good break. However, all of my examples were usually using science.
Surprisingly, the A to Z was easy to do. Yes I checked my facts. Memory is not Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-20402694789439148342017-04-30T11:09:00.002-04:002017-04-30T11:09:44.574-04:00ZonesThere are a lot of types of Zones on Earth. Climate Zones come to mind. What I find of interest are Global Winds and Global Zones of high or low pressure.
The horse latitudes got their names because this is where horse's died and their bodies were thrown overboard. It is a region of very dry air.
The equator was named the Doldrums because sailors felt tired and listless in the low pressure. LowAnn Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-56921446270528058752017-04-29T22:55:00.002-04:002017-05-07T22:33:46.059-04:00What's in a year?A year is the time it takes for the Earth to make one revolution around the sun which is 365.2252 days. We compensate for the fraction by having an extra day on February 29th every four years. These are called leap years. Leap years do not occur at the turn of a century unless that century is divisible by 400 like 2000 was. Hence 2000 was a leap year.
What happens in a year depends on how far Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-82923306889876989862017-04-27T19:20:00.001-04:002017-05-21T21:01:53.283-04:00X-raysX-rays are found on the electromagnetic spectrum. Whether it be lowly radio waves, red light, blue light, gamma rays, x-rays or cosmic rays, they travel at 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second. This is why you see visible light (lightning) before you hear the sound wave (thunder) which travels 700 miles per hour at typical air pressure and temperature.
Since the speed is Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-62666168889716967962017-04-26T21:56:00.000-04:002017-04-26T21:56:20.332-04:00Weather and ClimateWeather is what is happening right now. It is the day to day temperature, rainfall, humidity and air pressure we experience. Just because we have a hot day in January or a cold day in July, we are not experiencing a climate shift. Because climate is what occurs over a long period of time like 100 years.
Like many discoveries, climate change was discovered by accident. A scientist was monitoring Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-10386634142630622882017-04-25T22:00:00.000-04:002017-04-25T22:00:17.936-04:00Volcanoes
Volcanoes are of legend and fascination in their unpredictable and explosive power. I remember the headlines of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen in 1980.. There was video of a car hurtling as fast down the road trying to outrace the volcanic cloud raining down. There was the elderly man, Harry Truman, who refused to leave his home and never found again. We all read the newspapers fascinated.
Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-17680080146763149782017-04-24T22:00:00.000-04:002017-04-24T22:00:31.273-04:00UniformitarianismSome scientific principals seem so obvious. But you can't know something unless you have been told. It is as simple as that.
The law of uniform processes or uniformitarianism simply states that the processes that occured in the past are the same ones that occur today.
This law is usually taught with the law of superposition. The law of superposition states that the rock and soil on top came Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-59942553448859554382017-04-23T18:08:00.000-04:002017-04-23T18:08:57.441-04:00Taxonomy and TablesTaxonomy and tables make information easier to understand and locate much like the Dewey Decimal system in a library or the alphabetic order of words in a dictionary. Information is more accessible and less volume is required in the description of organisms or information.
Taxonomy is the system of classifying and naming organisms which was developed by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-43805332440548460282017-04-22T11:31:00.002-04:002017-04-22T22:56:05.286-04:00Being a citizen scientist.Science is a rational approach to the world in which we examine items and phenomena by questioning what we see. We form hypothesis and test hypothesis. We seek the truth and not an immediate visceral response. Patterns are observed.
Yet that visceral response or gut feeling is due to millions of years of evolution that warns us of danger. Those subconscious cues that exist beyond our rational Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-27719196872895484872017-04-19T22:00:00.000-04:002017-04-19T22:00:14.880-04:00Quantitative and Qualitative measurementScientific discovery begins with observation. Looking at what happens and keeping accurate records is key to analyzing discovery. With television shows purporting to report ghosts, vampires and other elusive items, one item is missing. The discovery is not easily witnessed nor recorded where more than one person consistently observes the same phenomenon.
Although you may need to be trained to Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-7318184442348715092017-04-19T19:38:00.000-04:002017-04-19T19:38:15.420-04:00ReasoningThe method of reasoning is the hallmark of scientific inquiry. Opinion can be useful in the practical application of science. But it can also be disastrous.
One historical example was "germ theory" in the treatment of puerpural or childbed fever.
Ignaz Semmelweiz observed the rate of infection in two separate maternity clinics operated by the Vienna Hospital. One had a deathrate of about 12Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-29360492970956878222017-04-17T18:00:00.001-04:002017-04-17T18:00:16.723-04:00OrnithologyOrnithology is the study of birds. There are five major groups of vertebrates; fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. With further examination, scientist have begun to see where birds could still be grouped with the reptiles. Personally, I think birds have diverged and evolved enough to be their own group of vertebrates. Birds are warm blooded and have four chambered hearts. Reptiles are Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-1367651685821815182017-04-16T22:54:00.000-04:002017-04-16T22:54:01.314-04:00Native SpeciesThere is a nice nature trail through an old neighborhood in Warner Robins. The houses were originally quite expensive; so the area has held up although it too is in decline. I live in a beautiful place out in the country. But I fancy a few of the homes along this trail so my bull dog can have her much loved walk. Why I would consider leaving a home built in 1996 for one built in 1966.
More Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-84665606772558077272017-04-14T16:48:00.000-04:002017-04-14T16:48:06.246-04:00Mass and WeightMass is the amount of matter an object contains. Mass is measured in grams or kilograms. Your mass will be the same on Earth, the void of space, the moon, Jupiter, on top of the highest mountain.
But your weight would change in each of these situations. Weight is the measurement of the gravitational pull on an object.
If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 16.6 pounds on the moon. ItAnn Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-15784399708177423812017-04-13T21:27:00.002-04:002017-04-13T21:27:30.094-04:00Scientific lawsA scientific law is a statement assumed to be true.
Scientific inquiry always keeps in mind they can be wrong. For the most part this is true. Human nature doesn't like change and/or ideas are so popular no one wants to let go. The same hypocrisy that happens in the dirtiest of politics.
Science is based on seven steps.
The first is to name the problem. You can't solve a problem unless you Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-85124912291131327962017-04-12T21:29:00.000-04:002017-04-12T21:29:07.476-04:00Kelvin ScaleAmericans in everyday life use the customary units inherited from Europe. Scientists in the United States and most countries of the world use the metric system.
The metric system is more practical and easier to use. For example, there are 100 centimeters to a meter and 1000 meters to a kilometer. To divide by ten or a multiple of ten is easier to divide by and convert. There are 12 inches to a Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-67719993053242743162017-04-11T19:43:00.000-04:002017-04-11T19:43:21.532-04:00JupiterMost stars have a partner star and they revolve around one another. Stars are so far away that the stars we see are two separate stars whose light merge together.
What does that have to do with Jupiter? Jupiter is almost large enough to be a star. Our sun, Sol, does not have a partner star.
Jupiter and Saturn are unique in that they emit more energy than they receive from the sun. Jupiter has Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-77829532568231131762017-04-11T10:03:00.000-04:002017-04-11T10:03:36.126-04:00InertiaAn object in motion will stay in motion.
An object at rest will stay at rest.
This is Newton's first law of motion or the "law of inertia"
We did not use fuel to propel the Apollo space craft to the moon or from the moon to the Earth. Fuel was used to escape the gravitational field of the Earth and later the Moon. Fuel was used to push the Apollo spacecraft in the direction it needed to go.
Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-5787161261362256662017-04-09T22:34:00.000-04:002017-04-09T22:34:32.363-04:00HydrologyHydrology is the study of water on Earth.
The water cycle describes the movement of water from bodies of water to the air back to land and back again. I've even written a water cycle story. Maybe I should dust it off and finish.
As a rule of thumb, the closer the land is to a large body of water, the more humid the climate is.
Sometimes the moisture laden air must go up in elevation. As the Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-58474709682573064052017-04-07T19:56:00.000-04:002017-04-07T19:56:58.131-04:00Gravity
Diagram courtesy of NASA
Gravity is the attraction of one body for another. The larger the bodies, the greater the attraction. It is theorized that matter puts a dent in space. That dent causes the second object to roll toward the first body.
Gravity holds the Earth and other planets in orbit around the Sun. These orbits are elliptical. Comets sometimes have irregular orbits. Most comets areAnn Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-74240479827579359542017-04-06T21:33:00.000-04:002017-04-06T21:33:48.965-04:00FireFire is the rapid oxidation of a substance to produce heat, carbon dioxide, water vapor and smoke.
Although rusting and digestion are forms of oxidation, they are not considered fire in that they do not happen fast enough.
There are four ingredients to fire. Fuel, Oxygen, Heat and the Chain Reaction of Burning. Remove any of the four and fire stops.
If you have a flame on the stove, turn the Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-74191479294202363072017-04-05T18:05:00.000-04:002017-04-05T21:10:50.636-04:00Energy
Solar Energy results from Nuclear fusion in the sun's core
to produce heat energy and electromagnetic radiation.
Energy is the ability to do work. When someone says they don't have the energy to do something, it may very well be true. It takes energy to do work.
The study of energy is physics. So when you tell someone to quit being a lazybones and get their rump over here to help you, you areAnn Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-81594599567101445172017-04-04T19:49:00.000-04:002017-04-04T19:49:55.290-04:00The Dorsett People and DNAMy newest dog Holly is a mysterious dog. She arrived on my front porch after roaming about a mile away close to the river. She weighed 23 pounds. I am guessing she was not killed for food by coyotes in that I cut off about 6 inches of matted hair off of her. A mouth full of hair protected her body.
She is now a beauty of undetermined origins. The Vet said if I had a spare $50 I could send her Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-56757364075281263752017-04-03T22:13:00.000-04:002017-04-03T22:13:07.275-04:00The Crow You KnowCrows seem like part of landscape every where you go.
They get a bad rap in that they appear to be scavengers. They are opportunists when it comes to food. Seeds and insects make up a lot of their diet. A crow''s beak is not tough enough to break the skin of a squirrel. So roadkill and animal remains have to be opened up for Crows to eat. In the natural world, crows use their intelligence to Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265875250617952388.post-71847898841425906212017-04-03T00:30:00.000-04:002017-04-03T00:30:06.672-04:00Yes, we have no bananas.
The banana we eat today is a Cavendish which was found in China. It's genetics makes it a triploid and sterile fruit. Wild bananas are filled with small flinty seeds much like bb shot. The Cavendish is not as tasty as the banana it replaced which was the Gros Michel or better known as the Big Mike. Big Mike suffered from a Fusarium wilt fungus and the Cavendish did not.
Fusarium wilt of Gros Ann Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759967601352382204noreply@blogger.com4