Ben

This week in science I learned about changes of state. For instance, dry ice goes directly from a solid to a gas. This process is called sublimation. I also learned that dry ice has many uses, such as quickly cooling things, keeping things cold, and can also be used to entertain. Another useful chemical is liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is also useful for quickly cooling things, keeping thigs cold, and can be used in fun experiments. In science, we talked about changes of state (using the above chemicals for examples), and did several experiments to explain.
 * Week 5 5/21/09**
 * Week 4 4/30/09**

This week in science, I learned that the tectonic plates that make up earth's crust are moving due to energy being released from the core of the earth. The area on which the plates sit is very soft and easily moved by the energy flares that come up from the core of the earth, causing the plates to move, shift, and grind against each other. The area where the plates collide are called fault lines. Earthquakes, which are caused by shifting plates, are common along the fault lines. Occaisionally, fault lines in the ocean creates tidal waves, or tsunamis, which can wreak havoc along the coastline. The subject of which I have spoken is known as plate tectonics.


 * 4/17/09 Week 3**

This week in science, I learned about the biosphere (the area on earth where life exists). The biosphere is very small, only about 12,000 miles in diameter. The biosphere is made up of all the ecosystems on earth, of which are marine ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, prairie ecosystems (a.k.a. grassland ecosytems), and many others. I also learned that since the biosphere is the only place life can exist, we need to take care of it, because there is no place else for us to go.


 * [[image:Ben's_Food_chain.jpg]]

4/9/09 Week 2** This week in science, I learned that scientists are finding new dinosaur fossils regularly, such as the one in Kevin's SNEWS. Kevin reported that scientists found a very small chicken sized dinosaur that preyed on smaller things like lizards, insects, and rodents. This goes to show that there are probably more dinosauur fossils out there, waiting for a person to dig them up out of ancient mud pits or sand dunes.

This week in science, during our cell study, I learned that being multicellular has certain benefits. For example, if you are bigger and stronger than most organisms, you will be less likely to be eaten. Another benefit is that you live a lot longer, and it is harder for you to die, because if a single celled organism dies, it's gone, but multicellular organisms can loose lots of cells before they die. A last benefit is that if you have a lot of cells, they all don't have to work as hard, because there are so many of them.

A question I had about science is evolution really true? I was wondering about how it is possible, seeing as there are things that don't match up. For instance, when scientists were designing the //Eagle (the first craft to land on the moon),// they designed the landing gear like giant pads or snowshoes, because if evolution were true, and everything has been in existance for billions of years, then the moon would have collected multiple feet of dust. The scientists also sawed off the last couple feet of the ladder the astronauts used to climb out of the craft.According to evolution, this theory makes sense. But the scientists were wrong. If you look at pictures of the astronaut's footprints on the moon, the deepest ones are a colossal two inches deep.


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3/19/09 Week 1** This week in science, I learned that cells have many parts to them. For instance, the nucleus. The nucleus holds the DNA, and controls what happens in the cell. Another example is the cell membrane. The cell membrane protects the cell, and dictates the coming and going of things into the cell, like nutrients. A similar example is the mitochondria. The mitochondria turns nutrients into energy for the cell to fuel itself. A final example is the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton provides support for the cell, and helps it to retain its shape. Cells have many more parts, most of which I have not listed.

This week in science I also learned about how to manage a wiki account. For example, I learned that you can edit your own page, and that you can look at your edit history. Another thing that I learned is that it is possible to add pictures to your own page. Something that I was reminded of is that it is not safe to put personal information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, mail addresses, home addresses, or pictures of yourself. These are not safe to put on the wiki because anyone can come on and look at your information. I believe that having a wiki is a good learning experience.

A question I had about science this week is if a scientists finds a fossil, such as the one in Julianne's SNEWS, how do they know that it is millions of years old? I thought that

Practice Week 3/17/09** This week in science I learned that on wikispaces, you can edit your own personal page. On your account, you can get your own picture To get a picture, you must first click on the little tree icon at the top of the editing screen. A little screen will pop up, on which you click on "browse". You then go to the place where you have saved all of your pictures, click on the one you want, and click open. When the picture loads, double click on it to get it onto the screen.
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