Currents From The Kitchen

Prediction: I predict that the orange will have the most electric voltage because it is acidic.

volt-meter-with-apple

Here is a photo of our voltmeter. An apple is being tested in this photo, the apple did not produce much current.

Observations: We tested an orange, apple, and a yam.  Out of these the orange had the best voltage and electric charge, the yam had the second best, and the apple didn’t have very much.

 

What kind of circuit will produce electron flow in your fruit/vegetable cell?

A full/complete circuit will produce electron flow.

 

If your bulb doesn’t glow, how can you find out if electrons are flowing?

If the bulb does not glow, you should check to see if the lightbulb was not broken by testing a different light bulb, you could also add another piece of the same fruit one piece might not have enough voltage to power a lightbulb.

 

If your bulb doesn’t glow, why not?

Because you don’t have a full circuit and the piece of fruit might not have any voltage.

 

How can we modify our experiment to improve our results?

We could use extra pieces of fruit either the same or different and this could make more energy.

 

What is causing electrons to flow in this experiment?

We have a full circuit and since we do, the electrons can flow out one end and into the other.

Conclusion: My prediction was right because the orange did have the best electric voltage. I found this experiment a little hard at the time because I didn’t really understand how the voltage worked and what to fully do and how to read the voltmeter.  But through this experiment I figured out how voltage, electron flow and circuits worked.

Poco-opolis 500

Here is our video of our Poco-opolis 500 lab:

poco-opolis-5001

Here is the video of our experiment of us rubbing Lucite and fur:

poco-opolis-500

Conclusion: Our hypothesis was right because we did have the greatest charge out of all the other groups in the class because we got the most laps. One thing we noticed was that if you stoked one way instead of going back and forth we had a better charge. All the other groups went back and forth but we stroked only in one direction and we had the best charge because we did the most laps.

 

 

 

 

SSEP Review

Here is a list of ideas we made at the beginning that we could use for our experiment

Define/Discover: We had to come up with an experiment that could be tested in microgravity.  The experiment had to be able to fit inside the FME tube and can have up to 3 sections. We first brainstormed and made a list of what we were interested in testing. Then we chose what we wanted to do as our experiment. We wanted to do something with bacteria so we looked at killing and growing bacteria. We decided to go with killing bacteria. Our decision was: can rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer kill bacteria in microgravity?

Dream: If this were to work in space

Here is our agar with the bacteria and whole punches that have either hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol or both

This is a photo of our petri dish and it has the bacteria with the paper hole punches with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol on them

this could help to lead to future exploration and the astronauts possibly fight sicknesses and other bad and harmful things before they can hurt them.

 

Design: Our design needs to be tested on earth before being tested in microgravity to make sure that it works like we think it will.  We will need to grow some bacteria and then apply rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer to see if the bacteria are killed. We should also do a control experiment to make sure that the bacteria don’t die on their own by growing more of them at same time and not applying any rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.  Results would need to be recorded so that the astronauts and scientists would know what they are looking for.

Deliver: Our experiment was to see if rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer wouldsupplies kill bacteria to help prevent the astronauts from getting sick. If it helps prevent the astronauts from getting sick then it should help people on earth from getting sick too. We had a petri dish with agar and bacteria growing on top and we had rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer. We used a paper hole punch and first dipped it in rubbing alcohol and then put it on the bacteria, then we used another hole punch and covered it in the hand sanitizer and put it on the bacteria in a different spot, and last we made a combination of rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer and used another hole punch to put this combination on the bacteria.  The combination of hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol worked the best for us because where we put that paper hole punch it had the least amount around of bacteria left.

Debrief: What we could do better next time is contact someone to get more information on our topic and get more information from someone with more knowledge and experience about what we are doing. In our group one of the things that was done well was our brainstorming of topics and ideas to do as our experiment. I would have liked it better if the work had been shared evenly and that everyone in our group had done their part. Overall I think it went well and I tried to contribute to the group to the best of my abilities.

TOKTW Review

Name of host: Eileen Butler

Relationship to you: Mother

 

The Interview:

Job Title: Municipal Water Quality Coordinator

Employer: Metro Vancouver (Greater Vancouver Regional District)

Job Description: Review water quality for all of the lower mainland including the municipality’s. Prepare reports and arrange for testing of drinking water.

Sewer sprayer

Sewer sprayer

What are the duties and/or tasks you perform at your job?

She reviews test results for drinking water and makes arrangements for any extra tests that need to be done. Approves water mains to be returned to service after construction work has been done on it.

 

What qualifications do you have for your job in the following areas:

Training: Computer programs such as excel, word, GIS, LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System). Confined space entry, safety.

Education: Diploma of Biological Sciences – Biotechnology

Experience: 15 years working as Lab Tech in microbiology lab, through knowledge of Metro Vancouver’s Water System and treatments.

Skills and Attributes: Drivers Licence, good communication skills both written and verbal, willingness to work overtime when emergencies occur.

What do you like about your job:

Its in a social atmosphere, completing tasks (satisfaction of getting work done), assisting someone from a city with a water quality concern.

ground-water-run-off

This is a demonstration of how development impacts ground water

What do you dislike about your job:

Speaking with members of the public who are rude and believe that they know it all, getting a phone call in the middle of the night.

How do you anticipate you job changing in the next 5 years:

More people will retire, and I will get a promotion and supervise staff.

Student Reflection:

List 3 reasons why you would like this job:

  1. There is a lot of cool places you get to go to
  2. In the company there is a lot of variety of jobs
  3. Good paying

List 3 reasons why you would not like this job:

  1. Could get stressful
  2. I’m not too interested in science right now
  3. I would not want to sit at a desk on a computer most of the time

Is this job for me? Why? Why not?

I don’t think specifically this job would be right for me because I am not interesting in science and sitting at a computer for my work. There could be other jobs in the company that could be for me.

One of the activities we did at TOKTW

One of the activities we did at TOKTW

Explain the value of TOKTW experience in relation to your ideas about your post secondary plans?

 

One of the different groups in Metro Vancouver was air quality and when we went to the place and heard about the instruments and what they do, I found it to not be too exciting and interesting and something I wouldn’t want to do for work. For now I am not very interested in science as a career.

Electricity Mind Map

In the past I haven’t done too much electricity so I don’t know too much about the topics but here is my mind map that I made about the things I know so far:

mind-map-2

If you are not able to read this, click the link below:

Mind Map

 

Questions:

The 4 main points that come out of the middle, are they the only things we will be learning about in this unit? Are they the biggest parts of electricity?

What is voltage, current and resistance and why are they all linked together?

What different ways do we use electricity?

Where does electricity come from?

Is there only two types of circuits?

How does static electricity work?