Curiosity Question: Multiverse
categories: Science 9
Archive of ‘Grade 9’ category
Human & Space
categories: Science 9
Station 1: Space Probes
1. There are three types of space probes: interplanetary, orbiters, and landers.
Interplanetary probes: They fly by the celestial bodies.
Orbiters: They are placed in orbit around a celestial body.
Landers: They land on the surface of a celestial body.
2. November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first animal in space. It was a dog called Laika. She was sending in orbit by the spacecraft Sputnik 2. It is important because it marked the first animal form be send into space.
April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin on a 108-minute flight. It was important because Gagarin was the first to successfully orbit the globe. The spacecraft which carried him was Vostok 1.
July 20, 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 11 landed on the moon from America, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., descend to the surface. It is important because it is the first manned moon landing.
Section 2: Humans in Space
a. Spinning Heads Over Tails: Our inner ear works roughly like an accelerometer in a smartphone. It tells our body our action and position. However in space, this mechanism goes awry, which often gives astronauts motion sickness. “It’s like coming off a ship and not having your land legs under you.” says Neal.
b. Bones and Muscles: When people are in space, the low-gravity lifestyle would cause muscle deterioration and loss of bone density. Their heart muscle is also affected. To counteract these problems, astronauts need to exercise a lot.
c. Body Fluid: Every second, fluids rush throughout our bodies. Our Earth gravity keeps our body fluid down to our legs. However, in space, the fluids tend to go to our head. This make the astronauts’ faces look redder, but also can cause some serious condition such as optic nerves pressure which can cause vision problems while in space.
d. Cosmic Radiation: Earth’s magnetic field protect us from a good amount of high-energy radiation from space, which could otherwise damage DNA. However, without the protection from Earth, the artificial shielding on the ISS can partially protect astronauts from radiation exposure, but it isn’t effective for all radiation types. This leaves astronauts more susceptible to cancer and other long-term health risks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOIj7AgonHM
Section 3: Space Missions
The astronaut I choose is Chris Hadfield. He was born August 29, 1959, in Sarnia, and raised in Milton, Ontario. Hadfield joined the Canadian Armed Forces in May 1978. He Received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (with honours), Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1982; in 1984-1985, he trained as a fighter pilot in Cold Lake, Alberta on CF-5s and CF-18s. In June 1992 Chris Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts. The one mission he participated in was expedition 34/35. On December 19, 2012, he was launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). On March 2013, he became the first Canadian Commander of the ISS.
The future NASA mission I choose is Mars 2020. The objective of the mission is investigate key questions about the habitability of Mars, and assess natural resources and hazards in preparation for future human expeditions to the Red Planet. The launch date will be 2020.
Beige Individual Project
categories: English 9
In this project, I made a video essay on the book “Beige”. The process of the project was to first write the essay. The thesis of the essay was “how do the characters in beige cause Katy to accept her real self and express her feelings”. The second step was record my voice when reading my essay. The final step was put my audio, picture, and quotes inside the video.
What I learned from this project was sometimes we would encounter some special circumstances when we are working our projects. I have made few videos before. I thought I know all the steps and felt very confident about it. However, after I finished the video, when I was going to export my it, i couldn’t make the file into the right size. it was too big and would take too long to export. At first I was very anxious because the project was due tomorrow. Fortunately, I found a way to do it by share it to another device.
The thing I could have done better was to make the video more enjoyable. I should add more pictures, quotes, and put some important words into subtitles.
Lab: Edible DNA
categories: Science 9
Answer these questions:
– How are chromosomes, DNA, and genes related to one another
DNA is tightly packed inside chromosomes, and genes are located on chromosomes.
– Explain what these following candies represent: red licorice, black licorice, marshmallows (yellow, orange, pink, green), toothpicks
The licorices represent the sugar phosphate backbone, the marshmallows represent the chemical bases Adenine (Yellow), Thymine (orange), Cytosine (pink), and Guanine (Green). The toothpicks represent the bonds between bases and the backbone.
– Did this activity help you understand the structure of DNA? Explain your answer.
Yes, it did. This activity helped me understand the structure of DNA in a 3D way. It was also very fun.
Lab: Expanding Universe
categories: Science 9
1.what did you do in this lab?
In this lab, we blowed up a balloon three times. For the first time, we blowed it slightly and marked 6 dots on it to represent different galaxies. Then we measure the distance between dot M and other dots. For the second time, we blowed it half way, and measured it again. And for the last time we blowed it full and do the same thing again.
2.what did the balloon and dots represent?
The ballon represents the expanding universe. The dots represent the galaxies.
3. Trend in your expansion distance
I think the dots that are further apart from dot M will move even further than the other dots when the universe is expanding. In our experiment, dots A, B, and C are relatively close to dots M than dots D and E. And the result is that dot A moved about 1.6cm, B moved 3.4cm, and C moved 3.1cm. On the other hand, dot D moved 7cm and E oved 5cm.
4. your opinion on the value of the activity? What are some things your still curious about?
I think the activity shows how the universe is expanding and how it affects the distance between the galaxies in a visual way. I am still curious about how can the astronomer know how far is the planet from us and how big is the planet.
Mutation Story
categories: Science 9
Mutation Story
by: Gloria Huang
Part 1:
The Life of a Genetic Mutation
I am a gene inside Jeremy’s body. My name is OPN1LW. My brother OPN1MW, sister OPN1SW, and I produce proteins that play the essential role in color vision. If mutations happen to us, our host might suffer from color vision deficiency which is also called color blindness.
Color blindness is a common hereditary condition which means it is usually passed down from your parents. Red/green color blindness is passed from mother to son on the 23rd 
chromosome, which is known as the sex chromosome because it also determines sex. The 23rd chromosome is made up of two parts – either two X chromosomes if you are female or an X and a Y chromosome if you are male. The faulty ‘gene’ for color blindness is found only on the X chromosome. So, for a male to be color blind the faulty color blindness ‘gene’ only has to appear on his X chromosome. For a female to be color blind it must be present on both of her X chromosomes. That also means that men have higher possibility than women to have color blindness. Color blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world.
Unfortunately, Jeremy’s mom is a carrier of the “faulty gene” for color blindness. Jeremy has been affected and due to the genetic changes involving the OPN1LW or OPN1MW gene he becomes a red-green color blind.
People who are red-green color blind generally have difficulty distinguishing between reds, greens, browns and oranges. They also commonly confuse different types of blue and purple hues.
Jeremy’s condition causes a lot of problems in his daily life. For Jeremy, he may not able to be a good chef because most red/green color blind people can’t tell if they have cooked the meat rare or well done. Also, they are unlikely to be able to tell the difference between green and ripe tomatoes or bananas. This is because to them, green, yellow, and red are in the same shade that they think they are the same color. Furthermore, Jeremy may not be accepted for the professions that require good color vision in the future, such as, airline pilot, firefighter, and train driver.
Part2
- What questions did you need to research in order to create your mutation story?
What is color blindness? What causes color blindness? How gene mutation cause color blindness? How color blindness affect people’s life? Different kinds of color blindness?
- What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?
The familiar tools I used are Google and Youtube. Also, I learned to use creativecommons.org as one of my research tools.
- What was the process you used to investigate the topic?
First, I wrote down the questions I have to search about, and I put down the link of the helpful website. Then I tried to find all the information I need from these websites. And at last I organized the information into the mutation story.
- How did you verify and cite the information I found?
The first thing I will check when I see a website is the suffix. I usually choose the information from the website that has the suffixes of edu, org, and gov. For citation I used the citation machine on the internet.
- How did the process if completing this challenge go? What could you have done better.
I think the process went very well. However, I want to do something more challenging next time such as make a video or do an interview.
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Citations:
Colour Blindness. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/
Types of Colour Blindness. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/types-of-colour-blindness/
Color vision deficiency. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/color-vision-deficiency#genes
Chromosomes Involved in Color Blindness | Colblindor. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.color-blindness.com/2006/06/02/chromosomes-involved-in-color-blindness/
Living with Colour Vision Deficiency. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/living-with-colour-vision-deficiency/
2 Types of Charge
categories: Science 9
Cobalt(II) Chloride Compound Project
categories: Science 9
Matter Matters
categories: Science 9, Uncategorized
Matter Matters by Keisha Nagorr and Gloria Huang
Define the problem in your own words. Consider these thoughts:
a) These concepts might be hard to understand because these concepts may not be common knowledge and may be hard to understand. It is also the first year we learn chemistry.
b)These idea fit under the heading of matter because they explain what matter is in a more detailed way, and are all connected to matter.
c) We can make something engaging by making it visually appealing and attracts your attention as well as informs you.
Dream
We can show this information by doing a: kahoot game, crossword, video, movie, play, song, and poster.
Debrief
The process of completing this project helped me learn the way to solve question and finish my work. I think I did well on making a powerpoint and try to make it more engaging. I could have down it better by starting the research earlier.
Oobleck Lab Questions
categories: Science 9
- Chemical a: white, soft, power; Chemical b: colorless, transparent, liquid.
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Oobleck:not typical liquid, white, sticky. Behavior: when you squeeze it or hit it quickly, it becomes solid. when you release it, it becomes liquid.
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I think oobleck is liquid but not typical liquid. It can slip and slide past one another but it also can be packed together for a short time.
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I can visualize the changes immediately between solid and liquid through this lab. That helped me had a better understanding about the kmt.
photo by: Alina
