Category Archives: Grade 10

Astronomy Wonder Project – Science 10

Posted on by under Science 10, Uncategorized

I wonder…

Do you ever wonder how the sun will die, or maybe what will happen to the solar system once the sun has run it’s course? Where would humanity go, would we even still be alive by then? I wonder all the time, will this be our inevitable ending? To get a better understanding, I researched the question ‘Can we predict when the sun will die and what will happen to the solar system when it does?‘. As of today, scientists aren’t one hundred percent sure what life will be like after the sun’s death but they seem to have some pretty good hypotheses.

Can we predict when the sun will die? 

Today Scientists presume that the sun will run out of energy and eventually turn into a ‘red giant’ in anywhere from five to eight billion years. A red giant is a term used by astronomers to describe the process in which a star, so in this case the sun, starts to grow dramatically to the point where it engulfs other planets in the solar system from it’s enormous size. The reason this can happen is because a star is powered by hydrogen that turns into helium in a process that converts mass into energy. So once all the hydrogen has changed to helium, the sun won’t be able to generate energy and will eventually start to collapse under it’s own weight. Consequently, once the fuel supply is gone, the sun will have no choice but to commence the red giant process which will evenutally turn into a white dwarf when all the outer material dissipates and leaves behind a planetary nebula. Which will then be the end of the solar system’s heat source.

What will happen to the solar system when the sun dies? 

As for the solar system, the outcome is still quite unknown but researchers can make some highly educated guesses. Once the sun converts into the red giant, as shown in the picture below, it will inevitably consume the planets closest to it, as in Venus and Mercury. It’s still debated whether or not the sun will spare Earth in it’s swelling mayhem as it’s not easy to tell but either way, Earth will be finished. Either it will be consumed or it will melt into a scorching lifeless rock. Despite all that, Earth will no longer be a safe habitat for any living thing as all the oceans will be dried up and the temperatures will be intolerable. As for Mars, the planet won’t be consumed but it will still be greatly affected as it’ll be too close to the red giant. The outer planets though, will have big changes in temperature and therefore might have a higher possibility in being able to hold life.

What about us? 

Most scientists are positive that humanity will be long gone by the time the sun dies and if not, the red giant will definitely be the end of us. The process of the sun turning into the red giant takes a long time and in that time the temperatures will rise so much that the oceans will have dried up and the ice caps will have melted leaving humanity in a lot of trouble. No one knows how the world will end but, the sun dying is a great possibility. Aside from that though, if life does make it long enough to see the end of the sun, it’ll be possible to find habital places in the outer planets of the solar system. The ones with colder temperatures right now would have drastic changes during the red giant which would then make them ideal places to live for a couple million years until the sun turns into a white dwarf. Either way, that gives the possibilty of humans being able to survive for longer on other planets which is unimaginable right now. All stars must die eventually and the sun is no different but who knows, there might be hope for humanity yet.

Bibliography

Sutter, Paul. “Will Our Solar System Survive the Death of Our Sun?” Space.com, Space, 28 Oct. 2020, https://www.space.com/solar-system-fate-when-sun-dies.

Emspak, Jesse. “What Will Happen to Earth When the Sun Dies?” LiveScience, Purch, 13 Apr. 2016, https://www.livescience.com/32879-what-happens-to-earth-when-sun-dies.html.

Betz, Eric. “Here’s What Happens to the Solar System When the Sun Dies.” Discover Magazine, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2020, https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/heres-what-happens-to-the-solar-system-when-the-sun-dies.

Wendel, JoAnna. “When Will the Sun Die?” Space.com, Space, 7 Jan. 2022, https://www.space.com/14732-sun-burns-star-death.html.

Biotechnology group project – Cloning

Posted on by under Science 10

Cloning is the process of creating organisms and DNA that are genetically the exact same. It can be made in a lab or can sort of happen naturally with identical twins, although twins do differ a bit from real cloning. Clones will have the exact same DNA as the parent whereas, twins won’t have DNA that’s identical to their parents, but rather to each other. Cloning was introduced to most of the public in 1997 when a sheep named Dolly was cloned by a Scottish institution, although cloning technology had been around for quite a bit longer. Since then, there has been quite a bit of debate as to whether cloning is a good or a bad thing for the future and whether it should be practiced. In this research project we will be discussing the greatest advancements with regards to cloning, how cloning is best used and how cloning is changing the world as we advance towards the future.

Whether its cloning animals, or even potentially cloning other humans the possibilities are almost endless.

Cloning itself isn’t completely artificial as many specimens are able to make clones of themselves like bacteria, and some species of frogs, jellyfish, and insects. Even humans are somewhat capable of producing clones of themselves (Twins). Artificial cloning can be linked back to the late 19th century with German scientist Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch when he was able to divide cells that belonged to a sea urchin. Through many years of advancement the first amphibian was cloned in 1958 by John Gurdon and Thomas King. Later down the line in 1996 the first mammal named Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned in the UK. It wasn’t until recently around the turn of the 21st century that progress was made to cloning humans. In 2007, scientists were able to clone embryo cells (fetus) from a rhesus monkey, later in 2018 a primate, which is the closest animal to humans, was successfully cloned in China. With human cloning becoming more of a possibility, scientists have planned to use this ability to clone organs and forever change the medical field. But with the ability of cloning humans becoming a reality, the subject has been heavily debated on.

Since the cells can be taken from one person and replicated this means we can remove most of their cells fighting against them and help their treatment along and have progressively lower active cancer cases. Along with the lower cases of cancer we could also be helping Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart failure and many more life-threatening conditions and diseases helping specific people and at the same time be helping humans in general move along with surgery, studies, exploration, and overall quality of life. While solving various mental/physical problems that come along with certain diseases or medications we could help injury treatment with athletes and people who base their life off dangerous or physically straining activities. Surrogacy is important for thousands of families that need it for many varied reasons but with cloning we could progressively make the children of said families more like the soon to be parents if that is something important to them. Some families who want their own traits and same gits in their children finally have a very safe and tested out option to make their kid exactly like them just without the whole pregnancy.

Cloning technology will eventually have a big advancement in the future depending on how it is used. There are many debates as to whether it’s a good or bad thing and whether or not it can be used in a helpful way. Some say that cloning can be helpful because it can potentially create completely healthy animals and humans and therefore lessen the need for antibiotics and unnecessary chemicals. It can be used to treat genetic disorders and create stronger bone marrow, skin cells and organisms. It can also be used to create more of animals that are in the process of going instinct which would be a very big advancement towards nature and society. Of course there are people who argue that this would be a very dangerous experiment. Many say that cloning would do the exact opposite of creating healthier beings. They believe that the cloning process could create more varieties of defects in the organs, weaker immune systems and premature aging. Especially after the Jurassic Park movies, most would agree that this would not be a fun experience for society. They also say that cloning could make animals more likely to go instinct as there would be so many similarities amongst animals and the risks of inbreeding. Although there is many debate about whether or not we should continue with cloning, many scientists have started planning for these experiments and even though nothing like that is currently happening, we never know about the future. As of today, most scientists stick to cloning animals and have actually received quite a bit of success and because of that, will probably want to continue. We just need to hope that they know what they are doing.

We as humans have made numerous amounts of scientific advancements whether that be in the medical field, or understanding our world works and functions. Cloning is just one example of technology that just a few decades ago we thought were in the realms of science fiction. With the ability to clone organs or preventing animals from going extinct slowly becoming a reality, it’s important that we are responsible with this power.

Katrina, Josh and Savannah

Sources:

“The Great Cloning Debate; Biology and Politics.” The Economist , Economist Intelligence Unit N.A. Incorporated, 11 May 2002, https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=98&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=3&docId=GALE%7CA87433073&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAS-MOD1&prodId=GPS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA87433073&searchId=R4&userGroupName=43sbo&inPS=true.

Gale In Context Online Collection. “Cloning .” Gale In Context Online Collection, Gale, a Cengage Company, 2019, https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=43sbo&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CATTERJ754384295&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=bookmark-GPS.

Wells, D.N. Animal Cloning: Problems and Prospects. Reproductive Technologies Group, AgResearch Ruakura, 2005, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.495.1254&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

Begley , Sharon. “Spring Cloning .” Newsweek, Newsweek LLC, 30 June 1997, https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=4201&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA19524051&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAS-MOD1&prodId=GPS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA19524051&searchId=R3&userGroupName=43sbo&inPS=true.

Barros, T. (2009). Hello, Dolly! photograph. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/12793495@N05/3233344867/.

Cheek cell lab – Science 10

Posted on by under Science 10

Cheek cell DNA

Cheek cells (stained)

Cheek cells (membrane disruption)

I believe that the first photo of the DNA would be useful in the process of getting DNA because you very clearly see the strands of DNA. Although you’d have to be careful with it, it’s still probably the easiest option to get DNA as it’s already seperated in the liquid. Of the three photos, the first is the easiest option in trying to retrieve that DNA, therefore I believe the first is the most useful.

I think out of the labs, the second one was probably the most interesting to me. I’ve never used a microscope before so it was really cool to be able to see everything up close. To be fair though, all the labs were very cool, I just thought the second was the the best one to observe.

Paper airplanes – Science 10

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For my paper airplane assignment I started off with the question: What size airplane will fly the furthest? I was curious about that because throughout all the times i’ve made paper airplanes I don’t believe i’ve ever questioned how the size of the plane affects the performance. So after doing some research I came up with this hypothesis, if we throw a bigger airplane then it will fly the furthest because it weighs more.

To test my hypothesis I created 3 different sized airplanes: a regular sticky note(14×9.5 cm), an 8×11 and a 11×17. Then I proceeded to throw each one 5 times from the same starting point to see which one on average had the furthest distance.

After my trials I concluded that the smallest paper airplane (sticky note) had an average of 3.48 meters, the medium airplane (8×11) had an average of 4.64 meters and the biggest airplane (11×17) an average of 6.06 meters. So therefore my hypothesis was accepted because the biggest plane which weighs more did end up flying the furthest.

Overall I feel that I learned a lot throughout the process and all of it was super helpful. I learned how to make a propre hypothesis and how to document my date and results in an way that is easy to understand such as the table and graph. I also learned quite a few fun facts about paper airplanes which I probably would’ve never known if it weren’t for this assignment. I think next time I might do a few more trial runs so that I could get a more accurate average and maybe some different airplane designs simply to see if that changes anything.

final week – math 10

Posted on by under Math 10

During the last week of math 10 I spent most of the time studying for the last exam but one thing that I had to refresh my memory about was factoring. I hadn’t done it in a while so I didn’t remeber much but luckiy I was able to go back in the workbook and relearn it. When you are factoring it’s really important that you remember the 1 2 3 rule because that will save you a lot of time. The 1 2 3 rule is to check how to factor it, 1 is there anything in common, 2 is it a binomial and a difference of squares and 3 is there three terms written as x^2, x and then a number. You don’t have to do all 3 for one question though, you just need to use the one that fits. Here’s an example:

Let’s say the question is x^2 + 10x + 24 and you need to factor. using the 1 2 3 methode we can see that hey don’t all have something in common so we can’t use 1. Going to 2 we can see that it isn’t binomial nor is it a difference of squares so in this case we need to use the third. 3 works because it is a trinomial written in the correct format. So because of that essentially all we need to do is find 2 numbers that add up to 10 and when multiplyed it gives us 24. First is finding all the equations that when multiplyed it equals 24. So that’s 1 and 24, 2 and 12, 3 and 8, 4 and 6. next step is finding which one off that list gives us 10 when added together. We can obviously see that it’s 4 and 6 so luckily it isn’t going to be that difficult. And finally to write it we would do ( x + 4 ) ( x + 6 ) and that’s our final answer.

Week 15 – Math 10

Posted on by under Math 10

This week in math 10 I learned how to solve a system using the elimination method. It’s an easy way to find the x and y coordinates and even though there are quite a bit of steps, it’s actually really easy. There is another way to do it, it’s called the substituion method and they both work well but I prefer the elimination one so that’s the one i’ll be explaining. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have the equations, 3x + 9y = 12 and 6x + 15y =3 and we need to find the x and y coordinates of them. So when using the elimination method, the first step is to find a zero pair. It’s not exactly necessary but it’s very helpful and it makes solving a lot easier. So in order to do that we have to multiply one of the equations so that we end up with a zero pair. So in this case we can multiply the whole first equation by -2 for example and then that would make the equations, -6x – 18y = -24 and 6x +15y = 3 but it doesn’t matter what we multiply as long as we get a zero pair. Now we can start finding the coordinates and to do that we are going to add all the like terms in the two equations together and we’re going to get rid of the zero pair. So after that we’ll be left with -3y  = -21. Next step is to isolate the y and to do that we just need to divide both sides by -3 which will result in us having y = 7, and just like that we’ve found the y coordinate. Now to find the x, all we need to do is insert that 7 into the spot of y in one of the equations. It doesn’t matter which one we pick because we’ll get the same answer either way so we’ll just use the first one. So we insert the 7 into the y’s spot which will look like, 3x + 9(7) = 12. Now we multiply the 9 and 7: 3x + 63 = 12, and now we want to isolate the x and to do that we need to take 63 away from both sides and we’ll be left with, 3x = -51. Then to isolate the x even more, we divide both sides by 3 and finally we’ll get x = -17. So those are our coordinates, x = -17 and y = 7.

Week 14 – Math 10

Posted on by under Math 10

This week  in math 10 I learned how to find the y and x intercept when given an equation in general form. It’s very helpful to know this so that you can easily graph the slope without having to do a lot of rearranging. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have the equation 2x – 3y + 12 = 0. We can see that it’s written in general form so obviously we can’t tell much about the actual slope but by doing this trick we can quickly find an easy way to graph it. So the first step to finding the y intercept is to rewrite the equation without the x, which will leave us with: -3y + 12 = 0. Now we want to isolate the y and in order to do that we need to move it to the other side of the equation resulting in -3y = 12. Now to isolate the y even more we need to divide both sides of the equation by 3, and that will give us y = 12/3. and to simplify that even more we can turn the 12/3 into a 4. Finally we will be left with y = 4, which is our y intercept. Now to find the x intercept it’s basically the same thing except with the x. We start by getting rid of the y, giving us 2x + 12 = o. Then we isolate the x: 2x = -12. And then we divide it all by 2: x = -12/2. And once again we simplify the -12/2 which would give us -6. So in this case x = -6 is our x intercept. Now to graph it we would just put those two intercepts on the graph and connect them to get our slope. That’s all 🙂

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