June 1

The Epic Gamer – Rube Goldberg Machine

The Epic Gamer

Goal: The end goal of this machine is for me to be able to turn on my Xbox while seated on the couch and just throwing a roll of toilet paper.

Steps:

A: A roll of toilet paper is thrown by me to the ball.

B: Ball is hit from an inclined plane and rolls down the inclined plane

C: The ball strikes a book creating a domino effect of books

D: The books will knock over a weight which will hit one side of a lever

E: The lever will start the rotation of a fidget spinner

F: The fidget spinner will hit earbuds handing down which will cause them to swing

G: The swinging will cause them to knock down a small speaker which will knock down books in a domino effect

H: The domino effect will lead to the spin bike where a weight will push the pedal forward

I: The wheel will have a fishing rod attached to it and move forward

J: The forward movement of the rod will cause the Xbox to turn on and start my game

 

 

Types of simple machines used:

A. Inclined plane

D. Lever

H. and F. Wheel and axle

Types of energy being used:

  • Chemical Energy: The chemical energy in this machine starts with me. I received chemical energy from the food I ate, and that energy allows me to throw the roll of toilet paper which starts my machine.
  • Mechanical energy; Mechanical energy is the movement of an object from one place to another and so the toilet paper roll gets the energy from me and turns into mechanical energy as I throw it across to my machine.
  • Gravitational energy: The gravitational energy happens once I throw my toilet paper roll and it strikes the stopper I placed. Without gravitational energy, the roll wouldn’t drop down and hit the soccer ball, but the gravitational energy allows it to drop down and hit the ball.
  • Rotational kinetic energy: The rotational kinetic energy is once the soccer ball is struck, it will allow the ball to roll down the inclined plane.
  • Kinetic energy: The kinetic energy would be the several domino effects that I had because a domino effect will convert gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy.
  • Electrical energy: The electric energy in my machine would be once I turn my Xbox on, electricity flows through my Xbox to my tv allowing me to use the tv as a monitor of the Xbox.
  • Sound energy: Near the end of my machine, once the fishing rod hits the button on my Xbox, there is sound energy produced because it makes a sound as it turns on.

Energy transformations:

  1. The first energy transformation is from the chemical energy within my body to throw the toilet paper hitting the ball which causes mechanical energy.
  2. The ball had potential energy as it sat on a higher level but then once it was struck, it got the mechanical energy and changed it into rotational kinetic energy as it rolled down the inclined plane.
  3. The rotational kinetic energy then becomes mechanical energy once again as it strikes the books converting their potential energy into mechanical energy.
  4. The movement of the fishing rod into the button on the Xbox will convert the mechanical energy into 2 different types of energy. First, it will create sound energy as the Xbox will make a sound as it turns on. Secondly, it will create electric energy which transfers from the Xbox to my television where I am then able to play my games.

 

Here is the core competency for my project:

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Category: Grade 10, Science 10, Self-Assessment, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 6

Biotechnology – Whole Genome Sequencing

Whole genome sequencing in an incredible form of biotechnology that has many different uses and can serve as the basis of much more scientific research and advancement to be made. Whole genome sequencing is a process where scientists will be able to sequence your genome and find if there are any errors that will lead to underlying medical conditions that need to be addressed. How whole genome sequencing works is that you will have to give a sample of your DNA (most commonly in the form of blood). Once the DNA is extracted, because DNA is too large, it is broken up by high frequency soundwaves into much smaller and manageable chunks that are approximately 600 bases long. Then tags get added to the ends of the DNA fragments where they are then put on a glass slide to be sequenced. The sequencer will determine the sequence of the bases on each DNA fragment.  Once every section of DNA has been sequenced, it will be put together and compared to another human genome. This is because scientists will observe to see if there are any slight changes in the genome that is causing the patient to have any sort of medical condition or trait. Therefore, the use of whole genome sequencing is to find out what is wrong with the patients’ genome to see if it can be resolved.

Whole genome sequencing has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. It started in around 1977 where Fredrick Sanger developed a technique to find the genome of a virus called Phi X 714. Then in 1995, the organism called Haemophilus influenzae was the first organism to have the entirety of its genome sequenced. These were done first because the genome was much smaller than one of a human, so it made sense to start whole genome sequencing on bacteria and viruses such as these. Then in 1990, a project started called the Human Genome Project (HGP). As you could imagine, the goal of this project was to discover what the human genome is. This project ended in 2003 where scientists and researchers were confident about what the sequence of the human genome is. This project to sequence one human genome costed around 2.7 billion dollars but today it only costs around 1000$ to have your entire genome sequenced. Having this information is crucial because it allows much further research and technology to be advanced now that we know the sequence of the human genome.

An example of a  technology is we can all get our genome tested today, and from that information, we can have results for many different things such as what foods we should eat or even where our ancestors came from. Many companies such as 23andMe use the same type of technology used for whole genome sequencing, but instead of sequencing the entire genome, they only sequence approximately 600 000 of the 3 billion nitrogen-based pairs on what they call “snips” which is in their opinion, the more relevant parts of the genome to determine where your ancestors are from. Using this technology, it is even cheaper than the 1000$ to get your entire genome sequenced and it is only around 200$. The only downside to this is that it will not be as accurate information only using 600 000 nitrogen base pairs, but the cost is only a fraction of getting your entire genome sequenced so it is possibly worth the money.

 

The uses with knowing the human genome and the capability to know the sequence of any human’s genome leads to endless possibilities. The very best usage would be by helping families answer their questions about their child who may possibly have an underlying medical condition. Families will compare the results of their child with somebody who doesn’t have the condition to see where the slight change in the sequence that is causing the child to have this condition. This works well because approximately 99.9% of the human genome is identical within all humans. This means that the small 0.1% of our genome that is unique is what differentiates us from everyone else. What I also found crazy while conducting my research was that Chimpanzees have 99% of the same genome as humans which leads me to believe even more that we all used to be one species. In addition to this, knowing the human genome assists in pharmacogenomics because the data collected from the patients can assist in determining the dosage and the response of certain medications given to the patients.

 

The beautiful thing about Whole Genome Sequencing and knowing the human genome is that it opens the door to so much more biotechnology to come. An example of another biotechnology is human genetic modification and gene editing which will allow us to change someone’s genes, this is starting to become a possibility with the help of Whole Genome Sequencing because we can see which nitrogen bases affect what traits and we can modify that. Another example is at Human Longevity (San Diego based company) while gathering data about people at the age of fifty and up, around 5% of them had a major cancer they weren’t aware of. New technologies can be created using whole genome sequencing to find out if there’s a chance you might develop cancer based on data from your genome and your ancestor’s genome. Companies like Human Longevity are doing great work into the future of this form of biotechnology as their goal is to find solutions to battle diseases that are linked with age.

 

 

Whole Genome Sequencing is an amazing form of biotechnology and it’s going to be the basis for so many more types of technology and advancements in the future. At the moment, it has made a huge impact on so many people and their families because it can discover the underlying medical conditions of the patients and can also reveal so much more information to you. It gives families an answer for what is happening with their child and if it can be treated or not. It has also saved the lives of many children who could be suffering from a really bad condition and needed to have answers immediately. It is a very good technique to get to the bottom of genetic problems and will continue to help our world.

 

 

Resources:

OpenStax College, Concepts of Biology. OpenStax College. 25 April 2013. <http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/concepts-of-biology/get>

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. What Is Whole Genome Sequencing? 12 Feb. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWAE7YdZ_U.

Health, Slingshot. “Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Human Genome Project.” Slingshot Health Blog, 25 Apr. 2019, www.slingshothealth.com/blog/2019/04/25/top-10-breakthroughs-of-the-human-genome-project/.

Mayo Clinic. What Is Genomic Sequencing? 7 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JUu1WqidC4&t=11s.

Venter, Craig. “Opinion | Genetic Sequencing Is the Future of Medicine.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Dec. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2017/12/13/human-genome/.

 

Images:

AL, Cirino. “A Comparison of Whole Genome Sequencing to Multigene Panel Testing in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients.” Genomes to People, www.genomes2people.org/publications/a-comparison-of-whole-genome-sequencing-to-multigene-panel-testing-in-hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy-patients/.

“Difference Between DNA Genotyping & Sequencing.” 23andMe Customer Care, customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/202904600-Difference-Between-DNA-Genotyping-Sequencing.

EnserinkMar, Martin, and Amanda HeidtMay. “Interested in Responsible Gene Editing? Join the (New) Club.” Science, 28 Mar. 2018, www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/interested-responsible-gene-editing-join-new-club.

“Improve Your Gene Editing Success with CRISPR-SNIPER Technology.” GEN, 20 Nov. 2019, www.genengnews.com/sponsored/improve-your-gene-editing-success-with-crispr-sniper-technology/.

Pal, Shital. “Human Genome Project.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 4 Nov. 2014, www.slideshare.net/shitalpal3/human-genome-project-41108918.

Saey, Tina Hesman. “What Genetic Tests like 23andMe Actually Told Me about My Health.” Science News, 21 Aug. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/review-genetic-tests-23andme-veritas-genos-health-comparison.

“Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS).” Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) | Mérieux Nutrisciences Europe, 2018, www.merieuxnutrisciences.com/eu/food-safety-and-quality/contract-research/next-generation-sequencing-ngs/whole-genome-sequencing-wgs.

By Fdardel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6296568

 

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Category: Grade 10, Science 10, Self-Assessment, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 5

Data Visualization

For my project of data visualization, I decided to make 2 different graphs to visualize my data on Pictochart, then I also made something out of RainbowLoom to help visualize my data.

The data I received was from the website statista.com and the data I found was data on the number of deaths from different kinds of cancer in Canada in 2019 alone. The data that I found on this website was already really easy to visualize in itself because it was organized by the different kinds of cancer in a bar graph so you could clearly see which cancers were killing people the most. What I did to help visualize this more was I inserted images of the part of the body cancer affects or just generally something linked to that kind of cancer because I found there were a lot of different kinds of cancers that I had no idea what they affected so it really helped me to have an image beside the graph showing where cancer affects the body.

Then because I didn’t want to just use this data because it didn’t show the people who got cancer but defeated it, I made another graph using the information from www.cancer.ca to find the number of males and females in 2019 that received cancer and also the males and females who passed away from cancer. I found a really good way to represent this data was by using a stacked Venn Diagram because it shows the group of the number of people that received cancer and then out of that group, the ones that unfortunately passed away.

Here is the diagram that I made:

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After I made this Pictochart, I decided I wanted to represent this data in a physical way. So, I was at my house and found my old RainbowLoom and decided it was a good idea to make something out of this.

The following image is my end product:

As you can see from this picture, I had each band on the bracelet represent 100 people that unfortunately lost battles to cancer. Something to note on this representation is that whatever the number of people was, I would always round up to the nearest thousand and never round down. I felt like this was the right thing to do because this is representing people’s lives and I didn’t want anyone to be forgotten.

While doing this project, something that really surprised me was there weren’t as many people who passed away from breast cancer then I thought. I thought it would be the most popular type of cancer and it would be a much higher number then it is. The lung and bronchus cancer did surprise mt thought with the super high number and I did not know that many people suffered from it. My thinking for this is because in this day and age, there is a lot of people smoking cigarettes and vaping and those things have a huge impact on your lungs and it can cause lung and bronchus cancer. Also, when I did the stacked Venn diagram, I was extremely shocked at the survival rate of men and women with cancer. This is because the percentage of people who pass away is approximately 37% and so that means the survival rate is only 63% and I thought the survival rate was much higher than that. I know many people who have been affected by cancer including one of my friends at Riverside and I only know 1 person that passed away from Cancer and approximately 5 people that survived and so I was shocked at how lucky all the survivors are because only a 63% chance of living is not that high.

Overall I feel very happy with this project and feel like I did a good job because I created 3 different ways to represent the data I received. This project also opened my eyes to the different kinds of cancer and how they can affect people

The file below is the raw data I received from statista.com:

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The website I got the data for my second graph on Pictochart is from www.cancer.ca

 

Here is the core competency I did:

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Category: Science 10, Self-Assessment | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 30

Scientific Method and Paper Airplanes

In science class we how to do the scientific method while doing a trial about paper airplanes. In this lab, we had to create a question about paper airplanes and test out if our question would make paper airplanes go a further distance or less of a distance. Our question was how does the placement of extra weight on paper airplanes affect the distance it goes?

Once we had this question, we had to create a hypothesis. Our hypothesis was that when weight is added to the front of the plane it will travel a farther distance because when you put the weight on the back of the plane it will increase the drag and result in the plane going a shorter distance.

We tested our hypothesis by having a paper airplane that had no weight at all and we had that plane as our control group. We then tested two more planes and compared them to the control group. The two other planes had either extra weight on the front or extra weight on the back. We tested each plane 5 times and came up with an average as you can see in the graph below:

The results are fairly consistent and as a group, we are generally happy with what we got. The only thing that we could have done better to make the average more accurate was throw out the trial where we got 9.0 meters in the control group. We should have thrown this trial out because it was almost 2 meters more than the next highest result and so it was a completely inconsistent number and it would dramatically bring the average up with just five trials. So, to make our averages more accurate we should’ve just done another trial with the control group and found a number that was more consistent to use in the average.

Doing these trials, we found that by having weight on the back of the plane dramatically reduces the amount that the plane will fly. We believe this is because it causes more drag on the plane which allows the plane to go a much shorter distance. We also learned that having weight on the front of the plane will make the plane fly slightly farther but not too much of a difference.

Something else we would do differently is to take our measurements from where the plane landed instead of including where the plane glided on the ground. This is because by doing this, there are other variables that we have to consider instead of just the flight distance. For example, dirt can make an effect on how much the plane glides on the ground because if there is more dirt, the plane will most likely glide a smaller distance.

Overall I believe this assignment went well and it was a good introduction into the scientific method.

 

The following images were taken during the assignment:

Category: Science 10, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT