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Browsing category archives: Grade 11
Life Sciences 11-Invertebrate Project
The invertebrate I chose was the Coconut Crab.
Physics 11-Thermos Lab
We were tasked with creating a thermos that would hold in enough heat over an hour, and be visually appealing to the rest of the class. We made a total of 6 prototypes, and the pictures are included in this post.
Planning, Process and Analysis
Prototype 1.
Prototype 2.
Prototype 3
Prototype 4
Prototype 5
Prototype 6
Final Product
Here is the prototype that we decided to use. This was our last prototype, and we decided that it did a fairly good job of holding in the heat, it didn’t stray over budget, and it had a simplistic but asethically pleasing appearance.
The materials we used were
- 1 3-D printed cup
- 1 Styrofoam cup
- 16 sq inch of aluminum foil
- 1 paper cup
- 1/2 a piece of styrofoam packing
We used aluminum foil to hold in the heat because the energy in the heated water would transformed into the form of steam. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed but it can be transformed/transferred from one form of energy to another. By trapping in the heat, we ensured that we would not lose any energy. We also used the 3-D printed cup because the conductivity was a very low value, and would keep the heat in. Thermal energy is based on the speed and energy of molecules with vibrational, rotational or translational energy. By keeping the amount of heat able to leave the thermos low, we ensured that our thermal energy was a high value that would be consistent. We thought since we would get a discount for the 3-D printed cup and it look clean and simple that we would use that and put a styrofoam cup on the inside of the 3-D printed cup. So, the 3-D printed cup acted as a shield to keep the heat in if any heat escapes from the styrofoam cup. For the lid we decided to use tinfoil, styrofoam, and the top of a paper cup. We found that when we only used tinfoil, the material got hot quickly so, we needed an insulator to put in-between the water and the tinfoil. We put the styrofoam at the lower part of the paper cup and then wrapped the cup and styrofoam in tinfoil for an extra lay of protection. It also helped to keep the styrofoam in place so, that we didn’t have to spend money on tape.
In this project, I took the role of the recorder down. So, while my group members preformed each experiment, I wrote down what temperature the water started at, how long we were measuring it for, how much it dropped and what the end temperature was. I also developed the prototype drawings and I kept track of our budget and designed the drawings.
Jiu Jitsu-Physics 11
- Why would a lever be used in Jiu Jitsu? Well, the point of Jiu Jitsu is to out maneuver your opponent and subdue them to keep them from kicking, wrestling or tackling you. The main point is to suppress any opportunities for them to overpower you. A lever is something that you use to push up or down on the opposite side of a force. To define lever, it is something that is capable of rotating on a point on itself. It would be useful even if you are against a larger opponent because weight is not as important then if you know where to strike/take a hold of in order to unbalance your opponent
- Why does Jiu Jitsu follow this progression? What is the background? Jiu Jitsu is mainly focused on unbalancing your opponent based on force and the laws of phsyics. In Jiu Jitsu, the main things you want to do are get your opponent to the ground, get past obstacles such as their legs or arms, control their shoulders and hips in order to stop them from resisting and moving, and make them submit or tap out.
- Why does Jiu Jitsu want to get control? Basically once you get control and maintain it, you’ve won. If your opponent does not have range of motion in their hips, shoulders, legs, or arms, they essentially can do nothing to get back at you, besides squirming on the ground in an attempt to throw you off. If you control their movements, there will be virtually nothing that they can do to harm you or cause you pain in an attempt to regain control. Jiu Jitsu is all about gaining control and maintaining it in order to be victorious.
The reason you want to get your opponent on the ground is that once they are on the ground, it can be hard for them to get back onto their feet if you have the dominant position or if you have control of their body to prevent them from doing so. If you get past their limbs, because legs and arms can hold a lot of power in the muscles, that power can be used to strike you down if you are not completely focused on evading their counters. As for the shoulders and hips, even if you get past their legs, ensuring they cannot move their hips or shoulders is essential if you want to maintain the control that you have. You may have the upper hand after getting past their limbs, but if they can still move their shoulders they can easily place you into a vulnerable position or a choke, and if they are able to move their hips, they can wrap their legs around you and attempt to flip you over. Once you have gained control, the last thing you want them to do is to submit or tap. This means that they realize you have won and they have accepted that they were not successful in defeating you.
Below there are 3 different kinds of positions that are labelled with a lever, fulcrum, load and force.
The Class 1 Lever which is in all the examples I chose is when the fulcrum is located between the input and the output force.
This below is a Class 1 lever. The official name for this is called the Arm Bar. In this technique, Ryan’s arm is grabbed with Sean’s arm and Ryan’s forearm is placed onto Sean’s chest. To lock the arm, all Sean would have to do is to lean back and then arch his hips.This puts a lot of pressure on the elbow joint, which is not very flexible when hyperextended compared to when it is normally extended, and it would cause Ryan to tap out.
This again is a Class 1 lever. The name for this is called the Knee Bar. The way this works is that the force is applied to Mr. Brown’s knee joint and cause it to be forced in the opposite way of its actual form. If you think about it, your knee has way less flexibility and dexterity when it is forced to bend the opposite way of how the bones are aligned. The pressure is again put on such a vulnerable part of the body that it would be painful to not tap out. In theory, a bar could be used against any chosen limb, as all you need to do is to use the force of your body against an isolated limb of your opponents.
This below is yet again another Class 1 lever, which is called the Straight Arm Lock. The Straight Arm Lock again, has the aim to place an extreme amount of pressure behind the opponents elbow. The direction the force is applied needs to be the opposite way of how the elbow naturally bends. The main source of pressure in this is the hands behind the ulnar process of the elbow. There is a small pocket behind that you can perfectly place your hands palm-to-palm in order to maintain a proper, tight grip.. Now, Sean has trapped Mr. Brown’s wrist with his hand. Being kept in this position for an increased amount of time with an increasing amount of pressure is unbearable, and ultimately the pressure of such a fragile muscle/ligament on such an odd angle makes the fight very vulnerable.
Newton’s Laws of Motion Video Project
What Darwin Never Knew-Life Science 11
Charles Darwin was an outside-of-the-box thinker during his time, and questioned what we really knew back then about evolution and the origin of our species. He made his first discovery in Argentina, which would turn out to be a very influential discovery. He discovered that certains kinds of finches and tortoises on the Galapagos Islands differed in certain characteristics, depending on which island they lived upon.
As he came to the conclusion that although these birds and tortoises were the same, the species had adapted to suit whichever island they lived on. He also studied dog breeders, and how the best specific traits from both parents were passed down. This is called natural selection, and the pattern was that the creatures that survived were the best suited to the environment they lived in. Each generation would have varied characteristics, that would allow the fit to remain fit and the less fit to die off or vanish. During his time on the islands, he managed to find enough research to publish the book, “On the Origin of Species,” . This book also shared his research and discoveries that not all DNA stayed the same. The genes that passed on would mutate, and result in genetic change. An excellent example of this would be whales. Whales still have vestigial organs, which are organs they were born with, but have no use for. Whales have hipbones in their bone structure, seeing as they use to roam on the land instead of water. Now, whales are completely adapted to the water environment, and have no use for hipbones anymore. 
This can help explain why the bones of the human ear developed from fish gills, and that prehistoric fish eventually evolved to provide us now with the genes for arms and legs. While humans have been distantly related from fish, humans shared a 1% difference in the DNA of humans and chimps. The differences in the DNA sequences were in the switch gene, which were in a gene that involved the brain. The brain is one of the signature human organs, and the other one is the hands/thumbs. 
In conclusion, Charles Darwin’s discovery and research put into DNA can help prove that humans did in fact evolve from fish, and knowing that, we can trace back the in-between stages of humans and fish. Today, we can understand that chimps and humans are very closely related, and we can’t help but wonder if the chimps will evolve to be able to preform some of the functions we also do.
Image 1 from Socratic.org
Image 2 from Owutranscript.com
Life Sciences 11-6 Kingdoms
Each Kingdom has 2 examples and reasons of why I categorized these organisms as such. All images are from google.
Kingdom 1. Eubacteria
Spirillia fits into the Eubacteria kingdom because it has the ability to cause diseases and it can live in any place that is poor in sanitation or can be found in raw and uncooked poultry and meats.
Cocci also fits in the Eubacteria kingdom because it causes abcesses, boils and other infections of the skin. It doesn’t always causes disease, but it is responsible for causing pnemonia and mengingitus. Another version of bacteria also originates in the throat or skin and causes strep throat and scarlet fever.
Kingdom 2. Archaebacteria
Euryarchaeota (Archaeglobus fulgidus) fits into the Archaebacteria kingdom because it produces methane and lives in water with a high salt level, which is an extreme conditon.
Another example is crenarchaeota, (Acidilobus saccharovorans), which can live in extreme temperatures or in locations with extreme acidity.
Kingdom 3. Protista
An amoeba is an example of a protist because it moves by changing its shape and also lives in aquatic or moist environments. An amoeba also can be parasitic.
Sporozoans (Plasmodium) is also a protist because it causes malaria in humans, and can be classified as being parasitic. They do not posess structures that can move, and instead feed off their hosts to live. They also alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction.
Kingdom 4. Fungi
Yeast is an example of a fungi because it can be found in pharmacies used in probiotics to help protect human’s against harmful diseases. However, it can also cause yeast infections in humans with a low immune system, which can be harmful if it gets in their bloodstream. 
Mold is also an example because it was used to produce penicilin and to make cheese. Mold can contaminate starchy foods, and it can also be found on fruits and old bread. When this mold is ingested it can be very harmful and cause cancer and birth defects. Many kinds of fungi can be dangerous and beneficial to humans at the same time.
Kingdom 5. Plantae
An Angiosperm (mango/apple/grass) is an example of a plantae because it produces flowers and it is also an autotroph, which is a plant that prepare their foods, which are most green coloured plants. They also have chloroplasts and mitochondria in order to photosynthesis and thus are multicellular.
Another example is moss. Moss is an example because it is a eukyarotic organism that reproduces through the formation of spores. It is also an autotroph and prepares their own food, since it is a green coloured plant. Moss also have chloroplasts and mitrochondria and it is multicellular.
Kingdom 6. Animalia
An example is in the Phylum Mollusca category. These are multicellular and are in charge of finding their own food, making them heterotrophs. They can sexually reproduce and are an important part of the ecosystem. They also breathe oxygen, consume organic material, and are able to move.
Another example is the Ladybug, which is in the Phylm Anthropoda. These are also multicellular and eukaryotic. They are in charge of finding their own leaves to eat, and are hetertrophs. Since they breathe oxygen and are able to fly and move, they are in the Kingdom Animalia. They also are able to sexually reproduce by laying eggs.