Category Archives: Science 9

Grade 9, Science 9, Self-Assessment

-InnovationProject:HoloBox-

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For our Innovation Projects in Science, Maebel and I did the Dragons’ Den Presentation and it was pretty fun. We also ended up helping our friend cause her entire group was gone. Overall I really loved seeing what other people thought of and It was amazing.

Since I did the project with Maebel, we’re similar in the way we think so we both had to focus on Critical Thinking. I would do my best to ask pretty open ended questions and gather info but lots of them just became closed questions but I did do my best to gather info about them but not a lot. While researching I didn’t keep an eye out for fake info so Maebel would have to decipher it for me, though sometimes I would catch fake info. With some of the fake info, it’d also be hard to tell differences between fact, opinion, and judgement but I think I did my best, though I don’t think I did a good job.

For the collaboration portion, I really liked collaboration with Maebel, we became real friends and we think things the same way so it was easy to collaborate. I wish I could’ve contributed a lot to the psychical construction portion, just because Mabel did most of the building and I wish I have more physical examples rather than saying them out, I should’ve made some slides… Overall we did awesomely. Our artistic strength combined really helped a lot and when we were stuck it’d be easy for us to pick up where we lost. 

With the experiance itself I loved it. It was a cool idea for whoever came up with it. I esspeically loved how they gave us lots of time to plan and prioritize as well as create and practice everything. I wish I spent more time on the presentation itself rather than 80% on the actual product but it was still an awesome lesson. I learned a lot about collaberating in different ways as well as creating something specifically for one problem and expanding it to fix others.  

Yup, that’s my reflection. Have a good day! 

Grade 9, Science 9

The Story of the Little Cell that Could

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(Since this is a very serious topic, I decided to child it down a bit. Not to offend anyone, it’s just that If I did it more serious it’d just make a sad. Also, note that I’ve only put one picture in because I want to do the rest later and I don’t want to take someone else’s) 

So it all starts in the Sympathetic Nervous System, in that there is something called an “Adrenal Medulla” and they are made up of Chromaffin Cells. 

Our story begins when a Chromaffin Cell starts growing a Neuroendocrine Tumor, which kinda turns him evil.

By doing so the Chromaffin Cell is now infected which start affecting the other cells around him. Since that a couple cells are affected, this causes Chromaffin Cell to start over-producing hormones (or Catecholamines) with his new infected friends.

Since they’re in the Sympathetic Nervous System, they will likely settle near the head and neck area to grow outside the adrenal gland.

While they’re overdoing the production of hormones, this causes the body they live in to have high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, severe headaches, chest or abdominal pain, etc.

Because of this, the body they live in is more likely to die from heart attacks and strokes.

Not to worry though because there is a cure since the cells are in the tumour the simplest way is to get surgery to remove the Chromaffin Cell and his friends from the body. After that, the body is more obligated to live a healthier life without the Evil cell in them.

So that was the story but I’ll go into more detail about Paraganglioma.

First off, though it’s very similar, it’s not the same as Pheochromocytoma (such a mouth full) because a Paraganglioma tumour grows outside the adrenal glands.

Paraganglioma is pretty vague with how the Chromaffin Cell gets infected in the first place, but it’s obviously not a good thing. Paraganglioma is so bad that because it heavy affects a cell, it can be passed down genetically to your children.

Honestly, when I first started this project I really didn’t think I could so it seriously so like you saw up there, I simplified it. It was pretty easy with all the information I got from doing all the research cause if you put it in a really easy analogy it makes everything a lot clearer.

Though I kept running into fake websites, thanks to past lessons it was easy to see which was real. I used tools like Microsoft Word, Grammarly, one note, etc.

I wish I had more time to do drawings but I might just add them in next week if I have time.

That’s what I got, hope you enjoyed!

(Websites I used:

FloridaHospital.com- https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjE26-f8onUAhUCs1QKHdOoBV0QFggnMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.floridahospital.com%2Fparagangliomas%2Fsymptoms-and-signs-paragangliomas&usg=AFQjCNGuABVdqQonASA6eBzdBWyXmOUPAg&sig2=xPfTvtcoYrUZAE_ixANR4g

Cancer.gov- https://www.cancer.gov/types/pheochromocytoma/patient/pheochromocytoma-treatment-pdq

EndocrineDiseases.org- http://endocrinediseases.org/adrenal/paraganglioma.shtml

Britannica.com- https://www.britannica.com/science/chromaffin-cell

ColumbiaSurgery.org- http://columbiasurgery.org/conditions-and-treatments/paraganglioma

CancerNetwork.com- http://www.cancernetwork.com/oncology-journal/paraganglioma-potentially-challenging-tumor)

 

 

 

Grade 9, Science 9

=DNAModel=

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So today we made DNA models out of marshmallows and twizzlers.

It was fun, Maebel was a fun partner. Along with that I had to answer a few questions.

  1. How are chromosomes, DNA, and genes related to one another (you will need to research this) They are related because since the DNA are important to make you unique and special so to make you, you. You have Genes which are located on the chromosomes which give the DNA specific traits that act like code for how you are made.
  2. Explain what these pieces represent:
    1. Licorice represent the backbone holding the strand together
    2. Marshmallows represent the four bases in DNA (Thymine=Orange, Adenine=Yellow, Guanine=Green, Cytosine=Pink)
  3. How did this activity help you understand the structure of DNA

          It helps me understand which DNA bases go together, how it looks, and what the backbone is for.

That was a fun lab.

Have a great day!

 

Grade 9, Science 9

=CellLab=

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So in Science we did a lab about looking at cells under a microscope and… It was really odd… I mean, it was fun but most of the time I was kind of confused with “IS THIS IS THE CELL???” So yeah.. Sorry to all the science experts out there.

But now I shall share my findings:

  1. (Right circle is the plant cells, Left is the animal cells)

a)Under the microscope, the plant cells looked like bricks of a wall. So I guess I saw the cell walls? Second biggest part of a plant cell is the vacuole but I don’t know if I saw that.

b) Under the microscope, the animal cells looked like confetti dots. I think I saw Cytoplasm? I don’t know about the Ribosomes, Nucleus and Mitochondria

2. For my logic, I think I would’ve figured it out with the idea of the plant cells look like a wall and only plant cells have plant walls?

3. I think it’s because dead skin doesn’t really have a colour because since it’s not part of your body anymore it shows no real colour of blood or pigment so in order to see it you need to dye it something.

4. I learned that A) A microscope is hard to use, B) I should not be trusted with one, C) Cells look cool through a microscope, D) It’s hard to take a picture through a microscope, E) Plant cells to me, look cooler than animal cells, and F) Setting up a slide is pretty difficult.

So that’s what I learned about the lab. My lab partner Kass also took a picture of my cells through the lens, which look pretty cool.

Have a great day, I have nothing else to say.

Grade 9, Science 9

=HologramsProposal=

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Our proposal is to create holograms for the public.

Define: Pros to Holograms:

  • Holograms could provide a 3D space for presenters that need a 3D model
  • Special effects for entertainment
  • Prototype model for inventors
  • 3D effects movies, tv shows, and videos
  • Used for online communication worldwide

Discover:

Using the “Pepper Ghost Illusion” https://diyhacking.com/diy-hologram/ and the idea for a How To Make Light Bulb Smart Phone Projector At Home Easy DIY Light Bulb and Shoe Box Projector.

We learned that holograms have been made (ish) but not like in Star Wars, so we’re doing a basic hologram with plastic and a smartphone. We’re taking a really intense idea and kind of simplifying it so that it’s doable but still representing our bigger idea. We learned that holograms or Holography (Study of holograms) can range from actual light distortions from shadows and mirrors so we’re using a mix of both with mirrors and light distortion.

Holograms can replace 3D printers which cost a lot of materials and damage the ecosystem and with the built in speaker enhancer  it can play videos in movies instead of going to the movie theatre to watch something 3D.

Dream:

  • Replace 3d Printers
  • Can save money from going to the theatre
  • Helps 3d modellers create objects easier
  • Minimizes the amount of electronics you need to buy

Deliver:

We were able to come up with a device with a built in speaker enhancer, hologram and light inside it so people can see it inside out:

This is what we hope to make.

Hope you enjoyed!

 

 

 

Grade 9, Science 9

-StaticElectricityDiscoveries-

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Hey! So in Science we’ve been learning about Static Electricity and it’s pretty fun coming from someone who’s not that passionate about science.. It’s a simple topic but there are some things to note about it that really surprised me the most:

 –Static electricity hurts (Trust me)

 -Electrons are for the Negatively charge atoms, not the Neutrons (I’ve made this mistake too many times)

  -The metal robs on some buildings are used to ground electricity

 -Socks are great conductors (Don’t ask)

 

It’s very easy to understand with some labs and the one that worked the most for me was our “Car Race” where we balanced a meter stick on something and used static electricity from two objects to rotate the stick. It made me question a lot of things as well as answer things for me. So that’s science so far!