January 20

Sammy the Sperm

This is the story of Sammy Sperm, Sammy was born in the testicle. He spent a while there but he moved into his new home at the Epididymis. Sammy had a good life there and one day he decided to travel into Vagina land. So he hopped in his car and drove on the Vas Deferens highway. He drove over the bladder lake and made it to the seminal vesicle diner. Where he got nourished and ready to head out. But before he could go he had to make a spot at P.G. Acid Proofing so he could get into Vagina land.

Finally, he made it, he was in Vagina land, he was at the cervix station. Sammy decided to stop at Uterusville where he would stay for awhile. But one day Sammy noticed that there was another road so he went up Oviduct road where he met Ms. Ovum. She came from Ovary Island and they instantly came together like a happy couple.

The End.

January 20

My Gene Mutation Story

Hello I am Dwarfism or achondroplasia, I started in the FGFR3 gene. I am a gene inside of Tim.

When Tim was born he had me. When I was made I kept Tim’s trunk the same size as a normal baby but, I made all his limbs smaller.

It is easy to see when I am inside a person because not only is your trunk a normal size but I make the head normal to. Making his head look way bigger than his body

. You will notice that with Tim his fingers are further apart than usual, and yes sorry that was my fault. I am not a very nice gene, I will only let you be 4ft tall maximum, but that is only because I love short people!

People think I am a bad thing but honestly I do it just because small people are awesome!
Since Tim is unnaturally small he can go in the McDonald’s play place without being questioned. But then he is always questioned when he buys videogames or goes to a bar.
See I do have my ups and downs but I am always frowned upon.

When making the mutation story I asked myself, what are the good things about it, what are the bad? I asked myself well what gene did I start in? Where did the gene come from?
When I created this project I used government websites on this that was a new but I also used a citation machine for my recourses. That was not new for me.
When I searched the topic I first started with regular social media apps then progressed into more advanced websites. That is how I found out Dwarfism comes from gene FGFR3. Then I had to come up with ideas that would be probable real life situations such as going to the bar or McDonalds.
I used a website called the citation machine to cite my info using a APA style resource.
When making this project I noticed it was harder to do a project on something you did not at first want to do making it harder to start. At first I wanted to do the DEC 2 mutation then noticing it was taken I was forced to switch.
Achondroplasia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2016, from http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/achondroplasia
(n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achondroplasia

January 7

DNA Bracelet Blog

What is the genetic code?

it is a set of 3-letter words. Each group of three letters is called a codon,  or is a DNA-triplet. Also each group of three letters, DNA is an instruction for one  amino acid. These groups make up your genes, what makes you you. Humans and their genes are normally 99.9% the same.

What is RNA for?

RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and have proteins and carbohydrates. RNA has many jobs some are coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes.  RNA can also be MRNA and that has something called a ribosome, a ribosome reads the codons. And makes the genes, one gene makes one protein block.

How does my bracelet model the genetic code?

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This is my genetic code, I made my name, Brandon each letter was given a code in colours so each three fruit loops is a letter.

Here is my code : GCA CGT GCT AAC GAT AAT AAC

B     R        A      N       D       O      N

My bracelet used the code above to form my name in code. Although the colour choice may seem weird the legend was clear to understand

G = Green

C =  pink

A = Orange

T = Purple

January 5

Edible DNA Blog

What is DNA?

DNA is made of 2 strands, those strands alternate between sugar and phosphate. The DNA is made of four nitrogen containing bases; adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. It is every cell in your body it also plays a part in what you are like.

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What does everything represent?

Licorice – The 2 strands of sugar and phosphate

Marshmallows :

– Green – Guanine

– Yellow – Adenine

– Pink – Cytosine

– Orange – Thymine

Toothpicks –  The steps of the ladder

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Did the activity help me understand DNA structure?

Yes, peforming a hands-on analysis of a DNA structure gave me a better understanding on how a DNA structure works rather than looking at a visual image.

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December 6

Expanding Universe

In our lab assignment we had a balloon represent the universe and how it expands and we had dots on the ballon representing different galaxies that were made.  The more the “Universe” expanded the further away the other galaxies got.

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During the lab we had E and D seperate the furthest from the group as we had A and B stay close to the milkyway.

I noticed that the bigger the balloon got the farther the letters got

The model shows that other galaxies are slowly seperating and our universe is getting bigger.

A balloon if it gets to big it will pop, explode our universe will not it will just keep on getting bigger.

November 29

BC Power Story

Electricity Generation

Hydroelectric generation

Hydroelectric generation starts with the head gate of the dam and the damn makes a smaller pathway for water intake and doing that and bringing it downhill will increase speed of the water. And when that water is speeding up there is a turbine at the bottom of the dam that will be twirled, pushed around in circles by that water at an increased speed.

That turbine in motion will start to power the generator. The generator picks up and starts producing electricity. That electricity moves towards a transformer which will transmit the electricity into a transmission tower that goes into the city where another transformer is and after that those towers go to your home.

Pros: Efficient, doesn’t pollute the air, keeps water flow

Cons: Effects fish to be able to travel up stream, can cause floods, expensive to maintain

Hydroelectric-generating-station1

Buntzen Lake 3

 

 

Thermal Generation

Thermal generation starts with a water tank that water tank carries lots of water. Underneath the water tank there are burners or chemical energy this is used to turn the water into superheated steam. That will rise into a small passage and then in a small tunnel push around the turbines so they rotate and power the generator. All the excess water from the steam gets sent down into a condenser and the condenser will push he water back into the same loop.

Pros: Fossil fuel is easy to find, easily transportable, resources are cheap

 

Cons: pollution, dangerous to be around, noisy

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Electricity Transmission:

Once electricity is generated by one of the above, it is brought into a pylon or a transmission tower. Those towers will carry the electricity to a city it will travel into a transformer.

electrical-transformers

Once the electricity is brought to a transformer most of the electricity is stored and then slowly distributed to make it more manageable. It is redistributed into a smaller pylon which you can see along the side of the roads, you can also see a cord that heads right into your house.

 

 

 

Sources:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/hydropower-plant.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/physics/energy_matters/generation_of_electricity/revision/1/

Image / video sources :

http://Teachnuclear.ca

http://suncruisermedia.com/Home/rv-travel/buntzen-lake-recreation-area%3A-a-paradise-for-hikers-and-cano/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnPEtwQtmGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km1M4Hbt-io

November 10

Francium

Francium is an alkali medal with 87 protons and 136 neutrons and 87 electrons

Francium is an element on the periodic table, this element is in the alkali metals group, making this metal part of a very reactive group. This highly reactive metal is also at the bottom of the table making it the most reactive, scientists have discovered the further down and to the left you go on the periodic table the more reactive the element.

Francium modern atomic theory

This picture represents the development of our modern atomic theory currently the latest stage is from 1926 after the Bohr model

Modern atomic theory

Questions:

What is some history?

What was in our project:

Francium was discovered in France, and of course named after the country that it was discovered in. It was discovered by Marguerite Perey in 1939, in Paris at the Curie Institute.

What I can now explain and know:

Francium was discovered, as stated in the original project, in France, at the Curie Institute in Paris. Marguerite Catherine Perey had discovered it in 1939. After being discovered it had been named after the nation it had been discovered and first ever studied in by a great scientist of the time, this being the first genuine discovery after a few false discoveries from 1879 up until her great discovery of the element.

How much Francium is on Earth’s crust at any given time?

What was in our project:

Not as much as you would think, there is only ever 30g of Francium on Earth and any one time.

What I can now explain and know:

Again as stated in the project, not as much as one would think, as there is only ever around 30 grams or 1 ounce of Francium on Earth’s crust at any given time due to its short half-life.

What is Francium’s boiling point:

What was in our project:

Francium has a boiling point of 676.8 degrees Celsius.

What I can now explain and know:

Being a basic question, there isn’t much more to add on to this statement, as Francium’s boiling point is 676.8 degrees Celsius, or 677 degrees Celsius when rounded.

Where is Francium on the periodic table:

What was in our project:

Francium is an element of the Alkali Metals and is in period 7 of the periodic table.

What I can now explain and know:

As stated within the original project, Francium is an element of the Alkali Metals, The first column on the periodic table, which happens to be the grouping of the most reactive metals, and Francium sits in the 7th period, or row, on the periodic table.

What is it’s atomic weight and density?

What was in our project:

Francium’s density of 1.873g/cm makes it a heavy element, weighing in at 223 AMU.

What I now can explain and know:

Along the way of research, I learned that Francium is a dense element, having a density of 1.873g/cm and weighing in at 223 AMU. In comparison water has a density of around 1g/cm.

What is Francium’s atomic number?

What was in our project:

After the discovery of Caesium, scientists always thought there should be another alkali metal just under it with the atomic number of 87, and then in 1939, it was discovered, and that element is Francium.

What I now can explain and know:

There isn’t much else to say or add onto what was within the project as this is a pretty basic question. It is kind of engraved in my head now though that the atomic number of Francium is 87, sort of funny how after researching something for a while, certain details get stuck in your mind.

What state would Francium usually be in?

What was in our project:

Well, as Francium’s melting point is only 27 degrees Celsius, in many normal conditions it would be a solid but in a relatively warm environment could be a liquid.

What I now can explain and know:

This does seem to be a somewhat good question as it is a kind of odd element with it’s melting point being only 27 degrees Celsius, just a bit above a regular room temperature. So if you could obtain enough Francium to say have a bowl of it or something, you could easily have a bowl or container of some sort of liquid Francium in a warm room.

How does Francium occur or ‘get created’? Naturally or synthetically?

What was in our project:

Francium, while it is a standard practice to purposely create it in a lab for observation by scientists, it can and has occurred and been found naturally.

What I now can explain and know:

Well, there is not much to add on to this, but again is a good question, as not much of it occurs at all, so it is a good question to raise about how it is made. Of course as stated in the project, it does occur naturally but it is often created in labs for basic scientific study.

What is Francium used for?

What was in our project:

Francium, due to it’s instability and it’s extreme rarity, it has absolutely no commercial uses and there would likely never be enough of it accumulated for any type of uses.

What I now can explain and know:

Francium does not have many uses, only one in fact. As it is extremely rare, unstable and radioactive, it does not have any commercial uses and it only is used and/or created for basic scientific study within a lab.

What would Francium look like?

What was in our project:

Francium has never been viewed in bulk, but it has been assumed, based off of the other elements in it’s column on the periodic table, that it would appear to be a highly metallic metal.

What I now can explain and know:

There isn’t really anything else to say or add on to this question. I have learned that it has been assumed, that it would appear to be a highly metallic metal

              What is Francium’s atomic symbol?

What was in our project:

Francium’s atomic symbol is Fr, an abbreviation of it’s name.

What I now can explain and know:

Again, not much more to add on to it, the atomic symbol is Fr, as it is an abbreviation of its name, in which comes from the country it was discovered in.

What is the melting point?

What was in our project:

Francium, although being a metal, still melts at only a low 27 degrees Celsius, meaning that if you could actually obtain enough of it, you would have liquid Francium in a warm room.

What I now can explain and know:

As this is a simple question, there isn’t much more to add, it melts at 27 degrees Celsius again meaning that it could easily be liquid in a warm environment.

 

 

 

 

 

Resources:

(ChemiCool.com, 2015) (Wikipedia, 2015)

Francium Powerpoint

September 21

Test GEE

I know how to work edublogs but, for science class we are doing  a test to see if we can post 2 different pictures one from google and one from your photos

Image one:

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Image two:

 

Video:

I like this video because it’s a music video from a movie I enjoyed. (I really like video games!)