Science 9

Currents From the Kitchen Lab

Purpose:

Which fruit will create the most electric voltage?

Hypothesis:

The fruit that will create the most electrical voltage is the lemon or orange.

Reasoning:

I believe that the lemon/orange will create the most electrical voltage is the lemon/orange because of the acidity, which will conduct electricity better than the other fruits which are less acidic.

sliced lemon on white backgroundorange fruit on white surface

Materials:

  • 1 voltmeter
  • 2 wires
  • 1 nail
  • 1 copper strip
  • lemon
  • orange
  • fruit 3

Procedure:

  1. Connect 2 wires to a voltmeter
  2. Connect the wires to a strip of metal
  3. Put the strip of metal into the fruit
  4. Measure the voltage with the different fruits
  5. Find the fruit with the greatest charge

Images:

Observations:

Most of the fruits gave us a charge of 0.4V, except for the apple and cantaloupe, and the larger pieces of fruits were the ones giving us the largest charges, so that may have been a factor in the results. I also observed that when the wires were moved, the voltage would change slightly on the voltmeter. When we were trying to light the led light, it wasn’t working out, until we tried a different method of connecting the copper strips and the nails in an alternating pattern.

Results:

  • potato – 0.4V
  • apple – 0.3V
  • lemon – 0.4V
  • pear – 0.4V
  • cantaloupe – 0.6V
  • orange – 0.4V

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the most important finding was that the acidic fruits and the potato, which is high in sodium, gave off a larger charge than the non-acidic and low sodium fruits/vegetables did. However, the cantaloupe, which was the largest fruit, gave off the largest charge.

My hypothesis was supported because I predicted that the acidic fruits would create the most electrical voltage, and they did create more voltage than the non-acidic fruits, however, I didn’t mention the sodium part in my hypothesis.

Some questions I have are: how long would the fruits be able to create electrical voltage? Would it be enough to light/power any electronics? Will the size of the fruits affect the amount of voltage the fruits create?

Questions:

What is causing electrons to flow in this experiment?

The nail is coated in zinc, which loses some electrons, those electrons move through the wire, to the voltmeter, then the copper strip. The electrons flow from the negative (the nail), to the positive (the copper strip).

What are the independent, dependent, and controlled variables?

independent: the different fruits that were used

dependent: the amount of electrical voltage that the fruits produced

controlled: the same equipment was used for all the fruits (nail, copper strip, wires, voltmeter)

How can we modify this experiment to improve the results?

We can modify it by increasing the amount of times you test each fruit, if you test them at least 3 times and average the results, you will get more accurate results.

What could be sources of error or uncertainty in this experiment?

A source of error in this experiment would be if the wires weren’t connected to the voltmeter properly, or if the size of the fruits were different, which could affect the results.

How could you use this in your everyday life?

You can use this in your everyday life by using circuits to power things with voltage, since you need to know that electrons flow, and they must flow in a circuit. You can also apply the knowledge of acidic fruits being the best conductors of electrical voltage if you’re planning to power different electronics.

Fictional Safety Story

One day, in our Science 9 class, our teacher, Mr. Miller, told us we were going to do a lab involving bleach. He gave us instructions on how to do the experiment, which are as follows:

  1. Fill a cup with water to the halfway mark
  2. Add food colouring and mix the liquids
  3. Slowly add a few drops of bleach into the water
  4. Observe what happens when you add the bleach into the water

Materials needed:

  • beaker (this is used to measure liquids in ml, heating liquids, or stirring liquids.)
  • eye dropper (used to measure/transfer a controlled amount of liquids)
  • safety goggles (to protect your eyes during a lab)
  • bleach
  • water
  • food colouring

This lab seemed extremely simple and fun, and I was looking forward to doing it the next day, but little did I know what was going to happen that day.

When it was time for science class, we all arrived on time, eager to do the lab, but a few minutes into the class, the fire alarm suddenly went off, and the air started smelling like smoke. Mr. Miller instructed us to stay calm and to line up at the door, but one of the students started to panic and opened the window to try and jump out, however we were able to calm him down and the class lined up at the door and walked outside in an orderly fashion, using the directed route and as calmly as possible. Everyone was able to get out of the school safely, and no serious damage happened to the school, a small fire happened in the oven in the Foods classroom.

At this point, school was almost over, so our teacher dismissed us and told us we would do the lab tomorrow. We were disappointed, but at least we were going home!

The next day, nothing out of the ordinary happened, so we were able to set the lab up. The bleach had an HHPS symbol on it, which looked like this:

HHPS Symbols Practice (copy) Flashcards | Quizlet

Mr. Miller told us that this symbol meant that the bleach is dangerous, which is indicated by the octagon, and corrosive (which is shown by the hand), which means it can destroy your skin or other materials it comes into contact to, and we should be cautious while using it.

Right before we started the experiment, a student from the Foods class asked if we had any oven cleaner, since their oven was burnt yesterday. I handed it to her, and I noticed it had a similar symbol on it:

SNC2P

Mr. Miller told me that this symbol means that the product is explosive, and we should use caution while using it. Once I gave her the oven cleaner, we were ready to start the experiment. We filled the beaker with water and added the food colouring, then slowly added the bleach with the eye dropper. The water began to lose the colour when we added the bleach, so we wrote down our findings and finished the lab. However, our group finished early and wanted to do a bit more, so someone suggested that we use a hot plate (which is used to heat things up) to heat up the beaker, just to see what happens.

Mr. Miller was out of the room, so I said we should wait to get his permission to do it, but my group had already went ahead and did it. I tried to stop them, but they had found gasoline and started to pour it in with a funnel (which is used to pour in liquids into small openings). I saw two WHMIS symbols on the can:

CCOHS: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

I recognized this one as flammable, which means it is easily set on fire.

Hazard symbol - Wikipedia

This one means that it can cause death or serious injury with a small amount of exposure.

I went over and knocked the can out of their hands, but the gasoline made it onto the hot plate and it set on fire. We called for Mr. Miller, and we followed the same procedure that we did yesterday, and I pulled the fire alarm on the way out. Once we had gotten out of the school and the fire department arrived, Mr. Miller confronted our class and asked who messed with the gasoline and hot plates when he was out of the classroom.

I was conflicted between telling him the truth because I didn’t want to take the blame for this and get in trouble… but I spoke up and told him what our group did. He was disappointed and spoke to us, telling us about the consequences of our actions. We got suspended for 1 week, and our group wasn’t allowed to participate in labs from then on, so we learned our lesson from that.

 

Map of the classroom:

Reproduction Comparison

Similarities/Differences of Mitosis and Meiosis

Similarities:

  • They both include 4 stages, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase (PMAT)
  • They both produce new cells.
  • Both mitosis and meiosis start from one parent cell.

Differences:

  • Mitosis only goes through one cycle of PMAT, while meiosis has two cycles of PMAT.
  • Mitosis happens in all organisms except viruses, while meiosis occurs in animals, fungi, and plants.
  • Mitosis only has one cell division, meiosis has two cell divisions.
  • In mitosis, crossing over or recombination aren’t involved, however there is crossing over and recombination in meiosis.
  • The daughter cells produced are genetically identical with mitosis, however in meiosis, the daughter cells are genetically unique.
  • Mitosis creates two new daughter cells, and meiosis creates four new daughter cells.
  • The daughter cells in mitosis have 46 chromosomes, but the daughter cells in meiosis have 23 chromosomes.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Asexual Reproduction

Advantages:

  •  Asexual reproduction only requires one parent cell, so no time/energy is spent finding a mate
  • It only takes a short amount of time for asexual reproduction to happen
  • There is little risk of genetic mutation with asexual reproduction

Disadvantages:

  • The offspring from asexual reproduction has no genetic diversity
  • The lack of genetic diversity leads the population to a higher risk of getting wiped out from a disease or virus.
  • It is more difficult for the offspring to adapt to certain environments/habitats.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Sexual Reproduction

Advantages:

  • There is genetic diversity with offspring derived from sexual reproduction
  • Low risk of the entire population getting wiped out from a disease or virus.
  • The offspring has a higher chance of being able to adapt to certain environments/habitats

Disadvantages:

  • Two parents are required for sexual reproduction, which costs time and energy
  • The duration of sexual reproduction is much longer than asexual reproduction, so an increase of population will take much longer.
  • Sexual reproduction is not guaranteed to create offspring

 

Asexual vs. Sexual Reproduction

Asexual and sexual reproduction are two very different ways to reproduce, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, but which one is more beneficial in the long run? Asexual reproduction only needs one parent cell to reproduce, and that reduces the time and energy needed to find a mate for sexual reproduction. However, the offspring from asexual reproduction has no diversity, and if the parent has any disease, genetic mutation, etc. the offspring will inherit it. Another con of asexual reproduction is that one virus could eliminate the whole population due to the lack of genetic diversity, while sexually reproduced offspring has a greater chance of surviving that due to more diversity in the offspring. However, increasing population is quicker and easier through asexual reproduction, as a result of only needing one parent cell and less time needed to create offspring. Weighing both sides’ pros and cons, I believe that the better method of reproduction depends on the circumstance, because the advantages of both methods can be seen in different ways depending on the variables (habitat, increasing the population quickly, genetic diversity, etc.)

 

Asexual Reproduction Superheroes

How the model relates to binary fission:

The model of my superhero is based off of binary fission, so the hero is bacteria shaped, since bacteria are an example of organisms that use binary fission to reproduce.  They’re small, but they can multiply easily and quickly to overpower the enemy, so they have many clones around them.

Limitations of the model:

All the clones created by the hero are identical, so if something goes wrong with the cloning, the rest of the cells would be affected by that.  Another limitation is that there is no variation within the organisms as well, so all of the cells have the same abilities.

Modelling Mitosis

Interphase – In this stage, the cell is preparing itself for division, so the DNA is being copied, and the cell is growing as well.

Prophase – In prophase, the nucleus disappears, and centrosomes start to advance towards the opposite poles. Spindle fibres also appear in this stage, and start to form the mitotic spindle.

Metaphase – The spindle fibres form the mitotic spindle in the centre of the cell, and centrosomes appear at the opposite poles of the cell.  Sister chromatids are attached to a spindle fibre on the opposite poles as well.

Anaphase – In anaphase, the chromosomes are attracted to the opposite poles and the poles are moving farther apart.

Telophase – Lastly, the chromosomes reach the opposite poles and the mitotic spindle is broken up. The cell goes through cytokinesis in this stage as well, and the daughter cells become two separate cells.

 

Climate Change Solution Fluency

Define:

Climate change is one of the main problems facing our generation right now. Rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and extreme weather patterns are threatening our ecosystems and homes. However, us humans are the main cause of this problem. What can we do to change this before it’s too late?

Discover:

Canada has done many things to tackle the problems that climate change brings us, such as launching the Clean Air Act in 2006, which focused on removing emissions from cars and trucks by finding new, fuel efficient ways of transportation. This helped to remove greenhouse gases from the environment, and it was successful in reducing our carbon footprint as well. Now, in 2020,  Canada has goals to reduce our gas and methane emissions, investing money into creating new, efficient ways of transportation, and using renewable energy sources as much as possible.

Dream:

Some ways for us to take action against climate change:

  1. Use different modes of transportation that don’t emit gases (bicycles, scooters, etc.)
  2. Stop using single use plastics
  3. Reduce the amount of meat and dairy that you consume, and opt for vegetarian meals instead
  4. Educate others on the importance of reducing their carbon footprints
  5. Reduce your water waste
  6. Help plant more trees
  7. Use renewable energy sources as much as possible

Deliver:

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Debrief:

I was able to learn new concepts about climate change and see what people are doing around the world to reduce their carbon footprints. I could improve this post by adding more detail to my Deliver, and more information on how you can reduce your water usage. The things I did well on this post were that I was able to add a lot of detail on the Discover part, by showing you what specific steps Canada was taking to prevent climate change.

Sources:

 

Define –

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/

Discover –

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/

Dream –

https://en.reset.org/act/12-things-you-can-do-climate-change-0

https://www.mfe.govt.nz/climate-change/we-all-have-role-play/what-you-can-do-about-climate-change

Self Assessment:

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Climate Change in Canada – The Territories

climate change drawing.heic

 

Causes and Effects of Climate Change in the Northern Territories

 

The Northern Territories of Canada are heavily affected by climate change. Climate change in the North is mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are a big problem, because the more greenhouse gases that get released into the atmosphere, they get caught there, and cause the planet to get warmer. In the Northern Territories, the temperature has risen 0.74 degrees Celsius, but has gone up to 2 degrees Celsius.

Due to the increased temperature, ice in the oceans have started to melt, which is causing ocean levels to rise, and warm as well. Rising ocean levels can lead to flash floods, which would devastate communities, and warming ocean temperatures could lead to some endangered animals going extinct. Another effect of climate change would be extreme weather patterns, such as flooding, an increase in rain, and overheating. These would heavily affect the population living in this area, and all the wildlife and nature living in the North as well.

These seem like horrible consequences, so what are the people living here doing to try and curb the effects of climate change? The Government of Nunavut is trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by using alternate forms of energy that isn’t fossil fuels, such as solar and wind. In the Northwest Territories, they are investing more time and money into trying to find new and innovative ways to control their greenhouse gas emissions as well.

 

 

Sources:

 

https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/sites/enr/files/reports/nwt_climate_change_impacts_and_adaptation_report.pdf

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/nun_201803_e_42874.html

https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/sites/enr/files/ccsf_ghg_emissions_factsheet.pdf