Category: Science 9 Honours

The 5 Ecological Cycles on Mars

by nighinar2016

Our task is to create a stop motion video demonstrating the 5 ecological cycles necessary for survival in a biosphere on Mars and how they work to help life survive.

a/ What the heck is STOPMOTION?

Stop motion is a series of photos taken repetitively, one after another. The photos end up being put together and it flows smoothly like a video. Since the photos are individually taken and are similar, in a video it makes it look like it is moving.

b/ Name what app & equipment your team will use?

We used paper and coloured pens to draw out all of our images and write all of our descriptions, and scissors to cut them out. One of our teammates phone. We used a ring stand to place the phone to take the photos. The app we used is called Stop Motion Studio.

i/ Who is on your team?

Me, Maya, Zayd, Katya, and Calum.

ii/ What is each members task?

Each member researched an individual cycle and shared their information to the group. They also had to job to draw and cut out images and information on their cycle. We all set up our own cycles and took photos of them, with the help of our other group members.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus_cycle

https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.htm

https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/water-cycle

 

Biome Sway – Reflection

by nighinar2016

 

Our project in class today was to make a sway on four different biomes as a group. My group for the collaborative sway is Maya, Mitchell, Kennedy, and me. Each of us picked a different biome that is found around the world, that interested us, to research further. We then started the project, each of us with specific roles. Maya had the role of finding videos about each of the biomes for us to use, Mitchell searched for relevant photos, Kennedy found graphs for each biome, and I was assigned the task of siting all our work. We then all researched our biomes individually, putting relevant facts in point form and adding information to our sections of the sway. Our final result, everyone had added their individual information, photos and videos were up, and our information was sited, we had all done our part and finished with a completed sway on four different biomes.

I think, in the end, our process and plan was a success. To begin with, everyone was very helpful and co-operative. We were able to discuss different ideas freely, everyone was open to more ideas, and we were able to combine them together to create the best sway we could. We all shared our strengths with each other and made sure that we were able to help with what we could do best. One little problem we faced was on our communication skills. During this project, some of us were sick, we didn’t know whether or not they were fully completed their part of the sway or not. We trusted that they were going to finish it, but if they told us when they were going to be done we all would’ve had a better idea of when we could completely wrap up the project. In the end, we were able to continue stress-free when we, thankfully, saw the person the next day when they were feeling better. It would’ve been easier to maybe send them a text or an email, I realize that now. In the end, though, we did get it done on time. We were able to work well together and create a collaborative sway about biomes.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing this project. I enjoyed hearing other peoples opinions and perspectives on things rather than just my typical ideas for sway. I tried out different ideas since hearing them from others. It was a very interesting project in the end. It wasn’t very hard, and we had fun while working together. I hope to try another collaborative project in the future.

https://sway.com/oVCU1M8VkDUlpzRT

 

The Life of a Genetic Mutation

by nighinar2016

MUTATION STORY: Familial Dysautonomia

Part 1: The Story

Hi, my name is Riley-Day, I was born yesterday in the nervous system of a baby Jewish boy named Abarron.

I go by many names. To some I’m known as Familial Dysautonomia, FD, HSAN Type III, HSAN3, HSN-III. To Mr and Mrs Dreyer, I am known as the genetic disorder that is killing their son. All this doesn’t matter much to me, for I have only one purpose in my life, cause crisis. I cause this new born baby to struggle, I make sure his nerve fibers never work like they should have. I now control his bodily functions, and leave him with little help.

I made it here because of his parents. They carried the mutant gene IKBKAP. By chance, I was born in Abbaron. How lucky is he, he is 1 out 27 Ashkenazi Jewish children to host me. Abbaron carries two copies of the same IKBKAP gene mutation in each of his cells. I, the mutation, cause a disruption in how the information in the IKBKAP is pieced together to make a blueprint for the production of IKAP protein. Abbaron’s cells produce a reduced amount of IKAP protein. I make sure the creation of protein is inconsistent, some cells produce normal amounts, whereas his brain cells have little protein produced. Created to eat away at this infants life, kill and disturb nerve cells, until the autonomic crisis’s become completely uncontrollable and he is helpless. And I aim to succeed.

There’s so much to accomplish in so little time. As a baby, Abbaron is a handful. He doesn’t cry as much as other children do, I don’t let him. His eyes stay dry. His mother will struggle with breast feeding, it breaks her heart to see my host unable to feed properly, staying hungry until the doctors have to tube feed him. The Dreyer’s are loving parents, though. They don’t give up in trying to give Abbaron a normal childhood. Image result for scoliosisWhen he doesn’t learn how to walk right away, they try harder, it won’t work though. I’m keeping his growth slow and his muscles weak, one childhood milestone forever lost. He won’t learn how to speak until he is 8, starting with a couple of simple words here and there. His parents worry and always keep consistent watch over him, never knowing when he will hold his breath and when he will faint. He will be forever dependent, the poor kid doesn’t have any control over this. He develops scoliosis. Any sort of dream in sports is lost when they realize, after he starts walking a little, he can barely hold himself up without losing balance.

Preschool started, and so did the hospitalization. With repetitive lung infections, breathing wasn’t as easy anymore and he now required help. I had taken from him what came naturally to others. I also brought lack of sleep to his mother, she had to wake up in the middle of the night to help him stop from choking on his vomit. For his birthday present, they bought him a puppy. Oh, how the excitement filled him, but I caused him high blood pressure and he lost control of his breathing.

I sometimes began to feel a little bit bad. Abbaron will attend kindergarten, but more often the doctor’s office. They pump his with medication to prevent the pain but they cannot get rid of me. I am his mutation, I will conquer. I’ll keep destroying until there is nothing left, until he no longer has any control over his autonomic functions.

Image result for riley day syndromeHe cries to his mother and begs her to have it stop, to make me stop. He is short, speaks funny, sweats too much, he can’t taste food due to having lost his taste buds, he won’t stop drooling, he is skinny, he can’t sleep, and oh does it continue. He becomes sick of it, sick of the taunting from his classmates for being different, sick of the hospital visits. He wants me gone, like I am a virus or bacteria that can be treated, he doesn’t realize I am part of him. There is no treatment for me, I am his battle to fight, and his battle to lose.

He loses reaction to pain and temperature, he can get over heated or cold quickly and won’t notice until he realizes how sweaty he is or how much he is shivering. Now he is losing his sight. All hope is lost for him. What else can he lose, he thinks, what else does he not have control of? His bones are weak, and he fractured his arm again.  Image result for riley day syndrome

His fifteenth birthday is around the corner, and he celebrates it in the hospital bed with a failed kidney. His autonomic nerves are completely unstable at this point. The Dreyers will cry when he stops breathing, though they hoped I had taken him sooner. For so long did Abbaron struggle because of me.

At 15, I had finally won.

Part 2: The Making of the Mutation Story

  1. What questions did you need to research in order create your mutation story?
    • What is Familial Dysautonomia? What does this mean?
    • What does it do?
    • What are the symptoms?
    • What are the life time affects?
    • How is it caused? Where does it come from?
    • Are there treatments?
    • Is it fatal?
    • How many children are born with this mutant gene?
    • Is it a gene that runs through certain ethnicity or found in a certain area of the world?
    • How is FD diagnosed?
    • How often are there hospital visits?
    • How severe can it get?
  2. What new or familiar digital tools did you use while working on this project?
    • I used clinic sites.
    • I used foundation sites.
    • I used Wikipedia (only the information that was cited).
    • I used the experience from a loved one and their struggle with a life threatening mutation to relate to this mutant gene on things like how it affected their life and how they struggled with it.
  3. What was the process you used to investigate this topic?
    • I read through many online sites.
    • If I didn’t understand something, I would look into its definition.
    • I made sure I answered all my questions and I understood the mutation enough that I could explain it to someone else.
  4. How did you verify and cite the information you found?
    • The sites I used were sourced and reliable.
    • I used sites that specialized in the mutation.
    • My sources are listed down below.
  5. How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?
    • The assignment in my case wasn’t difficult. I am good at writing and it comes easy to me. Also, I had some good sources so I was able to fully understand the mutant gene. I think one little problem I had was I left this project to last minute because I knew it wouldn’t be that hard for me to write up. Last minute for me was on a Sunday. Having lots do to, I found myself worrying if I’d get enough time to write my story. Luckily I did find enough time to put in effort and was able to complete it on time. Next time, I shall hope to get a head start on writing the assignment.

Sources:

http://www.familialdysautonomia.org/facts.htm

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/familial-dysautonomia#inheritance

https://www.drugs.com/health-guide/familial-dysautonomia.html

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001387.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familial_dysautonomia

Science App Review

by nighinar2016

Problem:

Written Periodic Tables can be hard to read at times, the writing  can be small. Also, finding elements can be difficult when the writing is so small. Periodic Tables can be hard to keep handy and near you when doing a task, it would be nice to have something on a iPhone or iPad that is more convenient.

Possible solutions:

Questions to ask while brainstorming is;

Is this app easy to use? Is it practical in a classroom?

Is it accessible to everyone?

Does it help your learning in your chemistry unit?

Looking for an app with reliable information, I searched online and in the app stores. The Period Tables I found and tried were;

K12 Periodic Table of the Elements

iElements – Periodic Table

Khan Academy Chemistry 1

After going through the apps and playing around with them a little more, I picked out which of the three answered my problem. I decided that K12 Periodic Table was able to fulfill the dream.

The app

img_5272The app itself is quite practical. It’s a Periodic Table in your pocket and small enough to carry around with you in theimg_5274 lab/science room. It has the layout of a traditional Periodic Table, all the elements present, ordered, and in their groups/periods. The elements are colour coded and they are in their families. They also include a legend and settings to change the grouping, if you instead would like the colors to represent the outermost orbitals instead of the families. It shows the elements by their symbol.
One click on an element cell shows you the symbol enlarged with the atomic number and atomic mass number. The second click shows you a better description of the element, including the Lewis Dots, outermost orbital, and much more. It’s much more helpful than a printed Periodic Table. Easy to read and understand.

img_5275The little problem was that the application doesn’t include the charge of an element, even when you click on it to see a better description. This is
quite a downer because those charges are needed when doing element bonds. It is especially critical for multivalent elements, other elements can be easier to figure out their charge.

 

 

How does the app help users build skills or learn content?

It helps user find their element faster on a Periodic Table when looking for symbols of the element, which when studying elements can be a big advantage. It has necessary information for the element(except the charge), which can help the student work with the element.

How intuitive is the app? Is it self explanatory or does it take a long time to figure out?

img_5276This app is very simple and self explanatory. It only has one page to understand.img_5273 img_5277This page includes the Periodic Table and three buttons in the bottom corner. One is a setting button for you to change the color organization of the Periodic Table. The question marks explains how to use the app and the “i” talks about the idea of the app. The writing is clear and big enough to read quickly. Everything is easy to find and not complicated at all.

 

What innovative elements does the app utilize?

This app provides with colour coding to group the elements differently to your preference.

Debrief?

This app is good quality and very easy to use. Some problems include that it doesn’t include charges, especially for multivalent elements. The app helps me find elements quick because of the colour coding, the big letters that are easy to read, and function of the app. I would’ve prefered to find an app that is as simple as this K12 Periodic Table, but that included the charges.

 

Chemical Exploration-Ammonium Oxalate (Crystals)

by nighinar2016
img_7623img_7622
WHAT?
  • Oxalate salt with Ammonium.
  • The chemical formula is C2H8N2O4, also known as (NH4)2C2O4.
  • Made of Insoluble Matter, Ignition Residue, Chloride, Sulfate, Heavy Metals, and Iron.
  • Colourless, odorless and non-volatile material.
  • It is 1.5 times denser than water.
  • A very poisonous substance.
  • A strong dicarboxylic acid.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS FOR USING THIS SUBSTANCE…

  • You must avoid skin and eye contact.
  • Avoid breathing dust.
  • Use adequate ventilation and protective equipment.
  • Keep away from incompatibles.
  • Can cause skin and eye burns.
  • May be fatal if swallowed.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

  • Soil scientists use, for many years, acid ammonium oxalate to estimate the amount of amorphous iron oxides in soil.
  • Used as an analytical reagent and general reducing agent.
  • Used as an ingredient in industrial applications.
  • Used as an ingredient in the manufacturing of explosives and metal polishing compounds.
  • Used in the electric detaining of iron and textile dyeing.
  • Can be used as reagent for the analysis of calcium, lead and rare earth metals.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

  • Ammonium Oxalate is derived/comes from Ammonia.
  • It is an organic compound, your body produces it.
  • The metabolism of glyoxylic acid or ascorbic acid produce ammonium oxalate in your body.
  • However it itself is not metabolized but excreted in the urine.
  • It occurs in many plants and vegetables.
  • It is a part of some types of kidney stones.
  • Also found in Guano
  • There is 0.1% Ammonium Oxalate in Crystal Violet.

HOW MUCH?

  • The melting point is 70∘C