Potatools

 Hi, I'm not dead=D 

In Biology today we made stone tools out of potatoes =D. It was fun. 

Our tools =D

In order from left to right, we have examples from the Oldowan, Acheulean, Mousteruan, and Upper Paleolithic eras. 

The Oldowan tools are associated with Homo Habilis and possibly (but controversially) late Australopithecines in east Africa. They appear from 2.7 - 1.7 million years ago. These are the first pieces of evidence of tool use we have. However, it is likely earlier hominins would have used tools made out of wood as it was softer and easier to manipulate. However, these don't fossilise very well, so that is just a theory. The Oldowan-era tools were made by striking two stones together to get a sharp edge. As you can maybe see in the picture, they are very rough and have lots of the original stone shape. They were made with fewer than 5-6 blows. They were used for cutting and scraping meat off of animal carcasses, or cracking open bones to reach the marrow, giving them access to food that other species did not. This would help them get more energy which could be used to evolve further. =D

The Acheulean tools are next. these are associated with Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster. These were found across Africa and much of Asia and Europe around roughly 1.7 million - 100,000 years ago. These tools are fully shaped and used ~50 strikes. They required more planning and time than the Oldowan tools which implies that they were developing some form of patients.  They also required precision which shows the hominins getting better with their hands. These tools allow for better processing of meat (e.g. carving meat for transport), access to different food sources and potentially it gave them defence from predators. All these things would allow both physical evolution and possibly cultural evolution. 

Moving to the Mousterian era (600,000 - 40,000 years ago), we see tools requiring around 150 blows. They are associated with the Neanderthals who had learned to be picky about the rocks and used primarily flint as it flakes and chips in a predictable manner. Tools from this era have well-worked edges often made with tools made for making other tools. The Cognitive abilty (Planning, learning, and teaching skills) and technical skills required to make these tools advanced and became more robust as the Mousterian period deveolped. This would mean that the hominins were getting smarter and were having some form of commuictaiton. 

The Upper Paleolithic era saw a huge and diverse range of tools being made. This time period of tools is associated with Homo Sapiens begining approximately 50,000 years ago. These tools where finly worked, requireing more than 250 blows per tool. This is also when Hominins started using other things with their stones to create tools (Wood, Ivory, Antler, etc) Many tools where created with very fine detail, creating things like fish hooks and sewing needles, or worked into specific shapes in order to fit into another component. (stone arrow heads or spear heads to go on wooden handles.) The materials to create these tools were often transported over long distances which implies a need for commuincation and orgniseation. It could also be showing communication between groups of H. Sapiens. 

Boom! Facts haha. Making these Potatools was really fun, even if I made Miss debate wheather or not she should give me a knife >=) 

I would love to do this again with actual stones, but I know we can't in school. =( oh well. 

Human Evolution

 In Biology, we are looking at Human Evolution. The task here is to read any article about human evolution and write a 5-6 sentence summary about it. This is the article I'm using humanorigins.si.edu. 

Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which humans originated from our ape-like ancestors. Humans are primates and share a common ancestor with other great apes such as chimpanzees and gorillas. Through the evolutionary process, our ancestors gained, the ability to be able to walk bipedally (Walk on two legs), a larger and more complex brain, the ability to grip and manipulate objects and tools, and the capacity for language. Most scientists recognize 15-20 different species of early humans. However, they do not agree on which ones are related or which ones just died out. Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago and continued to migrate around the world, moving to Europe between 1.5 million and 1 million years ago. 

That is my summary of the section of the article about Human Evolution. The rest of the article talks about Paleoanthropology and what it is, and then the process of evolution in general.  

Fire proofing / bush fires (They correlate I promise)

1. How do bushfires start and how has climate change made them more common?
Bushfires start when the plants have dried up because of a extended period of time, and some sort of spark ignites the plant matter. This could be from a natural course a lightning strike, rocks falling on each other causing a spark, or it could be because of humans, someone throwing a still lit cigarette butt out the window, someone not putting their campfire out probably. Climate change can make these more common because the heat can dry out the plants faster, meaning the bushfire 'season' will get longer and longer


2. What are 3 ways you could fire proof your house if you lived in an area likely to get bush fires?
Try build your house with bricks, if you can't do that use stucco to coat the outside. Use gypsum on the inside, and try to use a couple layers. Try to get fire resistant glass for you windows and have the frames steel if possible.   

3. When something burns it combusts, what is the difference between complete and incomplete combustion?

The difference is that when something completely combusts it means it has burned with plenty of oxygen, and has made carbon dioxide and water. (the equation is Fuel + Oxygen --> Carbon dioxide + Water). When it incompletely combusts it means it has burned with not enough oxygen, and it makes either carbon monoxide and water or just carbon and water (the equation is Fuel + Oxygen --> Carbon Monoxide + Water or Fuel + Oxygen --> Carbon + Water) 

 

Volcano Project

 In science we are making model volcanoes. Here is the process  

Building it

To build it, we were given a milk bottle, a cardboard sheet, news paper, and a water and glue mixture. We were told to paper mache the milk bottle into a volcano shape. Easier said than done. I struggled for the entire period, making an only mediocre looking volcano, that I then was told looked good!? I don't know. Anyway, we left it to dry over the long weekend.

Painting it

Yesterday, we were painting it. There was a trolly full of art supplies and we were set loose. (*Insert evil grin here*) My group painted our volcano grey, before adding metallic paints, because, shiny, and then red spilling from the top as lava. It surprisingly looks good. I will now believe people telling me it looks good.

Rube Goldberg Machine

In science we made a Rube Goldberg Machine. That was.... not fun. Sadly. My group made it out of Lego, cardboard, tape, a stiaphome cup, more tape, lego, tape, and lots of trial and error. A lot of error. And having no idea what we were doing. And some stress thrown in there as well. And lots of fiddly things breaking, then not wanting to go back together. then going together, just to break again three seconds later. Then finding a very simple solution to a problem you've had from the start, in which you have come up with the stupidest solution, that doesn't even work all that well.

Moving on from... that. The simple machines that made up the Rube Goldberg Machine were/are inclined planes ({Read out of the sci-pad} Inclined planes are ramps, and like levers, they reduce the amount of effort needed to lift a load. The steeper the incline the more effort is needed to move the load upwards. Just like Levers if you use a longer, less steep incline to reduce the effort needed, you will need to apply the effort over a longer distance.) And more inclined planes.

Catapults

In science we made catapults! we useds spoons popsicle sticks and rubber bands to make them. there was a simple version, the one i did, and a complicated one, the one Thomas did. we fired mini marshmallows into containers worth different points.  I didn't get any in though. I got close though!, pictures coming soon!

Egg drop

In science we are looking at forces and motion, so we did an egg drop. Why? I'm not 100% sure, but it was fun nonetheless.

We had a foam spongy thing that had a hole in it where we put the egg, then had a fiber pad thing under that, and fluffy cotton on top. We wrapped all that in bubble wrap, and then added skewers as leg thingys. Then lastly we made a parachute and attached that. It weighed 105.30 grams. Pictures will be coming when they come though.

We dropped in T9, and....... the Egg broke. *Sad face* Na it survived. *Happy face* Most did, I think only one broke. afterwards the boys were being..... boys, and were kicking it as if it was a football/rugby ball.

How wired headphones use electricity

In the Holidays I used my wired headphones a lot. This is how they use electricity.

The small amount of power that they need comes from being plugged into the electronic device. The electricity goes to power the little speakers in the ear bud things. 

Website version 

(Quite simply they turn an electrical signal into ear-pleasing music or other audio input. The tiny amount of power necessary to operate the transducer circuit inside each of the earpieces of the headphones comes from jack being plugged into the source (electronic device).

Each earpiece is its own transducer circuit which consists of three different parts; the magnets, a coil, and a cone. As the current flows through the wire into a transducer it is turned into sound waves that enter the ear and the brain interprets the sound waves as music.)

FIRE! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

In science today, we made COLORED FIRE! So basically we add chemical/atom/ion/things into the fire, and it changed color. Something about electrons and bouncing. Na its when atoms heat up, the elections bounce between shells and produces light. some make red light, some make green light, others make white light. FUN!

Oil of wintergreen.

In science yesterday, we attempted to make Oil of wintergreen. Key word attempted. We failed. Something went wrong, and instead of  white crystals, we got a brown liquid.

To start with, we added 5 ml of methanol in to a boiling tube, and added 1 ml of salicylic acid. We heated 250ish ml of water over a bunsen burner,  until it was 70ish degrees. We added 3 drops of Sulfuric acid before putting the boiling tube in to the water. We let the Methanol boil off, and we got a  brown liquid, not the crystals we wanted.

What could we change next time? I have no idea. I am no scientist. but... we could have less Methanol? I DON'T OK! 



We got the brown stuff. I asume we wanted the clear on

KiwiFruit DNA Extraction

Yesterday in science, we extracted DNA from Kiwifruit. Here is the post about it.

KIWIFRUIT DNA EXTRACTION!!!

Aim: Extract DNA from Kiwifruit. 

Materials: half a Kiwifruit, Mortar and Pestle, two squirts of Detergent, Snaplock baggy, cloth, pinch of Salt, Ethanol, test tube 

Method: Scoop the kiwi into the Mortar and Pestle, and smush it. Add the Detergent and mix. Pour into the cloth and squeeze into the the snaplock baggy. Add a pinch of salt and mix again (After closing it of course) Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Pour into a test tube, and pour in the ethanol. There will be a globy thing that floats to the top of the kiwifruit juice, that is the DNA. 

Results: The globly thing on top. here is a picture

 Have random ones that have nothing to do with this.

smoking vs vaping

TIME FOR SCIENCE!!!!!

In Science we have been looking at medical science and so one of the things we looked at was the effects of smoking and vaping. here are some things on smoking and vaping. from What I can gather, Smoking releases nicotine and other dangerous chemicals. This leads to the blacking of the lungs and tumors in the lungs. Vaping leads to liquid in the lungs. it has less of the dangerous chemicals but still has some. some of the flavorings have very dangerous chemicals. Just not the same ones as cigarettes. 


 






Hope this was helpful.

Blood vessels

BLOOD! A very vital part of the body. It gives oxygen to the whole body. There are three main types of blood vessels. Arteries, veins and capillaries (not to be confused with caterpillars.)  

The Arteries take the oxygenated blood away from the heart. The blood going through here is under high pressure so the walls of the arteries are very thick. They also have a narrow bore (hole). Arteries appear red when viewed  through the skin.

Veins on the other hand, take deoxygenated blood to the heart. The blood is under low pressure so veins have thinner walls, and a large bore (hole). Valves keep the blood moving in the right direction. Veins appear blue when viewed under the skin, because of the refraction of light through the skin.

Capillaries are in between arteries and veins. They are very small, as some of them go to each individual cell.  Caterpillars have one celled thick walls and they carry both oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Because Capillaries are so thin oxygen, nutrients and hormones can flow in and out.

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BLOOD!

=)

Goldilock principle

Goldilock principle

Off the internet

1. In astrobiology, the Goldilocks zone refers to the habitable zone around a star: As Stephen Hawking put it, "like Goldilocks, the development of intelligent life requires that planetary temperatures be 'just right'". The Rare Earth Hypothesis uses the Goldilocks principle in the argument that a planet must be neither too far away from nor too close to a star and galactic center to support life, while either extreme would result in a planet incapable of supporting life. Such a planet is colloquially called a "Goldilocks Planet". Paul Davies has argued for the extension of the principle to cover the selection of our universe from a (postulated) multiverse: "observers arise only in those universes where, like Goldilocks's porridge, things are by accident 'just right'".

2. In 'Goldilock and the Three Bears', Goldilock finds that only one bowl of porridge has the ''just right'' temperature, and in the same way within biology, you can find the 'just right' conditions -- called the Goldilocks principle. This research team has done by demonstrating that in order to get the 'just right' amount of signalling for symbiosis in the roots of legumes, a specific enzyme called chitinase (CHIT5) must be present.

3. Small planets, including Earth are much more likely to become incubators of life. Astronomers refer to these insignificant little worlds as terrestrial planets because they have heavy-metal cores surrounded by a rocky mantle. Terrestrial planets tend to stick close to their host stars, which means they have smaller orbits and much shorter years. Terrestrial or Earth-like planets are also more likely to lie in the Goldilocks zone. Also called the habitable zone or life zone, the Goldilocks region is an area of space in which a planet is just the right distance from its home star so that its surface is neither too hot nor too cold. Earth, of course, fills that bill, while Venus roasts and Mars exists as a frozen world. In between, the conditions are just right so that liquid water remains on the surface of the planet without freezing or evaporating out into space.

In my own words 

4. The goldilock principle for planets is when a planet is far enough away from the sun, so we won’t burn, but close enough so we don’t freeze. It is called the goldilocks principle because it is taken after the children fairytale where a little girl tries three different bowls of porridge and three different beds. One bed and one porridge where on one side of the scale (hot/hard) and another set were on the other side of the scale (cold/soft) whereas the last set of bed and food, were just right (temperature and firmness) Some planets are in the ‘just right’ place according to the sun/star they are orbiting. Any closer and any living thing would burn, any further away and they would freeze, they are just right.   

Astronomy vs Astrology

In science we are looking at Astronomy. One of the things we looked at was  Astronomy vs Astrology. Astronomy is a real branch of science and deals with facts and evidence, whereas Astrology is a Pseudoscience (Pseudo is a greek word that means false or fraudulent)

Here is a video that explains it a bit

Here is a kinda funny one that I like.

Parts of a cell (and what they do)

In science  we have been looking at botany. in Botany we have been looking at cells. One of the things we looked at was the different parts of a cell. There are 2 types of cells, plant cells and animal cells. The difference between the two is that a plant cell has a cell wall and a cytoplasm (It helps with photosynthesis )  whereas the animal cell does not. the organelles in a cell are, the Vacuole ( a storage container thingy ) Nucleus ( it holds the DnA ) and the Mitochondria (  they keep the cell full of energy ).  These organelles are surrounded by a thing called cytoplasm.

Star-opoly

Last week on wednesday 9Ay went to star-opoly, an activity on learning about your community. we were in teams of 3-4 people. My team was Braydon and Paige. I overcame my stranger shyness! BE PROUD OF ME! I also talked to people and asked then questions. I learned about different ways I can volunteer/help in the community. I think my favorite part part was the YMCA station. We had to use planks attached to out feet to get from one side of the forya to the other. I, however, had to be facing backward, and we all hd to have our eyes shut. I was screaming and laughing the whole time. I was mainly yelling "IT MOVED! IT'S MOVING" Or "IT'S NOT MOVING!" ya..... that was fun.

the Imploding Can

This is the Scientific method for a experiment we did yesterday

Aim
to Observe Contraction in Gases
Equipment
Can, Scissor tong, Bunsen burner, Heat Proof mat, tripod gauze mat, open container of cold water,
Method 

1. Set up your bunsen burner under the tripod and gauze mat. 
2. pour apox 50-60 ml of water into the can. it should be no more than 1/4 full.
3. heat the can of water until steam is escaping from the top.
4. carefully grip the can with the tongs. be sure to have a strong grip on it before lifting it off.
5. Quickly but very carefully invert the can as you plunge it into the container of cold water.

Hypothesis 

I think the can will implode. it will crumple upon itself,

Observations

the  water in the can boiled and when we tipped it into the water it imploded on itself like I thought 

Explanation 

this happened because the air pressure inside the can becomes less than that outside so it crumples in on itself when it got cooled quickly 

Distillation experiment

This is for an experiment I am doing on separating coke

 Aim:separate the solute from the solvent in coke
Hypothesis: I think that the liquid will evaporate into the tubing and then condense back into the test tube leaving the solids (solute) will be left
Equipment: coke, conical flask, heatproof mat, delivery tube and bung, bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat, retort stand, boss head and clamp boiling tube
Method: place some coke into the conical flask, place the bung into the top of the flask. place the whole thing on to the gauze mat on top of the tripod. put ice into a beaker and stick a test tube into the ice. place the other end of the bung tube into the test tube. put the bunsen burner under the tripod. light the bunsen burner. wait for the coke to boil. record your results
Results: the liquid evaporated into steam and traveled into to the delivery tube, it turned back into a liquid and dripped into the test tube, leaving a black sludge of the sugar and any other solids in the coke. with the normal coke it left more sugar and sludge than the coke zero and sugar free coke.
Conclusion: my hypothesis was correct because I thought the liquid would evaporate into the tubing and then condense back into the test tube leaving the solute will be left. 
Discussion: the heat from the bunsen burner heated up the coke until it boiled and evaporated then the coolness of the tubing cooled down the steam till it turned back into a liquid. 
Evaluation: My experiment was successful because the liquids were able to go from one point to another. A little steam did escape so I would put another bung in the test tube so the steam can't escape next time 

Ping Pong Ball Experiment

"This blog is to demonstrate the scientific method. this will be used as a part of my end of topic assessment."
We have done a experiment on how high a ping pong ball bounces. We had a ping pong ball, ruler and some groups had a clamp.
We first had to full out the first steps in the method; the aim, the hypothesis and the method. We then filled out the key variables; the dependent variable (what you meurer) the independent variable (the one you change) and the control variable (the one you keep the same).
The aim is a brief statement of the purpose of the investigation. The hypothesis is a educated guess on what you think will happen. The method is what you will do in the experiment.
Then we did the experiment. we had 5 different heights to drop the ball from and we only had to 3 but I did all 5. We dropped the ball 3 times at each height. Then we found the average of all the drops. Mine were 16.6cm (from 0.2m) 31.1cm (from 0.4m) 44.6 (from 0.6m) 57.3 (from 0.8m) 63.3 (from 1.0m). Then we had to graph the average in our books, here's mine.

Then we had to do the next parts of the method. Writing the discussion (discussing your results), the conclusion (whether or not the results support your hypothesis) and the evaluation ( Discuss how/why your investigation was reliable and how to make it more so). 

That is the method we used to do the ping pong ball experiment.

What do you think?