Camouflaged or Not?

Just recently during science class, we were instructed to color a paper butterfly and camouflage it within the room. Butterflies are like most insects with the six jointed legs and the three main body parts of the head, thorax, and the abdomen. Camouflage is a very important factor of the environment for both its preys and predators. Several animals depend on camouflage of their skin for a quick escape or to be left in hiding from their predators. For example, iguanas have the capability to change colors so they blend into the environment without notice. Prey on the other hand, can use camouflage in a completely different way. Once these consumers have spotted their meal they blend in and then go for a quick attack. Shaded a dark jet-black, my butterfly was hidden in the corner of the room. The predator was to come and find as many butterflies as possible in a given amount of time. Hidden in the corner, my butterfly was not found in the first two trials. This is because the predator did not bother to look at specific areas such as the corner. However, in the third trail it was necessary to place the critter where it would not be camouflaged at the same time in plain sight. Again, the predator was not able to spot the butterfly although it did not blend in at all. For the last testing, the flying insect was finally found. An observation noticed was the predator always followed the route he went previously, before looking in new areas. Camouflage is a way of life, animals use everyday.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterflies/allabout/

Smothering Fires

Thursday, November 13th, blazing fires broke out in Southern California. On the fourth day, firefighters are still trying to calm down the fires, but can’t do much for the destruction done. Almost 1,000 homes were burned and demolished from the raging fires including mobile houses and multi-million dollar mansions. Although winds did decrease, around FIFTY-THOUSAND people were forced to evacuate. Dozens of homes were burnt to ashes especially in L.A. and Orange County. The storm had a perfect time to strike; the high winds blew hard with the rising temperature and with the air very dry. Unknown cause of the fire did bring confusion, but nearly 20,000 acres of the foothills above Los Angeles was burned to the ground. Several families who had to flee from their homes are still in utter shock and hope all will soon get better. These yearly fires that wipe California can really be a pain, but a part of nature that we can’t prevent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_wildfire_california;_ylt=AjOsglKpXG6FvXXy6BU_gays0NUE

TRASH INTO ENERGY!!

Could it be? Our daily household trash being turned into energy! Our landfills could be the nation's future use of energy. The twenty-one landfills in NJ are almost equal to the amount in Texas. Although it is not very good to have so many landfills in one state, they are about to make the trash useful. The decomposing garbage in NJ is letting out methane gas, which is used to produce fuel that generates electricity. Later through the years, environmentalists wish to make more out of landfills with solar and wind power. Tom Marturano, A director of solid waste and natural resources for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission said "It's like you're buying back your own garbage, but in a different form." Corozine, governor of New Jersey keeps high hopes that by 2020, thirty percent of "New Jersey's electricity is supplied by the renewable energy source of methane gas. This gas created by micro-organisms that feed on organic substances; however, the bacteria do not feed on any specifics. It has modified to trash such as cardboard and plastic. In order to collect the methane gas, perforated bases with tubes that extend far are drilled into the landfill.
I think this is a very useful way to light the homes of New Jersey in a renewable way. This can be the future's energy. We should continue collecting methane gas and try to produce energy naturally. There should be some use of the garbage we produce, and now there is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081026/ap_on_re_us/green_garbage

Living and Nonliving Things: Their Enviroments

The environment is everything for the living thing and nonliving things i the world. A environment is all the living and nonliving things where organisms interact. Food, shelter, as well as other resources allow the species to live. Different animals need different environments to live in unlike us humans, who adapt our environments to us. For example, a penguin would be unable to survive in a rain forest due to all the different aspects and resources it has. A penguin can only live in environment such as Antarctica. The ecosystem is all the living and nonliving things that interact with one another in a given area. Ecosystems can vary in size from a pond to an ocean. If one ecosystems is damaged, many others ecosystems are affected because they all connect with one another. Within an ecosystem are communities, the living part of ecosystems. A group of lions living in a plain describes a population. To put into other words, a group of organisms that are the same species and type living together in the same area. Populations all have different habitats. Habitats is where the organisms lives. Our habitat would be our homes such as a squirrel's habitat would be a tree. Wherever you go, ten thousand feet under the water, or high in the sky, there will always be ecosystems where organisms live.

http://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/intro.htm

CULTURAL FAIR EXTRA CREDIT!!(South Asia)

Food Prices on An All-Time High

The increase on prices for food has now become a large economic issue. With population of Asia soaring, it is becoming more difficult to feed such a great amount of mouths and still have a well-run economy. Asia faces many risks to their population growth. For example, the financial instability is rising, increasing food and energy cost, and the US slowdown. It is important that we focus on energy and food cost right now as it has impacted Asian economies and will continue to unless something is done.

Although there are many risks involved. If Asian countries increase their interest rates so that there is such a broad gap between the US and themselves, inflation may occur. However, if gas prices continue to drastically rise, many worry inflation will be greater. It shall impact the consumption in Asia for quite some time.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Indicators/Food_prices_threaten_Asian_economic_stability_ADB_head_/articleshow/3133453.cms

YEAH!!

SCHOOL'S ALMOST OUT!! SUMMER TIME=)WOOHOO

Weather Extra Credit!!

Desert Places by: Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast In a field I looked into going past, And the ground almost covered smooth in snow, But a few weeds and stubble showing last. The woods around it have it--it is theirs. All animals are smothered in their lairs. I am too absent-spirited to count; The loneliness includes me unawares. And lonely as it is that loneliness Will be more lonely ere it will be less-- A blanker whiteness of benighted snow With no expression, nothing to express. They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars--on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home To scare myself with my own desert places. In the poem above, "Desert Places" written by Robert Frost has weather used by describing snow. Robert Frost mentions how snow feels so still on the ground and what happens when snow falls. The poem is greatly enhanced by the poet's knowledge of weather because it is describing many of the aspects of snow. It gives a clear message of what is trying to be indicated. Without weather being mentioned, the poem would be exceedingly different. The reader would have no clue of what the author is trying to say in his poem. Most of the poem is about snow, and removing the mention of snow would take all the meaning out. Many literary devices are used throughout the poem. Descriptive details such as "a blanker whiteness of benighted snow" are applied. Some of the verses have rhymes within them, for example, theirs and lairs in the second verse. Not only that, imagery is used in the entire poem like," And the ground almost covered smooth in snow." This poem does not further my knowledge about weather. I already know much about snow and how it looks and how it is formed.

Layers of the Atmosphere

Troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere are the four main layers of the atmosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer and most of the clouds occur here. Containing most of the atmosphere’s mass, the troposphere extends twelve kilometers from the earth’s surface. A thin called the buffer zone divides the troposphere and the stratosphere. The layer above the troposphere is the stratosphere which contains the ozone layer. It extends from twelve kilometers to fifty kilometers and gets heat towards the top of the layer. Protecting the earth from meteoroids, the mesosphere is the coldest part of the atmosphere. Broken up into two layers, the thermosphere occupies the aurora borealis. The ionosphere and the exosphere are the two layers within the thermosphere. The ionosphere is a very thin layer which makes long-distance communication possible. Electrically charged gas molecules are what the ionosphere is made up of, whereas, the exosphere has many of the satellites.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html

Winds

The horizontal movement of air is also known as wind. Local and Global winds are the two most general types of winds. Global Winds blow from a specific direction whereas local winds blow from any direction. Another difference between the two winds is local winds cover a shorter distance than global winds.

Local winds are caused by the small-scale convection currents. There are also two breezes that go along with local winds, a sea breeze and a land breeze. The air flow from the sea to the land is a sea breeze. A sea breeze occurs during the day as the warm air on land rises and the cool air from the sea takes the warm air’s place. Taking place during the night, a land breeze is when the warm air on the sea rises and the cool air on the land takes the warm air’s place. A common land and sea breeze is a monsoon.

Global Winds are mostly caused by the unequal heating of the Earth’s surface. Areas near the equator get the direct rays of the sun which heats the surface of the Earth very quickly. The warm air by the equator rises and sinks near the poles. Because of this a global pattern is produced. Global winds do not move north to south, but move from the rotation of the Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, winds curve to the right and in the Southern Hemisphere, winds curve to the left. This movement of wind is called the Coriolis effect.

http://www.eduplace.com/science/hmxs/es/pdf/5rs_3_9-3.pdf

Social Studies- Advancements

Throughout the years, the advancement in technology has greatly affected society. Computers have probably had the greatest impact on society. This is because computers started out as simple gadgets and now are so modern with their hardrives and applications. A computer is part of most people's daily lives. Everywhere you go it is rare not to see a computer in the United States. Nowadays there are so many ways to be connected with others, share ideas and thoughts through the Internet. It is like having everything you need at the tip of your fingers however, years ago the computer hadn't even been invented. Knowledge, ideas, and thoughts are spread worldwide through the Internet. As one of the advancements in technology, computers have greatly impacted the society.

MATH BLOG-Fibonacci Sequence

In class a little while ago, we learned about the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden ratio. Over seven hundred years ago a Italian mathematician, Fibonacci created the very famous Fibonacci sequence. The numbers 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 and so and so forth is his pattern. As you can see, to create the next number you take the sum of the two numbers before it. This sequence hadn't been named until the 19th century when a French mathematician, Édouard Lucas named it. After studying the Fibonacci sequence, he began to relize that any any pair of consecutive numbers is closer to the golden ratio-1.618. . .). Also as the numbers gets higher, the closer it is to the golden ratio. In the image shown below, Fibonni's sequence even comes across nature. Fibonacci's sequence is very important and is found everywhere.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020928/mathtrek.asp

No Water On Mars?

Just yesterday by a group of scientists was it discovered that there is no water on Mars. In 2006 was is announced that the images indicated water to flow on Mars and now thoughts have changed. Apparently, it is found that it was actually a landslide of sand and gravel. New images and computer simulations strongly display that it is not water, but a landslide. The landslide can explain the bright deposits in gullies, thought to be recent water flow. Water flows did not match the computer models, but showed a dry, granular material such as sand. The landslide was a perfect match with the model. Another theory scientists have is it could be thick mud with fifty to sixty percent of sediment similar to molasses or lava. "The simplest explanation is that it is dry, granular flow," Pelletier said. "We think that the simpler explanation is probably the correct one." This is a quote one the scientists working in the project had said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080229/sc_nm/mars_water_dc;_ylt=AivEPEAxeu_ynlZAOXbO282HgsgF

EXTRA! EXTRA!- Check It Out

The website http://www.sciencedaily.com/ is a great place to find several articles science related. In fact, this website is all science which is one positive aspect about it. This site gives updated news and many articles on different science related subjects. Another good thing about the website is there isn't anything irrevalent or off topic. An aspect I don't like is when they show the article, the information is all cramped up in a little spot with the rest with other articles or information. The site can be used in understanding new scientific discoveries or just checking science news. You can also find some information of the many science topics here. I would recommend this site for future use if you need to write something on current events or learn something interesting.

Matter: What is It?

Ever wonder what the universe is made of? One answer, Matter. Substances such as wood, metal, water are all forms of matter. Even we are made out of matter. Matter is anything that has mass or volume. Properties which describe matter can be specific or general. However, all matter has the same general properties of mass, weight, volume, and density. The most important property of matter would mass. Mass is the amount of matter in an object. The amount of mass of an object is constant unless matter is added or taken away from the object. Moving an object from one place to another doesn't change its mass. Because of mass an object has weight. Weight on the other hand is not constant like mass. It changes. For example your weight can differ after a large meal. Weight, however can change from location to location. As we may know a ball thrown in the air must come down. This is because of gravity. The ball must come down from the Earth's force of attraction of all objects. Without you knowing it you are attracted to several objects like paper and books. The gravitational pull is too weak for us to notice. Due to Earth's massive size the gravitational force is much more greater which is keeping us from floating into space. An objects weight is determined by the pull of gravity. You weigh less at the top of a mountain than you do at sea level. This is because you are farther away from Earth than you are at sea level. The metric unit for measuring weight is the newton(N). Last two general properties of matter are volume and density. Volume is the amount of space an object takes up. Liter(L), milliliter (mL), and cubic centimeters (CM3) is what volume is measured in. Both liter and milliliter are for liquids as cubic centimeters are for solids. The last property of matter would density. Density is the mass per unit volume of an object. This property lets us compare the different types of matter. To find the density you must divide mass by volume. Density is referred as grams per milliliter(g/mL) or grams per cubic centimeters(g/cm3). Currently we were learning about the general properties of matter.
Mass
Density=---------
Volume



I believe it is important to know what is in our surrounding and how to tell the difference between objects. For example if you wanted to buy a large pack of an object instead of a large pack we could tell the difference by their two masses. Without us even knowing that matter is everywhere.

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/matter/