Solar Cooker #2

So far our solar cooker has reached 270°. We are going to make improvements so it can reach 300°. We have succeeded in insulating it well. Something that we have failed at is keeping the top on all the way. We plan to make the top all the way secure. I'm excited becuase I like cooking. I think being able to ok woth out gas will be an awesome project. And, I think the middle school kids will like it too!

John Dalton

     John Dalton was born in Cumberland, England in 1766. His family were Quakers. He became a teacher at a Quaker boarding school in Kendal. In Manchester he joined the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. There, he was provided with laboratories and a stimulating intellectual environment. The first paper he ever wrote was in color blindness. 

     He started thinking of atomism by way of meteorology. He made notes everyday of his records until the day he died. The first book he ever wrote was Meteorological Observations. Dalton's papers claimed that the forces of repulsion thought to cause pressure acted only between atoms of the same kind and that the atoms in a mixture were indeed different in weight and “complexity." 

     Dalton calculated the weight from percentages compositions of compounds of atoms using the arbitrary system. He also came to believe that the particles in different gases had different volumes, explaining why a mixture of gases: as in the atmosphere are in constant motion. He wrote his theories in his New System of Chemical Philosophy.

     Dalton died in Manchester, England after a second stroke. 40,000 people attended his funeral, in his honor to the science community. 

Cites:

http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history/themes/the-path-to-the-periodic-table/dalton.aspx

"John Dalton." Homepage of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

http://www.biography.com/people/john-dalton-9265201?page=3

"John Dalton Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.

Picture:

http://www.biography.com/people/john-dalton-9265201

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/09/dayintech_0903

Viscosity

Viscocity: Maple and Honey Syrup

If you have ever heard someone say "your as slow as molasses" they are saying you are very slow. Viscosity is a fluids resistance to flow. Usually people think of viscosity as "thickness". For example, moving a straw through a cup of water is easy, but a cup of syrup would be harder. Because of the resistance of the syrup, the straw might bend and not move as fast. 

Another variable would be the type of syrup you used. Let's say you used maple syrup versus honey syrup. The maple syrup would have a higher viscosity than the honey. 

Normally when the temperature increases the viscosity decreases. For example, if your pour syrup hot it will flow easier. But if you pour it straight out of the refrigerator, it will pour slower.

Maple Syrup

Honey Syrup

Cites:

•Honey Syrup Pic:

http://www.diytrade.com/china/pd/7310643/Honey_Syrup.html

•Maple Syrup Pic:

http://www.bradsorganic.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=BO&Category_Code=MAPLE

•http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/v/viscosity.htm

•http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/chemistry-terms/viscosity-info.htm

Glass Art

Glass Art

      Glass art sculpture happened hundreds or thousands of years. There are different types of glass sculpting. The two types I'm going to talk about is glass blowing and hot sculpting. In glass blowing you use sand and soda lime, with color agents (food coloring), to produce a raw material, which will be melted together to from molten glass. This glass is gathered from the furnace onto a blowpipe. Glassblowers use air blown into the pipe combined with movements of the glass, to quickly shape the molten glass before it cools. Once it is shaped, the sculpture is placed in an annealing oven to cool down the glass until it is stable. If it cools too quickly the glass art may break or crack. 

http://www.cmt.com/pictures/dollywoods-25th-anniversary/1644736/5078687/photo.jhtm

      The second type is hot sculpting. This  is used when a solid metal rod gathers the molten glass from the furnace and it is shaped with the tools. While the process is similar to blown glass, no one blows to make the shape. Hot sculpting is more popular in the U.S.

 

http://blogs.bgsu.edu/glass/

Friday, January 10, 2014

Treat all jobs with Equal Respect

Wildlife Overpopulation Management

      Wildlife overpopulation management is the science of reaching goals by manipulating and/or maintaining the habitats and populations of wildlife. You should know the population trends and the interaction of your species, before you try to take the animal away from its natural habitat. When deers are hit by trains, people do accept it. No one believes we should get rid of railroads and trains because they hit a deer every once and a while. Another example, would be if a hunter accidentally shoots a bird or hen. But, just because of one mistake, people don't stop hunting. Sometimes, landowners make individual population management choices, when they should think about the whole population and it's effects/reaction.

      When a population gets too big, you have to either slow down the reproduction rate or take out a percentage of the population. As example, deer season gives hunters allotted time to hunt and kill deer because of the overpopulation. But, when an animal is endangered hunters are not allowed to kill them. When an animal is endangered, people shelter them because they need to keep the species living. Here is an article stating the fines for breaking the law for endangered animals. 

http://www.gc.noaa.gov/documents/gces/6-ESA/esa_1208.pdf

Citing my sources: 

http://m.humanesociety.org/issues/wildlife_overpopulation/#.UswioH-9KSM

http://wamu.org/news/11/05/23/deer_overpopulation_yields_disastrous_results_for_forests.php

Pictures:

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/georgetown/deermgt.asp

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sathishcj/94566801/