PIZZA

Today we got pizza in class to represent the Earth's layers! They represent:
Crust - Earth's Mantle
Sauce - Asthenosphere
Cheese - Oceanic Crust
Toppings - Continental Crust

Importance of Water!

US populations mid 1800's:

•New York, NY

•Baltimore, MD

•Boston, MA

•Philadelphia, PA

•New Orleans, LA

•Cincinnati, OH

•Brooklyn, NY

•St. Louis, MO

•Spring Garden, PA

•Albany, NY

Most all of these cities are on the east coast. The only city I haven't heard of on this list is Spring Garden, PA. I believe all these cities are on the water. This was important in 1800's because they traded and traveled by water.

Distribution of the Water "If I had 100 Dollars":

My Guess    

Oceans: 90                  

Clouds: .5

Rivers: 1

Lakes: 2                      

Seas: 1

Ground Water: 2         

Soil Moisture: .5  

Glaciers: 3       

Actual

Oceans 97.2

Glaciers 2.15

Ground Water 0.62

Fresh Water Lakes 0.09

Salt Water Lakes and Seas 0.08

Variable 0.07

Soil moisture 0.05

Atmosphere 0.01

Streams 0.0001

 

Story of a rock

I am Sandstone which means I am a sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rocks form from weathered sediments, when they are compacted and squeezed to make a rock. We are pushed down into the earths crust after layer after layer of rock covers us. Then as we are pushed down, heat and pressure increase. The continued pressure transforms the rock. We are now a metamorphic rock.

Siumulations, Models, and Analogues

A simulation is an imitation of something
A model is a larger or smaller representation of something else.
An analogue is comparable to something else

Lesson plan examples of models:
Sedimentary rock layer lesson: http://library.thinkquest.org/J002289/act.html
-- Sedimentary rocks are made in layers. The layers of mud,sand, or even seashells are built up over a long period of time. The layers get squeezed and stuck together to make new rocks. This cookie is made in layers and you can still see the layers even after it is pressed and cooked.

Making fossils: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/life19.html
-- Students make impressions of leaves, shells, flowers, etc.

Metamorphic rock: Butterfingers, crayons melted together.

Igneous: crystallization, fudge,

A Mineral is...

A Mineral is...
1. Naturally occurring
2. Solid
3. Inorganic
4. Has an orderly internal structure of atoms
5. Has a definite chemical composition

Most Common Earth Elements:

 

Oxygen	46.6%
Silicon	27.7%
Aluminum	8.1%
Iron	5%
Calcium	3.6%
Sodium	2.8%
Potassium	2.6%
Magnesium	2.1%
Other	1.5%

Elements, bonding, form

What do I know about...

• elements
• bonding
• form/crystals

I don't know have a background with chemistry and so I barely know anything about any of these! I know there is covalent and ionic bonding, but I don't know what they mean. I also know that elements have atoms and the elements are all listed on the periodic table of elements. 

Mrs. Stewart's crystal garden: http://mrsstewart.com/magic-salt-crystal-garden/
Recipe:
This is a classic crystal-growing project. You use charcoal briquettes (or other porous materials), ammonia, salt, bluing, and food coloring to grow a sort of crystal garden.

1. Place chunks of your substrate (i.e., charcoal briquette, sponge, cork, brick, porous rock) in an even layer in the non-metal pan. You want pieces that are roughly 1-inch in diameter, so you may need to (carefully) use a hammer to break the material up.
2. Sprinkle water, preferably distilled, onto the substrate until is has been thoroughly dampened. Pour off any excess water.
3. In an empty jar, mix 3 tablespoons (45 ml) uniodized salt, 3 tablespoons (45 ml) ammonia, and 6 tablespoons (90 ml) bluing. Stir until the salt is dissolved.
4. Pour the mixture over the prepared substrate.
5. Add and swirl a bit of water around in the empty jar to pick up the remaining chemicals and pour this liquid onto the substrate, too.
6. Add a drop of food coloring here and there across the surface of the 'garden'. Areas with no food coloring will be white.
7. Sprinkle more salt (about 2 T or about 30 ml) across the surface of the 'garden'.
8. Set the 'garden' in an area where it will not be disturbed.
9. On days 2 and 3, pour a mixture of ammonia, water, and bluing (2 tablespoons or 30 ml each) in the bottom of the pan, being careful not to disturb the delicate growing crystals.
10. Keep the pan in an undisturbed place, but check on it periodically to watch your very cool garden grow!

What do I know?

What do I know?

1. The geologic time scale: I know the mnemonic device come over some day maybe play poker two jacks cover two queens, but I can not remember any of the periods they stand for besides Cambrian Mississippian and Pennsylvanian
---When I looked it up - Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary.  This is the order from oldest to present.

2. About fossils: I really don't know much about fossils at all. I know bones are considered fossils, that there can be imprints of old living things, and amber holds a lot, but that's about it.
---When I looked it up - Fossils are preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. Amber is tree sap that is fossilized. Trace fossils are things that indicate life was there such as footprints and burrows. Petrified wood is wood that has been replaced by minerals. Other fossil types include, mold and cast, carbonized leaf fossils, and the whole animal caught itself.



(http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=EoiVb503YFJ7gM&tbnid=gLMEeNWwuc3ptM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdefendingjehovahswitnesses.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F12%2Ffossils-links-to-information.html&ei=Go4rUd-XN-TB2wX1zYHgCQ&bvm=bv.42768644,d.b2I&psig=AFQjCNE-5WCp1bEgdwkpX0eUdYt1jUY6GA&ust=1361895311068258)






On Monday in class we did an experiment with making fossils. My group decided to have 3 different mixtures. One cup was a 50/50 ratio: 40mL of sand and 40mL of plaster. Another was 60mL of sand and 20mL of plaster. The last cup started out with 60mL of plaster and 20mL of sand, but we had to add 5 more mL of sand to cover the whole shell, making it 25mL of sand. Today, Wednesday, we broke apart these cast and molds. We found out our 50/50 mixture was the easiest to break and was the only one that came out whole. However, this was a flat shell compared to our other two swirly shells, so this could have had an impact. The one that had 60mL of plaster was extremely hard to break and the fossil came out in bits and pieces, but the pieces did have good imprints on them.

Geologic time scale

Time is the passage of events, present-future. In class we have started to learn about the geologic time scale. I really don't know much about this. I learned that geologic time is the 4.6 Billion years history of Earth, from its origin to the present.The last class period we had we were given the names of all these time periods and were told we would have to memorize them. Then today over the snow day we were sent a list of videos to watch, all of which were fun quirky songs about each period of the geologic time scale. I thought the most creative one was the video that was three girls doing what seemed to be a middle/high school class project. They were having fun with it, and that is exactly what you want your students to do - have fun while learning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcw7DQVSJ4Y

If I had 100 dollars

If the universe was represented as money, 100 dollars being the full amount, it would be divided as follows:

Sun: $50. Answer: $99.85
Mercury: $5. Answer: .00002 cents
Venus: $5. Answer: .0003 cents
Earth: $5. Answer: .0003 cents
Mars: $5. Answer: .00004 cents
Jupiter: $8. Answer: 10.6 cents
Saturn: $7. Answer: 3.2 cents
Uranus: $5. Answer: .006 cents
Neptune: $5. Answer: .005 cents
Satellites: $2. Answer: negligible
Minor Elements (comets, asteroids, TNO's, etc.): $3. Answer: negligible

Movie

Today we watched a movie that talked about the years of science people go through since grade school yet even Harvard grad students and faculty still have misconceptions about basic topics.

Dr. Klett gave us questions that the movie asked and we had to say what we thought and then found out the correct answer

1. What are the causes of seasons:

My original answer - I think the seasons are caused by the way the Earth orbits around the sun. The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis away or toward the sun as it goes through its path around the sun.

After it was explained answer - The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis away or toward the sun as it travels through its year-long path around the sun. Winter has indirect rays so the angle is different so its rays are spread out over a greater surface. In the summer the rays are direct and more concentrated in one area.
direct: straight on rays
indirect: the only difference is the angle

2. Why do we have different phases of the moon:

My original answer - I believe it has something to do with the way the sun is hitting the moon.

After it was explained answer -The revolution of the moon around the earth makes the moon appear as if it is changing shape. The moon phases are produced by the alignment of the moon and the sun.

M&M activity

 The peanut m&m activity is an easy, fun way to show students how the m&m is a small model of the earth. The hard color coating represents the earth's crust. The crust is thin, solid, and made of rock. The chocolate in the middle represents the mantle. The mantle is a thick layer, half solid and half liquid. And lastly, the peanut represents the core. The (inner) core is a solid ball believed to be made up of mostly iron and nickel.

This is a great visual for everyone, but especially elementary age kids who might not fully grasp the idea of layers. Due to the rise of peanut allergies this could be a problem, however, a hard boiled egg may be a good substitute. The shell being the crust, the white representing the mantle, and the yolk would be the core!