Identifying Minerals

Mineral Properties

In the Mineral Id Lab we studied a variety of properties including the following: Color, what is the color of a mineral. Streak, the color that the minerals gives after its been scratched with a streak plate. Hardness, how hard a mineral is. Fracture, a mineral breaking unevenly. Cleavage, when a mineral breaks evenly or in a pattern. Magnetism,  the characteristic that allows a mineral to attract another magnetic material such as a magnet. Luster, how shiny a mineral is. Metallic, minerals that are shiny, looks like metal and attracts a magnet. Non-metallic, minerals that can also be shiny but do not look like metal and don't attract a magnet at all.


Reflection

1. What did you enjoy most about this project and why?

I liked working on animoto once again and working with Houssai. It's good knowing that you can really count on your partner whenever you can't be at school for a certain reason.

2. What was most challenging for you during this project and why?

This topic was very new and I had never studied minerals at all. Sometimes while doing the animoto video, I felt really lost and confuse about the information I had to put in because it was my first time learning about minerals.

3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project?

I didn't really learn any new skills but this time I trusted my partner a little bit more than I usually do. I learned that you always need help from somebody else even if you might think you're the best student in the class and that some people have different speeds when they're doing a project. Hopefully my project will come out to be good.


4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work?

Of course! I think I would have spent more time on editting the written lab. I did my job, finished on time but the written lab needs a lot of improvement and unfortunatelly I wasn't able to fix it as much as it need to.

Our Shaking World Project

PLATE TECTONICS

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Lithosphere LayerEarthquakesEarthquakes are caused by Transform Plate Boundary. The epicenter is the point on Earth's surface above the focus, the focus is the point where the first movement occurs during an earthquake. A seismograph records the earthquake and the magnitude is the measurement of energy released by the earthquake. Seismic waves are waves of energy caused by a sudden breaking of rock within Earth or an explosion. P waves are primary waves moving back and forth. S waves move up and down. L waves move in all directions and the most dangerous. A tsunami (an underwater earthquake or a volcanic eruption) is an upward wave caused by thrust/reverse fault. Asthenosphere LayerPlate TectonicsPlate tectonics is the theory that the Earth's outer layer has been made up of plates that have moved throughout history the asthenosphere is the melted layer of the mantle. Plate tectonics are large solid pieces of earth's surface. The convection currents make the earth's plate tectonics move. The heat from the outer core makes magma go up and then go down again when it reaches the crust, making circles. Because plates float on the mantle, they can sometimes collide. The collision of plates causes damages on earth like, earthquakes, volcanoes, lava fields, and deep sea trenches. The three types of Convergent Boundaries are Ocean-Ocean that forms arcs of islands and strato volcanoes. Ocean-Continent which forms volcanoes and mountain ranges. Continent-Continent forms huge mountain ranges like the Himalayas in Nepal.

Mantle Layer

Plate Boundaries

Divergent Boundary are plates moving away from each other causing the crust to split apart, magma rising from the mantle and depending on where this boundary happens, either on land or sea, it forms mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys. Convergent Boundaries are plates coming together forming mountains, a subduction zone, and volcanoes formation. Transform Boundaries are plates slideing past each other forming a big release cause of a violent earthquake on Earth. Tsunamis (an underwater earthquake) are caused by thrust/reverse fault. A hot spot is an island having active volcanoes for example, Hawaii is an island make up of volcanoes that are no longer active.

Critical Thinking


The scientist Alfred Wegener was the creator of the Continental Drift theory. To prove that his theory was true, he provided a bunch of evidence. Fossils, rock records, mountain ranges and the puzzle. The puzzle is also known as Pangaea, first the continents were all together and then they started to spread apart to the positions where they are in now. I definitely agree with the theory of plate tectonics. All the evidence there is, completely shows that the continents moved due to convection currents.

Reflection

1. What did you enjoy most about this project and why?

 I enjoyed the diversity of topics we could do in this project and the creativity some students had while creating models, mini posters or foldables. This was a really big project and its a great way to learn about each layer of the Earth, I liked it because everyday when we came to class, everyone had something different to do and then get tested. 

2. What was most challenging for you during this project? 

At the beginning of the project, getting tested on the Lithosphere layer was very difficult for me, I think for most students was challenging too. I founded hard because it was the beginning of a new topic and there were so many things to remember that I was very nervous to even raise my hand and say "Ms. Kara I'm ready"! 

3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project? 

I learned how to use slide share, make references on my own without mistakes -I hope so, also make my own mini quizzes and hand-outs. 

4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? 

Definitely! At the end of the project I realized that my Mantle layer could have been better but unfortunately I couldn't work on my project at home. I think that I should have spent more time on each mini poster to put much more creativity on it but at the end, my project was done just in time and I had enough time to present my activities to my classmates. 

Rotation & Revolution

Vocabulary

1. Rotation- Rotacion: Earth spins on its axis.

2. Revolution- Revolucion: Earth's movement around the Sun.



















3. Hemispheres- Hemisferios: Half of the Earth.

4. Ellipse- Elipse: The shape of Earth's orbit.

















5. Axis- Eje: An imaginary line through the middle of the Earth.

6. Equator- Ecuador: A line in the middle of the Earth.



























7. Tilt- Inclinar: Not straight.























8. Orbit- Orbita: The path that Earth takes in order to go around the Sun.

9. Polaris- Polaris: Also known as the North Star, Earth's axis is always pointing at this star.

10. Time Zones- Zonas Horarias: Divides Earth into lines of longitude.

Summary

The Earth rotates on its axis counter-clockwise every 24 hours. Earth's revolution around the Sun takes 365 days or one year. The shape of Earth's orbit is an ellipse, which means is oval. The equator is a line in the middle of the Earth. There are two main hemispheres, Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Earth is tilted 23.5° and its axis is always pointing at the very important star, Polaris which is also known as the North Star. There are 24 time zones on Earth that are divided by the lines of longitude. 

Video





Critical Thinking

The Earth is affected by revolution in many different ways. The Earth takes 365 days to revolve around the Sun one complete time, during this time the Earth experiences a variation of things. Summer and Winter Solstices, Fall and Spring Equinoxes are different seasons the Earth experiences throughout its journey. Direct sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere means its Summer and Winter on the Southern Hemisphere while it gets indirect sunlight. The lunar revolution causes Neap and Spring Tides. During Neap Tide the water level on Earth is equal and the Moon is at its first and last quarter. During Spring Tide the water level on Earth is at its highest and lowest and the Moon is at New and Full Moon. Because the Earth is tilted and it rotates, day and night occurs. All these are examples of how the Earth is affected by its revolution. 


Reflection

What did you enjoy most about this project and why?
I really enjoyed working with Tamar and Hamza, this was my first time working with both of them and it was really nice. I also enjoyed the tasks we had to do after filming, and our topic was really interesting and fun. 


What was most challenging for you during this project and why?
Since it was my first time making a video in such an interesting topic, when we got to the point where we had to practice the video, keeping everything in order and being fast at changing the props was a little challenging.


What new skills did you learn from doing this project?
I learned how to be patient when you are working with people that are slow working and editting the video in iMovie was something pretty much new. 


Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? 
I would totally take less time to practice and film the video once again so it can be much better and professional looking. Overall the project was great and my group finished everything on time which is the most important part!

Geologic Time- Neogene Period

Summary
The Neogene Period was 24-1.8 million years ago. During the Neogene Period, lots of grassland mammals went extinct because of the climate and environment changed, it became warmer. Most of the new birds appeared by the end of Miocene because of the much cooling climate and there was new grasses. Many new things were happening for example, Stratigraphy one out of many types of rocks that were there is Villavieja Formation which was found in South America. Tectonics Events, during Miocene, India collided with Asia so this created plateaus and ranges to higher elevations, creating the Himalayas. Life on Earth, some animals that were alive during this period were Elephants, Horses, Zebras and many more. 






Reflection
What did you enjoy the most about this project?
Working with Carl. This was a really fun project because to be honest most of the time I didn't even know what the project was about, I was completely lost but I think I did great and I wish we could do another one.

What was most challenging about this project? Why?
The most challenging thing was that because I was lost, sometimes I didn't even know what to research about but I had my 'great friend Carl' to the rescue!

What would you change about this project and why?
At first I was so hating this project because Ms. Kara gave such a quick introduction to the Geologic Time Scale that I didn't understand it very well, but now I wouldn't change anything of the project because I really enjoyed doing it and it turned out well.

What are 3 things that you learned from this project?
I learned what was the Geologic Time Scale, which describes time and relationships between events that occurred during the History of Earth.
I learned how to work with Animoto to create original videos, which is very easy.
I also learned how to do References, which at the end it turned out to be fun to do.

The Stars

What is a star?
Stars are big balls of hot gas that changes its luminosity over a period of time. From Earth they are seen very small but actually they are huge. Stars are born in a giant cloud of dust and gas, they also change...sometimes they might shrink due to gravity , lower their luminosity and even explote. 


Types of Stars 
There are four type of starts which are White Dwarfs, Main Sequence                                                           Giants and Super Giants. 


White Dwarfs are stars that already died. These stars are white and dim, meaning they don't have as much magnitude as other stars. They are small stars, their temperature is from 6,000 to 20,000 Kelvin. 


Main Sequence stars are blue stars. The majority of stars in the galaxy are main sequence stars including the Sun. These stars are from 11,000 to 25,000 Kelvin and the average luminosity is 20,000 except the Sun is 1. 


Giant stars are red stars. Their temperature is from 3,000 to 7,000 Kelvin. Their luminosity is greater than 100 to 10,000.  


Super Giants Stars are also red stars. They are huge stars of course. Their temperature is less than 10,000. Their magnitude is greater than 10,000. 

H-R Diagram There are varieties of stars in space, and each of them are classified into many categories. For example, the temperature inside the star determines the color of a star. Red stars' temperature are approximately 3,500 Kelvin.

This is a diagram that the scientists use in order to classify the stars. 

Nuclear Fusion 

 Nuclear fusion is when the star is burning fuel. 


















The Life Cycle of a Star

Mercury

• Mercury is the 1st planet from the sun.
• The distance from the Sun is 77.3 Million km.
• The amount of Mass that Mercury has is 33,022 x 10^23 kg.
• Its diameter is 4,880 km.
• Mercury takes 59 days to do its rotation.
• It takes Mercury 88 days to go around the Sun and complete its revolution.
• Mercury has no moons and is a Terrestrial planet, meaning is made by rocks. 

Planet Description

• Mercury has no true atmosphere.
• It is the closest planet to the Sun.
• This planet is covered in craters, these are caused by the meteorites and asteroids that hit the planet.
• The first visit to Mercury was made by the Mariner 10 Spacecraft, in 1974.
• If you were to stand on Mercury, the Sun would appear two and a half times bigger than what it looks like from Earth. 

Interesting Facts 

• Mercury was named after a Roman god.
• Is the second smallest planet.
• Mercury has the largest eccentricity, it has 0.206. 

Hurricane Irene

          Questions

• What time of the year do hurricanes occur? Why do they only happen during that time? Hurricanes mostly occur during the summer and where there is lots of warm water. They happen only during this time because when a hurricane contacts warm water, it gathers more energy.

• How can the timing of the tides effect the devastation of a hurricane? The high tides during a hurricane effect a lot more an area because the rivers, streams, lakes and oceans overflow faster.

• If an area is fully saturated, will a hurricane have more or less impact on an area? A hurricane will have more impact because since the ground is fully saturated, the water can start taking trees with itself and block the streets.

• How does groundwater saturation affect rivers and streams? The ground water saturation affects the rivers and streets in the way that it adds more water and the rivers get overflow.  

         Reflection 

• What is something that you liked about this mini-project? I liked how I learned about hurricanes, about how they form, what causes a hurricanes and the effects.

• What was difficult for you in this project? I did not have difficulties in this project at all. 

• What would you change about your work on this project? I think that I would have been much more creative with my worksheets. 

• How did this project help you learn about Hurricane Irene? This project helped me a lot because before I didn't even know what caused a hurricane and so now I realize that Hurricanes don't happen from one day to another.