January 18th

This Monday we had off from school!!!=] YAYYYY

On Tuesday:

-For homework i found out what a solstice and an equinox was.

A solstice is an event that happens twice a year, when the tilt of the earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the sun.

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the earth's axis is inclined is inclined neither away nor towards the sun. That is when there are equal amounts of day and night.

I found out that we see different parts of the moon because

-perspective of people on earth

-the moon is revolving

-different parts of the moon are getting lit up as it rotates.

We learned how to make force diagrams for the moon. I found out that the earth exerts a force on the moon and directs it to it's center.

On Wednesday:

For homework I had to answer the question: why does the moon stay in orbit because it looks like it will crash right into the earth.

I thought that the moon orbits the earth because of the other forces interacting with it. Although it shows that the moon should be accelerating into the earth, it will not. I found that the moon not crashing into the earth has to do with the speed of the moon. That is what keeps it in orbit.

We came up with the question: What caused the moon to start orbiting? We found out that it was because of "The BIG Bang."

We also watched a video of a boy named David hitting a ball with a mallet to keep it orbiting around a circle on the floor. His mallet was forcing the ball to keep going around in a circle. The orbit that that ball was on was always an equal distance from the circle (the earth) it was traveling around.

On Thursday:

- For homework we had to run 20 trials and see how the moon orbits the earth. Although this was time consuming, I did learn a lot. I learned why it didn't just crash into the earth and how speed had a lot to do with it's orbit.

Another thing that I learned and didn't know before was that a satellite was something that orbits.

-The distance affects the amount of initial velocity needed to put in orbit.

This is important because: now i know why the moon doesn't just crash into us. I also know a lot of key terms that will help me later on in my science career.

okkaayyyy weellll thhhatttsss aaallll(:

~KATHY~

week if january11th

Monday:

- On Monday we talked about what a neap tide was and what a spring tide was.

Neap tide- When the moon and the earth are at a right angle to each other. When there is a neap tide there are moderate high tides and moderate low tides.

Spring tide- When the sun, moon, and earth are in line, it is called a spring tide. When there is a spring tide there are higher "high tides" and lower "low tides"

On Tuesday:

We went on Mr.Finley's website and looked at the simulation. We talked about that and answered questions.

On Wednesday and Thursday:

We took the honors bio test that I think I failed!!:)

On Friday:

- We talked about why we have seasons.

- We have seasons due to the earth's tilt.

- The earth is tilted at the same degree forever.

- Another reason why we have seasons is because we revolve.

I'm not sure if we are supposed to blog about today but I will anyway.

Today(Tuesday):

We watched part of a movie. We were also supposed to find out what a solstice and an equinox is.

Solstice: an event that happens twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the sun.

Equinox: occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the sun.

Why is it so important to learn this stuff?

this tells us why there are seasons and why they change.

first time blogging in 2010!:)

This week we learned about the moon. We learned that the moon moves slower then the earth rotates.

Rotate means- staying in the same spot, but facing different directions (same position, orientation is changing)

Another vocabulary word we learned about was revolve.

Revolve means-a circular motion around one point.

During class we did this moon simulation lab thing. It asked all these questions about the moon and we would answer them by looking at the moon simulation. We could control what it does and that really helped me understand what the moon does at what speed. I found out that the further away the moon is from the sun, the more illuminated it gets. I also learned that in 29.5 days (which is almost a month) the moon goes fully around the earth. After it goes fully around, it does the same thing again. Another thing i learned is that the moon rotates at the same rate it revolves. The earth rotates counterclockwise. The moon also rotates counterclockwise, only it does that a lot slower.

We learned about the phases of the moon:

-new moon

-waxing crescent

-first quarter

-waxing gibbous

-full moon

-waning gibbous

-third quarter

-waning crescent

after the moon goes through all those phases it starts over and goes through the whole cycle again.

Another thing we talked about was how waves are made

-the waves in the ocean are mostly created because of the moon's pull on the earth. The sun plays a small role on making those waves.

What real world application does this have?

-if you look up at the sky and see the moon you can know what phase it is in. I did some research on this and i found that in ancient times the people would see the moon and know what time of the month they were in. Also if the moon and the sun didn't pull on the earth there would be no waves in the ocean, and that would not be fun!!!

~KATHY~