Lunar Phases

What did you notice about the phases of the moon?

I noticed that phases of the moon don't really depend on the amount of sunlight shining on it, which is always the same, but it depends on where we are on the earth, and where the earth is in relation to the moon and the sun. I also noticed that the phases of the moon are constantly changing. The full moon comes back every 29.7 days, and that never changes, the phases are constant.

Why do we see different parts of the moon each night?

We see different parts of the moon each night because the earth is revolving at the same time as the moon is orbiting the earth.

What is a lunar month?
A lunar month has the length of 29.7 days. This is from one full moon to the next, as mentioned in the first question.

What are phases?

The phases of the moon are basically the different parts of the cycle that the moon goes through. They go like this:

New Moon

Waxing Crescent

First Quarter

Waxing Gibbous

Full Moon

Waning Gibbous

Last Quarter

Waning Crescent

and so on.

What causes them??
Phases are caused by the moon revolving around the earth at the same time as the earth is revolving around the sun. Also, the earth is rotating on its axis at the same time too. The way that the sun falls on the part of the moon that we see is what cause phases. This also applies to tides - they are caused by how the gravity of the moon and the sun and the earth all relate to each other.
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Reasons For the Seasons

In class we did a lab about seasons where we took a styrofoam ball as a model of the earth, and we're supposed to answer questions about it.
1. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which areas on Earth get the most concentrated light? Which areas get the most concentrated light when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere?
The most concentrated light is in the Southern Hemisphere, because the more concentrated light is, the hotter the weather will be. And while it is summer in the southern hemisphere, it has to be winter in the northern hemisphere.
2. Compare your observations of how the light hits the area halfway between the equator and the North Pole during winter and during summer.
During winter, light doesn't hit that area very much. As we saw in our experiment with the grids, the squares from the grid on the northern hemisphere looked like rectangles. This means that the light was less concentrated there.
During summer, the light is shining directly on the sphere, and the grids look like squares, not rectangles. This means that it is a higher concentration of light.
3. If the squares projected on the ball from the acetate become larger, what can you infer about the amount of heat distributed in each square?
That means that there's less heat distributed in each square.
4. According to your observations, which areas on Earth are consistently coolest? Which areas are consistently warmest? Why?
The North Pole and the South Pole are consistently coolest, because they are never directly in the sun. The equator is constantly warmest because it is in the middle and is always directly in the sun.
5. What time of year will the toothpick's shadow be longest? When will the shadow be shortest?
The shadow will be longest in summer, because the light is shining directly on it. In winter, the shadow will be shortest, because there is the least amount of light shining on it.
6. How are the amounts of heat and light received in a square related to the angle of the sun's rays?
The farther the light is angled away from the square, the less heat and the less light there is.
7. Use your observations of an Earth-sun model to write an explanation of what causes the seasons.
The seasons are basically caused by how the light of the sun is directed on the Earth. The more direct the sunlight is hitting the earth, the hotter and the lighter it is. This is when Spring and Summer come into play. The less direct the sun shines on a certain part of the Earth, the colder the season - this is when Fall and Winter come into play.

Waves Unit Reflection

How does the use and study of waves affect societal well-being?

The use and study of waves affects societal well-being in many different ways. Although we may not realize it, waves are all around us – there are more types of waves than the ones we find on the beach. When we listen to music, we are in reality just listening to a bunch of waves. When we see sunlight reflecting off of someone’s glasses, it’s actually a wave that’s being reflected. We microwave our food with waves! Without waves, we would be nowhere. We wouldn’t be able to see anything, we wouldn’t be able to hear anything, and we would have no technology. Without waves, we wouldn’t have lives.

We learned all about waves in this unit. There are several types of waves – electromagnetic waves, sound waves, and seismic waves are the main ones we learned about after we learned about the basic components of waves and how waves react to their environment.

My knowledge has changed very much. Learning about waves around us is pretty cool because now whenever I microwave something, I think “hey, microwaves are actually pretty strong! I probably shouldn’t press my face against the microwave.” For my project, I did Ultraviolet Rays, and that also made me be more cautious about being in the sun too long, and what would happen if I was. There’s more to waves than just the typical scientific stuff – they’re all around us, and they’re very important in our lives.

When we learned about seismic waves, we looked at different earthquakes that had occurred around the world. Although I already knew about how earthquakes were created and the damage an earthquake can cause, I learned the specifics in class. I also learned a whole lot about tsunamis that I didn’t know before.

Next, we learned about sound waves. We learned about how sound affects us, about how it travels, and how bad noise pollution can be for us.

Lastly, we learned about electromagnetic waves, and the electromagnetic spectrum. Everybody did a presentation on a type of electromagnetic wave, and that way the whole class learned quickly. We learned about radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays.

I liked this unit a lot, actually, because it branched out to a bunch of different topics and we were constantly learning how it related to our lives. We learned a lot of science that wasn’t necessarily just about waves, too. I liked the Tsunami Essay, because it opened my eyes to some of the things that are going on in the world that isn’t happening here.

I think that this was a really good way to learn about waves. For next year’s unit, maybe the electromagnetic spectrum should be a bigger part of the unit. The presentations were great, but it would have made it even more interesting if we could learn about each specific electromagnetic wave, review the presentations. That way the students can keep the information a little more permanently imprinted in the brain.

Food Irradiation

We had a debate in class this month about food irradiation. Neither side really won, but we came up with a good proposal to the FDA:

Dear FDA,

The students of ISB’s proposal to you is that irradiation must be proven to be healthier, without hazard and, in the long run, better for our economy before irradiated food is allowed to be produced and put into stores all around the world. It must also be clear that the food the customers are buying irradiated food.

These were some of the pros and cons:

Cons:

environmental destruction

costs a lot!

problems have been discovered in animals that ate irradiated food (premature death, rare form of cancer, liver damage, vitamin deficiencies)

masks and encourages filthy conditions in slaughterhouses (kills bacteria but does nothing for feces, urine, pus, and vomit)

doesnt kill the pathogen that causes mad cow disease, either

destroys vitamins (80 % vitamin a in eggs, etc.)

can change the flavor, odor and texture of food (pork turns red, beef smells like wet dog, fruits and veggies become mushy, eggs can lose their color and become runny

disrupts the chemical composition of everything in its path

forces farmers and ranchers out of business, even WORSE for our economy

high energy gamma rays create free radicals in the cells they penetrate which is implicated in heart disease

new compounds are formed radiolytic products not sure whether they are toxic or not

food poisoning bacteria could become resistant to irradiation over time just like with antibiotics

kills good bacteria

limited amount of food they can irradiate

doesnt work on seafood

PROS

Millions of americans get sick yearly from spoiled food

Destroy's bacteria and echanes shelf life

does not change the content of foood

NO harmful substances are created in the food

destroys other harmful substances in the food

Little or no heating frozen foods

can treat pakaged or frozen foods

no chemicals used for preservation of fresh foods

low energy requirements

comprable change in nutrional value

Eating irradated food DOES NOT present long term health risks

Irrdiation DOES not make food radioactive

Can eliminate food germs

irradiation can kill substaantially reduce the number of potentially dangerous organisms

in foods. estimate range from 90 to 99.9 precent

Irradition can kill insects and pests infesting foods such as grains and flours without leaving

chemical residues

Irradiation can be used to sterlize food immune-compromised individuals such as Aids patients

Irradiation has been deemeds safe by various govermental agenicies

Proponets of irradiation compare the changes in food caused by iiradion to

products created by other processes such as cooking ar freeze-drying

Irradation delay's ripening and sprouting so food can be stored longer

There is no potential for enviromental impact because the radioactive materials are fully enclosed

and are returned to the manfacter for recycling or diposal

Good safety and record for existing irradition facilities

without irrated food 76 million would be sick from food sickness

between 5 and 7 billion dollars are wasted on spoiled food

In this case, I don't think science was such a good invention. Food irradiation was invented with a good purpose in mind - to address a global food problem. However, in my opinion, there are simply too many things that could go wrong. I think that before food irradiation is thought of as the solution to all of our world's food problems, it needs to be completely foolproof. Nothing can go wrong, because this is food we're talking about. Food is something that every single human being needs to survive, and if the food is contaminated, then our whole world could potentially collapse. If there are two containers of food at the supermarket, one irradiated and one not, I would definitely pick the one that isn't. It's a type that I can trust and has essentially been proven safe. Irradiation hasn't been proven safe, so I wouldn't want to buy it until it is 100% safe.

My thinking didn't really change throughout the debate, because I was assigned to talk about the cons of irradiation and I really think that irradiation isn't a good idea at the moment. Before we did this activity, I actually knew nothing about food irradiation before we did this activity, so it really opened my eyes up to something that's going on in the world that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. I did like the activity, it was fun to argue for my side of the debate and it ended up being really informative.