Mira's Science Blogs

About the Project Every year, adventure hosts a charity fair, in which the students select a charity and then sell products that relate to the cause and the charity. During this project, there are many assignments that are required for each class. For example, in history, we did research on our charity and in electives, we created our how-to. Each group presents and the top group from each class then continues to finals, where they present to Student Council, and the best presentation is chosen. Summary: During the charity fair pro ject, I learned a lot about my charity and the problem that it is attempting to address. Our charity was Water For South Sudan .  The problem that this charity is trying to address is that there are so many people in South Sudan that do not have access to clean and drinkable water. This is also a problem because, in South Sudan, millions of women and children walk for up to eight hours a day to collect water from harsh and unsafe environment...

Ecotourism - Environmental and Wildlife Impacts Do you ever wonder what your impact on the environment is? Ecotourism is hurting our national parks for four important reasons. When animals are near humans, we are destroying their natural wild behavior. Humans also have many impacts on the environment such as pollution, the use of unnatural resources, and other physical impacts. Ecotourism contributes to the destroying of natural habitats, areas, and landscapes in various ways. Human’s poor choices and interactions with wildlife can have some serious damage on the environment. Even though ecotourism may sound like a great idea, here are some reasons otherwise. When we humans are in national parks, we are physically destroying natural habitats and areas. “ But let’s not fail to consider the drawbacks as well. To make an area accessible to visitors, infrastructure has to be built and transportation has to be arranged. The revenue generated for local economies is often...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ej0tesssrQE0g2MKRgE7ObYVQ09ClgUDs7BYnkeHHUhXSF2s3x6wrJCftBK-XRsTeVqhEYcVzWu4AIGEyQtLPK9ZJrrGHp8nZ3q-Gm8R37uXmrRB8Th7GyRQ8Uqghh-EIZZFZTqsgMYx/s1600/ecotourism2.jpg Summary: Do you ever wonder if you have a big impact on the environment? Many people take the environment and wildlife for granted without even thinking of the impacts and effects that we as humans are making on it. Ecotourism is tourism in natural areas that are protected. An example of ecotourism is in national parks. A big debate on ecotourism is whether it is helping or hurting our environment.  There are many pros and cons to ecotourism. Ecotourism can help tourists to learn more about the world we live in, inspiring tourists to become more sustainable.  For example,  founder and president of the nonprofit Manta Pacific Research Foundation Keller Laros is studying Hawaii's ray population and attempting to determine how ecotou...

Summary: A carbon footprint is important so that we know the total greenhouse gas emissions of an item so that we can work on reducing that amount. Most of the greenhouse gases from transportation are CO2 emissions. The amount of CO2 emissions from transportation vary based on the mode of transportation and the distance that was traveled.  This week, I learned how to calculate the carbon footprint of a product by figuring out the manufactured location, the store where the materials were bought, and the mileage in between. We used this information to calculate our carbon footprint caused by the travel of our materials. We assumed that the objects that traveled within the same continent traveled by train, if they are on different continents, they traveled by airplane, if they are within the same country, they travel by truck, and travel between the retailer and the school will be by car. Once we figured out the mileage between the two destinations, we multiplied by a...

Summary: In the process of neutralization, a substance that is either acidic or basic becomes neutral. This is called "neutralization." Acids and bases are like "opposites." Some properties of acids are that they are sour, and when put to a litmus paper test, the paper will turn red, meaning the substance is acidic. Properties of bases are that they are slippery, and they will turn litmus paper blue. Litmus paper is used to determine how acidic or basic a substance is. If we are trying to neutralize an acid, we could do this using a base. Universal indicator can be used to determine when the substance has become neutral. We can do this by comparing it to the pH scale. On the pH scale, there are 14 numbers. If a substance is from 0-7, it is acidic. The colors for acidity on the pH scale are red, orange, and yellow. If the substance is from 7-14, this means that it is a base. The colors for bases on the pH scale are blue, dark green, and purple. If a subst...

Summary:  What are ionic and covalent bonds? Ionic and covalent bonds are when atoms interact so that they get enough electrons in the outer shell to be stable.  To be stable, according to the octet rule, atoms need eight valence (outer shell) electrons. You know how many valence electrons are in each element by looking at each group on the periodic table. In covalent bonding, the atoms are attracted towards each other. The electrons between atoms are shared so that both atoms get full outer electrons. An example of covalent bonding is the molecules carbon dioxide (CO₂.) In the image below, carbon has six valence electrons and each oxygen atoms has six valence electrons. The two oxygen atoms combined with the carbon atom so that now all three atoms are stable. In the image, you can see that now all of the atoms have eight valence electrons so now they are stable. http://www.ducksters.com/science/chemistry/chemical_bonding_co2.gif In ionic bonding, the...

Question #9:   The reactants of a chemical reaction have_____. Correct Answer:  chemical properties different from the products I understand that this is the correct answer because, in a chemical reaction, the reactants and the products are not exactly the same. For example, When two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom have a chemical reaction, they form water. The properties are different because hydrogen and oxygen are gases and water is a liquid. Many of the properties are different. Question #11:   Copper (Cu) reacts with oxygen (O) to form copper oxide (CuO). The properties of CuO are   most likely_____. Correct Answer: Different from copper or oxygen I know this is the correct answer because, in a chemical reaction, the reactants and products do not have the same properties. Copper is soft and malleable, and oxygen is a gas. When they have a chemical reaction, they form copper oxide, which is a black solid. The properties are once again different. ...