Rock The Mineral -- Mineral ID Lab

• Mineral Properties

Luster: its wether a mineral is metallic or nonmetallic, or it can be both. You can see if the mineral is shinny or not to decide which one it is.


Hardness: It is a 1-10 scale called the Moh's Scale to test how hard the mineral is, the softest mineral is Talc which is scaled 1 and the hardest mineral is diamond, which is scaled 10.


Cleavage/Fracture: It is when the rock breaks, it either breaks evenly which is cleavage, or breaks unevenly which is fracture.


Colors: Obviously it is the mineral's color, you can decide what color it is by look at it or use the streak plate. 


Distinguishing Characteristics: It can be the streak of the mineral, the density, how it feels when you touch it or more details about the mineral. 


Composition: It is the combination of the chemicals of the mineral.


Uses: The way(s) the mineral are used.

• Video

This is a video of combination of iMovie and Animoto. Hope you like it.

• Reflection

1. What did you enjoy the most about this project and why?
For this project, it is the first time in my whole 3 years of being a HS student in this school that I don't need to worry about my partner. Rida, she is so responsible, industrious and productive, that I can put more time on my own work but do not need to finish my partner's work like I always did before. I know I mentioned that Rida and me have been assigned to the same class and the same group all the time, so that makes me know her well and I can trust her. Thank you so much Rida!

2. What was most challenging for you during this project and why?
To be creative is the most challenging part for me during this project. I mean everyone are doing the same thing on the boring non-living minerals, you can make them perform a drama play in front of people, well you can, but I didn't figure it out. And while Ms. Kara keep saying more points for creativity, I know most of the time I can't get a good grade without certain extra credits, so I work hard for the creative idea, and lucky that Ms. Kara like it.


3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project?
I learn how to identify minerals by using the properties chard on the back of the blue worksheet. I think I will keep it for my life and every time I found some minerals, I will use it to see what minerals I got. That will be fun, I guess.

4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? Explain.
I will try to make my video better, since the introduction and the conclusion are both kind of weird to some people, that they can't see our face but our legs, knees and feet. If I can plan more on that to see how to make it more interesting, I think that will definitely better than what I have now. But I am actually glad that no one else film their video in our style, so we are unique and CREATIVE! 

Shake! Shake! Shake! The Earth's Fault!!!

• Lithosphere Layer

Activities: 4 Miniposter(Faults, earth interior, plate tectonic, continental drift), Model of seismograph(Earthquake), BrainPop video(Volcano, tsunami)

There are three types of faults, which are the normal fault(down), reverse fault(down) and the strike-slip fault(slide pass), these are the result of earthquake, one tool for measuring the earthquake is the seismograph, earthquake can also happen under the ocean which will create tsunami. Tsunami is the harbor wave that brings huge damage. There are four earth layers which are the crust (continental and oceanic, solid), mantle (asthenosphere, molten rock), outer core(molten rock) and inner core(solid). The asthenosphere is where the convection current happens that moves the plates floating on the mantle, plates are divided into pieces because the plate tectonic theory. Because of the convection current, volcanoes created on earth that connects with the mantle. Before scientist discover all these theories and facts, our world was in one big continent called Pangea but divided into seven continents today because of the continental drift which is still a hypothesis from the scientists. 

• Asthenosphere

Activities: Foldables & Mini-quiz(Plate boundaries, earth interior), Demonstration lab(convection current) 

There are three types of plate boundaries, divergent boundary is when two plates move away from each other that causes sea-floor spreading(oceanic-oceanic), mid-ocean ridge(oceanic-oceanic) and rift valleys(continental-continental); convergent boundary is when two plates come together that causes subduction zone( oceanic-continental), deep-sea trench(oceanic-oceanic) and mountain building (continental-continental); transform boundary is when two plates slide pass each other that causes earthquake and tsunami. Convection current is the heat is recycling in the mantle that moves the plates floating on the mantle, when the heat gets closer to the crust, the temperature  decrease so the heat goes back down, but it gets hotter when it reach the bottom so it sinks up again. Convection currents create hot-spot and volcanoes.

• Mantle

Activities: PowerPoint(photographic evidence of plate movements), exploration labs(density lab and ring of fire lab)

After research for the PPT, I knew more about different real world examples of each eart movement. One example would be the Himalaya Mountain is the result of convergent boundary. For the exploration lab of the Ring of Fire, I know that the ring of fire is a chain of volcanoes located surroud the pacific plate that form a shape like a ring. I learned that granite is the kind of rock made of continental crust, and oceanic crust is basalt, granite has larger crystals than basalt.

(the slideshare changed all the fonts of the PPT, sorry that it looks really ugly>.<)Plate Boundary, photographic evidences

View more PowerPoint from Genvissa

Critical Thinking Question

Do you agree with the theory of plate tectonics? Why or why not?
I agree with the theory of plate tectonics that the plates are divided into pieces and still changing every year. Scientists measure it every year and found out our plate actually move a few centimeters, that proved. And all the earthquakes and tsunami happend in these years also prove the movement of the plates.

Reflection

1. What did you enjoy most about this project and why?
I love the activities that we did on this project, it is different than other classes, more than just writing writing and writing, it required more skills than just writing. 

2. What was most challenging for ou during this project and why?
Not much challenges, just sometimes even Ms. Kara tried to cover the grade while I was testing, but I still saw my score, and it was not prefect that made me pretty sad. Another challenge for most of our student would be time management, since we all began our internship, we obviously have less time to work on our project at school, and that required your discipline to make yourself to do your work at home after internship.

3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project?
Again, I didn't learn many new skills, but new knowledges about our world. I think my time management skills was enhanced, and I think that is really impressive since I needed to do more activities than others, although I enjoyed the extra work actually.

4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? Explain.
Better preparation for the test, I thought I knew the answer, but sometime Ms. Kara asked unfamiliar questions that made me thought how can I not know that? Or actually everyone else all know the answer but just the stupid Yishan don't know? 

Eclipses

VOCABULARY
Earth Revolution地球公轉
When the Earth revolves around the sun that takes about 365 days.

Lunar Revolution月亮公轉
When the moon revolves around the earth that takes about 29.5 days.

Partial Eclipse偏食
It is when part of the moon/earth is covering by the penumbra.

Total Eclipse全食
It is when the moon/earth is totally cover by the umbra.



Lunar Eclipse月食
It happens during full moon phase when the moon moves behind the earth and cover by the earth's shadow

Solar Eclipse日食
It happens during new moon phase when the moon is in between the sun and the earth and blocks the light from the sun.

Penumbra半影
The lighter part of the shadow

Umbra暗影/本影
The darker part of the shadow



SUMMARY
There are two main types of eclipses, solar and lunar eclipse. Before we get to the main topic, we need to know some basic ideas about how the eclipse occurs. Earth revolution is when the earth revolves around sun and lunar revolution is when the moon revolves around the moon. The movement of the earth and the moon causes different types of eclipse. Total eclipse is when the the moon or the earth is totally cover by the umbra, which is the darker part of the shadow. Partial eclipse is when part of the moon or the earth is cover by the penumbra, which is the lighter part of the shadow. Solar eclipse is when the moon moves between the earth and the sun and blocks the light from the sun, it happens during the new moon phase. Lunar eclipse happens during full moon phase when the moon moves behing the earth and into the earth shadow.


VIDEO


Class J - #3 - 2012 from Kara MacDevitt on Vimeo.

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION
How is earth affected by movement(revolution)?
The earth is affected by its movement. The earth revolution takes about 365days, and rotation on its axis is about 24 hours. Earth tilted 23.5 degrees to the north star. The rotation casues day and night on the earth and the revolution of the earth around the sun also causes 4 different seasons on the earth which are Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And because the earth is tilted and the orbit is ellipse, the earth gets different types of sunlight from the sun--indirect and direct sunlight. Which causes Spring and fall equinoxes, Summer and winter solstices. The moon phases(New moon, waning cresent/gibbous moon, first/last quarter moon, full moon, waxing cresent/gibbous moon), eclipses(total/partial solar/lunar eclipse), and spring/neap tides also occur because of the movement of earth.


REFLECTION


What did you enjoy most about this project and why?
I enjoyed the editing part the most, because I can make our group's great video even better and able to delete some parts of the video that are not good. An because I like to work on iMovie. Well, since I was the one who made the pictures and other props, I feel satisfied after I finished making them all and saw them used in the vidoe!


What was most challenging for you during this project and why?
I think the most challenging part would be the part in video that I have to move the moon above the paper to create a view that the small tiny moon is covering the huge sun. >.<


What new skills did you learn from doing this project?
I have used iMovie before, but I found out the software is more efficient and better in many ways than before. This advantage helps me to do things that I want to do to our video that I couldn't do before. ;)


Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? Explain.
I think I should double check the editing of the video. Because the last part when I put up every one's job and their names, I put "narrator", but because of the font or the size of the word, it didn't show the whole word but only "narrat", which looks bad. :(

GEOLOGIC TIME--SILURIAN

SUMMARY
The period I was studying is Silurian, it is 443-417 million years ago, part of Paleozoic Era and Phanerozoic Eon. The silurian was the time on the earth witnessed the climate became more stable than before, ended the erratic change of climate. During silurian, the earth had considerable changes that had important reaction for the life and environment. One cause of this change was the melting of the large glacial formations, this led to the vast rise of the sea level. Coral reefs first appeared in silurian, it is also the time of evolution of fish.

VIDEO

PROJECT REFLECTION
1. What did you enjoy most about the this project?
This project is great that how Ms. Kara let us choose to work alone or with someone else. I chose to work independently, and I enjoyed how I can work alone, don't need to care about others' progress on the project. I can just move on to the next step right after I finish something. This way is more efficient.


2. What was most challenging about this project? Why?
The most challenging part about this project might be finding information, since there are different information everywhere, it is hard to decide which one to believe and which one to choose. Because you always want to learn the truth but not some other stuff that is not correct.


3. What you change about this project and why?
I will force everyone to work alone!!!! Simply everyone need to work independent. I think teacher should tell the students how important that skill is, but stop brainwashing them to collaborate. I know sometimes alone is weak but together will be stronger. But in the society like this, the strong alive, the weak died. You really need to realized no one can help you forever but yourself!!


4. what are 3 things that you learned from this project?
I learned about the sea level increase and melting of glacial ice is not only happening today, but like million years ago already. So, sometimes, all this geologic events are not occurring only because pollution.

GLOG

THE STARS-BLOG ENTRY

1. What is star?
Stars are large hot gases ball, some of them are bright but some are dim. They look small at night when you look at them, it i because they are light years far away from us, but actually most of them are really huge, and even bigger and brighter than the Sun. Stars have many different sizes and colors.
In the center of the stars is where the heat is made, it is made by the nuclear fusion. Stars can classified in different categories, such as types of stars, colors, sizes, ages, luminosity, temperatures and spectral class.

2. Types of Stars
Stars are classified into 4 different types. They are Super Giant, Giant, Main Sequence and White Dwarf. They are also classified in other 6 different categories, ages, size, temperature, luminosity, color and spectral class.
White dwarf stars are white old stars and very small, temperature is in between 4,000-7,000, they are dim stars, spectral class of white dwarf can be B, A, F. Main sequence stars are young medium stars that can be any colors, temperature and luminosity, therefore, they all have different spectral class. Giant stars are large middle age stars, it can be any color, temperature and luminosity, so spectral class can be different too. Super giant stars are super huge middle age stars, that can have any color, temperature luminosity and spectral class. 


3. H-R Diagram
H-R Diagram's full name is Hertzprung-Russell Diagram.
A H-R Diagram is a graphical tool to show the characteristics of stars, and classified them based on their colors, star types, ages, sizes, luminosity, temperature and stars' names, based on all these information, you can also define their spectral class. 

4. Nuclear Fusion
We know a star is born with a giant cloud, the cloud gets smaller sometimes because the gravity, when it shrink, it gets hotter and hotter, when it is  hot enough, a new star is born. And this is nuclear reaction.
Nuclear fusion help stars to make energy. It is the process of the nuclear reaction change two hydrogen molecules into a helium molecule and energy inside the stars.

5. The Life Cycle of a Star
Stars have a life cycle, it tells the process and everything before they were born, during their life, and after they died. Every stars are born with giant clouds with dust and gas, this is called stellar nebula. But there is a different cycle between sun-like stars, huge stars and giant stars.
Sun-like stars born with stellar nebula which is a giant cloud with dust and gas, and then it forms a star, next step will become a red giant star, and the red giant star will collapse in to a cloud of dust and gas, this is planetary nebula, and it will become a white dwarf after it, and finally it die and become a black dwarf. Huge star born with stellar nebula too, after it forms a star, it become a red giant, the star will have a big explosion called supernova, and it become a neutron star. Giant star follow almost the exact steps as the huge stars, but unlike huge star, after the supernova, giant star will become a black hole.

Extra Credit: Saturn

Planet Order: 6 from the Sun.
Distane from the Sun: 1,426.7million of km
Mass: 95.185 kg
Diameter: 120,536
Rotation: 10hours 14 minutes.
Revolution: 29.5years
#of Moons: 31
Saturn is Jovian


Planet Description

• Second largest planet.
• thick atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium.
• has a complex ring system.
• has at least 31 moons.

Interesting Facts

• In Greek mythology, Saturn is the god of agriculture.
• Saturn is the least dense planet.

Neptune

Planet Order  8  from the Sun.
Distance from the Sun: 4,496 million of km
Mass: 17,151 kg
Diameter: 49,500 km
Rotation: 16 hrs
Revolution: 164.8 yrs
#of Moons: 13
Terrestrial or Jovian


Planet Description

• large, gaseous planet with rings that vary in thickness.
• methane atmosphere causes its bluish-green color.
• has dark-color storm in atmosphere, it is similar to the Jupiter Red spot.
• has at least 11 moon.
• the windest planet.

2 Interesting Facts

• It is sometimes farther from the Sun than Pluto is.
• It is name after the Greek god Poseidon, but the Roman name.

My Comments: I would choose this planet for this project because I am a fan of Poseidon's son, Percy Jackson! ;)