Is Air There????!

To learn the wonderful subject of air pressure, I did a lab called Is Air There. This lab involved a cup, two rubber bands, and a plastic bag. I used this to measure where air pressure is and observe what affects it has on the plastic bag. Firstly, I had to set up the plastic bag over the mouth of the cup, tightly secured by rubber bands. Next, I had to attempt to push the bag into the cup, but I could not do so, because there was air pressure when I pushed on the bag, resisting me from pushing the bag into the cup. Next, I inserted the bag into the cup, and tightly secured the bag into the cup with the rubber bands. Then, I had to attempt to pull the bag out of the cup, but I could not! The reason is because the air pressure is now on the outside of the bag, so when I attempted to pull the bag, the air pressure resisted me to do so. As a response to the Thinking It Over, by using the plastic bag to cover the cup, the air pressure was inside, so I could not push the bag inside the cup. When I inserted the bag into the cup it was just the opposite, the air pressure was on the outside, so I could not pull the bag outside the cup. Also, the Thinking It Over asked what would happen to a balloon if it increased altitude. Well, the answer is that that air pressure, as the balloon increased altitude, it would be deflated from the increased air pressure. I found this lab to be very interesting, and education. This was a simple lab, but there was a whole lot of science to it.

Greenhouse Interactive

To learn about the Greenhouse Effect for my science project, I did an online interactive at http://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/interactive/atmosphere.html I learned many new things about the Greenhouse Effect, for example, the vital gases that support the Greenhouse Effect are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Ozone (O3), and Oxygen (O2). Many people say that the Greenhouse Effect is very bad for the environment, and must be stopped, however I also learned that without it, the Earth would be too cold to sustain life. However, too much of these gases, or excess Greenhouse gases,which humans are causing, will cause the Earth to be hot to sustain life. Another cool fact that I learned is that 2.2 billion years ago, oxygen made up .2% of the atmosphere, today it is 21% of the atmosphere. I found this website to be very resourceful and helpful to me, and it will help many other people if they want to know more about the Greenhouse effect. Interactive games like this one make learning about topics not boring, but actually fun.

Radiation Popcorn

For this weeks science project, to learn about heat transfer, I did a lab named Radiation Popcorn. In this lab, I had to put a bag of popcorn kernels in a bag, into a microwave oven, for 1:30 minutes. when time was finished, we had a bag of popped popcorn, but how? This occurred because the microwave oven transfers heat to the popcorn in the form of radiation. Now, the popcorn kernels uncooked have small a droplet of water in them. When these droplets are heated by the radiation, the molecules within move faster and faster. When they are heated to the point, the water droplet will turn into steam. The result is the steam will escape, and allow the popcorn to explode, forming the edible treat of popcorn.

Atmosphere Interactive

This week in science, we are doing a project to help us learn about weather. To learn about the atmosphere, I went online and did an interactive activity, at

http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/atmosphere/index.html.

This activity helped me learn many new things about the atmosphere, for example, I learned that the Tropopause, is a 12 Km, the Stratopause is at 50 Km, and that Mesopause is at 85 Km. Also, I learned that airplanes average traveling height is just under the Tropopause. Another thing I learned was the temperatures of the atmosphere, the Thermosphere is the absolute coldest, at around 90-95 degrees Celsius. Overall, this activity proved too be helpful for me in a great way, I learned a lot of information, without much effort.