Hedgehog post

   Hedgehogs are a pretty rare animal, but you bet they are cute and full of interesting ancestors. A hedgehog is both a predator, to garden pests, meaning bugs and insects, but is also a prey to birds, especially eagles and owls. They are related to the shrew family, and to a pretty new species called tenrecs and the moonrat. When these spiky-haired creatures are scared, they roll into a spiky ball, which is their defense system.

They can also be used for pets.

 Here is a Pets 101 episode about hedgehogs. Enjoy.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWg-7xysy3I

Can Festivals Get Any Crazier Than These?

 By Meera Dolesia on 11/29/2011
http://www.dogonews.com/2011/11/29/can-festivals-get-any-crazier-than-these
  I was searching for a current event, and I crashed into something that made me laugh so hard,it's not scientific though, but I want it to be my current event this week. This is some of the craziest festivals around the world, which in some you want to try, and in some you don't want to be, trust me.

Baby Jumping ( El Colacho) In Spain

 This is a nice festival. Once a year, July, to be more specific, in a town of Castrillo de Murcia, people celebrate Baby Jumping, now don't think it's a dumb festival where babies are learning to jump, it's not. What it is that a man dressed in a yellow-red suit (El Colacho) goes around and jumps over babies which are supposed to be placed in the middle of the road, and the cars get stopped.  Here is a picture of how it looks and a video to explain you more if you want to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzJBpVVGcWw&feature=player_embedded

Monkey Buffet Festival

  If you don't like monkeys roaming around you freely, than this is not a festival for you. But, either way, I will tell you what it is about. In Lopburi, Thailand, The last Sunday of November, ( Just a couple of days ago) for already 200 years, is monkey Thanksgiving. They get to go around the city and look for food, and mess around the city.( I wish there was a day like this in Serbia, just for kids) But not everything goes well on this day. Couple of times, they disturb men working, or steal food from the market, without paying, or the worst case, mess with cables, so the electricity can go out. But, it is great time for the monkeys and for the tourists, which get attracted by this festival.
This is what it looks like.

And a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9ki0mK6NQ0&feature=player_embedded
  South Korea Mud Festival

   For me the=is is the most disgusting one , but it is fun for sure. On a beach in Boryeong, South Korea, since 1998, for 9 days in July. So what is the festival, it's just get on the muddy beach and do anything you want. The problem is, showering, and your parents reaction when you come home.

This is it:

Video- WARNING: The music is super loud, don't do it on maximum, actually you can, but then don't complain after that you got scared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwYgB5_eo4&feature=player_embedded

   Roswell UFO Festival

     This one is for SF fans. You heard of the stories about aliens landing in Roswell? Well, this is their celebration( I mean the people of Roswell, not the aliens) It is similar to Halloween. It is a 4 day celebration in July. There are guest speakers, entertainers, rides, shows, etc. In order to be part of this, you need to dress like an alien.
 WARNING: The following picture doesn't show real aliens, they are just people dressed up. Don't freak out.

    Wife Carrying World Championship

      Future wives don't go on. ( Just kidding). In Scotland, every year there is a championship organized. Men have to carry their wives on their backs across a 253-meter track filled with opsticles. This is some heavy duty, huh? Well, the hard work pays off for the winner. Depending on the wife's weight, the winner gets that many liters of beer. An award only Scots wouldn't resist under any circumstances.

Picture- Don't laugh

Video- a opportunity to see them compete:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqBWwdywp1U&feature=player_embedded#!

Rabbit population per 5 years

 

This table and the graph represent the grow of the rabbit population. As we can see, every year there is more and more rabbits, which is logical because rabbits give birth, and reproduce. In the first couple of years, the population was rising slowly, and then later, suddenly shook into the air. This proves that populations can be surprising sometimes.

These Little Piggies Are Heading To The Market- to shop

  Posted on November 19th 2011
By Meera Dollasia 
http://www.dogonews.com/2011/11/19/these-little-piggies-are-heading-to-the-market-to-shop

  You wouldn't expect a boy to write about this, but I think it is amazing. A photographer from Britain called Bob Eisdale. He takes pictures of animals, and he works on a project with pigs. Well, he learned them to do everything, with a promise of a price. They go shopping. Driving on the driver's seat. Well, to dissapoint you, this is happening only during picture time. He is making a deal, if he could take a try in real life, which is nice.
   I wish all animals have a chance to do this. This article is amazing, even though it doesn't have to do with science.

   

Rabbit

Phew, We dodged Another falling Satelite

http://www.dogonews.com/2011/10/26/phew-we-dodged-another-falling-satellite
By: Meera Dolesia 
On: 10/26/2011
   Last month, an American satellite was threatening us by the news it broke to pieces in space, and that the debris would crash into the Earth. We all gave a sign of relief when we heard it landed in the ocean. Well, last weekend, a German satellite was our concern. Luckily, it ended up in the  Indian Ocean close to Sri Lanka, and there were no causalities. This is lucky, because, astronomers expected the junk to end in the highly populated cities of Chi
    When satellites are doing a mission, they are in touch with a space center at all times. Well in this case, the satellite completed its task, and on the way home, in the space center, all communications and touch with the satellite is lost. Also, the satellite disappeared from the radar. That's what the astronomers were biting their lips for. And the whole population, after the news have been spread.
   When I heard this, I was a little freaked out, but now when I read the part that all the debris is on the bottom of the ocean, it's easier to breathe.

Dirt the movie reflection

  These couple of days we watched a great documentary about dirt. This reveals a lot about a thing, that many people think isn't so important.(including me) Well, guess what, it is very important for survival. It is one of the needs to Earth. Some interesting facts and notes that I picked up from this movie is that actually without dirt, we wouldn't have anything to eat, because plants grow from dirt and than the animals eat plants and then we eat both of them, so without dirt, all species would plead for one bite of anything. Also, dirt is necessary for making trees, because trees grow out of dirt, and trees give oxygen to the world.
    Probably, the main idea of this movie is that we need dirt for survival. One supporting idea is that dirt is a habitat for many animals and little cute things. Also, as I said in the first paragraph, living things feed themselves using dirt. And, dirt produces one of the most precious things in the world, oxygen which enables us to breath and live.
      

Hiker blazes New Record on Pacific Crest Trail

By: Emily Sohn
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/new-record-pacific-crest-trail-111025.html
Created on 25/10/2011

  Scott Williamson, a hiker from Truckee, Calif set an amazing new world record, he hiked from Canada to Mexico in 64 days, 11 hours and 39 minutes. And this time includes stopping in cities to buy things necessary for the hike, and he stopped once for 5 hours to help Forest Rescue employee which had some broken bones.  He said during his hike he saw many animals such as bears and wolves but he didn't get attacked. His trips often started before 7 a.m and rarely ended before 9 p.m.
   I congratulate Scott for this. This is a very interesting but hard task to accomplish. When I get older I want to at least try accomplish something like this, and I would be astonished if I came back healthy and in one piece. 

'Runaway' Cat Found 1,800 Miles Away

    A cat named Willow ran away from home 5 years ago. It is a Calico type of cat. This all was happening in Colorado. The Squire family, the cat's owners. put up' missing' posters everywhere around the city and on the internet. After a year, and when still no trail of Willow, the family got worried that the cat was a victim of the coyote invasion which occurred lately. After 5 years, a women from the New York zoo, called to inform the Squire family that their cat has been found and that it is in a perfect shape. She sent the cat back to Colorado. Thais wasn't a trap because the cat was in one piece in one piece.
    The science behind this is that it shows how animals know how to survive in all conditions. This cat especially knows how to survive because it went 1800 miles, and it still is in a good condition. Some people say that the cat was adopted by someone else for a while, and then let out again. This event was really a miracle.

Want to burn more calories? Head for the park

  The U.S  Forest Service found out that walks to the national parks burn down many calories. Hiking, biking, hunting or even skiing on  them makes your calories decrease. On one of these hikes adults spend 264 billion calories and children under 16 spend 26 billion calories. This is really good for your human body because it throws out the bad parts in your body. 290 billion calories is like a row of french fries from earth to the moon and back, twice. Imagine, getting rid of this many calories only by taking a walk in a national park.

    
   For me this is very nice because I walk a lot in the countryside, and now I know for sure that I am wasting a bunch of bad stuff from my body and that I am keeping fit. This is amazing because it's quite unbelievable to imagine that much junk going away from you. This is amazing foundation, and it's good news.

I found this on  http://news.discovery.com/adventure/outdoor-exercise-burns-calories-110921.html, and it was published on September 21 by Emily Sohn.

Who knew crows were so smart

   In this current event, I will talk about one species, but three types of that species. Crows, the researchers in Oxford University and University of Auckland were observing the New Caledonia crow, and came up with something rather fascinating. They know how to use  appropriate tools in appropriate situations. After monkeys, they are the animals who are best in using tools in troublesome situation. Scientists gave them the task which they did successfully. The task was there were 2 boxes, In one box there was a long stick, and the second box with a useless stone. In between, there was a short stick. In the front was a plant and a piece of meat in the tree trunk. The crow took the small stick and pulled the big stick out, and with it pulled the meat off the plant.
  The second smart crow I will talk about is Tel Aviv's crow. They scatter bits of bread crumbs in the pond, and when fish come to the surface to eat the crumbs, the crow eats the fish. Smart. Lastly, there is the Japanese crow which breaks the nutmeats simply by rolling them on the street, and then the car tires go over the nutmeat and crack it. Then, when the traffic light goes red for the cars, the crow simply comes to the nutmeat and eats it.

For me, these facts are really amazing and from this moment on, crows are one of my favorite flying living things.

This post was added by Meera Dolasia on 18/09/2011


http://www.dogonews.com/2011/9/19/who-knew-crows-were-this-smart

Giant Jellyfish Invasion

In the seas of Japan, a so called science fiction movie is on but in real life and underwater. Giant jellyfish which are found in the seas of Korea, swam into the waters of Japan. The fishermen explained that it is a catastrophe because their nets get pulled down or even broken into pieces. The jellyfish came to eat plankton, but it turned out that some humans got on their menu,and some of the nets got on their way so they broke them. Most people think the cause of this disaster is the global warming, and the temperature of the sea best suits the temperature which is suitable for jellyfishes. So, all the jellyfish wanted to come to the seas of Japan to enjoy hot water.

   For me, I would like to be in Japan right now, because I would risk my life. When I read this article, I felt like I was watching a horror or a science fiction movie. I was even scared a bit.So, I believe that right now citizens of Japan have something to fear.


 

Kwl about living things

Know: All living things need water, food, oxygen, care, friends and health. Some animals are predators, which means they hunt other animals and eat them. The creatures that are dangerous are called endangered animals. Animal families have different methods of catching food for the young ones. For example, birds leave their babies in the nest and they fly away to find food to share among the whole family. A different method of feeding, is the fox's method. The foxes go into foreign farms, and chase the chickens around. When they catch a chicken, they found themselves a good meal.  Another thing is they all have cells, which make the creature's life easier. Cells help us function. Everything we do, the cells make them happen.
What I want to learn: There are some certain topics that I am curious, which are related to this unit. To start, I always wondered how do for example wolves orient themselves in the wild. The second question is why do bears hibernate. The last thing I am anxious to know is how do predators, for example tigers sense their hunt?

Goals for science class

1: Be more detailed during lab reports.
2:Add more writing when doing projects
3: Help more when doing labs

Scientific summer

 During this summer, I did a lot of scientific stuff, but I will choose the most exciting for me:

Riding a boat

  We went to the seaside for the vacation, and to make the stay more pleasant, we brought our boat with us. Sometimes my dad would let me drive .  It's a powerful speedboat, and driving it is very exciting, but you have to be very careful with all the electricity, electronics and commands, not to damage the boat.There are many little parts, but if one gets damaged, the whole boat can stop working. When driving a boat, you need to be very precise and know what you are doing.

   First, before starting the engine, you need to turn on the blower to clean and warm up the engine. We need to do this because when fluid turns into a gas, it gets flammable. Then, when the blower works for 5 minutes, you start the engine and wait until the motor reaches a certain temperature. When that happens, you can start driving the boat. How does the boat move, scientifically it uses Newton's second law, the propeller  circles around and it forces the motor to push the boat forward. You control the propeller by a thing called a throttle which is located beside the wheel. It works like this, when you push it forward, the boat drives forward, and when you pull it backward, you go in reverse. To move faster, you push the throttle harder. To steer, you use the steering wheel, but when you steer the boat, you need to be careful, so the waves and the current don't change the direction on their own. Another interesting fact is that there is no brakes, but you need to throw the anchor to stop.
All in all, I feel proud that I know how to ride a vehicle with so many commands, and on which a little mistake can have a huge consequence.

PSA project reflection

 I learned that safety in vehicles is important because if you don't obey driving rules, you might end up with injuries or even death. From my classmates I learned that the inertia, friction and Newtons laws of physics can be hazardous while moving. Also, seat-belts and proper gear is very required in order to stay safe. I think that it is really important to understand physics in accidents, so that you know what caused the accident. For example, if you find out that friction caused the accident, you will probably guess that the accident was caused by wet or icy road. If in a car crash, a passenger's head was cracked back, you would guess that maybe the air-bag hit the person and inertia hit the person it caused the head to make a head-twist backwards. This is why it is important to know physics in accidents, to know how the accident happened.

Marble Motion

The next lab we did was called Marble Motion. 

 Guiding Questions: Does the mass of a marble affect how it moves?
                                 When given a force, what happens to it's motion?

What were we supposed to do is we had couple of different circular objects: Marble, Styrofoam ball, golf ball, big marble and the tennis ball. We had straws and we had to blow toward the ball and see the distance and the path of each ball.
  

          
Data Analysis:  When we blew the ball with the straw these circular objects, for some of them we needed two straws.

Conclusion:  The mass of a ball indicates the difficulty of it to get moving. If a ball is lighter, it's easier to move, but it's more " clumsy" meaning it's not going a straight path. If a ball is heavy, it's harder to move, but it goes in a perfect straight directions. So practically,its the same thing with balls as it is to humans. If a person is  light, he/she would be easier to move than a fat man.
    When a force is given to a certain object, it's motion changes. When a gravity is getting smaller, the changing of direction is diminishing.


   

From feet to Fathoms

Guiding question: What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?

Hypothesis: The importance of having a International measuring system is that people could measure things while meter sticks were not invented.

Materials: body, meter stick, calculator,  hallway, peep, whiteboard, crayon box, space book, and a desk.

Procedure: 
 

1.       Make a data table in your notebook with 7 columns and 7 rows.  (See below).

2.       Choose one of the six objects or distances you will measure.

3.       Determine what form of measurement you will make with the first object. (For example:  Length of the 6^th grade hallway with paces, book with palm or hand, fingernail for crayon box, etc…)

4.       Measure it with the determined form of measurement 3 times, and then find the average. 

5.       Measure it with the meter stick/or measuring tape and find the actual measurement.  (IMPORTANT!!!!!  BE SURE THAT THE UNITS OF MEASUREMENT STAY THE SAME, either inches or centimeters or yards or feet or meters and the average needs to be in the same units)

 6:       Repeat the same for each of the five objects that are left and measure it with a different type of measurement, 3 times, find the average and again the actual measurement.

 7: Compare class data results.  Find the average of these results.

Data Table:

Object	Measure-ment Type	Measure-ment #1	Measure-ment #2	Measure-ment #3	Average	Actual Measurement
Peep	inch	6	6	6	6	5.5 cm
Book	inch	9.5 inch	10 inch	10 inch	9.833 inch	10.5
Hallway	Fathom	8	7.5	7	7.5	1,050 cm
Whiteboard	Egyptian cubit	7 cubits	7 cubits	6 cubits	6.66	2.51 cm
Crayon box	inch	3.5	4	4	3. 833	?
Desk/table	English yard	2 yards	2 yards	2 yards	2 yards	137 cm

.
 Data Analysis: There was sometimes similar averages in our group. For example, look at the book and the crayon box, they are only few inches different in size.  

Conclusion: I would prefer the current measuring system, because for some of the old measuring systems, your parts of the body would get tired, and it causes trouble to keep working for your muscles. I think we need the International measuring system for accurate measurements such as for building a house, if you measure a millimeter or shorter, the whole house can go to hell. My hypothesis was correct, because it turned out as I thought it would.

Forces + motion KWL

   I know a little about forces, the only thing is gravity I know about. Gravity is the force that makes things rise and fall. Some examples of gravity are people, if there wasn't gravity we would not be able to return to the ground when jump. Another example where gravity is kind of mean, when we drop things on accident that drop to the ground and breaks, and when that happens parents yell at us. It would be more peace on this world if gravity would keep these objects in the air and we could put hem back on place.
    Motion is the way things move. Sometimes motion can go crazy, and we get dizzy. For example on some crazy rides we get sick of the speed and the direction the ride is taking us. But, motion is important for the world because if it wouldn't exist nothing would be able to move.
      

Things that I want to learn is mostly related to forces.
1: Without gravity would we excist?
2: What are other forces?
3: Is punching a force?
I have only one question about motion
Is motion controlling space too?

How valuable is a rock reflection

   During this unit we learned mostly about minerals. This is related to our unit question because minerals are a type of rock. This topic fits in our area of interaction because minerals are being mined in mines, and they are on the Earth's crust. For this unit I mostly understood everything. I think that because when we did projects and labs I understood everything that was asked.  I would like to know more about a topic we did only a bit and that is the rock cycle.
   Throughout this unit I think I did well. I think that, because all my assignments I did with lots of effort. The only thing I could improve is to add details to my Mighty Minerals for giving the properties of my chosen mineral. In this unit we did activities which I found interesting. The only new thing which I learned to do is making GoAnimate and Bubbl.us.
    For me the Mighty Minerals project was amusing because it's exciting learning everything about a certain mineral. The least favorite activity for me was when we had to answer all different questions while our teacher Mrs. Medenica was absent.
       If I could add something for the next year's 6 graders it would be maybe a movie about the minerals.  

Reflection on Debate

          SCIENCE

• Magnesium, salt, copper, nickel, titanium, tin and iron ore.
• They are used to make crude oil and very rare.
• The countries closest to the oceans and the countries that have the biggest needs. The countries closest to the minerals should export them to countries in need if those countries are far away from the ocean.
• That in mining in the ocean they use oil and so they pollute the ocean and kill marine life. Also when fish get diseases they might be caught by people and then eaten, so the diseases might get on land.
• Mostly the neighbouring countries of the ocean
• They have the rights to mine in the ocean but only with permission of the leaders.
• Elena does because we need them for a daily life. Stefan does because we need them and are beautiful. Sofia does not agree because we are polluting the ocean and can get some of the minerals not out of the ocean. `Sofia believes that just because there are places in the world that are not polluted doesn't mean we have to pollute them.

We think that people should use less pollutable materials when extracting minerals from the ocean. Try to cover up the holes they dug and be a lot more careful when extracting the minerals.

During this debate, I found out what I already have written on the blog post about Who Owns the ocean's minerals. Our group didn't have many disagreements or conflicts. We discussed calmly our opinions on questions.  In my group I was the discussion director, Elena was the writer and the reporter and Sofia was the time keeper. Although, we all discussed our opinions.   

Who Owns the World's Oceans

WHO OWNS THE WORLD'S OCEANS AND ITS RESOURCES?



There are many resources which are not renewable and which we are going to spent completely and be left without them. So, there is a constant effort to find new sources. The scientists found out that the bottom of oceans are rich with useful deposits of minerals, oil, gas and other resources that humans need in their everyday life. This is how the exploitation of under-ocean wealth started.


However, who owns the oceans and their resources? The international law says that coastal countries, which have borders with oceans, have the right to exploit everything from the ocean 12 miles from their coast. In some cases, these countries have the right to use resources from the continental shelf which stretches from their territory under the ocean. However, this is only a narrow part of the ocean floor. What about the huge; mid-ocean floor which does not belong to any country's territory? The law says that the oceans belong to everybody and that we can all take benefit from them, if we are able to do that and if we know how to do it.



The problem is that mining minerals from the ocean's floor is very complicated and it requires new, expensive technologies which most of the countries can not afford and don't have. This means that only the richest and the most developed countries can get to the ocean's resources and use the ocean's minerals, oil and gas. This is not right, because everybody should have the right to use them. Undeveloped, poor countries would like to use part of these resources, as well, and they say that the rich countries should share this ocean's wealth with them! Of course, wealthy countries which invest  lot of money in these projects don't see why should they share the profit, if they did all the work and spent all the money. This is a big international problem these days.




I think that I have an idea how to solve this dispute. I think that United Nations, as independent organization of all the countries should be in charge of all the Ocean's floor mining and exploitation. Each country would invest as much as it can and in this way a lot of money would be collected. All that money would be given to one, independent UN company which would develop necessary technology and which would be the only one to mine the ocean floor. Everything which would be collected from the Ocean's floor would be distributed evenly to all the countries of the World. This seems fair to me and I hope that the World will be able to agree how to use the Ocean's resources.

Mining in my home country

   My home country is Serbia, and it's not very rich in mining, It has only two mines,Rudna Glava and Senjski Rudnik.  Rudna Glava ( ore head) is located in eastern part of Serbia.  It is one of the first evidence of European copper mining.  It belongs to Vinca culture, which was an ancient culture.
 Senjski Rudnik is a village which has a mine in it. It is a coal mine which was established in 1853. In 2010, it turned into an open-air museum.
     The most mined mineral in Serbia is Bentonite, it is a type of clay, and it has many uses such as for making sculptures. We mine it with ashes, or a special machine for digging.
     Another popular mineral that is mined in Serbia is copper ore. It is a popular in the whole world. In Serbia, the miners mine it with with a large machine in a shape of a capsule.
       
      
     

Mineral lab report

TITLE: Mineral density lab

I. GUIDING QUESTION/S Does the density of a mineral depend on the size of the mineral sample?

II.HYPOTHESIS Yes. Because, the bigger the mineral it’s more dense.

III. Materials : Water, graduated cylinder, botic mica, sulfur, crystalline quartz, balance scale.
      Procedure:
     1: We pick different minerals.
     2: We fill the graduated cylinder with water
     3: We measure each mineral with the balance scale and measure
     4. We put each mineral in the water and observe how much the water rises.


IV. RECORD & ANALYZE ( We observe carefully and write down, or record, everything that happens.)
When we finish collecting data, we may need to do some calculations with it.)

Table of collected data:

Line Graph of collected  data:

V ANALYZES OF DATA  :
Most minerals have different density. Only the crystalline quartzes 1 and 2, both, had the same density. However, density of minerals does not depend on the mass and volume of the samples. For example, our smallest sample was mica 2, but it has the highest density. On the other hand, our biggest sample was of sulfur 2 which was the least dense.

VI. Concept Acquisition (CONCLUSION):
My hypothesis that "the bigger the mineral, the more dense mineral " was wrong. We used different sizes of samples, but their density does not depend of their size. I was rather surprised by the results of this lab.

VII. Concept Application (FURTHER INQUIRY):

• Since I was surprised by the results, I would like to know what makes one mineral dense and the other less dense. I assume that it has to do something with the chemical composition of each mineral. 
• I think that the lab went well. My cooperation with the partner was good and we worked together well. The only error is that the final work was finished  kind of late.

Crystal garden

At the end of January we got an assignment to make a crystal garden. First step was to decide how would we like our garden to look like, what type of the garden we prefer and  to make design and a model of our garden.

I decided to make a Japanese garden because I like how colorful they are, they always have a lot of water, ponds or streams and they usually have some small temples or shrines.

To make my Japanese garden, I used the following material:

• big cardboard shoe box
• a piece of green carpet for the grass
• broken ceramic tiles for the rocks and path
• small glass dishes for ponds
• glass tube to make a small river
• wooden sticks to make a shrine
• sponge to make trees
• plastic toy elements to make a bridge and bushes
• a pink cloth to make a water flower
• some artificial decorating flowers to make bamboo trees
• plastic cups as holders for my trees

It was fun creating the garden and I really liked how it looked. I hoped that the crystals will grow nicely and that my Japanese garden will be even nicer with them.

I also drew a map of my garden with the legend and I marked the spots where the crystal solutions will be applied.

When we brought our gardens to school, our teacher  prepared different kinds of solutions for crystals, and  we poured the solutions to the spots in our gardens where we wanted the crystals to grow. While we were doing this, I was not sure how much solution should I put and I was quite afraid that I may use too much and spill the solutions. I thought that the best place to put the solutions would be the sponge trees, because I hoped that the sponge will be easily soaked, that the solution will go through whole sponge trees and that the crystals will grow all over them.  My idea was that less dense material will grow crystals better because the solution will penetrate them  quickly. However, I decided to put some of the solutions in my glass ponds also, especially the one with the golden fish and the water flower.

So, I put salt solution on two spots, one with the sponge tree and the other in  the cup with cloth bamboo trees.

Borax solution went in the glass pond with the water flower.

The sugar solution I poured into the cup with the other sponge tree.

It was Friday when I poured solutions and I could not wait till Monday, to see if the crystals started growing. However, unfortunately, I got sick and had to stay at home for two long weeks. I was so sad that I could not observe my crystal garden and the growth of the crystals. Thus, I was not able to take care of them or maybe to pour some more solutions, if the growth was not progressing. From time to time, I asked my teacher Mrs. Medenica or some of my friends to take a look at my garden and to let me know what is happening.  They told me that the crystals have appeared, especially those of the salt solution.

At home, I imagined how beautiful my garden might look. I imagined that all the trees and bushes are full of  shiny crystals of different colors. Finally, after the two weeks, I was able to see my Japanese crystal garden. And to be honest, I was rather surprised.

 

It’s nice, but it doesn’t look as I hoped it will. The crystals are there, but they are not too big and do not cover whole surface of the trees and ponds.

It is obvious that the salt solution was the most efficient and the salt crystals are the biggest.  It is surprising that the crystals have formed at the bottom of the trees and around the glass and plastic holders much better that on the sponge and cloth trees. This is completely opposite to what I expected. It seems that my idea with the sponge was not so good. The crystals have grown in the little holes within the sponge and are not very visible on the outer surface. But they made the sponge  become very hard.  The solid holders made of glass and plastic, have been actually much better place for the crystals to grow. I like very much the salt crystals which were formed on the glass dish. It is totally covered with pinkish salt crystals. The crystal particles are very tiny, but there’s million of them. The same case is with the plastic holder where I put cloth bamboo trees. The trees don’t have crystals, but at their bottom, there are white salt crystals, which look like the snow covered the ground. That’s also nice.

 
 

The glass pond with the water flower, in which I put the borax solution, looks very nice, but not because there is a lot of borax crystals, but because the crystals are of a beautiful blue color and they also caused the flower to change its color from pink into many different shades of blue and violet. The solution made the cloth flower stiff and hard. The borax crystals can be seen on the walls of the glass dish which I used as a pond. But there are only few of the crystals, which is a pity, because if there were more of these beautiful blue crystals, it would have looked exactly like a clean, deep water in the pond. I like these borax crystals the most, because their particles are larger  and they are also shiny.

The least successful part of my crystal garden is the sponge tree where I poured sugar solution.  It is probably again because of the wrong choice of the material I used for the tree. Sponge soaked all the solution and crystals grew only at the bottom of the tree.  Only few of the crystals managed to form in the upper part of the tree. I think that these sugar crystals would have been also nice, if it were more of them. They are also shiny and have nice, green color.

Well, what should  I conclude about this project? First of all, I enjoyed doing it and this is why I am surprised that it did not turn out to be more successful. I hoped that the crystals will be bigger and better distributed. There are several possible reasons for this.

·        choice of materials I used

·        not enough solutions put on the spots where I wanted the crystals to grow

·        my absence during their growth, so I was not able to add more solutions

However, I still like my crystal garden and I am happy that at least some of the crystals were formed.

Dynamic Earth

http://www.mnhsi.edu/earth/main_frames.html

 We are leaning about Earth in Science. Inside Earth it is really hot, and there are 5 layers. The hottest layer is Inner core. The Crust is thin as the apple's crust and it is the layer we stand on.The Mantle is the layer beneath the Crust and 84% of  Earth's volume is Mantle. The Core is the deepest and the hottest layer in Earth.
 Meteorites are mostly seen in midnight and they represent new messengers from space .They are formed at the same time and in the same way as Solar System and Earth, so they give us message about the origin of our planet.

  The peridotite rock is from the inner core, and it flies out with the lava when a volcano erupts. Diamonds grow by drops of water underground and when it gets old it turns into a solid and becomes a diamond. Diamonds can be found in underground or caves. Diamonds travel from the core to the top of the Earth with a rare magma called kimberlite and lamproite
  For me it is very intresting to learn about Earth and space .