Earth Pizza

We use the side view of a pizza slice to model the earth. We are only seeing a very thin part of the crust of the earth.

The crust of the pizza is the bottom layer, which in this case is the asthenosphere. The sauce in under the cheese is the lithosphere. The cheese is more dense then the meat or vegetables, which makes it the oceanic crust.This is everywhere on the earth, and the meat or vegetables is the continental crust, only being on parts of the pizza or earth.

Plate Tectonics

 To demonstrate the plate tectonics we used frosting and graham crackers. The graham crackers represent the lithosphere
1. Transform Fault- Plates slide past one another with no creation or destruction of lithosphere. I put the two graham crackers right next to one another and slid them past one another, like shown below.

2. Divergent Boundary- Two plates diverge, or move apart and new crust or lithosphere is formed. I put the graham crackers in the frosting and then pulled them apart. This is shown below.

3. Convergent Boundary- Plates converge, or come together. If a plate of oceanic lithosphere collides with thicker and less dense continental lithosphere, the denser oceanic plate will dive beneath the continent in a subduction zone. You can not use the graham crackers for this demonstration because they are stiff. A great example of convergent boundaries is when you run and jump on a carpet and the carpet hist the wall and bunches up.

Project W.E.T.

Project W.E.T. is an initiative program that has water based lessons for teachers to use on their students. W.E.T. stands for Water Education for Teachers. This is a great way to get students learning in different ways through activities and hands on learning.

The website of Project W.E.T. is http://www.projectwet.org/


Professor Klett then asked us to divide up $100 into the different forms of water:
Oceans- $96
Lakes/Rivers/Streams-$0.75
Glaciers/Ice caps- $2
Groundwater- $1
Atmosphere-$0.25

I was pretty close with oceans, glaciers/ice caps. and groundwater, but I was way off with lakes. Lakes consists of $0.007.

Jacobsville Sandstone

If you walk around the city of Marquette and look at all the builds, most of them are built from sandstone. The exact sandstone is from Jacobsville, Michigan which is about two and a half hours from Marquette, in the Keweenaw Peninsula. I grew up 20 miles away from Jacobsville, and hearing this was very shocking and interesting.
The formation of this sandstone lies southeast of the Keweenaw Fault and south of Lake Superior. The stone was extracted by 32 quarries throughout the Upper Peninsula between 1870 and 1915. It is ideal for builds because of its strength, durability and aesthetic appeal.

Rock Identification Lab

Igneous Rock:
This rock I identified as igneous is mostly gray with red, green, and shiny silver spots. There are two different types of igneous rocks, intrusive and extrusive. Intrusive igneous rocks cool slowly because they crystallize below the Earths surface. This causes large crystals to form, like in the picture below.  .

Metamorphic Rock:
This rock had several thin layers parallel to itself which is why I identified it as a metamorphic rock. There are two types of metamorphic rocks, foliated and non-foliated. Foliated rocks have a layered appearance that is formed by exposure to heat and pressure.

Sedimentary Rock:
I noticed the fossil in this rock and concluded that it is a sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rocks form at a temperature and pressure that do not destroy fossil remnants.

Rocks

 In class today we learned about rocks and the three different types, Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. Dr. Klett gave each of us a rice krispies treat, a butterfingers, and a piece of peanut brittle and asked us to classify each of these as a type of rock. The peanut brittle is melted together, which is an example of igneous rock. The butterfingers has several thin layers (foliated) inside of the chocolate, which is a great example of metamorphic rock. The rice krispies treat can represent a sedimentary rock because it is a bunch of bits and pieces glued together. This was a great representation of the different rocks in a fun and unique way.

Crystals and Crystal Growing Activity

We began learning about minerals and crystals in class this week, but for this blog we are focusing on the crystals. A crystal form is a set of crystal faces defined according to their relationship to the crystal axes. Crystal forms look like 3D objects, like cubes or pyramids.
In my group we grabbed 5 sponges, 3 pipe cleaners, and one piece of charcoal. We broke the charcoal down into smaller pieces to spread it out on our plate. We then poured 2 tablespoons of water, 2 table spoons of the bluing solution, and 2 tablespoons of salt on the objects on the plate. We didn't think it was enough solution for the size of our objects so we used the same amount of solutions over again, doubling the original recipe. We had two different types of salts, fine grained and larger grained. We separated them on to the different sections to see if the reaction would be different. There was no reaction to begin with but we put it on the windowsill to let sit for a few days.

 We checked our crystal formation on Thursday and our plate had a little bit of formation. The most formation appeared on the sponges. Other groups plates had a lot more, but they also added a lot more solution to theirs. We then added 10mL of water, 10mL of ammonia, 10mL of bluing, and 5 mL of salt to the plate and put it back on the windowsill.

Fossils Experiment

Today we talked about fossils and made a do it yourself fossil dig sites in groups.

A fossil is the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock.

Our task is to create a matrix and determine which plaster/sand mixture is the best. My group and I did 3 different ratios, 25mL Plaster/75 mL Sand, 50mL Plaster/50mL Sand, and 75mL Plaster/25mL Sand. We added water to each mixture until we made a solution that had a pancake batter like consistency. Below is a picture of the 3 cups. Inside of the solutions is a shell for us to find later.

After letting the solutions dry for a week, we used hammers and chisels to find the shells that were hiding. Cup 3 was the best solution, which had 25mL plaster and 75mL sand. It was easy to break the solution up and my group partner just had to use her hands to find the shell. This would be great for young kids because they wouldn't have to use tools to break it apart. On the other hand cup 1 and 2 were much harder, and it took my other group partner and I a while to find the shell, having to use hammers and chisels. This would be hard for an elementary student get the shell, but it would also be dangerous giving a 2nd grader a hammer.

This was a great activity and I can not wait to do this in my classroom.

How Much Money?

If you had $100, how much would go towards the Sun compared to all the other things in the solar system in mass?

Out of $100 I think the Sun would take up about $35. The solar system is huge and all the other planets that are in it take up $65.

The actual sun is $99.85 of the $100, which means the sun makes up 99.85% of the mass of the whole solar system. That was a huge surprise to me, and I still can not believe it.

What have the Astronomers ever done for us??

Aristarchus(310-230BC)

Aristarchus was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician and is well known because he presented the first known model that the Earth revolved around the sun,"central fire," placing the sun in the center of the universe. Along with the revolution around the sun, he concluded that the Earth rotates on its axis.  He also placed all the planets around the sun in the correct order, including distance. Aristarchus devised a system which got him values of the size and distance of the moon. Later, more modern Greek astronomers refined his methods and got very accurate values.

References: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristarchus_of_Samos

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristarchus-of-Samos

A Private Universe

We were asked in class to model the relationship between the Earth and the Moon. I drew my earth about 20x larger than my moon, but did not account for the distance between them. After Dr. Klett checked all of our drawings he drew it on the board, and the actual earth is about 5x larger than the moon, but the distance between them is very far, about 230,000 miles. Next time I will know to account for both relationships, size difference and distance, when asked to model something.

We started watching a video called "A Private Universe" and it was about different misconceptions with the earth, our moon, and the sun. Dr. Klett asked us the questions during the film and below these are my responses.  

We were asked what are the reasons for the seasons. I believe there are seasons because of the different ways we face and rotate around the sun. This is why the seasons are opposite on the south side of the equator. In the video college graduates were interviewed and they all believed, just like a lot of other people, that the reason for the seasons has to do how close and far the earth is from the sun, which is completely wrong. Our distance from the sun never changes as we go around it. The earth is tilted, which means the earth is hit with direct and indirect lights.

The reason there are different phases of the moon has to do with its positioning with the earth and the sun. As the moon makes its way around the earth we see different parts lit up based on where the sun is. People understand that, but it is hard for people to know what the different phases are and where exactly they are.

It was very interesting to see all the misconceptions for students and how different people learn these things, from a teacher or on their own. 

True or False Statements

Below are 20 statements that are true or false, and if the statement is false I will explain why it's false and how to fix the statement to make it true.

1. We see because light brightens things.
• False. The light helps us see things, but it does not brighten the objects. 
2. The Moon goes around the earth in a single day.
• This statement is true.  
• The moon takes 28 days to go around the earth. 
3. The amount of daylight increases each day of summer.
• The amount of daylight increases through out the summer until Summer Solstice and then the amount of sunlight decreases everyday.  
4. People cannot see planets with the naked eye.
• This statement is false. All planets are stars.  
5. People can see the Great Wall of China with the naked eye from space.
• This statement is true.  
• People can only see light pollution, not actual objects.
6. Astrology (the position of the planets and constellations) gives us insight to people mannerisms.
•  This is true. 
• Astrology and peoples mannerisms have no connections to one another. 
7. The Sun will never burn out.
•  False. The sun can and will burn out over time.
8. The Universe is a static.
• This statement is true 
• The Universe is always moving, or dynamic. 
9. If a crystal can scratch glass it is a definitely a diamond.
• This is false. If a crystal scratches glass then it is not a diamond.  
10. Diamonds are expensive because the extreme of them.
• This statement is true. It is very difficult for people to find diamonds, making them expensive. 
• There are a ton of diamonds out there and they are only expensive because the companies that sell them make them expensive.
11. Soil must have always been in its present form.
•  This statement is false. There are several layers and the farther down the older the soil is.
12. Earth’s gravitational attraction is drastically reduced on mountain tops.
•  This is false, the gravitational attraction is the same all over earth.
13. Continents are constant and do not move.
•  False, continents are on tectonic plates which are constantly moving.
14. The Earth is between 6-20 thousand years old.
• False, the earth is about 4 billion years old. 
15. Dinosaurs and cavemen lived at the same time.
• This statement is true.  
•  There is a 64 million year difference between dinosaurs and mankind.
16. Rain comes from clouds sweating.
•  This is false, rain occurs after the evaporation cools down and gets to heavy causing condensation.
17. Frontal rain is caused by “cooling by contact” between fronts.
•  This statement is true. 
•  air masses don't mix, they move relatively to each other. One has to rise, warm air, and the other has to sink, cool air.
18. All rivers flow “down” from north to south
•  This is false, rivers can flow in any direction, higher elevation to lower elevation.
19. Ground water typically occurs from basin, lakes, and fast-flowing streams.
• This is true but there is also a lot of ground water comes from rain.  
• This is false, ground water is under the ground, the water from the lakes is surface water. 
20. Salt added to water does not change the weight of water. 
• This statement is not true. The weight of the water is changed because of the salt that is added.  

We went over the answers in class a few days after the assignment was due and we learned all of these statements are common misconceptions of science and they are all false. Under the ones I got wrong there are statements in red, correcting my mistakes.