journal # 9(late)

My blog would not be the best source of information. Though it has very little advertisement, it is missing the key characteristics of a reliable source. It does not include the author’s name and from the information given on the web site one cannot contact the author. If someone would want to give me advice on how to make my blog more accurate, they would not be able to do so. In addition it does not have a copyright date and it is commercial site hence “.com”. One of the websites we evaluated in class was enjoybottlewater.com. Of the three websites I evaluated I concluded that this was the best website because it is an organizational web site with an “about us” section and a copyright date. Since it is an organizational web site I know the purpose of this website is not to advertise. In addition, since there is an “about us” section, if in any case, I would be able to research the creator/author and be sure of where the information originated.

Journal #11

Water is essential to all life; the formation of the first cells on earth emerged from water. Today scientists are evaluating the idea of life of Mars because of the evidence that water once or does exist on Mars. To create electricity from the most abundant and needed resource on earth is so wise and perfect.
There are many ways produce electricity from water but the most common way includes a dam, a turbine, a generator and transmission lines. The water form the dam flows through a waterway called a penstock. Penstocks are in charge of how much water flows in to produce the wanted amount of electricity. The flow of the water pushes a turbine and then powers a generator. The electricity flows through the generator and on to transmission lines that sends the electricity to cities and homes. After the water passes through the turbine it flows back into the river. As you can see, this form of electricity is very effective and the creation of the energy does not need any fuels.
Though hydropower does have its disadvantages, as of right now, it is the most effectual renewable source. Building dams take away the homes of many animals. Fish could be caught in turbines and the migration of fish could be altered. In addition if there is a drought then the river’s water level drops, thus restricting the formation of electricity. Other renewable resources have their cons. For example, windmills many times are an obstruction to birds and if there is little wind then electricity is not produced. Solar Energy is still very ineffective, only about 15% of the suns energy is converted into energy. In addition when its cloudy energy cannot be made.
Today, hydropower accounts for 20% of the world’s electricity. Where I was born, Venezuela, 73% of the country relies on hydropower. In my opinion Hydropower should be continued to be use as well as all other renewable energy sources. The combination of all the sources would be more beneficial than the use of one single source. Each source has its different advantages and disadvantages, therefore when one source cannot operate the other one(s) can.



http://www.thedailyherald.com/supplements/weekender/625-venezuela-oil-exporter-hydropower-consumer.html
http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/wong6j2/hydroelectric.html
http://www.apsja.com/main/hydro.php

Nuclear Reactor Risk Assessment

Part 1.
1.According to the map, which other countries/regions have placed nuclear reactors in potentially dangerous areas? Name at least three.
Pakistan, Argentina and Mexico have all placed nuclear reactors in potentially dangerous areas.

2. This tells us that the plant designers dont take into account the possible risks of earthquakes. Yes, i do believe it will change; the crisis in Japan was terrible and nobody would want anything like that to happen again.

Part 2.
3. The most dangerous issue is the groundwater leaks. If groundwater is contaminated with radioactive waste, their is a chance the waste could end up in the water that people use in their homes. A nuclear reactor in Red level, Florida is reporting this issue.

4.On the border of Arizona there was an earthquake last week. The reactor in Wintersburg, Arizona could have been of risk. Yes, I do believe the nuclear reactors near areas of earthquakes should be shut down beacause if an earthquake were to occur millions of people's lives would be at risk. In addition, it would take years and money to clean everything up. Many people don't think about the potential threats, they don't consider an earthquake ever occuring. Earthquakes can be very unpredictable, there was recently an earthquake around August that affected major cities like D.C and N.Y.C. I think the reactors in California are a highest risk in the country. California is prone to having earthquakes. In addition it has a high population and it is located next to the ocean. If something were to occur, not only would many residents be at risk, but as well as the ocean life.

Cetyl Alcohol Lab: Ceire Clarke, Patrice DiChristina, Zoe Ng, Fernanda Neri

1. Based on your graph, what is the melting point of cetyl alcohol? What evidence supports this answer?
The melting point of cetyl alcohol is 30 degrees celcius beacause this is the temperature right before the Cetyl alcohol starts to go up rapidly melting from a solid to a liquid.

2. The boiling point of Cetyl alcohol is around 50 degrees celcius because this is the temperature the Cetyl alcohol maintained before it rose rapidly and changed into a gas.

3. Temperature, Time and Instruction Comprehension are three possible sources of error. For example, we did not read the instructions closely. Once the temperature rose to 60 degrees we did not did not know to place it into the ice water bath. This caused the Cetyl Alcohol to have a higher temperature than wanted when placing it into the ice water bath. Though we were not precise with the temperature, we did watch the time closely.


4. Three ways to improve the data collection in this lab is to pay more attention, keep track of time and not to listen to Christmas music. If we would of read the instructions more closeley our experiment would have been more accurate.

Journal # 8

     The SATs have the ability to sort through millions of students and select a small percentage of them. They make an assumption on each student based upon one exam. They fail to recognize the unique personalities each student has. This concerns me because I am a hardworking student with a distinct character. I am not only bilingual but I am a caring compassionate student. Every day I work hard in all of my classes, and I am always kindhearted to everyone.  I am also a part of the Outreach club which encourages students to make the right choices and to stay out of trouble. Everyone has a different personality worth being considered just as much as the SATs. Students should not have to worry about one test determining where they will go to college. Instead, Students should be able to rely on their character for acceptance into a college instead on an exam.

Journal #8

1.) What part of the POGILs do you find the most useful?  Why?
I find it very helpful for us to work on POGILs in groups. Peer teaching allows students to explain concepts in ways teachers would not think of. Many times students can understand each other more easily. This comes in handy when students do not comprehend the material. 

2.)  What part of the POGILs are least useful for you?  Why?

I find it least useful for students to read through the explanation of the lesson instead of having the teacher teach the lesson and then the students practicing the concepts with other students. Because most of the material in POGILs is new to students, we find it hard to complete the activity. 

3.)  How would you improve these activities?

If the teacher explained the new material we would be learning in POGILs,  it would be a more efficient activity. More students would understand the material and be able to complete the activity. Since there would be more students that comprehend the lesson, these students could help the students who do not understand the lesson as well. 

Journal #4 (E-books)

In my opinion e-books do not provide students with what they need. Instead they take away what students need the most: attentiveness. “And if there’s anything in short supply among students these days, it’s attentiveness.” (paragraph 1) Without e-books it is already hard enough for many students to read without procrastinating and getting of task. To throw in another electronic device would just agitate the situation even more. Because an e-book provides Internet, it would create a temptation to surf the web. This is a temptation that does not exist when holding a print book. In addition, for a screen to be in front of your eyes for too long causes headaches, deterioration of eyesight and even stress. On the other hand, when one is reading a print book the pages of the book naturally shield you from looking around and getting distracted. “And when you just want to read, the tranquility of a printed page provides a natural shield against distraction.” (paragraph 9)

Not only does a print book naturally protect you from distraction, but it also allows the reader to flip through the pages of the book to search for a particular passage, or to mark the passages. Many times, without knowing, I find myself remembering where specific passages are located physically in the book. “ When we read, we unconsciously note the physical location of the information within a text and its spatial relationship to our location in the text a s a whole.” An e-book, however, does not have this flexibility that a print book does, making it much harder to navigate. “All sorts of modes of navigation and reading that are easy with printed books become more difficult with electronic books.” (paragraph 16)

Even if e-books didn’t have all of these consequences, I would still much rather read from printed books. Like Carr said, simply feeling that printed page in your hand tranquillizes the reader. This is why many times when people are stressed or need to get their minds of something they seek a book. The book would distract the person and calm them down. The bright screen of an e-book would stress the person even more, and they would have a higher chance of ending up on the web, instead of isolating themselves for a while. I also tend to find e-books boring, especially after using them for long periods of time. Books vary a lot more than e-books, even if it’s simple qualities like size, and texture. These simple characteristics draw each reader to the book that best fits them. Reading is also one of the few activities that exist that requires so little. All one needs is light, a book and the ability to read. This is why so many people cherish this activity and could not live with out it.

Even though I am strongly opposed to e-books I still find technology to be a resourceful tool in education. For example, it is much easier and efficient to type and edit papers on a computer than it is by hand. Besides Word Document, something that I rely on almost everyday is the online thesaurus and dictionary. It is much quicker to search the definition of a word online than it is to look for it in a large book. Technology is a great part of my education, however I would never want education to fully rely on technology.

Journal # 3

The olive oil, honey and soy sauce ended up dividing into three separate sections. They were not able to mix, but their varying densities did cause these liquids to split in three different layers. The honey was located at the bottom most part of the container because it had the highest density, which was 1.36 g/ml. Since, it was a dense liquid it sunk to the bottom. The liquid in the middle happened to be the soy sauce with a density of 1 g/cc. And the olive oil, with a density of .92g/ml, was on top because it was the least dense liquid. However, if these liquids were able to mix, or if the temperature or salinity were different then the densities could have change, therefore changing the layering.

Hi I'm Fernanda and I'm a sophomore in Clark. So far, GHS has been a great school for me, as it has taught me how to be a responsible, independent, yet sociable student. This year i would like to maintain all of these characteristics and grow on them even more. I would like to not only do well in all of my classes,but to also engage in them and learn to have fun in them. I am also looking foward to learning interesting things in all of my classes. Although I would like to excell academically I also find it important to balance my academic life with my social life. Therefore this year I am also looking foward to having lots of fun with my friends and making new friends. I will also continue to a part of the Outreach club and I would also like to join more clubs. I am sure this year will turn out to be another fantastic year!