Alyssa B's- Blog on Science Methods

The big question/idea: Rocks and their formation Description of what you did in the lab:  In the lab, we used starbursts to create different types of rock formations. We had a small torch which we used to melt some of the starbursts together and then placed them in cold water to cool it to create an igneous rock. We also smushed some together without heat to create sedimentary rock. The last kind of rock formation we made was a metamorphic rock which used some heat (not enough to melt) and then used pressure.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. We learned about plate tectonics. They are located in the Earth's mantle. There is a thicker plate which is the continental and a thinner plate that is known as the oceanic plate which is denser also. When they collide with each other the oceanic plate goes under the continental plate and forms a trench. If a continental hits a continental mountains are formed. We also learned about the rock cycle. There are three ...

  What did you do in the lab today? In lab we discussed geological time and when things came about in the earth such as land animals, plants, and dinosaurs. We got to explore a website called Earthviewer which shows different events that happened throughout time. After we explored we made a timeline in the classroom. Seeing how close together some things are compared to when the Big Bang happened was crazy. The extinction of dinosaurs and the beginning of human life were centimeters away on the scale of time. What was the big question? What is geological time and how does it work?  What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? N/A we had a test Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:       What did you learn?       I learned about the continental drift. While I do know what it is I did not know much about it so I learned that the continents drifted due to the plate tectonics theory.        What was most helpful? ...

 Lab Notes:  Origin of the Universe   Scientists believe the universe is 13.7 billion years old   Before this there was nothing   Big bang theory – there was no bang because there was no light   Light came into existence 300,000 years later   Created gravity, heat, light   We do not know for sure and will never know – we will have the best theory   Theory that is damn near proven but never true   Small particles come together which led to stars and then galaxies and then us   Lifecycle of stars   In order to get light nuclear fusion needs to happen   Atoms come together to burn   You need a lot of atoms to get a star   https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1N_RsLWHDZki6GBpVk1CK1nqDpsncfjiizCP9SeV1I2U/edit#slide=id.p1   Galaxies   Consists of stars, planets, and vast clouds of gas and dust, bond together by gravity   Oldest galaxies formed when our universe was only 1 billion years old ...