Collapsing Can Lab

Molecules, cans, collapsing, oh my! Air pressure is something that we humans rely on day after day. The air pressure in the earth keeps us from imploding, or exploding. If our pressure inside our body is greater than the pressure outside, we will explode. If the air pressure outside our body is greater than inside, we will implode. I know this because I experimented with air pressure by using a simple soda can. First off, we all know that when you shake a soda can, the air pressure inside gets greater. If it gets too great, it will explode! But do we normally see a can implode? Of course not! But I had a chance to see! What we did was we put some water into an empty soda can, and heated it until it boiled. That way the molecules in the soda can were all over and were expanding. That increased the air pressure. But when we quickly inverted it into a bowl of ice cold water, the air suddenly cooled down, which made the air pressure decrease. The air pressure outside of the can was wayyyyyyy more than the air pressure inside of the can, which made it implode! (It also made a really cool noise)! This example of air pressure can really help scientists experiment with air pressure!

Is Voice the New Text?

Okay, so personally, I don't know one person over twelve that has never sent a text message. It's super convenient and quite frankly, kinda fun. Another cool thing about phones is that it has voice recognition. The bad thing? It's like a McDonald's drive through! THEY NEVER GET IT RIGHT! If I want to call a friend, it goes to voice mail, point blank, it's annoying! So when I see an article explaining how voice recognition could possibly be the new text, I can't help but laugh! Top voice recognition developers are saying its getting more accurate, which I have a hard time believing. Also, texts are usually private, so if I'm in public, I don't want some creeper listening to my conversations! They even realize that phones don't have the processing power to comprehend voice recognition. So when phones do have that processing power, it will be only that more expensive! Most people don't have that kind of money! So I personally would rather just work my fingers than my voice. So if you're going to tell me that voice is the new text, don't, because nothing can replace the reliability of a mini e-mail.

Google Isn't Ready For Phones

Google is a great search engine, but is it ready to step into the world of phones? The Google Nexus One is the first phone to be purely Google. Google has already made phones, but they partner with other companies. So this highly anticipated smart phone came out a few weeks ago and already is receiving complaints. Not exactly what Google anticipated. The Nexus One has spotty 3g coverage, which is not exactly what most phone users want. People want to be able to talk whenever and wherever they want to people anywhere in the world. Hello? Isn't that the point of a cell phone? Google has obviously overlooked that while designing the thousands of applications it advertises you can use. Hey Google! You need to get you act together! But not only that, your phone costs way to much. Sure $180 with a mail in rebate is fine. But with a two year contract on your own network plus service that works with AT&T, that comes down to $530. Not exactly what phone users want to be paying. And with the spotty service you have, you ought to lower that price. Shouldn't you not have to pay for a contract when you would simply be using the same network you were already on? What's even more, the touch screen is having issues! If your offering a touch screen phone, make sure it works better than what's already out there! People can't even go to customer service for this phone, because there is none. This phone can only be purchased on the phone's Google run website. You can't walk into T-Mobile and have an expert fix it. Google obviously didn't realize this while making the phone. Or was it too late? Either way Google, you might need, excuse me, you do need some work before you come out with a new phone.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/14/wired.google.nexus.one.complaints/index.html

Foods And Flavors Chemist

Ever wonder about having a career in the field of Foods And Flavors Chemist? Well this podcast will inform you about it in a unique way. So take a listen to "99.9 FoHiz" for the latest updates in this career!

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Will the World End In 2012?

Especially with a new movie opening tomorrow, the hype that the end of the world is getting is growing exponentially. December 21, 2012 is probably the most famous date of modern day America. In the article I read, it explains reasons why the world might end. It has some scientific background to it too. It says that an object from space will enter the solar system and earth's atmosphere and make the north and south poles reverse. Another reason I discovered is from what I saw in a movie. The movie depicts that solar flares from the sun are heating up the earth's core, like a microwave oven. In my opinion I think that the chances of something like this happening are very slim and close to impossible. We can not prevent either of these events from happening. And in actuality, it scares many many people. As I write this post, I see a commercial for the movie I saw, and the effects of the poles turning are very very scary. I am very interested in this article because I am fascinated by what so many people are afraid of. I also think that people are making too big of a deal about it. All in all, the end of the world is very frightening, and has some science behind it too.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/faith/bal-fa-20121113,0,7753682.story

Science Extra Credit

In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred.

Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian physician.

This quote by Sir William Osler can be interpreted many different ways. To me it means that no matter who comes up with an idea, whoever proves it gets the credit. It also means that many notions in science are not correct. Theories are tested with what we can use, but since technology is always improving exponentially, those theories are proved wrong. Yet the person who thought of the theory may not test it. The person who tests it may not get the credit if they are not the person that publishes the report. In all, the person to whom the idea first occurred may not be the person to get the credit. For all we know, some average Joe may have thought of gravity, yet Isaac Newton may have heard about it at the market and tried it out. His whole apple story could be totally made up for all we know. The world widely accepts that Isaac Newton created the laws of gravity, but if someone were to say differently, they would challenge that person. Newton got the credit, even if someone else first thought of the idea.

Solids, Liquids, and Gasses Oh My! Class Response

Lately in science class, we've been learning about Solids, Liquids, Gasses and Plasma! You're probably saying now that you know all about them, I mean really, whats there to get? Well, there's a lot more than meets the eye, literally!
This represents a solids atom makeup. The atoms in a solid are all really close together and are always vibrating. They have little to no room at all for movement. They form a definite shape and volume. A solid can be anything from a rock to a television. To form a solid from liquid or gas, you must take away energy. To melt a solid, you must add energy.

This picture represents the atom makeup of a liquid. As you can see, the atoms have more elbow room, and will spread out if possible. It has no definite shape, but it does have a definite volume.
To make a liquid a solid, you must take away energy. To make it a gas, you must add energy.

This picture represents how gas atoms move about. They have no definite shape, no definite volume, no definite anything. They move about freely because they have so much room. To make gas a liquid or a solid, you must take away energy.

This represents plasma. The blue streaks of energy are plasma. It is extremely fast, extremely dangerous, and is rarely found on earth. You can find plasma in stars, the sun, and almost everywhere! Its is the most common state of matter in the universe.
Personally, I think it's great that we're getting more in depth with solids, liquids, gasses, and plasma. Who knew there was more to it?