Mr. Light's Blog » Grade 8 Science http://tlight.edublogs.org Agnes Gray School 6th Grade Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:29:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Strange Creatures from Below http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/21/strange-creatures-from-below/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/21/strange-creatures-from-below/#comments Tue, 22 May 2007 00:34:28 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/21/strange-creatures-from-below/ You must check out this article and the accompanying interactive slide show from the New York Times.  Tell what you think about some of these creatures!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/22deep.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/21/strange-creatures-from-below/feed/ 27 Instantaneous Speed?!? http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/01/instantaneous-speed-2/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/01/instantaneous-speed-2/#comments Tue, 01 May 2007 12:00:09 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/01/instantaneous-speed-2/ Speed is distance divided by time.  If no time passes, an object doesn’t move any distance.  Doesw that mean that there is no such thing as instantaneous speed?  If not, does the speed disappear every instant and reappear after a millisecond has passed?  What happens to the momentum?

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/05/01/instantaneous-speed-2/feed/ 33 Space Travel http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/02/07/space-travel/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/02/07/space-travel/#comments Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:39:43 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/02/07/space-travel/ We did some math to find out how realistic space travel to the moon, planets, stars, and other galaxies would be.

We found that:

  • A trip to Venus could be made in about 8 days (one-way) at a speed of 100,000 miles per hour. (That would be 4 times as fast as the Apollo flight to the moon and is probably possible.)
  • A trip to Mars would take about 20 days one-way at that speed.
  • A trip to Saturn would take about a year at that speed. (Pack the Playstation III)
  • Pluto? 4 years!
  • Alpha Centuri, our nearest star neighbor, is 4 light years away. 2,666 years in our starship. If we could go 1/10 the speed of light it would take 40 years each way!

Choose one of the links below to follow and learn about a topic related to space travel. Then, share what you learned with the class.

Read about some possible future space ships here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/exploration/futurespaceflight/index.shtml

Check out Wikipedia’s explanation of a “Generational Starship” which might make very long trips possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship

Or decide if you would sign up for a “one-way space trip” here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/1823990.stm

We’ve sent people to the moon. Do you think we could send people to Mars? Should we? How about to Jupiter and Saturn, or one of their moons?

What are some of the problems with space travel to other stars? What are some possibilities for future space flight?

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/02/07/space-travel/feed/ 38 Empty Space http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/25/empty-space/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/25/empty-space/#comments Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:19:33 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/25/empty-space/ Check out these two websites:

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/space_size.htm

 http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

What do they show about the size of the universe?  How does the second one show that you are mostly empty space?

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/25/empty-space/feed/ 26 Seeing Colors http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/seeing-colors/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/seeing-colors/#comments Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:08:53 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/seeing-colors/ We can only see a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum – the visible light.  Most of the spectrum, Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays we can’t see.

If you could see any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, what part would you like to be able to see?  Why?  What would things look like?

Here’s a picture of the electromagnetic spectrum!

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/seeing-colors/feed/ 34 Relatively Speaking http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/relatively-speaking/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/relatively-speaking/#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2006 23:21:54 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/relatively-speaking/ Yesterday we started learning about how we can tell the age of the Earth.  We discussed the difference between relative age and absolute age.   We also learned the Law of Superposition (The Layer Cake Rule).

The word “relative” can be used to describe many things that are compared to each other.  For example, when I sit next to Ian in a speeding car, I am moving relative to the road, but I am staying still relative to Ian.

What is relative age?  What is absolute age?  Give an example of each.  What do you think relative speed would be?  What is the Law of Superposition?  What type of rocks does it apply to?

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/relatively-speaking/feed/ 33 Not a Drop to Drink! http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/not-a-drop-to-drink/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/not-a-drop-to-drink/#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:24:30 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/not-a-drop-to-drink/ The Earth is known as “The Water Planet”.  Despite this, there are many places where there is water nearby but nothing to drink.  Before Thanksgiving, we imagined that all of Earth’s water fit in a 5 gallon bucket.  We found out that about 2 cups would be ice and less than a cup would be groundwater.  All the lakes and rivers would be a tablespoon!

Explain:

  • Why is Earth called the water planet?
  • What is groundwater?  Why is it important?
  • What are some problems with our groundwater supply?

Mr. Light

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/27/not-a-drop-to-drink/feed/ 30 Dirt http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/03/dirt/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/03/dirt/#comments Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:23:05 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/03/dirt/ You may remember the song, “Dirt Made My Lunch”.

Did it?

What is dirt? What is soil? What is the difference?

]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/11/03/dirt/feed/ 35 Evidence of the Changing Earth http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/26/evidence-of-the-changing-earth/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/26/evidence-of-the-changing-earth/#comments Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:54:35 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/26/evidence-of-the-changing-earth/ We went on a field trip to look at some examples of how the earth changes. Give examples of at least two of the following things that you saw:

  • Physical Weathering
  • Chemical Weathering
  • Erosion
  • Deposition
  • Metamorphism
]]> http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/26/evidence-of-the-changing-earth/feed/ 28 Rocks http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/10/rocks/ http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/10/rocks/#comments Tue, 10 Oct 2006 11:09:00 +0000 tlight http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/10/rocks/ You became an expert in one rock family:

  • Igneous
  • Intrusive
  • Extrusive
  • Metamorphic
    • Foliated
    • Nonfoliated
  • Sedimentary
    • Clastic
    • Organic
    • Chemical
    • Geode, Sandstone, Shale, Limestone, Coal, Halite
    • Gneiss, Marble, Slate, Quartzite, Schist
    • Obsidian, Pumice, Granite, Basalt

    Choose one of the rock types below. Tell as much as you can about it including

    • What family it belongs to.
    • What group within its family it belongs to.
    • How it formed.
    • What it looks like.
    ]]>     http://tlight.edublogs.org/2006/10/10/rocks/feed/ 35