Pollution

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about pollution. This blog is about what I have learnt over the past few weeks.

We have been learning about whales and how they have been washing up on beaches with stomachs full of plastic. Whales feed micro organisms called Phytoplankton which produce oxygen. They make 4X more oxygen than the amazon rainforest and 85% of all oxygen on earth. Plastic is killing heaps of animals every hour. 8 million tons of trash gets dropped in the ocean every year and that number is rising. Plastic dissolves and turns into things called microplastics which are practically invisible especially to fish. They eat these and die.

I think that the oceans should be cleaned up and taken care of. We could help by donating to charities that clean up the ocean and should stop using one time use plastic.

Metal Reactions

This week we were did three experiments using metal. The first one was metal reacting with acid. Then magnesium reacting with oxygen. Lastly we were testing for the presence of oxygen.  

Metal and acid

Magnesium + sulfuric acid --> magnesium sulfate + hydrogen.

First we got a test tube and put 2ml of acid in. Then we got a little piece of metal and dropped it in the tube. After that we quickly got a boiling tube and put it over the tube. After 2 minutes of waiting we got a little thing called a splint, set it on fire and put it in the boiling tube then  it made a popping sound.

When you put the metal in the acid it started bubbling and forming hydrogen. After a while it started to accumulate in the top of the boiling tube. When the flame came in contact it made a popping sound because the hydrogen. This showed that there was hydrogen. 

Metals and Oxygen

Magnesium + Oxygen --> Magnesium Oxide. 

First we set up the bunsen burner and got a pair of scissor tongs. After that we grabbed a piece of magnesium and lit the bunsen burner. When we put the magnesium over the flame it started glowing and it was quite bright. After that the magnesium turned into a white powder called magnesium oxide.

Testing for the presence of oxygen

Magnesium Dioxide + Hydrogen Peroxide --> Magnesium Hydroxide + Oxygen.

First we got some test tubes and put some magnesium dioxide into it. After that we lit a splint. Then we put some hydrogen peroxide into the tube. After that they started reacting with each other. Lastly we blew out the splint, put the smouldering splint in the tube and it set on fire again. 

Metal Carbonates and Acids

Metal Carbonate + Acid  --> Metal Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide

First we grabbed two tubes and put a bung in one with the delivery tube going into the other test tube. Then we added some metal carbonate into the tube with the bung. In the other tube we put some lime water. After we quickly took off the bung, added some acid and put the bung back on. After a few attempts the lime water started going cloudy.

Cryptography | DTE

Last term we were learning about cryptography. If you don't know what cryptography is it is basically hidden messages in things called cyphors.  We learned about 9 different cyphors in three different categories easy, normal, and hard. I liked learning about cryptography and some of the cyphers were quite interesting. A site we used to learn about cryptography is dyscover crypt.

This is a slide I made that shows the 9 cyphors that I learned about.

Metallic Lattice

Today we were learning about Metallic Lattice. I made a structure showing this.

Metallic Lattice is is the shape of bonds in metal structures.

The sticks show the metal and the play dough shows the atoms.

Arts Kete

 Over the past few weeks we have been working on a thing called arts kete. For this we had to make a poster/clay model about you or your culture. We needed to make these for displays around the school and to show our culture. 

For mine I wanted to make the New Zealand flag out of clay. This didn't really work. At first I had to make a rectangle which for some reason was quite challenging. Next I had to put the four stars on. I got about two on it then the next day it was destroyed. So after a few periods of thinking I decided to make a clay model of me like my friends. Unfortunately it fell apart and I couldn't get it to work before we needed to. So I ended up failing because I had nothing to present.  

Live Aid

This week we were learning about Live Aid. Live Aid was a concert held in Philadelphia and London to make money for poverty.  It was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

In the 1970's Bob Geldof was a singer and musician was born in Ireland and was educated at a Catholic private school. He was famous for the single Do They Know It's Christmas. He produced this song with Midge Ure.  Bob was mostly involved in the band Boomtown Rats and Live Aid.

In the 1970's Midge Ure was a singer that was in quite a few bands and made a few popular songs. He was famous for the single Do They Know It's Christmas which gave him the motive to organise the event Live Aid.  Midge was involved in seven bands. His most famous band being Ultravox.

The song Do They Know Its Christmas was sung by many singers that were famous at the time. This song was made for the Ethiopian kids because people were wondering if they knew it's Christmas. All of the 200 million dollars went to people in Ethiopia. This is what inspired Bob and Midge to do the live aid show. 

Science | Acid Rain Experiment

 Over the past few weeks we have been learning about acids and bases. One thing we have been learning about is acid rain. Acid rain is mostly caused by factory's burning fossil fuels. The smoke go's into the clouds and mixes with the water molecules. When it rains it can damage people, builds, plant life, animals and make the water toxic. We done an experiment today on acid rain.

Aim: To observe the effects of acid rain 

Hypothesises: I think the petal will dissolve, the calcium carbonate will have no effect, the apple will dissolve, the universal indicator will weaken the acid, I think the bromothymol blue will not do anything.

Method: In petri dish place items around edge. Wet dry ingredients with drop of water. In the middle put a weigh boat

Observations: The universal indicator turned into a pale red because it was an acid. The bromothymol blue turned yellow. The apple did nothing. The petal went lighter. Calcium carbonate kind of bubbled.