Road Runner Sports

Lit. Poems

"Death's Black Book"

The Black Book
Creative, compassionate
Loving, intriguing, caring
Enlighting, expressive, dark, soul-filled
Collecting, carrying, keeping
Silent, wicked
Death.


"Attributes of a Book Thief"

Liesel Meminger
Affectionate, stealthy, and expressive
Who loves her family, friends, and books
Who feels pride about a stolen book
Who needs her papa's love
Who shares her love, stories, and passions
Who fears Nazi sooldiers and Mama's watschens
Who'd like to see the tremendous war end
Who dreams of Max coming back home
Who ends up seeing him waiting for her a the front door

Class Response: Adventure Aquarium

Last week or so, my class and I visited the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey. It was definitely a worthy experience to capture and keep. This was absolutely a tremendous aquarium filled with unimaginable sights or knowledge. My group and I first ventured through the dark halls of mini aquariums, filled with fish, jellyfish, turtles, unknown species and sting rays! Everything was so beautiful, colorful, and amazing! Also, there were two specific wonderous "touch-a-__" pools like the stingray/jellyfish and the shark one. In addition, there was also the penguin/seal exhibits outside of the aquarium. It was really intriguing to see the different types of penguins and enormous seals the aquarium has. A cool fact: some penguins can actually live on land at times instead of the cold, freezing arctic. Furthermore, the aquarium had countless of interesting facts that I have already learned in science class which was educational to see how much I knew about the sea creatures at this aquarium. As you now can see, it is also vital to know how to keep these unbelievable animals alive by putting an end to litter, careless oil spills in the open ocean, and the numerous disposals of garbage/trash onto the land or into the ocean. The main focus is to protect the environment while we can to not only protect/keep these organisms safe, but to also set an excellent example towards Earth's future.

The COLLAPSING Can O_O

As you know, there is air pressure all around us and we barely even notice it every day. An amazing fact: the air pressure is large enough to crush a soda can!!! This is the collapsing can lab. The materials needed include an empty aluminum soda can, a 2/3 liter saucepan and kitchen tongs. After filling the saucepan with cold water, I put 15 ml of water into the soda can, then heated it over a stove. When the water starts to boil, a cloud of condensed vapor escapes quickly from the opening in the can. The can is left to boil for about 30 more seconds. Then immediately, I used the tongs to grasp the can and then with the flick of the wrist, the can is inverted and dipped into the water pan. The result: a very loud POP! The soda can collapses instantaneously. The cause for this effect is absolutely an immense amount of air pressure. The air pressure builds simultaneously when heated, thus air escapes out of the can. But when the water boils, an enormous amount starts to build up again. And when it is turned over, the air has nowhere else to go except for the top, thus, causing the soda can to collapse immediately. Air pressure is such an amazing feature of our world. It occurs everyday of our daily lives. Well, I hope that you enjoyed reading about air pressure, and wat a large amount of it would to an object. This was The COLLAPSING Can Lab.

Is Air There ??? ; Lab

Air pressure is an intricate subject. It deals with high and low pressure. I have just completed an "Is Air There" type of lab that includes a jar, small plastic bag, and a rubber band. The shows 2 different levels of air pressure; high and low. The first step was to secure the bag around the wide mouth part of the jar then tying the rubber band around it, thus securing it in place. Step 2, I had to push the bag into the jar with a little bit of pressure from my finger tips. This was definitely easy, but I also noticed the reason for why this simple task was so easy. This is because air pressure is higher outside the jar when I tried to push the bag into the jar. Subsequently, I took apart the model. After putting it back together, I was now supposed to complete another task: seemingly the opposite of the previous one. Step 4 was about trying pulling the bag out from the mouth of the jar. Unexpectedly, this was actually difficult because of the air pressure. The air pressure is higher inside the jar when trying to pull the bag out of the jar with my fingertips. This is an excellent example portraying the vacuum effect. This lab,"Is air there?" is definitely a magnificent way to demonstrate high and low air pressure that exists in our world. I hope that you have learned some details about air pressure. See you next time!!!

Popcorn + Science = POPTASTIC !!!

During science class today, I made popcorn in a lab. It may seem simple, but it is all science. The process from a kernel to a popcorn is called radiation. My group put a bag of kernels in the microwave. We set the microwave at 1 minute and 30 seconds. After about 40 seconds, the kernels suddenly begin to start popping rapidly for the rest of the time. The reason for this is because in every single kernel, there is a drop of water. When that little droplet of water is heated, air pressure automatically increases. Warm air starts to rise quickly. Steam is flowing from the kernel and immediately the kernel POPS!!! Steam needs to rise out, thus, breaking(popping) through the kernel and causing it to turn into popcorn. In addition, a magnificent process known as radiation has just occurred. When the time ended, the bag was full of delicious popcorn to enjoy.

Is Antarctica Falling Apart?

Countless of icebergs the size of some U.S. have already been brokem off rapidly in the last decade. The cause of this tragedy is definitely global warming as it is a factor of increasing the temperature near both of the Earth's poles. However, now there scientists are discovering that Antarctica is breaking apart as the ice melts and enormous icebergs break off. Because global warming changes the position or angle of Earth's axis, this results in higher extremes for some countries. For example, New Jersey, is starting to experience colder winters and more humid summers. This is almost the same case with losing bits of Antarctica. Who knew this vast iceland could just break apart so easily due to the sun's heat? In addition, "All of the scientists consulted by LiveScience also mentioned the Anarctic Pennisula's recent changes, which are mainly driven by warmer air temperatures." As noted in the article, the ice sheets of the Arctic have undergone the fastest rate of thinning ever! Also, obviously the tremendous broken icebergs go somewhere; they just melt right into the ocean. Thus, also causing a major change in the sea-level rising. Some scientists and researchers predicted that the future's sea-level rise may be resulted from Antarctica's case of falling apart. As you now realize, global warming has caused unimaginable differences in our world today. It is also the reason the harsh cold places like Antarctica are warming up and falling apart.

Date of Article: March 4, 2010
Article Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/antarctica-icebergs-falling-apart-100304.html