Friday, October 28, 2011

Cell Project!

The things that we are doing as the cell project is called ZOINK
we make the product which can be used for student's class as a textbook, game, and so on.
and I decided to make the COMIC BOOKS! :D
but however, it's not only making the products, but it also has to include the things were on the white paper.
so it was kind of hard to make sure that all the information that we need are on the product.
and I decided to divide the comic books in different chapters, so that I can include all the information.

First I did was to make the plan. I wrote what am I going to draw, and I chose the character. 
The main character ; BOY GIRL and a ROBOT called CELLO.
and then, I tried to put the information on it. 

after doing them all, I was sure what I was going to draw, How, and Where. haha (:

I started to draw the boxes for the comics, and drew the draft with pencil first. 
after making the drafts, I traced them with black pen, and colored them all.
the most hard part was drawing and coloring part. 

also, I uploaded the video which has almost same information as this post, and was the part of the assignment.





and I took some of the pictures to make it sure, but the camera is not working so I will post it ASAP (:

the self evaluation for this project... is
umm well, I think I was kind of lazy when I got the project and didn't started when I had plenty of time.
I started the project when the due date was coming, and this is the thing that I regret most with this project.
I thought that drawing comicbooks won't take that long time, and I just... kind of ignored it.
even I had some class times to do, I didn't use that time properly.
If I have any projects from now on, I will do it and start it as soon as possible, and not put them at the side.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Egg Lab

Introduction
We did the experiment at school during the science class. This experiment was related to the osmosis. We were learning about the osmosis and the transportation. Osmosis is the net movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane driven by a difference in solute concentrations on the two sides of the membrane. Our purpose by doing this experiment was observing the egg in two different solutions, and find out how did the solutions affected to the egg. And not only observing it, but also compare the result with our prediction that we did before the experiment.
Materials needed
  • 2 fresh eggs in their shells
  • 2 plastic cups
  • 100ml graduated cylinder
  • Balance
  • Water
  • Ruler and string
  • Vinegar
  • Possible solutions : corn syrup, alcohol, distilled water, salty water(10% and 20%), tap water
Things that we need to prepare for the experiment

 Before the experiment, we should prepare the shell removed egg. Ms. Silva prepared it for us, and the egg was in the water for 2 days. (9/13-9/14) While waiting for the shell removing, we predicted about the result of the experience. Our group selected alcohol, and salty water(20%). I said that the both of the egg will be bigger, because I thought that the concentration inside the egg would be lower than the outside (solution).


What did we do for three days?

First day (9/15/2011)
After removing the egg shell completely, we rinsed the egg with water carefully, and started the lab. We dried the egg with paper towel after washing it. We recorded the appearance, mass, and circumference of the eggs in the data table. After measuring all the datas, we put them in to the plastic cup with same amount of solution. Both eggs looked yellowish. The alcohol egg was bigger than the salty water egg. The circumference difference was more than 2cm, and the mass was also 15g bigger than the salty water egg. However, while other groups were putting 80ml of solution, our groups egg was too big so we've put 75ml each in the cup to do the experiment. We left the eggs for one days and checked it tomorrow. 
(Our group didn't covered the top of the cups, so that solutions have might vaporized)

Second day (16/9/2011)
We did the same thing that we did on first day, pick up the egg from the solution, check the mass, circumference, and the amount of solution left in the plastic cup. The result from second day was kind of different with my prediction. I thought the both eggs would be bigger. However, the egg which was in the alcohol became smaller and the both eggs' size became same. But the amount of the solution left seems not right. Because if the water in the egg white from the alcohol egg came out to the alcohol, the amount of solution left should be more than 75ml. So I guessed that the amount of the alcohol decreased (little bit) because the alcohol vaporized. The amount of solution left in salty water(20%)'s cup was less than the alcohol. It decreased a lot because the water moved into the egg. When we observed the eggs' appearance, the alcohol egg became smaller, and the color of the egg changed into white. But, the salty water egg was still yellowish, but with more darker yellow, and the egg became bigger. 


Third day (9/19/2011)
Of course, we did the same thing at the beginning of the third day, checking the mass, circumference, and the amount of solution left. (: It didn't take that long because we became professional (??haha..) during two previous days. I expected bigger differences, because the time passed a lot. But the amount of solution left of the alcohol didn't decreased a lot. I think there were no  more water to come out from the egg, and some that decreased was vaporized. The change in salty water was not really different with the alcohol. It didn't decreased much, and I think it's the same reason with the alcohol egg's, because the concentration of inside egg, and the solution became same, so there were keeping the same concentration. ( it didn't stopped the osmosis! never!) Also, the alcohol egg became even smaller than the second day and whiter. And the salty water egg became bigger, and limpid, so that we could see through the egg. 


*************************************************************************************************************
Here are my data table and the graphs. This will help you guys to see the changes between the two eggs. THE RED LINE IS SALTY WATER EGG, AND THE BLUE LINE IS ALCOHOL EGG.
*All the datas are calculated to the average rate.*




PICTURES :D

This is the picture of the eggs after we finished the lab. We cut them and see what happened inside the egg. 
the salty water egg has more water inside, and the alcohol egg just looked like a boiled egg. The egg changed into solid. (WOW!) 

Conclusion
First, the result of the experience was very interesting. Different with my prediction, the egg with the alcohol became smaller, and the egg with salty water became bigger. Based on the data that we collected, we can easily notice that alcohol egg decreased with everything, mass; from 74.2g to 64.1g, circumference; from 16.5cm to 14.8cm, and amount of solution left; from 77.5 to 50.5. We can guess that the water inside the egg came out from the egg and moved to the water outside. So it should be increased the amount of solution. However, since alcohol vaporize easily, we can say that the alcohol disappeared. 

While the alcohol egg was getting smaller, the salty water (20%) egg's mass and circumference became bigger, which was same as my prediction, mass; from 66.7g to 77.3g, and circumference; from 15.3cm to 16.8cm. However, the amount of solution decreased, from 77.5ml to 57ml. Different with the alcohol egg, this time the water from the outside of the egg moved into the egg, because of the osmosis. And the point, that I learned from it is that it didn't stop transporting, but keeping the same concentration by giving and taking the same amount of water.

Examples - Osmosis/Diffusion affect living things?
I said that the osmosis and the diffusion totally affect to living things, because living things are made of cells, and in the cell, if there are too much water concentration around the cell, the cell swells up to have the same concentration as the outside by taking in water. Same as the previous one, if there are not enough water concentration around the cell, the cell shrivels up to have the same concentration as the outside by getting rid of water. Like this, osmosis helps cell to get balanced. Which makes our body balanced.


SELF EVALUATION / TEAM EVALUATION

Team) I think our team did really quick work with calculating the changes in the eggs. We didn't spend much time on them, but we did quick and correct measuring. The teamwork was really good, for example, when me and Sofia was working on getting the egg of from the cup, and washing them, Thomas got the paper towel and dried them. Also when I was measuring the circumference of the alcohol egg, other two did measure salty water egg's mass and the amount of the solution left. So I think that is why we didn't take long time to working on with measuring things, and take more time with observation the eggs, and have more deep think about it.

Self) I think I was doing well during the lab, but I was not understanding well about the osmosis IN the eggs, so it was kind of hard to work on putting them in the words. Also, the thing that I regret is, that I didn't use much class time to work on the blog post, so I was doing them at the last moment of the due date. :( I should pay attention more with working on the stuffs that I'm doing. Also I thought about the possible errors, even our group has the same result as the general results. Maybe we might lost more alcohol and salty water because we didn't cover the top of the cups. And I learned that the osmosis takes a place with two different concentrations, and it doesn't stop even the concentration become same. 

Monday, August 29, 2011

My speech for the Lifeboat Dilemma :D

Today's assignment : write my short speech on my blog! 

hahaha actually, my speech is kind of really short one, but anyway (: here we go!

SPEECH


The mitochondria, which is one of the most important part of the cell, is me!
The cell is made out of protein(The structure of cells, and the extracellular matrix in which they are embedded, is largely made of protein. [Examples: Collagens] (Plants and many microbes depend more on carbohydrates, e.g., cellulose, for support, but these are synthesized by enzymes.)), and we need energy to make protein for our cells.
Why do we need energy? RNA passes the message from the DNA, to ribosome to make the protein. during this process, we need the energy.
And 'I' make that energy to move the RNA. Not only moving RNA, I make the energy to move protein around, muscle fibers contracting around, neurons producing impulses and sending signals to other cell. 
if I didn't exist, the RNA would not move to ribosome.
if the MITOCHONDRIA didn't exist, there would be so cell.
So, if we say this in one sentence, this would be like this.
If the MITOCHONDRIA don't exist, there's no cell!
So I am sure that the cell needs me and I should not be thrown out of the boat.
I am the important part of the cell.

Monday, August 22, 2011

What kind of cell would you like to be and why?



Today my homework was to choose what do I want to be, from the cells, and write the blog post about it. When I got the homework first, I was like,
 "WHAT? DO I REALLY HAVE TO BE A CELL? WELL, I DON'T WANT TO BE A CELL T^T 
I JUST WANT TO LIVE AS A HUMAN!!!" 
.....hahaha......anyway, before I talk about the cell that I want to be, let's see how do they look like. 

(here we go :D) 
Prokaryotic cell













Pro = “before”, karyon = “nucleus”


This is the prokaryotic cell, which is, a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus (= karyon), or any other membrane-boundorganelles. it is different with eukaryotic cells, which is my second option, because The organisms that have a cell nucleus are called eukaryotes.


So, this is the picture of the eukaryotic cells; animal eukaryotic cell and plant eukaryotic cell.


Animal Eukaryotic cell
Plant Eukaryotic cell
these two are the Eukaryotic cells. 


Eu = “true”, karyon = “nucleus”


so, what's the difference between those cells? what kind of examples does they have?


the common fact that prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells have are these things.

  • they both have DNA
  • they both have ribosome
  • they both have flagella
  • they can reproduce, and also divide
  • they both have RNA and cell walls 
and so on... :D
After researching about both cells, I decided to be a Eukaryotic cell! 

These are the reason why ↓

I liked the RNA, which work as a messenger, and I thought it's really cool!!! 
And also the golgi opparatus, which do the packaging for the protein! really, it's awesome :)
I liked that eukaryotic cell (plant) has the chloroplast, which capture the light energy to conserve free energy. I think it is really cool. :D hehe








Thursday, August 18, 2011

First Science Project ; “Meals on Wheels”

Register project on e-Portfolio: explain how it started, what you had to do, how your team worked, what you discovered, etc, etc, etc. Upload your presentation to your e-Portfolio. Write a self-evaluation: how did this project contribute to your science knowledge? How was it for you to work on different skills (leadership, organizational, time management, teamwork, etc)?


At the first time when we started the project, I was almost like have no idea about it. I came to the international school last semester, and it was my first time to heard about the nutrients.... and a PROJECT??!!!?
The main point of the project was to do the research and discuss about the each menus (there were three different menus), and choose the one which is the healthiest and also to choose the one which is good for the long term diet, or the short term diet. 


Our Group chose Menu 2 as the best diet plan, because it has plenty of nutrients and also balanced. We thought that the healthy diet would be better for customers, and compare to other menus, Menu 2 has the exact idea what we wanted. 


Team evaluation 
At the first time we started the project, we did't use the class time much. I was almost day-dreaming and had no idea how to deal with this nutrients.
Second class time, now we discussed more about how are we going to solve this problem and we divided the role, such as... 'researching, making the power-point, understanding about the nutrients' and so on. 


My job for this project was to research about the all the foods in menu #1, and analyze about it. I should have to know which nutrients are in the food, how those nutrients work in our body, and what happen if we don't have enough nutrients.
And I discovered that there are the 6 most important nutrients which affects a lot to our body, and how the body use those nutrients as a energy. However, our body don't use nutrients as a energy, but also they are essential for cell growth, maintenance and repair. Nutrients provide energy to enable your body to function efficiently. Nutrients, along with fiber and water, are essential to your good health. :D 
And the self evaluation, I will say that I should more concentrate on my work during the class, than doing all the works at home. The researching at home might be easier for my, but doing the research, asking and discussing that I don't know well is also the importance and the reason why we are doing the team project. 


+ And this is my group's presentation. 
+This is the video that I found at Youtube, and I think it's really good :D watch it! haha

Monday, August 8, 2011

“What was the purpose of these first two days of school and what are my plans for this year?”


What was the purpose of these first two days of school and what are my plans for this year?”

First day of school always makes me nervous, and kinda scared. I went to the science class with nervous feeling.
At the first day, when we entered to the room, we did the marshmallow challenge. Teacher gave us 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of string, 1 yard of tape, and one marshmello. We should make the tallest free-standing building with those meterials. our group tried to do the exercise with my plan and idea, but it was almost impossible plan, so we failed. ( sorry guys :P) was really awesome experience, and only two group suceeed.
Ms.Silva said that if we plan the exact plan and do the more trials, the percentage that we can succeed will be higher.
Second day of school, we talked about the trials, and we watched the video about the doctor who likes skateboarding. There was a Dr.Tae, who likes skateboarding a lot, and he tried to learn a new skill. He tried once, and he could do it. he tried it agian and agian still he tried 58 times. And finially, when he did 58 times, he did the new skateboarding skill. This Dr.Tae's video shows us that if we try alot, we can do it better.


plans
My plans for this year to me, is to get a better grade this year. Last semester, science was the hardest subject to me, and it was also hard to understand everything.So I will try to understand more thing than last year, and memorize more science vocabularies so that I can get better grade. Aso I will study the same, or simillar thing in korean, so that I can understand them in English easier.