Reese+G

=**The Search for Life on Mars**=

**From** Big Bang **to** Galaxy
Below is my paragraphs about how the Universe was created. 15 million years ago the universe exploded out of nothing. That great event was called the Big Bang. At that time the universe was extremely hot and was the size of a nucleus. Then the universe started to expand, eventually particles were created also radiant energy and exotic energy know as quarks and antiquarks. As it expanded it's temperature decrease so that protons and neutron could form. Soon matter and antimatter particles were created by the radiation within the universe, but then break apart to make energy. Soon the process of breaking apart overtook the process of creating particles. As the universe keeps expanding protons and neutrons form to make helium nuclei and hydrogen nuclei. After 300,000 years the universe becomes cold enough for electrons to start orbiting the helium nuclei and the hydrogen nuclei. Galaxies start to form after 2 billion years. The galaxies start from huge spheres of gas, there are three types of galaxies- irregular, spiral and elliptical. Back then galaxies were close so there were collisions between galaxies, sometimes they merge into one bigger galaxies. So that was how the universe and the galaxies were made out of one explosion.

The Milky Way Galaxy
Below this paragraph explains what the Milky Way Galaxy is. The milky way galaxy is made up from many bright stars and clouds of gases. From the side it looks like a disk with a bulge in the middle which is a bout 1-2,000 light years thick. The bulge is about 20,000 light years across. The milky way has four spiral arms jutting out of the center bulge. The center bulge is brighter then the rest of the galaxy because the stars are more closer together and they are the oldest stars. In the very center of the bulge is a black hole surrounded by gas clouds and dust. The Milky Way actually rotates, each star and gas cloud has its own orbit. T he sun takes 250 millions years to go around the whole milky way it moves about 250 kilometers per second.

==Lives of stars == Below is my paragraph about the lives of the stars. Stars form in cold dark clouds of dust and gas in interstellar space. Blast wave through the gas makes clumps or cores to form. Gravity pushes the clumps together while the clumps rotate. The center of the clump start to heats up that is when it forms a star. When it gets hot enough nuclear reactions start, that’s how the star gets its energy from. It turns hydrogen gas to helium that’s is the nuclear energy. It starts to spin faster as the star shrinks. There are different colors of stars. Blue/white class U stars - white stars that are class B and class A, cream colored stars class F, yellow star class G like our sun. then orange stars class K and orange red star class M are the dimmest, the color depends on the mass of the star. Stars eventually run out of hydrogen gas, so they run out of nuclear energy. When that happens the star goes through a process. We will follow when an smaller star like our sun starts to run out of energy. First the outer layer expands, it eventually expands to twice its normal size when that happens its color changes to a dark orange. Then it grows to be 100 time larger and a 1,000 times brighter. it blows off material then shrinks back down. Grows to be bigger and brighter then ever. It has a period here it shrinks and grows. All the material in core turns to a dwarf white star then fades. Now we will see what will happened if a class U star the biggest star in the star class runs out of energy. It grows bigger then it cools down and turn yellow. Shrinks and grows. Then it grows really big and starts to shed material. The core collapses that sends a shock wave that blows up the star which is called a super nova. This is the life of the stars.

The  Sun
In this paragraph is about the Sun and information about it. The sun is just like any star buts it closer to earth than any other star. 17% of its mass is hydrogen and the is rest helium. The outer edge of the sun is called the corona it is millions of degrees, chromosphere is the next layer then the photosphere. The core which is 15 billion of degrees and is denser then iron. In the core hydrogen nuclei and single protons crash together which create helium nuclei and release energy. It radiates outwards from core. Rows of hot gas under photosphere rise and fall when they cool down. Dark regions called sun stops form in unstable parts near the sun's equator. In active regions of the sun energy shoots through the surface of the sun called solar flares. They blast atomic particles sometimes to the earth or farther. Earth magnetic field funnel the particles near the poles. Which make the Aurora Boreas. Sun also has a magnetic field which is 5x stronger then Earth responsible for sun spots. The sun spins around once a month. Earth magnetic field funnel the particles near the poles. Which make the Aurora Boreas. Sun has magnetic field 5x stronger then earth responsible for sun spots. As the sun rotates the magnetic field actually intertwines with the sun's surface. Soon the magnetic field is so twisted around the sun it actually breaks down, but a new one takes its place. This whole process takes about 11 years. So this is how the sun works and functions.

History of the Solar System
In this paragraph its about how the planets were formed and devolved. Right around the time the Sun was being formed solid materials started to build up to even larger materials, they were called plantesimals. Farther away from the sun planetesimals made out of ice were being formed. Near the sun they were made out of rock and metal. Some planetesimals collided gently enough to merge into larger planetesimals, other collided to hard and they were destroyed to smaller pieces. In the outer part of the galaxy 4 large masses were created, these were the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The gravitational pull of the planets were able to get hold of gas which became their atmosphere. In the inner part of the galaxy there were too many collisions large planets could not form, but four smaller planets did form. They were Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Their surface was heated by the constant collision from other materials, radio activity inside the planet also conducted heat. Because the planets were made from planetesimals which were made from metal and rock, the metal sunk to the middle while the rock rose to the surface. The smaller planets did not get their atmosphere like the 4 larger planets they got theirs by volcanic gases. The gases from the volcanos became the planet's atmosphere. The Earth's moon was created from early collision from earth and another planet about the size of Mars. The Moon and the other planets were constantly hit by stray material for about 1 million years. After that most planetesimals were destroyed, ejected to outer farther in space or joined the asteroid belt. But a few were captured by planet's gravity and became their moon(s). The rings of Saturn are planetesimals or comets that was capture by the planets gravity. The icy planetesimals when they got closer to the sun became comets. This was the history of how the planets, their atmosphere and the history of the Solar system.

=Hubble Deep Field Academy Wiki =

Throughout this week and last week I have been learning about the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble takes pictures of space and the astronomers study the pictures. The questions the astronomers came up with about the deep field images where: how many objects are there in the HDF?, how far away are the objects?, how can the objects be classified and identified?, How far away are the objects?, what are the objects that don't fit into known classifications? And what do these objects teach us about how and when galaxies were formed?  Astronomers have to guess how many objects were in the deep field image. In the whole image I guessed 4,757. Then we broke it up into 3 big pieces then 12 smaller parts in one of the parts I chose 100, so it multiplied that by 12 to get 1,200. Then multiplied that by 3 for the 3 large sections that were 3,600. The astronomers guessed that there were 3,000 objects in the deep field image; I guessed 3,600 I was only 600 off. Then we took 3,600 and multiplied it by 30 million because it would take 30 million images the same size as the deep field one to cover to cover the whole universe, it was 108,000,000,000. The astronomers guessed about 50-100 billion objects in the universe. This time I was really of 8,000,000,000. Also what else the astronomers have to do is classify objects. They classify them by their color and there shape. For their color it is blue, white, yellow and red. For shape it is star shaped, oval and round elliptical, spiral and irregular. We focused on a section of the image and had to classify some objects. Some objects me and the astronomer agreed on were 15, 12 and 14. 15 was yellow and star shaped, 12 was yellow and elliptical while 14 was white and spiral. After we classified the object we estimated the distance to some objects. Astronomers have a certain way to estimate the distance of object in space, astronomers can’t depend on the size to estimating the distance of the object. Because an object can huge even from a far distance and an object can be really small even if it’s closer. Astronomers also must study the light the object emits to estimate the distance.

Then we learned all about galaxies. Their color depends on the age of the galaxy. Galaxies with young stars are blue while galaxies with old stars are red. The color can also tell us chemical composition, its distance from Earth and the speed at which it is traveling away from Earth. Some galaxies color may vary depending on the different ages of the stars. The shape of the galaxy tells us if it’s either an, spiral or irregular type of galaxy. Astronomers have a special way to estimate how many galaxies there are in the universe. It’s a method called “Representative Sampling”. The sky is divided into equal sections and the galaxies are counted in the section. The count is then multiplied by the total numbers of sections. That is how the astronomers estimate the number of galaxies in the universe.

Here is a picture of the Hubble Telescope and its parts are labeled.



= The History of Rockets =

Rocket history goes way back all the way to Greece in 100 B.C. When a Greek inventor by the name of Hero of Alexandria made the first rocket engine. It was called an aeolipile, it was a sphere with two pipes shaped like a L. One was pointing down and one was pointing up, it was over a tub of water and a fire heated up the water, as it turned into steam it traveled up a pipe into the sphere and shot out the two pipes and spun. This successfully employed the principles essential to rocket flight. The first know rocket is unclear but stories tell that around the first century A.D. the Chinese made gunpowder from saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. They filled bamboo tubes with gunpowder and tossed them into fires during religious festivals. They began using bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder and attach them to arrows. They soon found out then they could launch themselves by the power of the escaping gas. The actually first know rocket was around 1232 when the Chinese and the Mongols were in war. The Chinese drove the Mongols off from “arrows of flying fire”. The arrow were a simplified form of solid-propellant rocket. A tube filled with gunpowder was capped at one end the other end was open. It was then attached to a long stick, when the gunpowder was lit it produced fire, smoke and gas that propelled the rocket because it was escaping at the opened end of the tube. The stick was a simple guidance system that keep the it flying in one direction. The rocket was not that effective destruction wise but it did have a psychological effect on the Mongols. Then after the battle Mongols invented rockets of their own. They were responsible for the spread of rockets throughout Europe.

**MODEL ROCKET LABELED**

=Rocket Experiment=

During these past weeks we've been conducting a rocket experiment, at the beginning we learned about the stages and the parts of a rocket. After that we build a model rocket using a kit, and then when we finished painting it we painted the rocket. After we completed our rocket we measured the mass in grams, we had to make a hypothesis it was if the mass of the rocket will affect its max altitude. Then explain the reasoning for your hypothesis. I said that the mass of the rocket will affect the max altitude, because if the rocket is more massive the rocket won’t fly that high. I also said that the paint will make the rocket have more mass.

Finally it was launch day, one of the groups we measured 100 meters away using something called a trundle wheel. Whenever the trundle wheel clicks that means it has traveled 1 meter, so one group measure 100 clicks away from the launch site which is 100 meters. That same group used angle guns to measure the angles of the rocket. The way you work is to point the sight of the gun at the rocket and hold down the trigger and when it reaches its max altitude you let go of the trigger. You read the angle on the side of gun.

When our rocket was on the launch pad and we pressed the ignition buttons at first the rocket did not launch but after a few seconds it did. During the lift off stage our rocket flew straight up the wind had little effect on the rocket until it started to coast then the wind made the rocket shift a little. The rocket did not have a very long coasting time. It was shorter than I expected. Then it finally reached apogee the rocket itself titled slight sideways then the top popped off for ejection, our parachute actually worked. It unfolded and it came down gently while the wind was pushing it the opposite direction of us. The rocket gently set down on the ground which is recovery.

Our rocket's altitude angle was 44 degrees. The way we figured out the altitude is we use something called trigonometry, what you do is on your calculator you take you angle ours was 44 and put it in your calculator like this 100*40 and press the (tan) button. The answer should be 96.6 that would be in meters so it would be 96.6 meters. After we figured out all the groups’ rocket's mass and altitude we made a scatter graph to show our results.



<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As you can see from the graph as the mass increases the lower the max altitude is. A rocket that was 47 g max altitude was 57 m compared to a rocket that was 44 g which max altitude was 74 m. My hypothesis was right the more massive the rocket the less the max altitude will be. A way to improve the flight is to use little paint on your rocket. If you did that your rocket will probably have a higher max altitude.

= = =Mars Rover Drop=

For two days we have been creating a vehicle to drop off the bleachers. It is suppose to resemble a Mars Rover drop. The "rover" was an egg, and we had to make a vehicle that could protect the egg from cracking or breaking when its drop from the bleachers. What we did was cushion two cups with slightly blown balloons and stuck our egg in that, then we wrap two sheets of bubble wrap around the cups and rubber band them to the cup. Then we put that wrapped up cup in a big Ziploc bag and blow up the baggie.

We thought this was a good ideas because we thought that the Ziploc bag would absorb most of the shock and the bubble was also uses to absorb the shock. The balloons inside the cup was meant if the egg hit the side of the cup to soften that. Our egg did not crack at all our vehicle work. One thought I would change would to make the cup somehow stay in the middle of the bag. = =

=Lego Mindstorm Tribot=

Motors can be programed to power a robot, like the Lego Mindstorm Tribot. To program these motors you use NXT programing, you can program the robot to move forward, backwards, or turn either left or right. Then you program how long you want the action to go on for. You either pick how many rotations or to keep it going until you add another command, and how many seconds; that is for going forward and backwards. You can also adjust the power of the motors. The motors can also make the robot turn either left or right. You have to put degrees to actually make the robot move. Because of the type of robot it is if you want your robot to turn 90 degrees you would put in 180. You have to double the number of degrees you want. Sadly some challenges of using these motors you don’t know how many rotations the robot needs, how many seconds it takes to complete that action and how many degrees you need for your turns.

Also with the motors the robot can be equipped with sensors. Sensors are a device that can detect different senses. There are four different sensors. The first sensor is the sound sensors. It can detect decibels and adjusted decibels. Decibels are a measurement of sound pressure. The range of sound it can pick up is 0-100. This sensor can help your robot because if it hears a sound under 50 it can back up, but if it his hears a sound greater than it can move forward. The second sensor is an ultrasonic sensor, this sensor gives your robot vision. This sensor picks up sound that we can’t hear. That means it detects when it close to an object and change its path. This is helpful because before it hits an object it can alter its course. The third sensor is a light sensor, this sensor detects light. This sensor also gives your robot vision. The robot will do different things based on the light. The last sensor is the touch sensor; it gives your robot the sense of touch. The sensor reacts when the button at the end is pressed down. These sensors enchase your robot. It can make the robot do more tasks. The four different sensors. The tribot.

=Geology On Mars=

For a geologist there are many ways to identify minerals. A geologist can perform a color and luster test, which is where you observe their color and luster. The next test you can perform is a hardness test. It’s when you take a mineral and you take another object and scratch them together. Depending on their hardness one might scratch the mineral or scratch the object. For example Apatite which hardness is 5 can scratch an iron nail which hardness is 4.5 but cannot scratch a steel file because its hardness is 6.5. An object can only scratch and object that has hardness less then it. Another test you can perform is the streak test. A streak is the color of the mineral in powdered form. You scrape the mineral against a streak plate which is either white or black. You can identify the mineral by its streak color. Another way you can identify a mineral is to see if it is magnetic or not. Light refraction is another way you that can help you identify minerals. You place the mineral over a piece of text and see how it changes the text. You can really only use this test for certain minerals though. But by the way the mineral changes the text can help you identify the mineral. The taste test is another helpful test to identify mineral. The mineral’s taste can help you identify minerals. The last test that can help you with identifying minerals is the acid test. Some minerals react when a strong acid come in contact with it. When a strong acid like hydrochloric acid comes into a mineral with it containing carbonate it will bubble. So these are the ways and test that geologist use to help them identify minerals.



Curiosity is a NASA rover that is currently exploring mars. Unlike the other rovers this one is very high tech and carries around its own laboratory and it’s as big as a car. The rover is capable of testing rocks and minerals like a geologist. Curiosity is equipped with a drill, it is able to drill into a rock and collect the dust. Half of the dust goes into Curiosity for mineral composition. The other half is tested for biological life. It is also equipped with a laser that when shot reflects lights back to it and it can guess the chemical composition of a rock. This is some ways the Curiosity will perform geology on the planet Mars.

=Characteristics of Life=

For an object to be considered alive they must have all of the 8 characteristics of life. The first one is that it is made of cells; cells are the fundamental units of living things. The next characteristic is it needs materials. What that means is that it needs things like food, water and air ect. The next one is its homeostatic. Homeostatic means that internally living things stay about the same despite environmental changes, basically being normal. The fourth characteristic is respond to stimuli. Stimulus is anything that causes a living thing to react; response is the reaction to a stimulus. There are two types of responses, positive response and a negative response. What a positive response is the object moves towards the stimulus. A negative response is when the object moves away from the stimulus. The fifth characteristic is it can reproduce, produce offspring of their own kind. The next characteristic is it can grow. This means it develops from a lower or simpler to a higher or more complex form. The seventh characteristic is adapted. Adapted means that it makes modifications that makes it suited to its way of life. Adaptation can sometimes lead to evolution. What evolution means is he process by which characteristic of species change through time. The last characteristic is reparation. What that means is it releases energy stored in the chemical bonds of sugar. If the object fits all of these characteristics that means it is alive. There are consumers which they take in food and producers which create their own food.



There are many scientific methods can use to discover life on another planet. One experiment is called a Labeled Release apparatus. The way this experiment works is by scooping a bit of soil and mixes it with water. But it is not normal water it contains nutrients and radioactive carbon atoms. If the soil contains microbes it would absorb the nutrients and either release radioactive carbon dioxide or methane gas. And it would be measured by a radiation detector. This is just one of many scientific methods you can use to try to discover life on another planet.