Leo+T

=The Search for Life on Mars=

From Big Bang to Galaxies
==== In the beginning, our universe was all packed into one small place, the size of an atomic nucleus. The Universe heated up, and started expanding. Before the universe was a tenth of a second old, protons and neutrons were forming. After one second, the universe had fallen to around 1,000,000,000° K. After around 3 minutes, one fourth of the particles had combined to create helium nuclei. After 300,000 years, the electrons start orbiting the neuclei to create atoms. ====

History of the Solar System
==== The sun was first formed when inter-stellar gasses were pulled together. The ball collapsed into a thin disc with a proto-sun at the center. The particles began to clump into larger particles, which then formed the giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Each planet then grew discs of their own moons. ====

Lives of the Stars
==== Stars form in cold dark clouds of gas and dust. This creates cores which contract as the gas pulls. A proto-star then forms, with a space clear of gas surround it. 5 billion years ago, the sun formed from an interstellar cloud. It started as a yellow star. About 5 billion years later the sun will run out of hydrogen gas. The sun will expand and its color will darken. It will begin to blow of large amounts of matter until it is half of its original size after destroying Earth. Its outer core is flung off to create a nebula, and the sun is now a dwarf star. ====

The Milky Way Galaxy
==== One a dark clear night, the milky way arches across the sky in a patch of dense stars. This is an insider view of our galaxy. In an outsider view of our galaxy, the galaxy looks like a disc with a central bulge of stars, which it is. Four arms of the galaxy spiral outwards of the galaxy. ====

The Sun
==== The sun is a star in the center of our solar system. It is no different from other stars around the universe, except that it is a lot closer to the Earth and other planets. 76% of the sun's mass is made up of hydrogen. The center of the sun is around 15,000,000° K. ====

=The Hubble Deep Field= Astronomers ask many question about the universe that they do not know, so that they may better understand the universe around them. One of the common questions asked by an astronomer is "How far away are the objects we are viewing?". They use this question to get an idea of their position in the universe. There are 54 billion objects in the universe. Astronomers do this by dividing the Hubble Deep Field image into smaller images in which you can count the number of objects. Then that __#|answer__ is multiplied by the number of images that would need to be taken to cover the entire sky. This gets that number. An astronomer is able to estimate distances in space by observing the light emitting from the object. The closer the object is, the more light it emits because it will take less time for the light to __#|travel__ to our eyes. The color and shape of a galaxy can indicate many different things about the galaxy. The color of a galaxy is a good indicator of a galaxy's age. The color of a galaxy changes, depending on the age of the stars inside of the galaxy. If the galaxy has a combination of blue and red stars, the galaxy may appear a bluish red. The shape of the galaxy can also indicate the age of a galaxy. You younger galaxies are spiral galaxies and __#|elliptical galaxies__ are always old. To estimate the number of galaxies in the universe, astronomers use something called representative sampling. The sky is divided into sections. The number of galaxies in one section is multiplied by four to create an estimate.



=Rocket History= The Hero engine was the first machine to use some of the principles of modern rocketry. Around 100 B.C. a Greek inventor named Hero of Alexandria used steam as a propulsive gas. Hero put a sphere on top of a pot of __#|water__. A fire below the kettle turned the __#|water__ into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere let the gas escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate.



The Chinese were another group of people who used early concepts of rocketry. They would put gunpowder in small bamboo tubes, and light it. The bamboo tubes would fly around, and maybe even emit some other colors, depending on the minerals used by the Chinese.



= = =Model Rocket Labelled Parts=

=Rocket Experiment= The purpose of this experiment was to see if changing the rocket's mass would affect the rocket's maximum altitude. We built rockets from a kit using fire resistant cardboard body, wooden fins, and a plastic top. Inside the body of the rocket was recovery wadding, the explosive, and the parachute. On the outside were the fins, the engine hook, and the launch lug. To launch the rocket, it was put on the launch pad, with the guide wire going through the launch lug. A remote was used to ignite the explosive inside the rocket, and the rocket lifted off. To measure the altitude of the rocket, trigonometry was used. The trundle wheel was used to measure 100 meters away from the launch pad. Then at 100 meters, an angle gun was used to find the angle of how high the rocket went from the ground. The formula that was then used was, 100*tan(27.5 ° ). This found the height of the rocket's altitude. Below is a diagram of how it worked.

My hypothesis was incorrect. I hypothesized that the more mass the lower the rocket would go because there would be more gravity acting on it. As it turns out, if your rocket is too light, there bis a lot of air resistance holding back the rocket, but if the rocket is too heavy, there will be more gravity acting on the rocket. The highest rocket had a mass of somewhere in between the lightest mass, and the heaviest mass

=Mars Rover Drop= For my mars rover drop, my team put the egg inside a paper cup, wrapped in bubble wrap. Below the cup, an inflated bag with a balloon inside was attached for a cushion for when it lands. Above the cup was a parachute made out of paper, so that the egg's impact time was increased. The parachute did not work as well as hoped, since the material was a little too heavy. If possible, it would be better to use a lighter sturdier material, other than printer paper.



= Mindstorms Tri-bot =

In this lab experiment, we used NXT Mindstorm robots that we programmed to complete simple tasks, as a NASA astronaut would do, but on a smaller scale. The way that the robot moved around was from a motor. The motor controlled the wheels, causing the robot to move around. If both wheels moved at the same time in the same direction, the robot would move forward or backwards, and if the wheels are not moving the same speed and the same direction, the robot makes a turn. If the wheels were moving different speeds in the same direction, the robot would turn, if they were moving different directions, the robot would turn and if only one wheel was moving, the robot would turn.

Sensors were also used in the robot. There were four kinds of sensors used. Sound, Touch, Light, and Ultrasonic. The sound sensor inputs sound and then converts it into electrical energy, so that the robot moves. For example, you could clap and the robot would move how ever much you programmed it to. There is also a touch sensor. Inside the touch sense is a spring that when it contracts, it converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. For example, you could make a program that when the robot hits a wall, it turns around and goes another direction. Light sensor is a sensor that shines light to create its own light so that it can follow lines on the surface. It shines a red light to detect how much light reflects off of the surface. For example, you could make a program in which the robot follows a line. The last sensor, is the ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor sends a sound wave out that is above human hearing and when the sound bounces back to the sensor, the robot can detect how far away the nearest wall is. For example, you could use the ultrasonic sensor to let a robot know how long it needs to drive before it stops.





= Curiosity and Geology =

Geologists may look at a map, drive out to the location, and then hike to where they are searching for the rocks and minerals. On earth, geologists use compasses, rock hammers, and magnifying glasses to study the rocks. They might even do an acid test on the spot to see what the rocks are composed of.

The rover would use a drill on whatever rock the geologists would like to investigate. Whatever comes out of the rock would go back into the robot and would be split. The robots would then analyze its composition. The rover carries around an entire laboratory for doing what geologists would do in real life.



=The Characteristics of Life= There are 8 characteristics something needs in order for it to be alive. To be alive, something needs to be made of cells, needs materials, must be homeostatic, must respond to stimuli, must be able to reproduce, grow, adapt, and respire. Cells are the basic unit of life, and have many parts. When it says that a living thing needs materials, it means that the living thing needs, water, minerals, and air. The living things take what they need from the environment. When a living thing is homeostatic, it means that anything internally living inside of the living thing always tries its best to stay the same, despite environment changes surrounding it. Excretion is an example of being homeostatic; we excrete to get rid of waste that we don’t need, to keep our body the same. Another thing living things do, is respond to stimuli. Anything that is living, gives a response. There are two types of responses: positive and negative. It the reaction is positive, the living thing moves toward the stimulus, and when the reaction is negative, the living thing moves away from the stimulus. They next thing a living thing does is reproduce. Reproduction is the process by which living things produce offspring. There are two kinds of reproduction that all living things can do: sexual and asexual. Sexual reproduction is when reproduction requires two parents and asexual reproduction is when reproduction requires only one parent. The next characteristic of life is growth. All living things start out as a simple life form then grow to be a more complex life form. Most living things go through these stages: Embryo, newborn, child, adolescent, adult. Living things must also adapt; change its way of living to suit its life. The last characteristic of life is that all living this must respire. Respiration is when something living releases energy that was stored in food.

When people were first searching for life on Mars, they were mostly concerned with intelligent life, but now that it is clear that no large life forms are on mars, scientists are now searching for smaller life cells. When people ran experiments with low outcomes of whether or not life would be on Mars, people thought that it was very unlikely that life would be on Mars. People then learned more about the large range of living conditions, and realized that prospects of life on Mars is not so bad after all. The first condition people discovered of Earth life, is that life and survive in conditions well over 1,000 0 C. People also discovered that Earth life began rather quickly, which could mean that life could begin on Mars if correct conditions are present. The third factor is that Mars started out very Earth-like, making it possible that life was once on mars, and could still have some remains on Mars today.