Tsunnamis and its Dangers

Tsunami is one of the most powerful and most devastating forces in nature. Tsunami has been known to human population settled around coastal areas for thousands and thousands of years, but the first written testimonies date from few hundred years BCE. Although Tsunami has different names in different parts of the world, the word Tsunami comes from Japanese language, and is widely accepted as the name for this natural phenomenon through the world. The devastating force of tsunami became widely known after 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, when over 230,000 people were killed in 14 countries. There are a few reasons why tsunamis are so destructive; first of all, tsunami is mostly generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides at the bottom of the oceans, and therefore, it is very often unnoticed because the huge volume of water is displaced, many hundred meters or even kilometers under the surface. As a consequence, a wave is formed with a very long wavelength (sometimes hundreds of kilometers long) and a very small wave height, and that is why it often travels hundreds of kilometers virtually unnoticed as it forms a very small wave on the surface, most of the time about only 30 centimeters. That is why the ships and boats sailing of shore cannot recognize such a wave as a sign of tsunami and it often happened that fisherman came ashore only to find out that their villages literally do not exist anymore, while they haven’t noticed anything conspicuous during their time at the sea. However, tsunami wave dramatically grows in height as it reaches shallower water. Although the wave sometimes travels at 800 kilometers per hour or even more, it abruptly slows down when it reaches shallow waters decreasing its speed below 80 kilometers per hour. The clash with coast also diminishes tsunami’s wavelength to less than 20 kilometers, but its wave height takes over the overall power of the tsunami wave as it increases up to 14-30 meters high or more. The highest recorded wave was 524 meters; it was caused by a giant land slide in Alaska in 1958. Another reason why tsunamis are so devastating is that they can travel huge distances and reach many shores and countries, as it happened in 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, or when an earthquake occurred in Alaska in 1946 and 14 meters tsunami caused by it reached Hawaii. Such tsunamis caused by so cold mega thrust earthquakes are known as telletsunamis because they can travel across the entire oceans. The third reason why tsunamis are so destructive is that not only that the huge wall of water smashes the shore with unimaginable force, but it also drains of the land almost immediately carrying with it an enormous amount of debris consisting of trees, cars, and entire houses, producing a deadly smashing force which sweeps everything in its path. Unfortunately, most people are killed and drowned by the debris of the draining wave. Although most tsunamis are caused by earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions, they are sometimes triggered by glacier calving and sometimes even by meteorites and nuclear tests. Most tsunamis, almost 80% occur in the Pacific Ocean; other 20% occur mostly in Indian Ocean, but they sometimes happen in the Atlantic Ocean, in the seas, and even in the big lakes. Although people were trying for centuries to predict tsunamis, and although the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami raised the necessity to predict such a brutal force, it is not always possible to predict tsunamis, even when the location of an earthquake is detected. Fortunately, there are some, although short notice, signs which announce tsunami and the most obvious one is a drawback which is a very unusual phenomenon consisting of coastal waters drawing back to the ocean, reseeding dramatically and exposing hundreds of meters of shore line which is normally submerged in water. Drawbacks are even accompanied by an eerie sucking sound as the ocean literally sucks the huge amount of coastal water. Sometimes, people, especially tourists, got killed because they are driven by curiosity to explore the exposed shores. Little do they know that tsunami proceeds almost immediately after the drawback. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, seismologists, oceanographers and geologists started to conceive a more efficient warning and predicting system hoping it will provide that in future there will be no more massive causalities. The system provides warnings immediately after the earthquake, which should give enough time for the coastal guards to warn the inhabitants to promptly leave the shore line area, saving their lives. Such warning systems are mainly based on the bottom pressure sensors attached to buoys which constantly monitor the pressure over the overlying water column. It is interesting to notice that some animals apparently have the ability to immediately predict earthquakes and tsunamis, especially elephants who normally communicate trough low wave or infrasound, so it is quite possible that they can detect the deep underwater rumbling sound which human ear cannot reach. Even though such animal ability cannot be used as a warning system there are many reports in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that some animals escaped to the higher ground minutes before the tsunami. Hopefully, in the future, technology will provide an efficient warning system which will enable people from coastal area to evacuate in advance and save their lives.

Expirimenting with Iodine

During the last week in Science class we have started learning about chemical changes and how chemical chages are shown in expiriments. We learned what is a difference between a physical chnage and a chemical change. For example a example of a physical chnage is the changing of water from Ice to liquid water and to evaporation. An example of a chemical change could be when fine metal comes in contact with water it will start rusting, this is a chemical change. After this, we have started a class lab which involved of mesuring vitamin C in certain objects. We used Iodine to determine how much vitamin C is in a certain object. Know when we have skilled this lab we are beggining to create our own lab which will include vitamin c an measuring of how much vitamin c will a certain object have in it, to deterime this we will use i our labs Iodine. For example my lab will be on based does a mandarine or a normal orange which one has more vitamin C in it.

Color Changing by Water

Today in Science class we have explored the color changing by using water. The materials we used were pieces of paper, markers, and containers filled with water. The procedure was, first we had to fill up the containers with water but just a little (Probably about a centimeter or 2) When we got done with that we took small pieces of paper and drew a dot of a random color that we had. Afterwards, we put that piece of paper into that container, but in a special position we have placed the piece of paper so the water climbs on it. After we have placed the paper we take out the paper and observe what happened. I observed that the dot had turned into a big blob and as well it changed colors. For example i have put a green dot on the piece of paper and when I took out of the water it turned into a green, yellow, blue blob. This is because the color green was made for the blue and yellow hue. Thus, means that yellow and blue are more of polar colors.

Colors Changing

Today in Science class we have explored the color changing by using water. The materials we used were pieces of paper, markers, and containers filled with water. The procedure was, first we had to fill up the containers with water but just a little (Probably about a centimeter or 2) When we got done with that we took small pieces of paper and drew a dot of a random color that we had. Afterwards, we put that piece of paper into that container, but in a special position we have placed the piece of paper so the water climbs on it. After we have placed the paper we take out the paper and observe what happened. I observed that the dot had turned into a big blob and as well it changed colors. For example i have put a green dot on the piece of paper and when I took out of the water it turned into a green, yellow, blue blob. This is because the color green was made for the blue and yellow hue. Thus, means that yellow and blue are more of polar colors.

Women Have a Stronger Immune System Then Men

Statistics show that in humans, and in other mammals as well, females live longer then males and are more able to fight off shock episodes such as infection, sepsis, or trauma. The researchers tried to find the explanation for this phenomenon and they recently concluded that this is due to the X-chromosome, whose biological mechanisms have a strong impact on individual's genes. That is because the X- chromosome contains 10% of all micro RNAs which have important functions in immunity and cencer. Micro RNA is tiny strands of ribonucleic acid, which together with DNA, and proteins make up the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.  The role of micro RNAs encoded on the X- chromosome is such that it obviously impacts immune system in a way that is less likely to develop cancer and is more able to fight off shock episodes. This leaves males at an immunological disadvantage as a male has only one X-chromosome and Y- chromosome contains fewer genes.  

A World in a Bottle

Lab Report Guiding Question: How do organisms survive in a closed ecosystem? Hypothesis: I am hypothesizing that the plants will grow around 5 inches in 10 days. My hypothesis were almost correct. The plant grew 4 inches in 11 days. Materials: • Soil • Sand • Cotton • Seeds • Water • Plastic bottles • Moss Process: First my group and I have got two plastic bottles and cut the top of the bottle and put soil in the bottle, afterwards, we have planted seeds in the soil and sprinkled some water so it can grow faster. In the other bottle we cut the bottle, put the soil, planyed seeds and we have put cotton . We did this so we can see which one will grow faster and better. Variables: In our lab the controlled variables were, the soil, the seeds , and the water. The manipulated variables were cotton, and moss. Data collection: Table Data collection: In our lab we have measured the height of the plant daily, so that we can see how much did the plant grow from the day before we measured in inches. Our controlled variable was the height. Content Review In this lab the biotic factors were the seeds ,the soil , water. The abiotic factors were: cotton, moss, and sand. 2. The factors all have entered the terrarium, cotton for example helped us by growing the plants much faster. 3. A plant eating insect would be able to survive but for a short period of time because it will eat the plant in just few days. 4. It differs by: we planted the plants in a bottle, and we used cotton and moss and sand which differs a lot from the ecosystem in the world. Plants are mostly planted in soil in the ground. Conclusion: The Planting in a bottle with abiotic factors proved true. This type of planting worked a great deal. The plants grew over 10 inches this proved that this method could be used for a shorter period of time, because the roots wont have any more room to grow in the bottle. Further Inquiry: I am questioning, would the plants able to survive more time in the bottle even though their roots are getting bigger.

Sound Waves Lab Report

Luka Ilic 5/25/2012 Mrs. Medenica Science International School of Belgrade Sound Waves Lab Report Guiding Question: Through which objects do the sound waves travel faster or slower, do the vibrations through an object depend on the density of the object? Hypothesis: The sound will travel faster through less dense objects than through the denser objects, causing bigger and smaller vibrations, respectively. Variables: Controlled variable will be the tuning fork. Manipulated variable will be the various types of solids through which the sound will be traveling, causing vibrations. The Responding variable will be the vibrations that have traveled through the objects. Materials • Tuning fork • Various surfaces which will be tested. Procedure: First I will have to get my materials. This includes the tuning fork and the surfaces to be tested. Tap the tuning fork on various surfaces such as a desk, wall, chair, locker, etc. Measure the time of the vibrations in the tuning fork. Record and analyze the data of vibrations distributed through the objects listed above. Data Table Data Analysis: During Experimenting I have noticed that the less dense an object is he easier the vibrations travel through it. On the other hand, vibrations travel slower through the denser objects, thus, the vibrations are more difficult to hear. I have recorded how much tome does it take for a vibration to travel through the objects listed above, and can say that the vibrations have traveled the longest through the metal plate. This is because the experimented surface in this case the metal plate has a very low density. While, the vibrations traveled the fastest through plastic. Since the experimented plastic was thick, the vibrations stopped traveling at 12 seconds. What I have noticed is that the thicker the object, the slower the vibrations will travel through it. I also recorded the types of vibrations. The diminishing vibrations were fading away all the time, the sustain diminishing vibrations were staying on a certain point for a small period of time but again afterwards started fading away. Further Inquiry: During experimenting I came up with some questions related to this experiment. I thought if vibrations could be measured, in other worded if there is a typical method that is used for measuring vibrations. Regarding this I also came up with a question of how do vibrations stop and why do they stop at a certain point. Conclusion: As a result of this. Vibrations are basically, sound waves that can travel through any object. In this experiment the manipulated variable were the various objects that the tuning fork was tested on. Therefore, this meant that the solids were not all having the same amount of mass; instead, all of the solids that have been tested had different amounts of mass in them. This is why I had to measure the time of the vibrations traveling through an object. Vibrations ca travel fast and make big vibrations through an object, or they could travel slowly and make very little vibrations through an object. All of the depends on the density of an object. Since the vibrations are sound waves they will take up all of the area that is given to them to distribute their wave’s trough, just like water waves.

Bowerbirds Rituals

The scientists from Queensland (Australia) published and interesting research on bowerbirds, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The birds are well known for their distinctive courtship rituals, which involves males constructing intricate bowers. To decorate the bowers, males collect shiny and brightly colored objects, and the purpose of this creation is to attract females. Because plants such as potato bush have bright purple flowers and green fruit, high numbers of such plants could be found around the bowerbird’s bowers, as birds collect the fruits for display in order to further decorate their bowers. Females are especially attracted to bowers with lots of fruit. What is fascinating is that by collecting the fruits, birds actually grow plants around their constructions rather than building them around locations with high number of the plants. Of course, plants grow around the bowers because the birds gather the fruits and seeds germinate in the ground especially so because bowerbirds keep the area around their bower clear of grass and weeds, creating the soil ideal for germinating and because they sometimes use the same patch of soil for up to ten years. Although it cannot be said that the birds intentionally cultivate the plants, it is still the first time that a species other than humans has been cultivated plants for purpose other than feeding. What is even more fascinating is that the males’ behavior may even cause a change in the appearance of fruits in the same way farmers select the plants with certain features. In this case, because the birds prefer green over the other colors the fruits from plants around the bowers were slightly greener than those found on other plants.

Buoy Data Post

During the past month we my class and I have started learning about waves. We had to research about some of the waves that are occurring in the current time. Our teacher provided us with a great link which about the national Buoy data from all of the planet. We have learned that waves are a transfers of energy from one place to another. Waves are formed from energy that is caused on the see floors by tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are big pieces of land on which the worlds continents lie. Tectonic Plates constantly move which causes energy being released and making waves or earthquakes. What I have noticed is that the highest waves are mostly occurring in big oceans such as the Pacific and in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This is because of constant moving of tectonic plates. The lowest waves mostly occur in smaller bodies of water such as the Mediterranean sea or around the north Pole. This is one of the causes why Tsunamis form. In the deep water force has been released and has been pushed up at the top. The pressured water travels and until it reaches the sea shore it will form a big wave or a series of waves which is also called tsunami. People are mostly badly affected by these waves. It destroys practically the whole coast. But when the water goes back and makes tide, it leaves fertile silt which is very useful for farming.

Reflection

During the past unit in Science class, My class and I learned about Astronomy. Some of the things we learned about, how does the motion of the sun and the moon control the water on earth. Tides on Earth control the water level on earth, types of tides are: High tides, meap tides, low tides, and spring tides. Another concept we leaned was about other planets in our Solar System. We also focused about outer planets, not about only our Planet Earth. We learned that there are two types of planets, terrestrial and gass planets. Uranus is a example of a gass planet, while mercury is an example of a telesales planet. Regarding all of this information, the human kind had to do research for a long period of time. The first formal research was in the 15 century when Galileo Galilei have noticed new stars in the sky. Unfortunately, the church in those times was very strong and powerful, but also very straight forward, thus Galileo was banished from the country. Through centuries of research the human race came up with a new technology of space craft and space probes which have been led into space which even today stands in space, which collect data and research for us, n order to have a wider knowledge of the outer space.

Waves Lab

Science Lab Materials: • Ripple tank filled up with water • Pipette • Styrofoam ball • Clay sticks Making Waves Hypothesis: I hypothesize that, whatever drop is released to fall in the ripple tank it will cause waves which will cover the whole area that is given; in this case it is the ripple tank. Data Analysis In the first part of the experiment, where the waves were created by the drop of water released from about 10 height, the waves in the ripple tank behave according to the place where they have been produced: if the wave was created in the center of the ripple tank, it traveled in the form of concentric circles until it reached the edges of the tank. If the waves were produced in the corner of the ripple tank, or in the middle of the ripple tank’s side, they traveled in a form of semi circled ripples, also reaching the very opposite end of the tank. When the waves were created In the corners, center, and at one end of the tank as well, they started to spread either as circles or semi circles; but when they collided they canceled out each other and interrupted each other’s movement. In the second part of the experiment, interaction between waves and barriers was observed. Whichever wave was produced, it traveled under the floating paper towel or under the Styrofoam ball. However, when a solid object i.e. stick of modeling clay, was placed in the tank the waves started to splash the edges of the clay stick. When the two clay sticks were placed so that a gap of about 2 cm was created, the waves travel as semi circles until they reached the barrier and then split into smaller waves and pass between the barriers using every possible passage to continue their movement. On the other hand, no matter how many Styrofoam balls were placed next to each other on the water surface, and no matter in which part of the tank the waves were created, they would always move under the floating objects lifting them slightly, without interrupting their own movements. Conclusion In every phase of the experiment waves showed the ability to travel as far as the end of the tank, even when they were interrupted by solid objects placed shortly apart from each other. Their shape depends of the place of their creation: if they were created in the middle of the tank, they formed full concentric circles, while the ones formed in the corners or at the ends were forming concentric semi circles. Waves have the property to transform the mechanical energy which was used to create them i.e. the energy of a drop of water falling on the water surface is further transform into wave energy. Also, the higher the amplitude and faster the frequency, the bigger/stronger the waves are. As for the waves interaction with each other and in with the solid objects in their paths, when colliding with each other waves tend to cancel out each other’s movements.

Moon Phases

Guiding Question: What are the phases of the moon?  Why do they occur? 
Hypothesis:  I predict that all of the sides that the moon is turned that the half of thye moon will be lightened.  
Materials: 

• One big Styrofoam ball
• one  small styrofoam ball
• a toophpick
• a barbaque stick
• a torch
• and a ruler 

When making bthe expiriment today we had to gather the materials, which would represent a planet or body in space. The big styrofoam ball represented the planet Earth, which was stuck on the stick, in order to hold it without touching the styrofoam. On the big styrofoam ball was attached by a toothpick a small sturofoam ball which represented the Earhts moon. The torch represented the sun, and the ruler we had to use so we can measure the distance between the sun and the Earth, which was 30 centimeters for the model and in real life it is 149, 597, 870.7 kilometers. What i would do to resolve this question i rotated the earth slowly around to see what will happen, and I have noticed that when it is day on Earth, we see only the dark side of the moon, and when it is night we see the lighted part of the moon, which lets us see the moon. And when the moon is one of hemispheres like the west or east hemisphere, the moon will be a crescent moon. The moon changes its phase every month, due to its rotations.

Equanoix and Seasons Expiriment

Problem: How does the tilt of the Earth's axis affect the light received by the Earth as it revolves around the sun.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is as the Earth rotates on its axis there is night and day. Because the Earth is tilted the when on one side the sun shines on the North Pole, in the South Pole it's dark, and also the other way round. The stick which used as an example is going to change length as it rotates.

Experiment: The Earth is tilted 23.5 degree, so, we made a model out of a Styrofoam ball, and we used a pencil to stuck it properly, while the toothpick was used as an axis. The flash light was representing the sun, while the little grid line was put in front of the flash light. My observation was: as we moved  the flash light from the away ball, the grid lines were getting bigger and less visible at the North Pole, while at the equator the lines were more visible and defined. As we brought the grid closer the lines got much more visible at the equator but less visible at Poles. I noticed that when the light is pointing directly to the equator, the grid squares were having the shape of a square, while as you go more to the north the squares were getting more stretched and became more rectangle shaped. This happens because where the light rays are stronger they will produce sharp, well defined shades, and where there is less light the squares will be less visible and sharp. In the real world, where the Sun points directly to the Earth the light will be the strongest. This happens because our Earth has an axis which is an invisible line that goes right through the Earth. This is the reason that we have seasons, without the axis we wouldn't have them, we would just have summer and winter equinox.This is also the reason why there is permanent Summer on the equator and why the Poles have very short and cold summers. 

NEW PLANETS DISCOVERED IN NEW YEAR OF 2012

 NEW PLANETS DISCOVERED IN NEW YEAR OF 2012

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form.

The planets orbit close to their host stars and vary in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be necessary to find out which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.
Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 planets outside of the Solar System across the whole sky. Now, in just two years staring at a piece of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is absolutely loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits.
Kepler identifies planet candidates by repeatedly measuring the change in brightness of more than 150,000 stars to discover when a planet passes in front of the star. That passage casts a small shadow toward Earth and the Kepler spacecraft.
By exactly timing when each planet passes its star, Kepler discovered the gravitational pull of the planets on each other, confirming the case for 10 of the newly announced planetary systems. Five of the systems (Kepler-25, Kepler-27, Kepler-30, Kepler-31 and Kepler-33) contain a pair of planets where the inner planet orbits the star twice during each orbit of the outer planet. Four of the systems (Kepler-23, Kepler-24, Kepler-28 and Kepler-32) contain a combination where the outer planet circles the star twice for every three times the inner planet orbits its star.
Kepler-33, a star that is older and more massive than our sun, had the most planets. The system hosts five planets, varying in size from 1.5 to 5 times that of Earth. All of the planets are placed closer to their star than any planet is to our sun.
The features of a star provide clues for planet detection. The decrease in the star's brightness and length of a planet’s journey combined with the features of its host star present a recognizable mark. When astronomers detect planet candidates that exhibit similar signatures around the same star, the possibility of any of these planet candidates being a false positive is very low.