creating our own fossils

working with fossils is something every kid likes to do. A fossil is a piece of physical evidence of history preserved through time. In class someday my students may want the chance to do some exploring on our own, so today we talked about a fun, cheap way for our students to do this.

In a group we decided on different ratios of sand, plaster and water to mix in order to create our own fossils. I made a fossil with sand, plaster, shells, and food coloring. I used a ratio of 40% sand and 60% plaster. I put in 45 ml of sand, and 65 ml of plaster mixed it with 70 ml of water then colored it blue for fun with food coloring.
Every kid wants the chance to dig around in the dirt and discover something awesome. I really hope that this mixture works when we compare them to other possible plaster mixtures in a few days when they have dried.


the breaking down of our fossils
what is the best fossil recipe?

when breaking apart my fossil, I found that when creating my fossils I need to make sure that my fossils sinks down a bit more from the top. It was still down enough that I had to dig it out. I think my recipe worked out really well. it was not to loose, but also not to hard to chip away at.
I started by peeling off the cup, then I took a Flathead screwdriver and started digging. It came off both in large chunks, and as a little bit of powder. I liked having the color in my mix to add just a little bit more excitement to it. I was surprised how it ended up looking when all dry, although you could easily spot the tip of the shell on the top
In my group the one who had the most sand in her mixture fell apart to quickly for it to be fun. the recipe does make a difference

The value of the stars

If you had $100 and you had to spread it out among the sun and the planets and everything else in the solar system how much would be dedicated throughout?

If I had $100 to distribute throughout the solar system it is hard to say what I would distribute where. if it is a question of how valuable each thing is to me, then the sun would receive at least $45 because it is the center and it provides warmth and light to earth. Earth I would give $35, being a human being who relies on the planet to survive. the remaining $20 would be distributed evenly between the other planets and the stars visible within our system.

If it is a question of the overall value in the solar system or the size I am unsure how much I would give to each item.

Based on the size of the solar system I would put the sun at $70 the the rest divided approximately equal



EDIT!!! the true answer is that the sun is 99.85% of the solar system I was way off

Astronomers

Henriatta Swan Levitt: who is she?

Modern Astronomer-Dates: 1868-1921

What was a big contribution she made?

-in 1912 she published her work on the fact that stars vary in their luminosity intrinsically. 

-period-luminosity relationship became important for measuring stars distance

-major contribution to the cepheid variable period-luminosity relationship

-she created the Harvard Standard- a method of measurement photographically 

-her research led to others discovering that there are other galaxies outside of our own ( Edwin Hubble)

Fun Facts

-attended Oberlin College and Radcliffe College

-she was deaf

-worked at Harvard

-she discovered over 2,400 stars

Sources: http://www.sheisanastronomer.org/index.php/history/henrietta-leavitt

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/baleav.html

A private Universe

**I am unclear what the assignment is here, and I will adjust accordingly upon clarification**

What are the reasons for the seasons?

The earth is stationed on an axis. that means that it is tilted on its side. As the earth makes it journey around the sun each year where the earth is situated determines how much sunlight reaches the earths surface. How much light it gets determines what season it is. That explains temperature change as well as the length of daylight from season to season. When the earth is tilted towards the sun it is summer, when it is winter the earth is tilted away. The hemispheres make a difference as well. generally those areas located closer to the equator do not get as much of a dramatic change because the equator stays in relatively the same distance from the sun no matter the axis tilt.

How are phases of the moon created?

The phase of the moon is affected by the moons position around the earth. the light on the moon is a reflection from the sun. That's why at different times more of the moon is visible than other times. It takes about a month for the moon to orbit around the earth.

Patterns

Sometimes its nice to give our minds a challenge. We can start to recognize patterns. Seeing patterns can sometimes lead to new discoveries as it has historically. Sometimes looking for patterns is just a fun challenge, or an enlightening experience to someone else's emotional reaction to events. In class we had a pattern of numbers to look at and it took me a long time trying to figure out what I was missing. the numbers went in succession. each row explained the row prior to it. 1- one one.next there are 2 ones so its 2 1 next 1 two and two 1's etc.  in conclusion this pattern would continue on explaining the amount of numbers on the previous row. 111211211111221312211