Photosynthesis

Info and Process of Photosynthesis

This blog post is about photosynthesis, an endothermic reaction. An endothermic reaction is a reaction that needs energy from its surroundings to happen. Photosynthesis is the way plants make food for themselves. During photosynthesis, plants use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. The following is how photosynthesis happens:

1) Plants take in energy from the sun.

2) Energy is then absorbed from chlorplasts, which contain a pigment known as chlorophyll.

3) Chloroplasts take energy and produce sugars.

Photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction because plants take in energy from the sun and its surroundings to make the process happen. 

How Photosynthesis Helps the World

Photosynthesis helps the world in many ways. Photosynthesis provides us with most of the oxygen we need in order to breathe. We help plants and the photosynthesis process by exhaling carbon dioxide. Plants are also a major source of food for us humans and the animals we eat, and photosynthesis keeps these plants alive. In conclusion, photosynthesis is one of the most important endothermic reactions out there.

Image Source:

1) At09kg. "Photosynthesis". Photograph. Wikipedia. 2 Nov 11. Web, 17 April 2015.

Info Source: 

1) N/A, "Photosynthesis". Fact Monster. Pearson Education Inc, 2008. Web. 17 April 2015.

Synthetic Meat

How it's Made:

Synthetic meat can contain many types of ingredients in it. Among those ingredients are soy, pea proteins, and amaranth. Another name for synthetic meat is "in-vitro meat". This is how most corporations make synthetic meat:

1) They begin by taking starting cells from animals.

2) The starting cells are put into a culture media where they can grow independently.

3) After the meat is grown, it is attached to an edible scaffold so it can take on its three-dimensional shape.

4) After the meat is grown, it is put into a bioreactor; in the bioreactor, everything comes together.

Physical Properties of Synthetic Meat:

Some physical properties of synthetic meat are the color of it, how it feels, and the freezing point. For its color, synthetic meat is usually brown or red. It feels kind of bumpy and rough. Its freezing point is 28°F (I could not find the exact freezing point of synthetic meat, but I found out that most meat freezes around 28°F).

Chemical Properties of Synthetic Meat: 

I was not able to find any chemical properties of synthetic meat.

What Does Synthetic Meat Mimic in Nature?

Synthetic meat mimics meat from animals in nature. 

How Will Synthetic Meat Affect the World in the Future?

I believe that synthetic meat will affect the world in a positive way. One thing that it will do is reduce waste that real meat produces. Another thing that it will do is conserve resources unlike real meat. One last benefit that synthetic meat will have on the world is that it will reduce the amount of animals that we have to kill off for meat.

Photo credit: Steve Connor. " 'Close to meat': Foodies underwhelmed by first synthetic beef burger to be eaten in public". Photograph. Web 2013.

Info credit: 

1) Tom Foster. "Can Artificial Meat Save the World?" [Web] Date Accessed: March 16, 2015. Retrieved From: http://www.popsci.com/article/science/can-artificial-meat-save-world

2) N.p. "Cultured Meat". [Web] Date Accessed: March 16, 2015. Retrieved From: http://www.futurefood.org/in-vitro-meat/index_en.php

Hunting the Elements

Think of the Past:

Before watching "Hunting the Elements" in class, I knew only a limited amount of things about the periodic table of elements. One of the things I knew was how the table was arranged. There are these things called groups and periods that organize the periodic table. Groups are the columns, while the periods are the rows. For example, Titanium is in Group 4, Period 4. Another thing I knew was the number of elements on the periodic table, which is 118. 

Think of the Present:

One thing that I learned from watching the video is how important bronze is in history and what it is made of. To start, bronze is the first man made mental alloy. Additionally, bronze played a major role in an entire age of human civilization. Bronze is made of copper and tin. Adding tin to bronze changes the properties of it. Tin also helps bronze stay stiff and sturdy. 

Think of the Future:

I found the "nuclear section" of the video very interesting and cool. One element that stood out to me was plutonium. I would like to research more about it and its properties, as well as who discovered it. Another reason that I would want to research plutonium is because plutonium was used in the movie "Back to the Future". Plutonium was used to power the Delorean and the flux capacitor, the thing that makes it travel in time. The only problem was that plutonium was hard to find and the time machine used up a lot of plutonium every time it time traveled. 

Rockets

Basic Info:

A rocket in its simplest form is a chamber enclosing gas under pressure. In order for the rocket to take off, there needs to be an opening at the end of the rocket to allow the gas to escape the rocket and thrust the rocket into the air in the opposite direction. For space rockets, gas is produced by burning propellants that are solid or liquid. Sometimes these propellants are a combination of both. A propellant is the combination of both fuel and oxidizers, in liquid or solid form, which are burned by a rocket to produce thrust. 

Newton's Laws:

Rockets tie in with Newton's Laws in many ways. Here are Newton's three laws before we get started: 1) An object in motion will stay in motion, an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. 2) Force=Mass•Acceleration (F=MA). 3) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now, this is the way Newton's Laws tie in with a rocket and its launch. First Law: An unbalanced force must act on the rocket to lift off or to change speed and direction while in space. Second Law: The thrust that the rocket gives off is determined by the mass of rocket fuel that is burned and how fast the gas escapes the rocket. Third Law: The motion of the rocket (reaction) is equal to and in the opposite direction of the thrust (reaction) from the engine.

Rockets and Propellants:

We did not learn about fuel and propellants last semester, but it helps to understand how rockets take off. To start, fuel is the chemical that rockets burn. For fuel to burn, there needs to be an oxidizer. An oxidizer is basically oxygen that the rocket needs because there is no oxygen in space. Solid rocket propellants are dry to the touch. Liquid propellants are often gases that are chilled until they condense into liquids. Liquid propellants have their fuel and oxidizers in seperate containers.

Photo Credit: Bill, Ingals/NASA 

Info Credit: MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1996) "Rocket Principles" [Web] Retrieved from: http://web.mit.edu/16.00/www/aec/rocket.html; Date accessed: Jan 2015

Telescopes

Telescopes

Telescopes were pivotal during the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Telescopes have been around for 400 years. Telescopes are used to collect electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is just a fancy way of saying light. The word telescope comes from the Greek language. The word tele=far and the word scopein=to look or see. Telescopes have helped astronomers see things in space that are not visible with the naked eye. First known telescope was built by Hans Lippershey in 1608. Lippershey was a Dutch lensmaker.Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, made his own telescope in 1609. Since then, we have come a long way. Now we have telescopes that have been placed in deserts, mountains, and even in the South Pole. There are even some that are in orbit around our Earth in space, like the Hubble Telescope. If you are interested in telescopes, check out this website.

Image Source: Linnet. "Knocking Radio Telescope." Photograph. geograph.org.uk. Web. 2009.

Info Source: Ward, Dennis. "What is a telescope?" Windows to the Universe. n.p. May 28, 2008, October 1, 2014