Springlake-Earth HS Science Update
Ge-Germanium, Ni-Nickel, U-Uranium, S-Sulfur = GeNiUS.
8th Grade
In our upcoming unit, students are going to dive into Newton's Laws of Motion. Students will explore Inertia, Force, Mass, Acceleration and Action / Reaction. This is a very hands on unit so students need to buckle up and hang on!
IP&C
After we completed applications of nuclear chemistry, we dove into the properties of water. We discovered that water is the universal solvent and that a water molecule is a polar molecule. This means the molecule has a slight negative charge at one pole and a slight positive charge at the other pole. This special property of water lets substances, such as sugar and salt to dissolve in it.
In the upcoming six weeks, students are going to start researching chemical reactions and the end products that are a result of these reactions.
Biology
In studying cells students have identified the differences between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Students are also able to identify the molecules necessary to keep cell alive and working efficiently, aka homeostasis, and the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Chemistry
Next, students learned how to calculate the average atomic mass of the different isotopes that belong to a specific element. This calculation process is now a walk in the park. They have the formula down and can calculate any average atomic mass presented to them.
During this 6 weeks, chemistry and biology students got to travel to the Daugherty ranch and witness research being conducted on the mule deer population.
We are finishing this 6 weeks will principal energy levels and sublevels. Students have learned how to write electron configuration unabbreviated and abbreviated. An example of this is the electron configuration for chlorine: Cl 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5 or [Ne] 3s2 3p5. Students have also learned how to complete orbital filling diagrams for different elements.
Next 6 weeks are going to study chemical bonding, chemical formulas, chemical equations, reactions and the mole concept. This is going to be a busy six weeks, but it will be a lot of fun.
Principles of Technology
For the unit on kinematics we constructed a project of building a catapult. These catapults will launch marshmallows. In launching marshmallows we are attempting to have catapults that launch with both accuracy and long distance. With each launch, we will measure the distance of each launched marshmallow and then calculate what speed each marshmallows was launched at.
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