Month: January 2017

Back for another blog post! This one is about science. Specifically, elements and compounds.

On tuesday we did a lab

(I had to)

Anyways, on Tuesday we did a lab, on chemical compounds. We put aluminum into copper chloride (CuAl2) and transformed aluminum into copper. It turned into these small brown chunks (it looked like algae. Yuck)

We put the small brown chunks of now pure copper into water, and cleansed it until the water was (pretty much) clear.

Then came the fun part. Of lighting things on fire

So we were supposed to find out what colour copper burns. Spoilers: it burns green. It’s really cool, actually. Willa and I didn’t get around to burning it, as we are living flops and didn’t finish the lab, but other people got to burning it. Here’s a picture of what it looks like:

(Not our photo)

So that’s all for this post!

Read ya later

Ruby

Okay, I had to. But, anyways, if you can’t tell, this post is about wonder. In Mr. Featherstone’s we started off the day with a mind map. He put us in groups, and we had to write out any words that came to mind when we thought about wonder. So, we thought of…

Looking
curiosity
Seeing
Eyes
Children
Imagining
Thinking
Ideas
weird
new
crazy
unknown
different
Dream
colorful
blind
Wonderful
World
Universe
Existing
UNDISCOVERED
DISCOVER
THINKING
What if….

Blame Kyle for the random capital letters. Anyways, we had to do more work. We read this article on wonder in class.

Then the work started

It’s school, I was surprised we actually had to work. Anyways, we had to answer these questions: 

1) How was Prinz’s experience with the “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus” different from his parents?

His parents found it kind of dull and odd, finding it all a bit much and weird. But he found it really cool and interesting. He experienced Wonder.

2) What are the bodily symptoms Prinza postulates as components of wonder

Sensory, in the widening of the eyes and jaw slacking, cognitive, that we can’t call on past memories to help understand it, spiritual, swelling of the heart (metaphorically)

3) How does Francis Bacon consider wonder

“Wonder was something at science couldn’t cure”. He thinks that science can’t prove if it really exists or not. It’s because we can’t understand what’s in front of us.

4) Describe one moment in your life where you have experiences wonder. Use imagery and figurative language “show, don’t tell”

When I was 8 years old, my family went to Paris. I remember the first day we were there, the air was hot as a sauna. We were walking on the rough sidewalk, flip flops clacking against the ground. That’s when we walked into a large square, and I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It was tall, one of the tallest things I’ve ever seen. People were talking loudly, camera shutters were flashing, bikes whizzing by without a care in the world. The air smelled fresh, people were speaking in all sorts of different languages. The tower itself was wonderful, metal reaching up until I couldn’t see the top. As we started to go up the elevator, the view of Paris got larger, the people and buildings getting smaller. My heart was beating as I saw the ground get farther and farther away, the view just getting wider. We only managed to get to the first floor, but even then the view was wonderful. The cars were like ants, the people even smaller. I was so far away from the ground, the view was breathtaking. Buildings and cars and people as far as the eye could see.

There was my awfully cheesy description of Paris.

 

Anywaysm thats all for this post!

read ya later

Ruby

Guess who’s back? Well, I hope you don’t have to guess, as you’re on my blog…. unless you’re lost. I’m so sorry if you are, go back to YouTube or wherever you were.

SIDE NOTE:  WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF 2017

So, what’s this post about? Well, two things. One, making as many Harry Potter puns as possible. And two, our blue sky project!

This was probably my favourite project, as it was all around Harry Potter. And trust me, I love Harry Potter.

Like, love it to death(ly hallows)

So of course I was screaming internally when I found out we were doing a project on it!

So I got to work. I decided to do a project on one of my favourite subjects in Harry Potter. Potions. It’s a Very Sirius Project. Okay I’ll stop.

I’ve just always found potions so exciting. The idea that you get to put a bunch of ingredients in and it gives you abilities? Like, how awesome is that?

I was excited. My project was to make a potion, and then teach people how to make it.

I started with researching the ingredients. So there’s a list of potion ingredients that I looked at, and found out what they all were.

And then I had to figure out which ones I wanted to use. I decided on:

Leech juice, slug remains, flobberworm mucus, and centaur blood. Appetizing, I know. I’d like to see that in Mary Berry’s next cooking show.

And then it was time to actually find the ingredients. And no, I didn’t actually juice a leech and make a centaur bleed. Don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this. Except that one snail I stepped on outside. RIP snail.

I had to make a recipe that was actually edible. No leeches or slugs or flobberworms. Instead, I used the magical ingredients of Sprite, ice cream, lemon juice and black food colouring. Such magic, very wow

It did wind up looking quite cool. Very potion-y, as you can see:

So we had to set up our exhibit. I was grouped with Simon, Calum, Aiden and Sofia. It was a good group, and we were spells and potions.

Our class was given the task of turning the school library into Hogwarts school. If you don’t know what that is…. why. Just why.

Anyways, my group got to turn the front of the library into the dungeons. It was a lot of preparation and failures, but it wound up looking like this. My personal station was the wonderful potions bar:

Fun story! This girl was looking at my Potion a bit skeptically. Understandable, it looked like the venom of the super that bit Peter Parker. She was maybe seven or eight. “It’ll make you waterproof” I explained, though she still didn’t trust it. I was really wanting to roll my eyes, but I restrained myself. “Don’t worry, its Sprite and ice cream” I told her, hoping to make her drink it. And her face totally changed. She looked almost offended, and in the sassiest voice I have ever heard from a seven year old, she just goes “So its fake?”. And walks off. Did she expect it to be real? I have no clue.

Fun story 2.0! When I was pouring my shots of potion (yes I used shot glasses. Leave me alone) I started to notice something. My potion was separating. Don’t worry, that sounds bad. It wasn’t, it wound up looking cool

Even more potion-y than I’d hoped for! It was great!

The night of the exhibit was fun! It was a lot of showing people my video and convincing them my Potion was safe to drink and I wasn’t poisoning them.

Oh yeah, my video! I made a tutorial video, as part of my project was teaching people

I drew the little thumbnail myself, I’m quite proud of that. So, the exhibit happened, and it was fun!

The set up was good, because we had a lot of time to do so. We had to put up the walls, claim tables (*cough* steal them from another group *cough*), and we pulled it off!

Of you’d like to see my group’s projects, feel free!

Sofia | Simon | Calum | Aiden

So, as always I hope you enjoyed delving into the world of potions with me!

Read Ya Later,

Ruby