Class Trips and Sea Snot

      Last week my 8th grade class went on our class trip. We went to Corpus Cristi, we also visited the aquarium there and the Lexington (the Blue Ghost).What I really liked about it was seeing all the different animals and fish. I loved getting to learn about them and pet some of them like the sharks, crabs and others. We even went on a fishing boat where the caught stuff and we put it in a touch pool there were squid, crabs, rays, fish, and shrimp. It was really fun. When we were on the fishing boat one of the guys put sea snot in my hand, sea snot is a type of jellyfish but it cant hurt you. The jellyfish got slim all over my hand and it was pretty gross. The population of these guys has grown since the BP oil spill. If you have ever touched them you know they are harmless but still cool!

Pic Cred:http://www.stillhopeproductions.com/Sea-Inside/EpisodeHtml/Episode12/Eddie.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100916-sea-snot-gulf-bp-oil-spill-marine-snow-science-environment/

What is Acid Rain?

I have always wondered what acid rain is and where it comes from. The stuff in the acid rain comes from volcanoes and decaying vegetation and human made things. With wet disposition chemicals can be blown away and land where it is wet in come down as acid rain, snow, etc. And with dry disposition the chemicals can be dust. Acid rain is basically water droplets with chemicals and pollution in it. 

Image Credit:http://undertheangsanatree.blogspot.com/2013/07/acid-rain-causes-history-and-effects.html

Sources:

http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/acidrain.htm

http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what/

The Most Radioactive Element

  The most radioactive element is Polonium it is a natural-occurring element. Polonium releases a big amount of energy and it releases a whole bunch of alfa-particles and thats what makes it radioactive. It can also self-heat itself and its is very rare element. This element can glow blue and when it heats up it produces enough radiation to kill you. Polonium is very deadly and radioactive so if you ever become a scientist or anything that has to do with Polonium be careful!

Pic Cred: http://www.periodictable.com/Elements/084/index.html

http://www.howitworksdaily.com/science/what-is-the-most-radioactive-element/

http://chemistry.about.com/od/polonium/f/What-Is-The-Most-Radioactive-Substance.htm

http://chemistry.about.com/od/polonium/f/What-Is-The-Most-Radioactive-Substance.htm

Dry Ice

Dry Ice is frozen carbon dioxide and its the gas we exhale. It is called Dry Ice because it goes from a solid to a gas without being a liquid, thats why its dry. Sublimates at a rate of 5 to 10 pounds every 24 hours and it helps regular ice live longer in an ice chest. Sublimation is the conversion between the solid and the gaseous phases of matter, with no intermediate liquid stage. Dry Ice is used in shipping to keep food/goods still fresh and eatable. Dry Ice can also hurt and injure you because it is so cold. I think we can find new ways to use Dry Ice for different things and foods. One time when I was little one of the Science teachers at my school brought dry ice on stage and we watched it roll down the steps and through the aisle. So we can use it for decoration, cooling, and for fun. Do you have any ideas on what else Dry Ice can be used for?

http://www.dryiceinfo.com

http://www.west.net/~science/co2.htm

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesublimation.html

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dry_Ice_Sublimation_1.jpg

Smartest Animal in the world

   The smartest animal is the Chimpanzee. A Chimpanzee is a ape or monkey that climbs on trees. These animals can build, use, hunt and they can problem solve. They also know sign language and can use symbols and put them together. 

Chimpanzees are also the closet animal to humans. They live in the African rain forest and woodlands. These apes are admired for being so smart, but they are also endangered and them and their habitat needs to be protected. I personally love animals, I volunteer at an animal shelter. If we can protect the dogs and cats over here in the US then we can protect the apes in Africa. The most intelligent animal is endangered and there needs to be something done about it

http://animal.discovery.com/wild-animals/10-smartest-animals.htm

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/chimpanzee/

Animal Species

There are up to 10,000 species of animals in the world and that's about 3-30 million animals total. They are made up of vertebrates and invertebrates and there are a lot more invertebrates than vertebrates. Biodiversity is the wide range of organisms at all levels of organization. It has to do with genetic diversity with the population. There a lot of different animals and they are all very different.

http://animals.about.com/od/zoologybasics/a/howmanyspecies.htm