Mr.Miller's Science Edutainment

World Population

2012-02-01T21:54:00.001-05:00

We're finishing up our first unit in Geology and we will be reading some articles by National Geographic discussing the 7 billion people on our planet. Thought this was interesting.

Start of a new semester!

2012-01-17T21:01:00.002-05:00

Thought this was a good commercial when I saw it even if Lebron didn't attend college after high school. The point is to work hard everyday in school whether you plan on attending a college or trade school. Make it a good new academic semester!

"Jumping the String" and Physics

2011-12-15T21:40:00.003-05:00

So after a lot of bowhunting this season I am a little frustrated over last Saturday's events. I have a stand that has two main trails that run parallel to the stand; one is at 30 yards away and the other at 40 yards away. Now a 40 yard bow shot may sound like nothing compared to a 250 yard muzzleloader shot but it is. There are so many variations at 40 yards that can occur that it makes bowhunting a challenging sport. Anyway, while enjoying the crisp and cool evening of hunting 5 doe fed in the field by me. A small 4 point buck made its way out of a bedding area, followed close by a spike buck. I knew to get ready, hoping the mature deer would be out last. Sure enough, soon I saw legs and then a large rack moving through the brush towards me. I was a little frustrated because the two smaller deer took the 40 yard path which is just a bit far for comfort. The large buck decided to do this as well so I had to make a decision to shoot or not. He was broadside, in an open shooting lane, and at 40 yards. I drew my bow before he stepped into the clearing and when he did I bleated with my mouth to stop him for a shot. I settled my 40 yard pin behind his shoulder and let it fly. At the crack of the bowstring starts the real science. At 40 yards an arrow takes a little bit of time to close the distance to the animal. By taking the arrow's velocity coming out of the bow and using the distance traveled you can calculate the amount of time it takes to cover the distance. Humans have reaction times that vary between about .15s to .30 seconds. The arrow takes about .44s to get out to 40 yards given the arrow's velocity. This gives the deer enough time, easily, to react to the shot at that distance. Unfortunately I didn't aim low enough to compensate and the deer dropped at the sound of the shot. Deer often "jump the string" at the shot and lurch downward in preparation for launch and bolt reaction. He probably dropped 1ft at least, putting my arrow on trajectory to hit very high on his back..not good. The deer anatomy lends to an area of non-lethal hits above the lungs and below the spine. I hit him, but I don't think well enough for a good shot. So I've learned a bit lesson after all of these years of bowhunting; don't take shots at 40 yards and beyond. Deer just have too much time to react and move at the shot. If you calculate the muzzle velocity of a shotgun then you can see how it doesn't really matter if they drop here because there isn't sufficient time before impact for the deer to move. Just another day of science and learning!

Kepler-22b: An Earth-Like Planet Found

2011-12-06T22:25:00.002-05:00

What an amazing discovery, not really reported by media, was made this week. Astronomers have discovered the smallest and most earth-like planet ever found outside of our solar system. The most amazing part is that it lies cleary in the "habitable" zone where the temperatures are close to 72 F and life could quite possibly exist. The fact that it is 600 light years away makes it completely impossile right now of even dreaming of getting to. We can't even get humans to the next planet (Mars) let alone the closes star other than our Sun which lies a mere 4.2LY away! Another amazing observation by the Kepler telescope is the finding of over 2,000 other objects to study closer....with as many as over 200 more super-Earths possibly out there in a small portion of the sky. It is interesting to note that this telescope is only looking at a SMALL piece of the night sky near the summer triangle of Deneb, Altair and Vega stars. How absolutely awesome is the scale of space and the infinite wonder that is out there. We know so little of what is out there, and it continues to be fascinating what we find!

Gas Fracking

2011-11-08T21:29:00.002-05:00

Probably the number one question of earth science today is to figure out where our energy of the future will come from. Since the discovery of petroleum western society has bloomed into industrial giants from its energy. We've create electrical power stations that consume massive amounts of coal from strip mining and mountain-top mining. Burning coal releases mercury into the atmosphere and sulfur dioxide which have direct negative effects on the environment. Recently, with the increasing cost of energy, energy companies have deemed it profitable to return to the Marcellus shale layers surrounding Loudonville and continuing east through Pennsylvania to extract natural gas by fracking. Our Astronomy class just finished researching and presenting alternative energy sources going through the pros and cons of each. The class ended up choosing Nuclear power as the most clean and viable source of power, but that discussion is for another time. Hydro-fracking is an amazingly involved process that requires the use of thousands of gallons of water as a carrier for sand and other chemicals to prop open shale beds through the use of hydraulic pressure and holding them open with sand grains to allow the gas to migrate out and be collected. We discussed the implication of drilling here in the Loudonville area and the students had some strong opinions on each side. We also watched the documentary called "Gasland" to see areas in the country that have been leased to fracking companies. This is a very controversial topic in the area for many reasons. How do you feel about hydro-fracking?

Why Science Needs to be Simple

2011-10-13T22:41:00.002-04:00

Science has traditionally been a class in school that many students either really enjoy or don't look forward to because they, "just don't get it". I came across this quote by Einstein and really like the intentions of the statement. Even the most complex science can be broken down and simplified to explain well in order to retain. Students generally retain more if the teacher can relate the concept being learned to their every day lives. This is why we always have to strive to "simplify" in our field so that the conceptual understanding is learned. I thoroughly believe that students need concrete conceptual frameworks of understanding in the sciences so that they can feel confident in their basic knowledge of a content area. To "simplify" doesn't mean water down, it means to present the information in a human way that engages the students' mind and connect to already understood material. I think this is the big goal in today's world of science education. We as educators must work hard to connect concepts being taught in the class to lab activities and group projects being done in real and relevant ways. This will ensure that students feel confident that they understood the science. I always tell students that Einstein's General and Special Relativity are actually easy to understand if they are simplified and made "real". Isn't that what we already do in science anyway? Consider atomic theory, we draw the Bohr model of the atom with rings of electrons orbiting a dense nucleus of protons and neutrons. In reality, we can't see an individual electron at all because they reside in cloudy orbitals around the mostly empty space between themselves and then nucleus...........in short we simplify so we understand; this needs to be the goal of science education in America to get our students on board.

Astronomy Night this week!

2011-10-04T21:06:00.002-04:00

I'm really looking forward to the Astronomy night that my students and I are having this week. The sky has finally cleared out from all of the rain and clouds that we've been having and on top of that, it's fair week in Loudonville! There are a lot of really neat celestial objects to view in the night sky this week and month. We will start by identifying the ecliptic and the Milky Way as it spans the sky. Next, we'll find Venus as the Sun sets and maybe even use the solar filter to look at the Sun to see a giant active sunspot with our naked eyes (of course behind the solar filter)! After sunset Jupiter in all of its glory will be rising in the eastern sky, we'll be able to see the cloud bands on the planet as well as its 4 Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter....which was proof enough to Galileo that things orbit celestial bodies other than the Earth. The seven sisters, or the Pleiades, will rise behind Jupiter as a young star cluster shining brightly in the evening sky. We'll look at Polaris of course, along with Ursa Major and Minor. Cygnus the swan is directly overhead now with a bright blue star and a red supergiant star that you can easily see the difference between. Casseiopeia the Queen will be easy to see as well and just below the point of her "W" we will see the large Andromeda galaxy. All of these things will be easily visible to you through the telescope and found with the Ipad augmented reality software showing the night sky in 3D. The Moon will be around first quarter so that we can easily see the terminator line and some of the massive impacts and maria that exist on the Moon's surface. Looks like the weather will be perfect for viewing, clear and cool!

Satellite to Re-Enter Atmosphere in Pieces

2011-09-20T21:40:00.003-04:00

"Space officials are not exactly sure where the debris will land" Those are not the most satisfying words to hear about a six ton bus-sized dead satellite that will re-enter Earth's atmosphere later this week. This Friday the satellite will have slowed enough to start encountering the atmosphere and fall back towards Earth. The flying projectile is gradually losing altitude off of the Earth's surface and will begin breaking apart as it encounters massive frictional effects from the atmospheric drag it encounters. NASA officials believe about 26 large pieces will survive the fiery plunge and make it to the surface where they will hit something. Don't worry though, NASA says that since the space program began no person has been hit by flying space debris and it "probably" won't be the first time this happens. Needless to say, on Friday I'm putting on my worn baseball glove and heading out to catch the best fly-ball that you can imagine...a 350lb. chunk of satellite falling back to Earth.....what craziness!

Super Earth Planets Found!

2011-09-14T20:46:00.002-04:00

Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory have discovered 16 new "super Earth" planets that are orbiting distant stars and may have rocky surfaces. This is incredible new information because it continues to expand our understanding of these exoplanets. Now we have over 630 confirmed exoplanets out there that we know of and that is barely scratching the surface using telescope technology that we have today. Looking deeper into the Milky Way galaxy will offer us more and more of these planets that orbit stars that behave in the same manner that our solar system does. To think that we can't even see inside of our own galaxy should blow your mind because there are an infinite number of galaxies beyond our own in the Universe. What do you think about finding life on another planet? Hmmmm?

Remember 9/11 this weekend......

2011-09-09T21:04:00.002-04:00

An amazing video from NOVA focused on Engineering Ground Zero. With the memorial weekend upon us it is a good time to reflect and remember while also looking to the future.

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

Hurricane Season......ramps up!

2011-08-25T21:05:00.003-04:00

Wow, it seems like the hurricane season is ramping up. It's quite amazing how many components it takes to create, move and power a hurricane. I am always amazed that they are simply very large thunderstorms that have a diameter large enough to begin rotating due to the Coriollis Effect. I won't get into how the Corollis Effect works right here, you can look it up for now, but as these low pressure areas get large enough they begin their rotation. Feeding off of 84+ degree ocean water at the equitorial Atlantic region this time of year, hurricanes have the fuel to build big. Evaporating water vapor fuels the vertical development of the convection cell until it can't build anymore vertically and begins blowing out horizontally. The wind shear, or speed of air at differing altitutdes, must be low to accomodate the vertical construction of the massive storms. They always amaze me every year as they develop as small low pressure systems off of the coast of Africa and move westward across the Pacific. Earth's hurricanes pale in comparison to Jupiter's storms and wind belts; the surface winds there can reach 400mph easy and the large "spots" or rotating storms would easily consume the entire Earth in size.....so I guess we should be happy our storms aren't nearly as violent. One question students have is, "why do hurricanes seem to move against the Earth's rotation"? Look it up and find out!

It's time to head back!

2011-08-21T21:13:00.002-04:00

Hope you all had an enjoyable summer and are ready to get back to school. We have a lot of new things lined up for you to experience this semester in science and hope that you are excited to learn them. In today's world it is essential that students put forth their absolute best effort and rigor into the learning process. Students today are in global competition for jobs and America needs good science students to compete for these jobs. Check this blog often to see updates of exciting new science information to discuss as well as anything interesting I come across. Many ideas are generated from classroom discussions that I extend to my blog for students to further discuss. Remember: You can comment on a blog post for +5 bonus points at any time during the 9 week grading period. You may do this each 9 week period so you can earn up to a total of +10 bonus points in the course just for doing this; make sure the responses are at least one paragraph of interesting discussion! This first blog post doesn't count since it is an introduction, but you can be sure that I will soon post something this semester you can comment on........work hard and good luck!

Energy Drain

2011-06-15T21:48:00.002-04:00

So with all of our electrical power-consuming devices now out there I find myself time and time again scrounging for an outlet to charge a mobile device. Whether it is the normal cell phone, the laptop computer, the Ipad, the Ipad 2, or the MP3 player it gets quite annoying. I suppose this is just a "welcome" into our new technological-driven world but I also wondered how much power this consumes on any given day. Any power cord for these devices connects to a standard 110V AC powered outlet from the breaker box in your house. Once the plug is connected to the outlet there is a transformer in-line with the power supply to convert the AC power to strait DC power of multiple voltages depending on the device. For example, the Ipad 2 takes a 5.2V direct current charge and needs to charge its battery to sustain this voltage. Add up all of your various electronic devices that demand our attention and it feels like your constantly running for an outlet, or trying to beat your wife to the nearest outlet in a race for energy. Then there is the side of power consumption that most don't think about, Phantom Power....that's right, the energy your charging device is still using while not connected to the device but still plugged in. With the explosion of small electronic devices we also have an explosion of energy being used by a bunch of chargers plugged into walls with nothing to charge. I know it seems trivial, but some of my students have actually measured the power consumed by various chargers while not attached to their second half! It seems to be a quiet waste of sorts that most don't think about, or maybe just the nerdy science-minded people like myself do, but it is something to think about this summer as you go to the beach and leave your Ipod charger plugged into the wall sucking electrical energy! ;-)

Physical Science and Life

2011-05-29T22:52:00.002-04:00

So many students are constantly asking the same phrase, "what does this stuff have to do with me". Well, when they go there in Physical Science we take it as a challenge to find just about anything that DOESN'T have to do with it! Just yesterday I received my May Christmas present in the mail, yes, National Geographic. In the current issue as I flipped through, smelling the good aroma of a fresh magazine being read (weird I know), I came across two articles perfectly placed for this question. In one, they were talking about China's use of coal to fire their power plants and how they are the largest consumer of coal in the world but also the largest consumer of alternative energies. With their people striving to live middle class lives like we have their thirst for energy and fuel rises....direct connection. I could go on about how this first one connects but I need space here to talk about the second article which was even MORE connected! Rare earth metals, the elements in the lanthanide series on the periodic table....you know, the one's clear down at the bottom, are exponentially being used in small electronic devices for their electric motors, circuits, etc. The rare earth metals, like neodymium, have very strong magnetic properties that allow small amounts of them to create strong magnetic fields and in turn, we can create very small electric motors; you know, the one that vibrates your cell phone. Anyway, all of these rare earth metals are mostly concentrated in China and with the exponential increase of these electronics the world is craving them. Problem: China is beginning to stash piles of these rare earth metals to make sure they don't run out as the world seeks more and more of them for our electronic craze. Right now most of my students are sitting in their seats stunned and with a glazed-donut look on their faces. In most of their pockets that very second they had all sorts of precious metals from the periodic table on them, and heck, even every bit of material they were wearing and made of for that matter! The cool thing is everything is Chemistry and also everything is Physics at the same time. If you truly break it down they are so interconnected it's not funny. Our students have some incredibly large scientific problems to ponder and help us to understand the best direction to go. As directly connected as convection is to the most recent tornadoes in the midwest there is another more fascinating topic of Physical Science that deals with it. Some of the manhole covers in town were lifting up during the storm and chattering as they hovered above the shaft they were covering. One of my students brought this to the attention of the class and then said, "see, when I saw that on the news all that I thought of is that there is Bernoulli's Law". YES! The light bulb clicked for this student and they are starting to see science applied in their life. I took it from there and had her help me explain how the wind moving quickly across the top of the cover would create lower air pressure, due to the Bernoulli Effect, and since the air under the manhole would have been at a more normal air pressure this higher pressure would have lifted the manhole towards the low pressure created on top. You just can't do that kind of thing without science happening! So the next time your out and about and experiencing life, stop to think that science does connect to everything and even though we don't often take time to stop and acknowledge it....it's there! Remember the famous quote, "Most people miss opportunity because it wears overalls and looks like work".......so true, so true. Enjoy your summer and get ready for final exams!

Copy of link to National Geographic Article:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/rare-earth-elements/folger-text

Why Tornadoes are Lava Lamps on Steroids

2011-05-01T21:32:00.002-04:00

With the recent massive storms from Alabama throughout the south I thought it was appropriate to write a blog post. First of all we are all thinking of the tragedy these people are enduring and hope the best for their families while they recover. Now the science is another matter, why are tornadoes just lava lamps? All school kids learn that tornado alley lies in the midwest with another area of storm possibility just east of that. It just so happens that Low pressure areas, created by the Rockies, move east and build strength due to the nature of the geography of the country. Any area of low pressure starts as the Sun(culprit) heats air warming it and becoming less dense when it begins to rise. The Coriollis Effect, no it's not a force, begins rotating this large air mass counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere due to the rotation of the Earth. Initially, high pressure air outside of the low tries to move directly towards it to "fill-in" the void where the air that was heated and has risen was initialy. Air always travels from high to low pressure in nature, and the Coriollis Effect is there to begin spinning it as the air mass becomes large enough...just as a hurricane develops higher and higher wind speeds. The front side of the Low pressure system rotating counterclockwise draws hot, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico up towards the midwest while on the backside of the Low pressure system lies a cold front. This cold front is a result of the winds on the back of the Low drawing cold, dry air down from the Canadian shield. Along the boundary of the cold and warm fronts the cold front acts like a wedge, further shoving the warm front upwards where it condenses and releases its latent heat to further build the supercell storm. Add into this potent mixture the fact that the jet stream droppped south of where it usually is and you have a whopper of a storm. The line of tornadoes that have been spawned from this were incredible. One of the largest, a 1 mile wide and 80 miles long EF5 tornado literally ripped towns apart. With wind speeds of over 200mph it shredded homes and ultimately led to the death of over 300 people. Now back up to the initial point where the Sun was just heating up some air making it rise where it cooled and condensed. It's as simple and hypnotizing as watching a lava lamp work, and exactly like the Earth works. Now imagine the planet Jupiter where surface winds commonly stay at 400mph or over in the large storm bands on its surface. No one ever said the Earth would be fair to all, and in this case we have hope for these people and areas that have to deal with the destruction and wonder if storms like we've seen this past year will continue?

Home Stretch!

2011-04-24T22:08:00.002-04:00

This week and next month we will be diving into the world of Chemistry. This past week's discussions should of had you thinking about how Chemistry is involved in your life as well as how the world population effects the mass of planet Earth. Remember to be studying the 53 elements that you are required to know before the end of this week for the quiz. If you don't learn this well now it will create quite a problem later as we begin forming bonds and ultimately chemical reaction equations in order to balance them. Study hard and learn as much Chemistry as you can now to prepare yourself for later courses and college Chemistry. Bets are if you are entering any science field at all it will be part of your course requirements. Keep on keeping on this last month!

Water Bottle Rockets and Pressure

2011-04-17T16:39:00.003-04:00

Well after taking our last unit exam it was time for a hands-on project focusing around pressure. Water bottle rockets lend themselves to a great study of not only Newton's laws of motion and momentum, but the concept of pressure and rocketry. Basic kinematic equations can be applied after recording the time to apogee for the rocket and thus, calculate the height it gets. A few more equations allow us to calculate things such as take-off speed and a stopwatch will record entire time of flight until touchdown. The basic challenge to students in this project is to design the best rocket to obtain maximum height while taking the longest time to come down after parachute deployment (hopefully!). All rockets will have an equivalent pressure of 100psi in them and an exact amount of 1/3 of the bottle filled with water for fuel. The cool thing about this project is that it teaches the students about the idea of momentum and its conservation. With water being the fuel, when the rocket pushes the water out in one direction it reacts with the same amount of force on the bottle pusing it in the other. Great lesson and great fun for students!

Southwest and Cabin Pressurization

2011-04-03T22:00:00.003-04:00

Since we have been studying pressure in science class this news event is quite interesting. A Southwest jet apparently had a large gash rip open while in flight at 38,000ft in altitude. In science we have been studying air pressure and understanding that at sea level a person generally has 14.7psi of pressure on their body from the atmosphere above. This pressure is exerted all around the body and does all kinds of things for us such as push "suction" cups on windows, push drink up into your straw in a cup and tell us the weather as barometers work. As planes take off they experience this same pressure but quickly this pressure changes as they rise in altitude. Since there is less atmosphere on top of you the pressure starts decreasing with higher and higher altitude. In order to not have people passing out planes are designed to use some of the engine's compressed air to pressurize the cabins to keep them at a pressure equivalent to being 8,000ft high. Engineers have determined that above this elevation humans have a difficult time with the lack in air pressure. So in turn planes are designed to be circular in cross section and have small windows to deal with the changes in pressure and still maintain structural integrity. The issue occurs as planes rise in altitude and descend back to Earth. The outer skin of the plane must be flexible and expand and contract with changes in pressure and temperature. Remember also that in the troposphere it gets colder as you get higher so not only is the cabin trying to expand but it's also cooling off which wants to contract the metal as well. Interesting coupling of forces going on here. I'm actually surprised more of this kind of issue doesn't happen with the sheer number of planes in the air everyday. As dangerous as it is, it teaches us a good lesson in air pressure and dynamics.

Nuclear Dilemma

2011-03-15T20:54:00.002-04:00

Since the 9.0 earthquake in Japan, in the top 5 quakes in recorded history, the devastation in Japan has been horrible. The nuclear reactors along the eastern coastline were struck not only with the earthquake loss of power but a large 30+ft. tsunami wave. This led to the devastation of the diesel back-up pumps that keep water in the reactor core to keep it under control. Scientists switched to battery power and quickly realized it wouldn't be sufficient to keep the nuclear fuel cool. Currently they have been pumping corrosive sea water into the reactor core as a last-ditch attempt to cool the fuel. With several large explosions at the nuclear facility and the possibility that radiation is leaking slowly into the atmosphere it bring up some important questions here in the USA. Reports say that the sale of potassium iodide pills has gone viral here in the US. National support for nuclear energy, while never high, has declined significantly since the tragic wave. Many in the US are concerned about our own nucleare reactors and the possibility of disaster here. The question that remains is what do we do to generate power in this country and world? Yet again, alternative energies just don't provide the mass volume of energy required by our style of living. Wind isn't dependable, solar isn't powerful enough, and hydroelectric isn't always there. So how do you feel about nuclear power and it's continued existence and use in the world?

Corn Ethanol or Food?

2011-03-07T23:17:00.002-05:00

After watching the stores increase the cost of food all-around and gas prices going crazy I was further pushed to write this blog post by watching the Las Vegas NASCAR race this past weekend. They were touting that the fuel was a 15% ethanol mix produced from American farmer's corn from the midwest US. Wowsers, I am very concerned that we are pushing this corn-based fuel idea again. With the increase in crude prices I can see the renewed drive for alternative energies but this seems scary. Of all the things that we eat, corn is probably in almost all of them in some way. High fructose corn syrup is the basis of a lot of the food we eat and I love Doritos! If we start using our food base as a fuel base we are going to see an acceleration of bad things. Farmers getting rid of other crops to produce more profitable corn and soy beans, prices for these items skyrocketing since demand for its use is astronomical, meat prices going higher since feed is corn-based. I don't see this as a good idea personally but would like to know what you think about it!

Dimensional Analysis Week

2011-03-02T19:59:00.004-05:00

Today in Physical Science we ventured into the land of Dimensional Analysis. This concept is one of the most important things that students will learn to do in the course. This enables one to convert between units in the metric and US standard systems of measurement. If you have trouble understanding this concept view the above video link and it will go through the steps in solving the problems. Remember it takes hard work and dedication to studying to master this concept!

Mythbusters Projects

2011-02-09T21:36:00.004-05:00

Physical science is currently at the beginning stages of their Mythbusters projects. This is a little twist on the old standard science project which hopefully ignites some real interest in science for students. The ideas are amazing and many are just too darn dangerous to even attempt. Good thing I have them get approval through me first before (blowing up a cat, blowing up a car, shooting a fruit off a lab partner's head, shooting at metal plates, etc. etc.) After eliminating the crazy dangerous ideas to something possible and worthwhile to pull off in a high school science classroom the students get to work on these projects. The final presentation requires a posterboard describing the scientific method steps taken to come up with a conclusion. Charts, graphs, pictures, videos can all be included in the project and help to solidify the conclusion of the study. Along with the posterboard to hangin the science wing, a full lab report must be included with the presentation for a formal grade aspect. While it takes the students quite a time to complete these projects I can't think of a more fun and hands-on approach to learning in a fun way. It's completely student-driven as I facilitate digital probeware, measurements, keeping standards and variables straight, etc. Hopefully some of the students will share their thoughts and opinions on their project on this thread below!

Bring them back from the Dead?

2011-01-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

Scientists from multiple countries announced that they are going to attempt within 6 years to re-create the Mammoth. Many of these creatures that went extinct around 12,000 years ago have been found, a lot around here in Ohio! The reason they, along with other animals of the same geologic time, went extinct is quite unclear to science with no complete evidence of the cause. The idea is to find a frozen mammoth that is fairly well-preserved to extract sperm cell DNA for implantation into an elephant's uterus. With hope the elephant's body would allow the baby mammoth to develop and have a normal birth. How amazing would it be to see one of these awesome creatures brought back from the dead to study it and understand how it lived life? Of course, many question why scientists are doing this and there is a lot of controversy surrounding the science. So what do you think? To do it or not?

Good luck next semester!

2011-01-12T22:26:00.003-05:00

I wanted to wish everyone in my science courses well in the future with your new classes. Keep on aiming at the goal and continue having responsibility, accountability and dependability. Take Care!

You had Better Believe it!

2010-12-26T20:49:00.002-05:00

Check out this 60 minutes segment which highlights some astonishing new news in the world of paleontology. The segmenting of dinosaur bones and separation allows researchers to find blood vessel tissue hidden among the lithification. Pairing this astonishing new find with genetic engineering will most likely allow scientists to "create" dinosaurs at some point in time.....what do you think about this one?!

Total Lunar Eclipse This Week!

2010-12-18T16:29:00.002-05:00

One of the most fun astronomical events occurs this week. A total lunar eclipse will be happening late Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning. So, if you are so inclined as to get up at about 2:30am early Tuesday morning you will get to see this event. Basically, the Moon will be in full phase and will be in the correct position in it's revolution around the Earth to go right through a node, or the shadow of the Earth. It doesn't happen very often, you all should know why, but it is because the Moon's orbital is inclined by 5 degrees compared to the ecliptic. Every once in awhile it happens to fall into the shadow of Earth or by an even more rare event it could fall in between the Earth and Sun and cause a Solar Eclipse. Anyway, the lighter part of the shadow, the penumbra, will be cast upon the Moon at about 12:30am early Tuesday morning. Then, at about 2:30am the Moon will enter totality where it becomes reddish in color due to light refracting through the Earth's atmosphere and reflecting off the Moon, called Albedo. After becoming red it will then enter the other side of the penumbra and eventually exit the shadow of Earth completely. So if you a hard-core astronomy geek then late this Monday night is your night to check it out!

Extraterrestrial Life! What!?!

2010-12-04T20:53:00.002-05:00

This past week NASA announced that they have found a specific type of bacteria that does something that nothing else we know of does. These little bacteria actually incorporate Arsenic into their chemical structure! That's right, the nasty element that will kill any human and most all living things is something that these bacteria regularly take into their structure. Ever since we found strains of bacteria that can withstand extreme heat, cold and other environmental conditions they have continued to surprise us. These bacteria, called extremophiles, incorporate the Arsenic readily into their bodies and substitute it for Phosphorus since they are both in the same chemical group on the periodic table. Even more astounding, since we've found these strains can exist easily on Earth, now we don't have to limit ourselves to only looking for extrasolar planets that are exactly like Earth. We can search the most hostile of environments in the universe for life since we know that these bacteria can so easily work with some of the harshest environments on Earth. Our category of what defines life has changed, what do you think now?

Astronomy Night

2010-11-07T21:35:00.003-05:00

My Astronomy class recently took a night to meet up and do some Astronomical oberving. We met at a local park location that had a high elevation and good southern view. We started observing just gazing at the night sky and identifying the ecliptic and the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy arm visible to us. We then got to see Jupiter and it's 4 Galilean Moons. After seeing Jupiter we looked at our neighbor galaxy, The Andromeda Galaxy. This beautiful "smudge" of a galaxy lies in your peripheral vision as you look out beyond the tip of the "v" in the constellation Cassiopeia. Another sure thing to see this time of year is the seven sisters star cluster appropriately named the Pleiades star cluster. One thing is for sure, I had a great time getting outside and seeing some of the things that we take for granted every night but are there for us to see. Hopefully this furthered your interest in the Astronomical sciences!

Observing the Sun.....

2010-10-28T21:18:00.002-04:00

Today the Astronomy class went over a quiz on Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation as well as Escape Velocity of planetary objects. We have been working through the ideas and concepts of gravity, dark matter and special relativity. It always gets a little sticky talking about special relativity because the idea blows away any perspective we have of time, space, or size. We had some time near the end of the block today to take the Starblast 6i intelliscope outside and focus in on the Sun with two different eyepiece diameters. There were 4 amazing sunspots on the surface of the Sun today, giving us something very tangible to see and study. The Sun is just now coming out of a solar minimum of activity in it's 11 year cycle so we may see a lot more going on in the near future on the surface of the Sun.

Little Milky Way Preview?

2010-10-24T11:22:00.002-04:00

Since we are studying gravity, dark matter and special relativity in Astronomy class I thought that I would give you a little preview video of the Milky Way. We may watch this in class but if we don't have time check it out here, this series is absolutely great!
http://www.history.com/shows/the-universe/videos/the-universe-milky-way

Dimensional Analysis Help

2010-10-13T21:45:00.001-04:00

Check out this video for help with Dimensional Analysis

Would you eat genetically-engineered Salmon?

2010-09-21T21:02:00.002-04:00

So the big news topic this week has focused on genetically-engineered salmon. Supposedly scientists can inject young salmon cells with growth hormone at higher doses than normally present in the cells which in turn, accelerates the development of the fish in half the normal time to adult size. It also causes the fish to become much larger and have much thicker and bigger fillets after being processed. Today in class my students journaled about whether or not they would support using these fish for human consumption in the grocery markets. I started the conversation by reminding the students that they eat many genetically-engineered foods every day without thought. For example, corn has been highly genetically-engineered for years from an original corn cob which was small and didn't have many kernels to something much larger with abundant kernels and high yields per field. With the human population somewhere around 6.6 BILLION people worldwide and increasing industrialization from China and Asian areas, food demands increase rapidly. If you've ever seen the documentary "Food, Inc." then you saw how growth hormone is injected into chickens to cause them to become so massive with muscle tissue that many can't walk more than a few feet before plopping back down to sit. I feel that this is the same conversation in parallel to irradiating meat to kill bacteria. Most people see words like "genetically-engineered" or "irradiated" and immediately assume it to be bad. Thing is, they drink soda pop, eat cereal, comsume chicken and beef that already has been thoroughly genetically-engineered. We are just so used to it that we are blind to the fact that we use these products anyways. So my question to you is this; do you have a problem with genetic-engineering foods to help provide the volume we need for our growing human population? hmmmmmmmmm.......

The night sky in September

2010-09-12T19:41:00.002-04:00

Going out and viewing the night sky in September is a great way to spend the evening and gaze out at the heavens. There is a multitude of things to see, and they change almost on a nightly basis. One object that has been visible on at least 6 different evenings for good viewing has been the International Space Station. It is amazing to see the ISS pass overhead rising in the western horizon and passing to the eastern horizon. It is unusual that it does rises like this; it is due to the fact that it is actually going faster than the Earth is rotating on its axis. The ISS travels an astounding 17,000 mph as it free-falls around Earth with Earth spinning at a "measly" 1,000 mph at the equator. The angle that it approaches Earth changes, but you'll see a very bright point in the sky get brighter as it passes overhead and then travels to the eastern horizon. Another really neat object is the planet Jupiter along with its four largest moons. Io, Callisto, Europa and Ganymede orbit the largest planet Jupiter and they are some huge moons. Galileo first observed these moons and realized that it was another planetary object revolving around another planet, proving that the Earth wasn't quite so special after all.You can also see the bands on Jupiter's surface if you have the right telescope! Viewed from a telescope over a couple of days you will notice these moons changing where they are as they revolve around their planet. Venus is also viewable in the early evening setting in the south-western sky right now, unfortunately it isn't quite as neat as Jupiter or Saturn to view in the night sky.

Live near Hurricane-prone areas?

2010-09-01T20:22:00.002-04:00

So with the new rash of hurricanes churning their way across the Atlantic Ocean I decided to post something that most have an opinion on. I prompted my students with this journaling prompt yesterday and would like to hear what others have to say. What do you think about humans living in such hurricane-prone areas such as New Orleans, edges of Florida, edges of the Carolinas, etc. Is it intelligent to build massive cities and infrastructure in these areas when we know for sure that they are sticking out like sore thumbs waiting to get slammed? Furthermore, New Orleans and a lot of Florida are already below sea level. If sea level continues to rise for a while, as geologic history deems, then why are we living in cities that contain such danger....I suppose because the weather is usually nice? So what is your own opinion on this topic, not that anything will change......millions of people live in Naples, Italy right next to a huge volcano Vesuvius......and it will erupt again. What is your opinion on humans living in these areas?

Let the school year begin!

2010-08-19T16:33:00.003-04:00

This is the first official post of the Fall 2010 semester of my courses. New students, new ideas, new starts, new discussion, new learning, it's all good! I hope that you read this blog and check it weekly for updates and information that may be going on. Also, I hope that you comment and contribute to the good discussions on the blog and find something interesting to discuss. To start off the discussion, I am offering 5 bonus points if you tell me the area(s) of science that your interested in and why. Make sure that when you post you only put your initials in the post so that I know who posted, but your name isn't in cyberspace. I will check the posts and give you credit as I see that you have posted. Remember, you can view this from school but you cannot post from there, you'll have to do that elsewhere. So let's get the discussions going, what type of science do you like and why?

Look out........Here it comes!

2010-07-17T13:53:00.005-04:00

Starting to anticipate the coming school year that will soon be upon us. I've decided it's time to start blogging again to get my mind back on schedule since I've had no schedule for most of the summer. I've been knee-deep in Astronomy curriculum pouring through the massive amounts of material that I can use to sort and keep the good stuff to use. One of the best jewels that I've found this past spring is a little-known podcast called "Astronomy Cast". With a wealth of useful information and interesting podcasts, it is a great resource for my students to use this next semester as study guides. I also wanted to start the Astronomy off right by letting everyone know that one of the best meteor showers of the year will be happening in August. The Perseids, named from the constellation they originate out of, meteor showers will be at a maxiumum on August 12 and August 13 from about midnight on. We shoud be seeing up to 60 meteors per hour streaking across the atmosphere as these bits of rock and metal burn up (we hope). I had the chance last year to see one meteor in particular that streaked across the full length of the sky from horizon to horizon...coolest I've ever seen. So grab your blanket, some bug spray, and head out late on the nights of August 12 and 13 to see one of the coolest wonders of the universe happen right above your head! Hey, it's better than sitting brainlessly in front of the TV!

School's out....for the summer

2010-06-03T22:23:00.002-04:00

Today we wrapped up the 2009-2010 school year at LHS. Final exams are done, graded and all grades should be viewable on Progress Book. I have enjoyed this school year as it seems every year brings new experiences and different twists and turns as the year before did. Life truly is a journey, and I hope that you choose to actively participate in it. Enjoy your summer break and use it to do something that you've never done before, learn something new, read a new book, try a new job. As a teacher I think that more than ever I understand it is a lifelong learning process. We will never be "done" with what we're learning. So enjoy and have a vision about what next year will bring. Most of all, thanks for reading the blog and check back in this summer as I post my adventures here and there! Take care and be careful; we'll see you this fall!

It's time to wrap it up...but so much to do!

2010-05-21T22:59:00.003-04:00

This next week will be busy and surely eventful. We will be wrapping up both courses and getting ready for final exams and research papers. Right now in Geology we have veered away from fossils, as hard as it is to do, and moved on into minerals and rocks. With over 4,000+ minerals on the Earth it is difficult to touch on every one but fortunately there are 25 that are common rock-forming minerals. Economically, minerals are what every war on the planet has ever been fought over. We need so much just in one day just to function that most of the time we ignore how connected we are to them. The giant Gypsum or Selenite crystals in the picture above show how large mineral crystals can grow if given sufficient time to do so. My hope is that if you have taken Geology you have enjoyed the semester and continue to take more Geology courses in college exploring our world even further. It's mind-blowing how many courses you can take; there are boundless opportunities from classes on Oceanography, to Historical Geology, to Paleontology and even Mineralology. Never stop wondering and enjoying what the natural world can teach us!

Toast It!

2010-05-12T21:38:00.003-04:00

Today my Physical Science class participated in a combustion reaction demonstration. One of the cooler, I guess hotter, demonstrations that they get to do in Physical Science. Anyway, we were able to get some really good pictures of the reaction and I thought that I would post one for the students to see via my blogspot. While the secret formula will remain a mystery, the combustion of the methane definitely isn't!

It's fossil digging time in Geology...

2010-05-09T22:32:00.002-04:00

It's that time of the year when we venture outdoors to study the recorded history of past life here in Ohio. After going through fossilization notes and animal phyla in the course, we will be venturing to examine shale in the area to locate and correctly identify marine fossils. Since Ohio was a shallow marine environment 300 Ma ago, we will be seeing things from Brachiopoda, Arthropoda, Echinoidia, Echinodermata,etc. Hopefully, with any luck, one of my students may turn up one of Ohio's state fossils....the trilobite! It's amazing to study the past environment and fauna of that world which is so very different from where we are now! What is your biggest question about Earth's past environments?

Geologic History and Fossils...

2010-04-27T21:37:00.003-04:00

My Geology class is studying Geologic history and getting ready to launch into fossilization. These are among two of my favorite subjects due to the fact that they show direct linkage to our past. Humans really have no idea exactly what the past was like, but we do know that we've been around for a very short time of it. So many questions arise about our past; I think all of us wonder about where we came from in the distance past. Geologic time is so immense compared to our human life-spans that it is very difficult to imagine a time when Ohio was covered with up to a mile of ice or even further back, a shallow marine sea full of invertebrate life forms. What do you think about all of this history?

Dimensional Analysis Help!

2010-04-13T21:11:00.004-04:00

If you are a Physical Science student struggling to learn Dimensional Analysis, here is yet another resource to help! Check it out....

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Trip 2010

2010-03-22T22:14:00.005-04:00

So today was our trip to Cleveland to see some amazing natural Earth history. It is quite the place and quite the deal to get in. For students it's around $5.00 and you can also watch a planetarium show. The picture with this blog entry shows my class for this semester, they're a good group of kids. They got to explore the major geologic periods in Earth history today and see some of the flora and fauna of the time. Going from early Earth formation through the Cambrian explosion of life through the Jurassic age of dinosaurs, they had it all. For a lot of the students, if not all, it was their first time being exposed to the shear size of these beasts that roamed the Earth. It took about 2 hrs to tour and then we had a planetarium show to go through for 1 hr. That was one of the highlights of the trip, our host did a great job of describing some of the most intersting aspects of the night sky to the students and geared them up for some Astronomy later in this course. It will be nice to get some warmer night weather coupled with clear, star-lit skies to get out the new scope and dial in some astronomical objects, truly a good trip today!

What does it take to have success in school?

2010-03-15T22:08:00.005-04:00

I happened to stumble upon a news program focusing on the success of a public school named the "Urban Prep Academy" in Chicago. The story focused on how an innner-city public school with a demographic of mostly black male students has had some astounding success in academics. Research has shown that only 1 in 40 African American boys will complete college. The students do have to wear a button-down shirt and tie each day to this school as they have a tight dress code. They also attend school from 8am-5pm every day which allows them to earn more credits by the time they graduate. In the graduating class this year every senior student is expected to be attending a college in the fall of this year. So the question is posed; why is it that this public school is having such astounding success? The other obvious question is how do we become that prolific in our school district as well. It is obvious from my "soap box" moments in class that my stance is that a solid rigor of academic classes needs to be the foundation of a school. Teacher must teach professionally and students must learn professionally. Teacher and student must bring their best to the table each and every day in school. Students must care about their grades more than the educator even, and daily responsibility when it comes to being a professional student must be the capstone of daily life. So I ask: How do we do this as a public school? Are you a part of the solution or the problem? Fill us in with your opinions!

The Impact Forces of Crashes(unfortunate)

2010-02-14T01:03:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we had the amazing opening ceremony of the winter Olympic games from Vancouver, BC. While the opening ceremony was amazing, there was a horribly tragic accident earlier in the day as a Georgian luge athlete lost control of his sled and crashed into a steel support pole traveling over 80 mi/hr. Horribly, the accident was all caught on camera and it appeared as if he didn't even realize what happened when the accident took place. It shook everyone in the world and made me think back to basic Physical laws that we cannot escape that governs our short lives here on Earth. The human body isn't built to escape injury from very large forces exerted on it over very short periods of time. Going from a speed of 80 mph to 0 mph in milliseconds creates traumatic accelerations on the body and its organs. If the deceleration is nearing 100 g's massive injury will not be avoided. Whenever you crash into something there are really 3 crashes that happen. 1. The object your riding on/in hits a solid object 2. Your body hits a solid object 3. Organs and body systems hit the cavities or bones of your body's skeleton. This chain reaction can have devastating, and often fatal, results. Tearing of arteries, pulling forward of the heart, organs slam into the rib cage, and something really odd happens to your brain which is counter-intuitive. As the skull hits something, the cranial fluid sloshes forwards in your cranial cavity forcing the brain backwards into the back of the skull. Then, the brain rebounds and slams into the front of the skull impacting it. Tension, compression, and shear(sideways) tearing forces impact the body's systems causing probable internal injuries. We all pray for this luge athlete's family sorrow and hope that no more accidents happen this winter games. I'm glad to see that they have built up the safety walls at the bottom of the track and moved the start of the luge down on the hill so that the speeds are cut down.........these sports are amazingly dangerous!

No more mission to the Moon....what do ya think?

2010-01-31T20:33:00.005-05:00

So on Friday it was announced that the mission to go back to the Moon was put on indefinite cancellation due to the economic climate of our country and the world. The program mission, named Constellation, was to replace the space shuttle as we know it with the Ares rocket which look and function more like the Saturn rockets. In the government's new budget, President Obama has eliminated the funding for this program in light of what our country is dealing with. I would like to know what you think about the decision, good or bad, and why! If you respond by this next Friday, which is February 5, I will add 5 bonus points to your grades! Blog away.....the link to the article is viewed at:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/index.html

Check it out...

2010-01-26T20:41:00.002-05:00

A little advertisement for the science.......

"HOPE" for Haiti wristbands coming this week..

2010-01-18T23:36:00.003-05:00

Trying to figure out what I, we, could do for Haiti I stumbled upon the idea to sell wristbands at cost for our National Honor Society at school. We should have about 500 of them by this week with simply the word, "HOPE" embossed on them. 100% of profits will be going to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts in Haiti. If you want one, you can purchase them during lunch or from a NHS member at school. Students/staff and community can unite on this and show visually their support for the people in Haiti. It's not much, but something that we can do to show compassion and love for other humans in our world.

Texting.............it can kill

2010-01-18T19:03:00.003-05:00

So I don't watch Oprah very often, but I will admit that sometimes if there is something that catches my interest I will....same for Dr. Phil. Today's show struck me pretty hard and I was led to share it with all of you since we are starting a new semester. I remember being a teenager and I can tell you for CERTAIN that my reasoning center of the brain was NOT fully developed! I took multiple chances with my life and other's lives from traveling down a gravel road at over 80 mph to weaving in and out of traffic and other stupidity. Now to add to the shear danger of teenage driving we have texting and cell phones. They said that your are 4 times more likely to wreck while talking on a cell phone and 8x more likely to wreck while texting and driving. To put this into perspective, drunken driving is approximately 4x more likely! Throwing science into this, they measured the average reaction times of drivers who "thought" that they could handle texting and driving. WOW! Their delayed reaction times extended their stopping distances by about 20ft., which means that you are NOT as capable as not doing it. I'm as guiltly as you, I've checked texts before while driving; no more. It's stupid, it's dumb, it's dangerous, it's someone's life.............even if you don't care about your own safety. I have a daughter that is more precious than anything I will ever own, do or experience....don't mess with the phone for her....I know I'm not messing with mine for your family. Done

Grades posted....on to a new semester!

2010-01-16T11:30:00.002-05:00

Finally got all of your final exams graded from this past semester! All grades are posted on Progress Book for your review and they were submitted for your grade cards. Thanks to all of you who worked hard this semester and now are reaping the good rewards of the hard work! Remember, the roots of education can be bitter at times....but the fruit is sweet! Take care! Mr.Miller

Just had to post this video!

2010-01-12T21:40:00.002-05:00

Was watching television tonight and this commercial came on. I think I literally spewed out some drink while watching this cracking up! The look on the kids' faces when they think the rabbit is dead.......funniest commercial I've seen in a long time, check it out!

The Finish Line is Near for 1st Semester!

2010-01-10T19:17:00.002-05:00

Well folks, that about does it for this fall semester in Physical Science. I hope that you have enjoyed the course as I've enjoyed having you. This week we have a current event due on Monday as well as a journal check from last Friday's snow day that we weren't there! Also, we will finish up balancing chemical equations, have a quiz on it, possibly do another lab, and begin reviewing for your final exams. The final exam will be split into 2 parts; part 1 being on Thursday and part 2 on Friday. For each you may use all hand-written notes in the course, calculators, metric conversion tables, periodic tables, and polyatomic lists. You probably won't have to study a tremendous amount, that's right, I said don't study a huge amount! If you have been going along with us the whole semester you will just need to brush up on a few topics, and as always, see me if you have questions...see you tomorrow!

Get em' excited!

2010-01-06T23:41:00.004-05:00

I did this demonstration of chemical combustion reactions today in class for my Physical Science students. I call it methane bubbles and basically we are producing regular bubbles filled with methane instead of air. When pumped from a valve into the solution, large columns of bubbles rise into the air. When you wet your hands entirely with water, scoop up some bubbles, and then iginite them you get to hold a fireball in your hands while being safe to view. Students seemed to get excited about it and the intention sometimes works......they get pumped about science! Hopefully this spurs an interest in how chemical reactions occur so that we can then continue to write and balance them together. If not, they got to see a teacher with his head on fire!

Watched this on 60 Minutes tonight, you need to watch this

2009-11-29T21:09:00.003-05:00

Watch CBS News Videos Online
Tis the season for shopping for that special something for someone. A few years ago it was the movie Blood Diamond that brought the African Diamond mines under scrutiny for the way that the entire operation is fueled by our(and others) desire to have shiny things. This clip takes us to African gold mines, where people work for a mere $2 or less a day scooping and passing mud to be attached to Mercury, and then panned out to get the nugget. The mercury is then heated and evaporated, yes into a dangerous vapor form, to get the gold by itself. There are a multitude of things to talk about here, and we will do this when we get back to school this week. The underlying reason for any war in history is to kill over ownership of land which contains natural resources.....control this and you have world power. The most interesting part of this interview is when they ask if all American jewelers will voluntarily eliminate gold from Congo the answer was....."well, it's been discussed". I would think that we won't ever see this, people don't want to see the "dirty" side of how the world works, and I'm sure there are many areas of our comfortable lives ( I admit it), where we could trace back to questionable practices to obtain resources or goods. Maybe you will see another research paper centered around this???? Hint, Hint!

Know your chemical bonds...

2009-11-22T09:57:00.006-05:00

Came across this great instructional clip showing how atoms begin to bond. Remember that to begin understanding why they will bond you must know how many valence electrons an atoms will have. Then you use the Octet Rule to fill the outer shell of the atom with valence electrons. This is essentially the only reason that we have millions of different chemicals in our world; atoms seek to become more like noble gases and fill their outer electron shells. So remember the next time your biting into a juicy junior bacon, or using that cool softball bat, or grabbing the milk jug in the refrigerator, or every other single thing we do in our lives.........understanding Chemistry is cooooooooolllllll! C ya tomorrow!

53 Elemental Symbol Quiz!

2009-11-15T18:32:00.003-05:00

Everyone out there in Physical Science needs to remember that the 53 element symbol quiz is tomorrow! Hopefully you have made flash cards by now and are studying feverishly while watching the Patriots/Colts game tonight! We will also be starting an element research project tomorrow after our quiz, so get ready for an action-filled week at LHS!

Dimensional Analysis Tutorial!

2009-11-02T23:29:00.002-05:00

This is a video explaining Dimensional Analysis even more to students. I hope that you watch it and refresh how to do it, it is a good example. Once you work out a few of these types of problems it becomes much easier, and dare I say: FUN! See you Wednesday in class.....

Twas a Great Day of Boat Racin'

2009-10-26T19:05:00.001-04:00

Thanks to all students who put forth a lot of effort into working on their cardboard boats throughout last week. Today was a lot of fun and gave you an idea of how well your ideas worked! Don't forget that all calculations are due at the end of the day tomorrow by all groups, and these will also be a part of your grade......

Could this be you next week?

2009-10-17T15:02:00.003-04:00

So while teaching about buoyancy I happened to stumble upon a project where students construct boats out of nothing but cardboard and duct tape. We just finished a lab this week where they made boats out of foil and then had to calculate the buoyant force on the object by calculating the volume of water the boat displaced. Taking into account the weight of the Al itelf, they then figured out how many pennies it should take to sink the boat and make the weight in the boat cancel out the force of buoyancy. As an extension my Physical Science classes will be working in teams constructing real boats out of nothing but cardboard and then racing them at Mohican Adventure's pool in a week or so. What an awesome, fun way to bring science to life for these students and get them to understand how important buoyancy is. We will be holding a bracketed competition for this and I'm not quite sure what the trophy is yet, but it will be good stuff!

Lunar Impact Tomorrow Morning!

2009-10-08T20:48:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow morning NASA will crash this spacecraft into a crater on the South pole of the Moon. The intention is to vaporize surface material in hopes that there is water contained in the sediments of the surface. Another probe which will be orbiting the Moon will then travel through the debris cloud that is thrown up and most likely examine the gas composition for water vapor. If there is water on the Moon this is a good thing for further lunar exploration, and possibly a base someday. If we could extract the water astronauts could use it while on the Moon and also, through electrolysis we could split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen and use it in fuel cells! We could see this with a regular telescope in the morning, but it will be way too cloudy to see it. So tune in to NBC news tomorrow morning to see this happen!

Easy Metric Conversions..... GO METRIC!

2009-09-24T20:22:00.007-04:00

Hey all, above is a video that shows you have to convert using the metric step method. It makes it easy to convert one metric unit to another metric unit. Just don't use it when going from Standard units to metric- it won't work! We'll learn how to do that all too soon!!!

Pumped for this trip!

2009-09-14T20:07:00.003-04:00

So I have confirmed that on October 2 I will be taking 30 Physical Science students to Wil-Research in Ashland to see the scientific method in action. These students just finished up presenting their Mythbuster projects today where they did some really amazing projects! I hope all of you had a great time doing these projects where you became familiar with controls, independent variables, dependent variables and other research methods. I think one thing that it does is blow you away how many different directions you could go with this project. You could literally set up quite a few different experiments focusing around one small idea, which leads to even bigger ideas and more discovery later. I hope you had a good time doing these, and get ready to launch into a new unit this week learning about metric conversions and that scary word called dimensional analysis! Looking forward to the Wil-Research trip!

Mythbusters Projects this week.....Xtra Credit Opp.

2009-09-09T22:21:00.003-04:00

So this week my students are working on Mythbusters projects in class. Basically, they are designing a full-scale scientific experiment from start to finish and then manipulating vaiables and controls while collecting data. They will also be creating posters for the presentation portion of the project once all data is collected and conclusions are made. This is one of my favorite projects that I've created for students to do; it helps them learn that the scientific method can be complex and a very fun thing to carry out! If any of my students wants +2 points of bonus credit; respond to this blog post by the end of the week and answer this question: What myth is it that you are trying to bust?

Back to School Time!

2009-08-23T23:47:00.002-04:00

Thought I would post a nice commercial for all the students out there which I will see this Tuesday bright and early in the morning! Hope you're looking forwards to another fun, crazy, educational semester in science. See you all soon.......:-)

Perseid Meteor Shower to peak next week!

2009-08-05T23:26:00.003-04:00

If any students out there actually read my blog during the summer, or any humans for that matter, there is going to be a pretty spectacular event happen next week. Once a year the Earth migrates through a point in space where it encounters meteors known as the Perseid Meteor shower. As these small bits of rock and debris hit our atmosphere traveling around 12,000 mph the air pressure is so tremendous that they begin to burn up as they travel through our thick air. Although most of them are around the size of a grain of sand or a little larger, they give off bright enough light to show up as streaks across the sky. A pretty cool fact is that there have been some large enough to make it through the atmosphere, and we know that there have been some very large impacts throughout the Earth's history that have created tremendous disasters on the face of the Earth. In recent history, however, most that are big enough to hit the earth are not extremely large in size. So go outside next week on August 11 and 12 about midnight, lay down on the grass, face your feet towards the Northeast and open your eyes wide. Weirdly enough sometimes meteorites are easier to see out of the corners of your eyes as small streaks across the sky. I've only seen a couple of really good shows in my life where a meteorite went nearly the length of the sky as it streaked across! Check it out!

BaAaM! I'm back with something really cool!

2009-07-27T19:13:00.002-04:00

So I saw this clip from the nightly news tonight and had to post on it for some summer science! Watch the clip closely and you will notice the small deflections that the bridge has as traffic moves over it. Also, notice the larger deflections that occur when the subway moves across the bridge on the second level underneath of the top. What is amazing is that this bridge handles these movements on a daily basis; the steel must absorb and transfer this energy into the cables on the bridge, then transfer it to the pillars of the bridge and into the foundations below. Remember that within one steel beam, the top of the beam is under a compressional force during a deflection and the bottom of the beam is under a tensional force. This is why the bridge must be inspected constantly to ensure safety for all! If you're lucky I'll now go and find some clips of the Tacomas Narrow bridge that wasn't designed correctly and ended up falling apart! Maybe the next post!

Summer in the Country!

2009-06-10T21:07:00.002-04:00

Today kicked off the summer season for our family, with Myla being the center of our attention at this point in our lives. It is a little odd being a teacher in the summer because you work so hard during the day and evenings throughout the school year; then it is all quickly done! A flurry of final exams and grading finishes off the year along with graduation. It seems to sneak up on me very quickly this time of year. I find myself wondering what the summer holds for me, but it seems that life finds me....I don't have to seek it! I've got a ton of firewood to cut for the winter this next year which I will do this summer so that I have it dry and seasoned for the fall and winter. My wife thinks that I'm crazy for doing this in the summer, but she sure likes the firewood in the winter when we're warm and cozy while it is -20 F outside! It is a little different having a little one around, everything must be planned around her needs. I think the best way to attack it is for my wife and I to double-team the work around the house so that neither one of us goes absolutely crazy at any point in time. No big trips this summer, too expensive and there's a lot to get done around here. I will be blogging here and there when something comes up in life that is interesting. We will be hosting a bonfire and outdoor movie for the NHS kids at school early in July. Along with spending time with family, I hope to help out with a satellite church plant that is coming to Holmes County as a drummer. So I suppose it may be a busy summer after all!!

Summer's A Coming, What Are You Doing?

2009-06-01T20:33:00.003-04:00

With this being the last blog post that I'll be updating for school this year, I urge students to continue checking the blog to see what is going on in science this summer. I also would like to find out what you are doing (other than studying hard for your final exams next Monday)! If you would like some extra credit in the course (5pts), by this Friday post your response with what you're doing this summer break? Make sure to put just your initials in your response so that I can give you your credit on Progress Book!!! Enjoy your summer!

Loving doing some Astronomy in summer!

2009-05-24T11:03:00.002-04:00

Astronomy is the most amazing subject matter to study. Not only do we know so little about it, it changes all of the time. I think that humans have a deep-seeded desire to understand what is out there and to go and explore. Just think about it, when you were a kid and in the woods you went places to see what was there. You wanted to know what was out there and if there was something even cooler there! That is what I gathered from this past week's trip to the Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio near Columbus with my science classes. Not only did my Astronomy class enjoy it, my freshmen loved it as well. We got to look through the second largest telescope in the state of Ohio, as well as other telescopes that people brought in that they had made. We got to see first and foremost, the planet Saturn and its rings. Amazing to be able to see something so far so clear. It rotates so fast that it bulges out on the sides (like Earth), and becomes an oblate spheroid. We also got to see Polaris A and B, double stars. We got to see globular clusters of stars and even a satellite passing overhead. What was your favorite moment of the trip or what do you wonder about in Astronomy? Share it!

Atlantis launch video....

2009-05-16T19:15:00.001-04:00

Atlantis and Hubble Transiting the Sun

2009-05-16T18:23:00.002-04:00

Here is a photo of the space shuttle Atlantis as it approached the Hubble telescope; they are both crossing between Earth and the Sun at this point! AMAZING STUFF!

I'm back....couldn't resist discussing the Hubble mission

2009-05-16T17:26:00.002-04:00

I just couldn't resist talking about the Hubble mission that shuttle Atlantis is currrently on. I am all pumped up because I am taking students from my Geology/Astronomy class as well as a few from my Physical Science class to the Perkins Observatory this next week near Columbus. We have had a lot of enjoyment watching the launch of the mission and doing some journaling as to whether or not the students think the mission should be done. The Hubble mission is quite interesting: is NASA doing this because images from the Hubble are that important or is it to push public support of the space program? I, for one, really enjoy the images and the intricacy of what is out there in space. Even though the mission is dangerous (they couldn't get to the safety of the ISS if something goes wrong because they are in a different orbit), I believe that it is important that humans continue to wonder what is out there. Imagine what kind of technology we would have if there weren't people in the past who wondered, "I wonder why"? Another fun spot of this mission is that one of the astronauts has become the first to "Twitter" from space via his cell phone. I have added him as a friend on my contact list and sent him back a Tweet to space! I'm hoping I get contact from him and can discuss some of the things that he is doing! Let me know what you think about the mission by responding, it is even worth +5 bonus points!!!!!! Yippee!

Taking a hiatus from blogging for a little while!

2009-05-07T22:09:00.002-04:00

So my wife and I just had our first little one; Myla Miller. I have decided to take some time away from Blogger for awhile, but I'll be back soon. I need to spend some time with her and my wife and finish the school year in some sort of sanity......and right now the blog is down on my list. So I will be back, and look forwards to summer!

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The Time is Now for an Education!

2009-03-31T20:45:00.003-04:00

I have been pondering this topic for many of the past weeks now, as a matter of fact; I've been pondering it since I've started teaching! How do you motivate students to understand that an education is THE only way that you can ensure some type of substantial future life? What we do in the trenches on a daily basis is to prepare students to deal with an ever-changing and difficult world of work. With the news of our economy getting worse by the minute, students need to understand the importance of an education. Take a look around us on a daily basis; we have food, we have shelter, we have transportation of some sort, and we have the ability to get a public education. As a nation, I think we take ourselves too lightly most of the time and don't realize the blessings that are available to us on a daily basis. Notice that I said, "blessings that are available". Education, much like a state track record, does not just plop down in our lap like a nice new Ipod player. Athletes train so hard sometimes 6-8 hours per day to get their bodies to perfrom at peak levels, but most of the time that still isn't enough. Students spend so much time in school not doing much of anything, or working hard to not to anything. I always say that it is about accountability, responsibility, and dependability. Employers want workers that can show up on time, respect authority, put a good day's work in, and be flexible depending on what is needed. Now I realize that a lot of students are young, but they need to see my perspective on this. I've been in those crummy summer college jobs which propelled me to get an education even more. Furthermore, many adults that I know really don't like or appreciate their job; it is just a way to make the ends meet and pay the bills. Even in these economic times, I would challenge students to not just find "a job" but to go out there and make it count. Get a degree in something viable for a career, do not let down, and land that job to get you where you would like to be in life.

What YOU need to know about the credit crisis

2009-03-22T20:00:00.002-04:00

This is a very serious post for me right now, times are tough for a LOT of people out there. I was fortunate enough to watch Dateline NBC tonight and they were dissecting the credit crisis. It seems as though all of this started back in the early 1990's when our nation's economy was doing fairly well and mortgage companies decided that they could make loads of cash by selling to just about anyone. The government was behind Americans achieving the "American Dream" that we all strive for. So CEO's of mortgage companies decided that they would "help" out and in the same make millions or maybe billions of dollars for themselves. So they began putting the pressure on everyone below them on on the corporate ladder to get loans through for just about anyone. Dateline had people claiming they made $15,000/month being a window washer, now I know that some window washers are talented, but seriously? So the pressure created, and also incentives given, persuaded mortage lenders to sign-off for people to get massive loans. The underwriters were pressured from their bosses to sign-off on the loans and either got lavish gifts or threatened to do it! So up and up the ladder we went, threatening each other to do it so that everyone padded their pockets with cash that never would exist because people would end of defaulting on the loan. Millions of Americans purchased houses that they couldn't afford on a monthly basis, but the banks said that they could have the financing so they did it anyway. I believe this is a great reason every student should be taking a Personal Finance course in school, we have not been wise with our blessings in life. So Wall Street bundles the loans up in a nice little package and sells them off, all of the time knowing they will default at some point- but hey, it's not all our fault, right? Now we are just reaping what we have been put into the ground that was rotten to begin with. I DO NOT blame any particular person, it is a national greed problem. It is NOT the government's fault, I put most of the responsibility on individuals to be in charge of their own finances. Now the bad decisions of a few are affecting everyone around the country, including my own family, and everyone is suffering. No one seems to know what the cure is for the problem: I'll tell you it is all about being accountable, dependable and responsible for your own finances! Let me know what You think personally!

A Danger YOU need to Know About

2009-03-15T22:06:00.003-04:00

My Geology/Astronomy course is working on understanding radioactivity and half-lives of radioactive elements. The basics of this are that there is naturally uranium in the Earth that will spontaneously decay into several unstable products which then decay into other products before becoming lead. One of those stops is the gas known as Radon. I knew that it could get into basements, but was really, REALLY suprised to find out that IT IS THE SECOND LEADING CAUSE OF LUNG CANCER! It only falls behind second-hand smoke. Radon can seep into a home's basement and it will stay there, generally because it is much denser than normal air. It seeps through cracks in foundation stones, crack in the poured concrete, windows, water wells, etc. It embeds itself in lung tissue where it can wreak havoc and possibly start mutating cells, thus cancer. Now, I'm generally now a band-wagon type of person ( hence go-green, arrghh), but this is one cause that needs addressed in the world. Not only did none of my students know much about it, but no one I talk to has ever really heard of testing your house! This stuff will KILL you! I have made it my new mission to inform my students as much as possible so that they may convince parents to get a cheap test kit to send to a laboratory to tell you your danger levels. Let's start a revolution and get this problem fixed, the levels can be prevented from becoming dangerous.......... ultimately less people die of something that can be prevented. You can see smoke from a cigarette, you can't see, smell or taste Radon!

Dimensional Analysis

2009-03-11T22:35:00.003-04:00

My Physical Science classes are going to be working on dimensional analysis over the next few days. Basically, it's taking one unit such as miles per hour and converting this into something like kilometers per year. It is a very powerful tool in Chemistry, Physics and other branches of science. I put a lot of energy into teaching this concept, as we use it throughout the rest of the course. I've included a video example in this blogpost to help those students out there that need some visual examples of the conversion. Take a look and understand how these conversions work.

Moral Dilemma

2009-03-10T23:43:00.002-04:00

The Obama administration is lifting the ban on federal funding for stem cell research. In order to support science, President Obama has said that we must fund stem cell research. Now, I'm not completely sure what I personally feel about this situation. I am not for abortion at all, but I'm not sure what I think about using embryos that were created through fertilization techniques. I know that they destroy the embryos if they are not used, so I'm wondering if it is ok to study their stem cells before they are just destroyed? Would be interested in hearing your opinions on this one!

Human-Generated Power

2009-03-06T22:51:00.004-05:00

Ok, so today I came across an article that was discussing human-powered energy. We all have the ability to create electrical currents by taking the energy that we expend and using it to do something like moving a magnetic field across a set of coiled copper wires which then induces a current. Think about it: we eat our Wheaties for breakfast and then head to the weightroom to do some weightlifting and run 2 miles on a track. All of the calories you burn are really useful energy that you are wasting! There are a multitude of things that people have came up with to use human power, I myself have two flashlights that use human-cranked handles to generate and store electrical charge in a battery to use to power small L.E.D. lights. It's amazing what we can do with this! Here is an idea from today at school: we get rid of all of the student desks and replace them with stationary bicycles outfitted with small generators. The students come in and ride the bikes 6 hours per day for 5 days per week for 180 school days per year. The power generated by the students in my classroom is stored in batteries in my room to power lights, outlets, computers, etc. I know it sounds crazy, but in some malls they are using the revolving doors to do the same thing as you walk through them. And in some fitness centers, not only are you paying a monthly fee but you are also paying for their electricity bills when you use the equipment: SWEET FOR THEM! Anyways, kill two birds with one stone and fight childhood obesity and power the school in one step. Taxpayers everywhere should be happy about this idea, and health insurance companies for later in life!!!!!

4D Ultrasounds

2009-02-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

Really excited that we are going to be able to see our baby and know the gender for the first time this week. The process that they use to render the images of the baby is quite amazing, it is actually a sequence of ultrasound images taken about 1/12 of a second apart and pasted together to make one flowing video. I can see these coming into the major medical fields within a few years, but for now you have to find a place that will do one for you. Check out the clip above to see how it works, really neat!

Interwoven Curricula

2009-02-19T22:30:00.002-05:00

So as I'm teaching my Geology/Astronomy course today, I realized the interconnected curricula that you can't get away from in science. I teach Physical Science most periods of the day and in one of the sections we are studying Lewis Structures of atoms. While going through the dot notation of elements, the students had to understand how to draw a shell model of an atom and then build the electron shells around the nucleus in the correct manner. Now I know somebody out there is reading this and going, "this is so boring, what's the point". The cool thing is that physics, chemistry, biology, geology and astronomy are all extremely interconnected courses. Most students do not see this while in school, they just assume that what they're doing in one class is not connected to anything else at all, but I disagree. The past couple of days in Geology we have been looking at Earth's atmospheric circulation cells and how they drive a series of events for Earth. For instance, specific heat of material means that land heats up faster than water which in turn creates pressure differences in the atmosphere above them, which in turn causes the high pressure to travel towards the low pressure (All THE TIME). This small effect is exactly why it is always windy at the beach on a warm day. The more I teach science, the more connected all of the different curricula are. That is why I enjoy teaching so much, it makes me more and more interested every day!

Keeping them in my thoughts and prayers

2009-02-14T23:05:00.002-05:00

The terrible tragedy that took place this past week left our world losing 50 amazing individuals to a horrible accident. The news has been saturated with information about what exactly happened and they just had a story about a boy that was supposed to be on the flight but missed it.....wow. I've been fortunate to hear a little about each of these individuals to appreciate and respect their lives that were ended too early. What it showed me was that humans are amazing individuals, creating and doing many different vocations and hobbies, interests, families and living full and amazingly interesting lives. No, I do not understand why it happened just like you are probably questioning also. It made me reflect back on my life a bit and remember at least 4-5 events that may have taken my own life, but for some reason that I am not able to fathom, I am still here. It appears that the cause of the accident was a build-up of ice on the windows and leading edges of the wings of the plane. These types of planes have pneumatic air bladder systems installed on the leading edge of the wing that will inflate with air and "pulse" which breaks up any ice that is freezing on the wing. The leading edge of the wing is crucial to the flight of planes. It was first Wilbur and Orrville that discovered and researched wing designs that provided lift so that air can push up the weight of the plane to keep it aloft. The basic principle is called Bernoulli's principle that states that faster moving air creates lower pressures, thus allowing air pressure to "lift" the wing upwards. It is the same effect that happens when you stand at the edge of the ocean as a wave comes to shore and then rushes back out around your feet. Did you ever notice that your feet begin to sink down in the sand because the water moving against the sides of your feet starts to erode our the sand? Same thing. The ice on the wings disrupts the laminar flow of air over the top of the wing and does not provide enough lift to keep the plane in the air. Basically the air speed that they had was no longer sufficient to provide enough force of up in the vertical direction. From the data collected so far, it looks like the plane dropped almost straight down on the top of the house when it crashed. Carrying that much fuel, it's just not a good situation at all. If you're wondering, larger commercial jets that aren't turboprops use heat from the jet engines to keep the wings from icing over. Crews are often seen de-icing plane's wings in the winter so that they can take off, I guess I have never thought how crucial this can be. Let's all keep these individuals' families in our thoughts and prayers.

Going for the gold.... or not?

2009-02-07T23:19:00.003-05:00

Well I'm listening to all of the news about the Phelps issue with drugs and I'm not totally sure what to make of it. Yes, he was in the picture and clearly participating in doing illegal substances. Yes, it was really stupid and he let a lot of people in the US and around the world down. Yes, many sponsors will pull the plug saying, "no way will we want our company represented by him". Yes, many people think that everyone is making too big of deal about this, it happens all of the time anyway. Yes, even a lot of students in my classes didn't think that what he did was a big deal, it's just drugs right? Wow! I took a poll of my classes and asked the question, "How many of you know someone very close to you that does some form of drugs on a normal basis"? ALMOST ALL OF THE STUDENTS IN EVERY ONE OF MY CLASSES RAISED THEIR HAND! To be honest folks, I can remember back to high school and I wouldn't of even known where to GET drugs if I had wanted them!! It is a sure sign that times have changed, the unfortunate part is that these substances are hurting our society more than ever. You now can't even go to a store and buy duster spray, white-out, spray paint, aerosols of any nature, butane lighters, etc. etc. etc. because kids are huffing this stuff and getting high. Since when was it cool to displace oxygen in your bloostream from getting to your brain, meanwhile the cells in the brain are dying because of a lack of oxygen. When the "rush" occurs, how many kids don't realize or even care that they are just short of dying because they are starving their body of oxygen? Wow, I could go on forever about this but I would rather hear what you have to say out there. Would love to hear your two cents about this problem!

What do you wonder about our planet?

2009-01-29T22:24:00.003-05:00

Ok, so this is the first real post for my new Spring '09 Geology/Astronomy course to respond to. Since we're starting with the Earth and its systems, I was wondering what kinds of questions you have about our planet. Over the next week we will be getting into this topic and when you think of your question, make a commment and let me know what you wonder. There are many things that I wonder about, so to start off I'll share my own question(s). Yes, there are a lot! The first big question that I have is I wonder when our magnetic field will go through a reversal. We know it's happened in the past due to information collected from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge igneous rock formation. The big question is, I wonder when it will start to flip and how it will happen. Will the shied just spontaneously flip like the snap of two fingers or will it slowly degrade from its original form, flip, and then build in the opposite orientation? Maybe a weird question, but then again I'm wondering if I should buy some SPF 1,000 sunblock so that I don't look like a piece of KFC chicken when it happens!!! Just kidding, I have NO idea!!!! By the way, when you think of your's and comment, you've just earned yourself +5 BONUS POINTS ALREADY!

New Semester, New Fresh Page Layout!

2009-01-28T23:23:00.001-05:00

Thought that I would start the new semester with a fresh layout. Same great blog, same great place! Maybe we'll actually have school tomorrow?

Need this plow....now!

2009-01-28T21:58:00.001-05:00

Really glad a really cool guy in my church plowed us out today, I really need to get the tractor running! Thought this might be what I need!

The End of Fall Semester!

2009-01-26T18:57:00.002-05:00

This blog post marks the end of the fall semester for my classes that are following the blog. While I don't mind students to continue and follow along, there will be new students viewing and posting and commenting as the Spring semester has arrived! I hope all students are looking forward to a new semester, work hard and be accountable for your time in the classroom; it will be very rewarding in the future. Today had it's ups and downs, but no downside could hurt our country as much as the loss of the amount of jobs that happened today. We do have a global economy and many areas of it are struggling miserably in the current state. The only way to counter this situation is for students to obtain the best education possible, and that starts now. Do your best this next semester: be accountable, be responsible, and be dependable to yourself and your fellow classmates.

Final Exam Time

2009-01-24T12:30:00.002-05:00

A little update to remind all of my students what is going on with final exams next week. First of all, my Geology students should be happy as their final exam was a 10 page research paper on climate change that was already due to turn in. I have a couple of research papers yet to grade from that and then I will be submitting grades asap. Also, geology students have an exam on climate change Tuesday after we finish up with notes, etc. on Monday. As far as Physical Science students, hopefully you are using all 48 hours of your weekend studying for your final exams.........just kidding, only use 47 of them for it! I passed out the study guide Friday, and you also have acceleration homework due Monday. Monday will be review problems galore, yay, and getting geared up for Tuesday's final exam. Hope you are having a good Saturday, can't do much but study anyways since it is so coooolllldddd outside............... c ya Monday.

Student's Opinions on Climate Change

2009-01-20T22:48:00.003-05:00

So after my Geology students worked so hard on their final exams for the Geology course, I thought they may want to add their two cents worth about Climate Change on here. If you are one of those students and feel strongly one way or the other, please feel free to hop on the comment list and add your own opinion. Did your analysis conclude that it is happening? Is this a man-made problem? Is is a natural cyclic phenomenon? Is the Sun causing all of this? Is it just the Earth being dynamic? Aliens? :-) Add your own comments! AND BY THE WAY, WHAT AN AMAZING TIME OUR COUNTRY IS HAVING RIGHT NOW WITH THE NEW PRESIDENT'S INAUGURATION TODAY!

It's all worth it!

2009-01-19T21:11:00.002-05:00

I was just reading a post by a former student and was completely blow away by it! Here it is if you didn't see it under the Peak n' Peak trip post:

Heather said...
this has nothing to do with your blog...just wanted to think you for being a great chemistry teacher! I was in your first class at loudonville and you def helped me get an A in chemistry. THANKS!! I know its doesnt seem like students really think what they are learning is worth it while they are in your class, but without you I would have done bad! So it really does pay off to have a great teacher! thanks....GO class of 2006! lol

I am humbled and really excited by that response! It makes it all worth it on a daily basis. If you are a student out there right now reading this, remember that she said it really does pay off to work hard in school and that there are rewards later! :-)

Peak N' Peek Ski Trip '09

2009-01-17T17:09:00.003-05:00

We're at Peak N' Peek in New York with the ski club and New Hope youth group trip. Really, really, really, really cold and snowy here (2 feet of new snow)! Having a lot of fun going down the hills and trying not to get hypothermia or frostbite! Did some snow tubing last night, stayed at a camp and then had a good breakfast this morning. It has been a long day of boarding up to this point, we have about 4 more hours to go until we leave for Loudonville at 10pm. Looks like it could be a bad drive home, hopefully not. Looking forward to some R&R when I get home, I thought that was what the trip is about but I am getting way too much exercise!!! Here is where we are: http://www.pknpk.com

What an Amazing Week in our World!

2009-01-15T22:48:00.002-05:00

Today amongst the crazy news that a Boeing passenger plane made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, I couldn't help but connect it to science and what I teach in the classroom. The greatest part is that all of the passengers survived, miraculously, and walked away from the wreckage of the plane. First of all, it is crazy that the plane stayed afloat for the length of time that it did; luckily the passenger compartment kept it filled with air for about 15 minutes. The plane was also most likely filled with fuel, so it could have been a very bad accident. I have heard about large geese or vultures getting into the turbine blades, but what a small percentage of chance that two would take out both engines on the plane. If you remember, Mythbusters did an episode with some frozen chickens being shot a the windows of a plane to test their resistance to breakage. I just got done reading an article on CNN going through various methods of "bird control" that airports use. Here is my view: why don't we create some sort of "screen" to put over the open ends of the jet turbine engines to block foreign materials except for air entering it. It could be like a hemisphere shape with small enough grating to deflect foreign material, but be helical in design so that it would spin the incoming air to coincide with the turbine's rotation? What do you folks think?

Going to get CCCCOOOOOLLLLDDD!

2009-01-12T22:06:00.002-05:00

Hang on to your socks everybody and grab a knit cap while your throwing another piece of wood on the fire! It's going to get colder than it has for the past two years here is Ohio over the next few days this week. Projections including wind chills into the negative ten degree range! Don't know if the snow coming in the Alberta clipper will add up to much tonight. These clippers from Canada tend to be a little dry and less moisture-laden than when a low pressure meets up with a warm, moist stream coming up from the Gulf. Anyway, might get another 3" out of this one! See you tomorrow! I thought that C.B. would like this cartoon!

Ohio Cavern Trip

2009-01-11T11:39:00.003-05:00

Friday my geology class departed for West Liberty, Ohio to check out the Ohio Caverns. The students learned how minerals are precipitated and start to deposit and form these formations known as stalactites and stalagmites. I actually learned a lot more than I knew before the trip while we were there. They had found some horned coral fossils along with pieces of trilobites dating back to the Devonian period in Earth's history. Trilobites survived at the bottom of shallow seas during this period, they scrambled along the bottom feeding as they traveled. A mass extinction event, of some sort, eventually made them go extinct but at least we still have fossil evidence that they exist. Anyways, we saw some very interesting structures created naturally; it just blows you away how awesome nature can be without any human intervention at all. The beautiful colorations are caused by the leaching of iron oxide (rust) and manganese dioxide through the permeable limestone. Another interesting thing about the Ohio Caverns is that they have dual formations which are one type of mineral deposit growing on another. The travel home became a little tricky with a huge snow storm looming upon the state. We made it safely home and I hope that all of my students found a new appreciation for the great geology that Ohio has to offer! If you are a student reading this blog post, respond with your thoughts on the trip.......:-)

Xtra Credit Opportunity!

2009-01-07T22:47:00.002-05:00

Hey all of my classes............... you want some extra credit don't you? Just fill in my poll of the most dangerous thing to life on Earth on the right hand side of my blog. You just click on the one that you feel is the most dangerous and badddaaa boooom baddda bbbiiingg you have earned yourself some xtra credit! If you really don't like some of my endings, just reply to this post with your own!