Nicolas Reed Science Blog

Summary- This week in science we learned more about solid, liquid, and gas/states of matter. What we learned about mostly was shape, volume, and the particles in each state of matter. What I learned about gas was that it has a changing shape, this is because it moves based on it's container. Also it's particles move very very freely and the particles aren't linked like how they are for the other states. What I learned about a solid is that the particles vibrate but stay in one place and are linked. Also a solid has a definite shape and volume.  What I learned about a liquid was the particles are linked but move more freely than the particles in a solid. Image Link S&EP 1-Asking  Questions & Defining Problems- This week I asked lot's of questions, this is because I had many questions about particle movement, similarities, and differences for the states of matter. For example, I didn't know what the similarity between a gas and a solid so I asked ta...

Summary Silver Banshee (my superhero's villain wife) Link      This week we finished our My Superhero project where we had to make a superhero, choose a villain mate, create their kid based off their parent's genes, and do other things based off those three. What I learned was how to use punnet squares, which is write the parent's genotypes on top and on a side then fill in the blanks based off those. I also learned about what mutations are and how they occur, which is when the cell copies the DNA it has a typo of usually just one base (letter) and never catches it. Another thing I learned was that if their is 1 dominant gene in all four possibilities in the punnet squares that means their is a 100% chance that the child will have that dominant trait. If there is only recessive alleles in all of the possibilities of the punnet square that means that the child will automatically get the recessive allele. This is because the dominant trait always covers the recessive ...

Mutation of Spiderman Link This week in science I learned a lot about mutations because we had to write a paper on how they got their super powers. One thing I learned was what happens when the cell is copying the DNA and a base gets added, deleted, replaced, or genetically modified. Mutations are things that occur in the bod's DNA that aren't in the parents DNA. One other thing I learned was mutations are common but usually they don't make a difference because they are in the middle of a genome. Also, that mutations cannot happen like how they occur in spider man. The last thing I learned was that after the mutation happens the cell tries to find any changes (mutations) to make sure their is none but sometimes they don't happen. S&EP6_Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions-      This week I constructed explanations of how my superhero got his powers. I constructed an explanation that involved scientific fact and creativity. I also created a...

Link To Simpsons Picture    This week in science our class learned more about genetics by taking notes and doing a worksheet on Simpsons and their genetics. What I learned from this was that there is another variable when doing genetics, after you right XX and XY you right the genes in smaller letters to the right of each allele. Another thing I learned is what codominance is and what happens to your kid. Codominance is when there is two dominant traits then what their kid gets is a mix of those two traits. For example, if there is a codominance between red and white color for a snapdragon flower the offspring will be white and red. Another thing I learned is what you call that new trait from the codominant parents which is incomplete dominance. The last thing I learned is that only boys can get the genes that have XY chromosomes and only girls can get the ones with the XX chromosomes. This is because boys are XY and girls are XX so it would make sense for them to only ge...

    This week in science our class learned about probability of the traits that will be passed on from the parents to their offspring. We did this by finding a mate (that is a villain) for a superhero that we created in the past then creating punnet squares for some of the traits that their child would have. What I learned was that all dominant traits are represented by a capital letter and that all recessive traits are represented as lower case letters. What I also learned is even though both of your parents have a dominant trait but the combination of letters is heterozygous then you can then have the recessive trait. One other thing I learned is that you can't write the two alleles down with the lower case letter first because the dominant has to go first. The last thing I learned is that when creating letters for each trait both letters need to be the same, it can't be U and i, it needs to be I and i or U and U. Going on with that the alleles have to be shown as letters ...

Punnet Square Link        This week my science class learned about how genes and traits are passed on to their offspring. I learned this by doing activities and assignments. What I learned is that in order to find the probability of the trait your kid will have you have to make punnet squares. Another thing I learned was that if you have one dominant letter/allele (upper case letter) well then the dominant trait will always show. The only way a recessive trait will show is if you have two of the recessive letters/allele (lowercase letters). Another thing I learned was what homozygous means, which is you have to of the same alleles and also what heterozygous means, which is when you two different alleles. The last thing I learned was what type of traits can be inherited which is eye color, height, hair color, ear shape, etc. S&EP 1-Asking Questions and Defining Problems:        This week I asked a lot of questions because I had questio...

      Summary      This week was the Charity Fair where we had to pick a charity in California, research them, create an ignite about them. Then you had to create a product to raise money for that charity then create an instructable of how you created it, then create a tri-fold then present your ignite to a whole bunch of parents for the charity fair. What I learned from doing this year's charity fair was that charity's truly make a big difference in people's life. Also that when you present you should make good eye contact, talk with your slides, and don't sway around. The last thing I learned was to stay open to ideas because maybe that idea will make your project better. What our Product is Link Backword-Looking      What I knew before this subject was what a charity is which is a group of people that donate money and help a cause. Another thing I knew was how to research a charity and find important information and stats t...