Crystal Garden

Guiding Question: How do crystals grow?

Hypothesis: I think that we can grow crystals anywhere, on any objects, different shapes and sizes from the solutions that the teacher is going to give us.

Materials: sand, pie plate, tin foil, cup, string, clay, wood, Styrofoam ball, pipe cleaner, tooth picks and Brillo pad.

Day 1

Today we added the salt and sugar solution to our Cristal gardens and added food coloring to the solution. After I pored the solutions over my Cristal garden, it looked so colorful. My garden is on Mars, there is a space station and a satellite on the top of it, there is three rivers going into 1 little pool. There is a lot of plants and there is a marshen.






Day 2
The salt and the sugar crystals grew a little bit but not so much. I added a little more sugar and salt solutions to the places the didn't have any crystals!












Day 3

Today in science class we continued doing our crystal gardens. I put some more solutions on my garden but other than that , my crystal garden was finished, but now I am just waiting for the crystals to grow. I was doing my dale diary. I rely loved doing this project and being able to work and have fun at the same time! I hope all of my class mates liked this project as much as i did!!!




Data analysis:
The place where the crystals grew the most is on the ground (sand). I notice that the salt solution was growing the most crystals on and under the sand. The place where the crystals grew the worst was on the string, in the cave because there wasn't a continuous flow of solution!
The solution that was the easiest to grow from was the Salt crystals because they seamed to grow everywhere.
The solution that grew crystals the slowest or most difficult was the borax which was placed on the ropes inside the cave.
The best method for me was pouring the solution all over the place and seeing where it is going to grow the most.

Conclusion:
The condition that is kneaded to grow crystals is in a calm warm area so that the crystal solution can evaporate faster and you can grow crystals faster!
What can you conclude about the conditions that are needed for crystals to grow? Give examples from evidence you have seen from either your garden or classmate's gardens. What have you learned about crystals during this project? Do you have a new hypothesis? Answer the guiding question.

Further Inquiry: What errors may have occurred in your garden? How would you change the experiment if you were to do it all over again? What further questions do you have about crystals and the conditions they need for growth?

Notes about Bill Nye Video; Volcanoes

• 2 weeks old->
• 4 weeks old->
• 100 years old->
• They can drill into the magma from the top and might find some fossils.
  
• Volcanoes erupt when 2 tectonic plates collide.
• Volcanoes form new land, it can move rivers, they can transform lakes.
  
• Volcanoes ooze or explode.
• Newer rock means that it is younger, if it is further under the surface that means it is older.
• Dormant- sleeping volcano.200 years hasn't erupted.
  
• Extincted
  
• Plume- Its a ball of lava coming out of the earths surface.
  
• Three tipes of Volcanoes:
• Shield
• Cone
• Caldera
  
• Lava is 1,000 c

Paragraph:

When lava comes out of a volcano it forms layers. It could go like: 2 weeks old-> 4 weeks old-> 100 years old->

Newer rock means that it is younger, if it is further under the surface that means it is older. Miners can drill into the magma from the top and might find some fossils underneath. Volcanoes erupt when 2 tectonic plates collide. And Volcanoes form when 2 tectonic plates converge. Volcanoes form new land, they can move rivers, and they can transform lakes. Volcanoes ooze or explode. Lava is 1,000 c. Dormant- sleeping volcano. 200 years hasn't erupted (Extinct), Plume- It’s a ball of lava coming out of the earth’s surface. Three types of Volcanoes: Shield, Cone, Caldera.

Dinamic Earth blog post; Gems and Minerals

In this blog post i will tell you all about Gems and Minerals. I learned some stuff from this website http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/main_frames.html I hope you do too!

• Gems are measured by carats.
• One carat equals 0.2 g.
• The word carat comes from carob, a tree from the Mediterranean region.
  

How do Gems form?

• Gems form first when a volcano erupts dabrea and lava flies all over the place and as the Gems reached the surface, the volcano erupted. The fragments turned into a rock called kimberlite, in which the diamond is embedded.

What makes a Gem valuable?

• Size
• Beauty
  
• rarity
• and durability
• They are the BASIC reasons of what makes Gems valuable.

How do crystals become gems?
Nearly all 4,000 kinds of minerals can be cut down into gem stones, but only about 15 are commonly used for different types of jewelry.

1. They cut the crystal using a diamond saw.
   
2. They shape the crystal using a abrasive(rough) wheel.
3. Grind facets(polished plane surfaces of a cut gem) at precisely determined angels.
   
4. Polish the gem by pushing it against a wheel.
   

Where do gems come from?

• Gems have been found all over the world but these are the most common places they can be found:
• Colombia
• North America
• Brazil
  
• South Africa
  
• Madagascar
  
• Afghanistan
  
• Tanzania
• India
  
• Sri Lanka
• Burma
  
• Australia
  

Opals and Moonstones

• Opals are made of tiny spheres of silica.
  
• They scatter light which gives it its colors.
  
• It's made up of 6% to 10% water.
• Because of the water they can dry up and crack.
  
• The opal is the birth stone for October.
  
• Moonstones and sunstones belong to the feldspar family and they make up half of the earths crust.
  
• Occasionally, this common material forms a crystals that shimmers like a rainbow on a soap bubble.
  

Earth's Crust

This blog post is a reflection of what I this week in science class about earth's structure and caves. We watched 2 Bill Nye videos called Earth's crust and caves.
The layers of the world!!
1 thing that I learned was the layers of the earth. Which are: Crust(we live on that layer), Mantle(that's the second layer), the Outer Core(getting hotter), and finally the Inner Core(the hottest!!!). The inner core is basically solid. The outer core is made out of liquid. The mantle is made of plastic. And the the thing that we stand on rite now, the thing that is the smallest but it gives us the most protection,, is made out of rock.



In this picture that i found shows the different temperatures and the length of layer. It also shows what the layers are called and what the layers are made of.








The Animals that live in the caves!!
There are three types of groups of animals that live in caves. The 1st group is called Trogloxenes. They are cave visitors. For an example a bear an owl and a bat are Trogloxenes.
The 2nd group is called Troglyphiles. They love the caves! 1 of the animals that loves the caves the most is a worm. The reason why they love it so much is because i is very moist and wet down in the caves and that means that if it is wet and moist then the ground gets wet and the worm love mud, so that's why they love being down in the caves!


And the 3rd group is called Troglodylos. They are cave dwellers. Some of the animals that live there are fish, lizards, spiders, and crayfish. Crayfish

Making Water Wetter / Cooling Race

Making Water Wetter
I think that i did pritey good in the lab Making Water Wetter. I got a good score and i am very satisfied with how i did. My lab has improved, what i knead to improve is my data analysis.
Cooling Race
I think that i did rely good in this lab. i got a 6/6, 6/6 and 6/6.