Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Biofuels VDA #3

 
1. What is algae? (Specifically, what kingdom does it belong to and where is it found?)
    Algae belongs to kingdom plantae and protista. It is found in damp places and bodies of water.
Reference:
 http://www.oilgae.com/algae/sources/sources.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/In_taxonomy_in_what_kingdom_are_algae_classified

2. What is another form of biofuel that the article mentions? (Hint! "There's more than _______ in Indiana! Indiana Beach!")
Another form of biofuel is corn.

3. When comparing algal biofuel to the biofuel mentioned in your answer to number 2, which one allegedly produces fewer polluntants?.
The corn produces fewer polluntants than the algal biofuel.
 

4. How does the algae produce biofuel?
 Special algae are grown in bulk; when fed certain sugars, they produce combustible oils that can be used as fuel additives
 
 
1. How long does nature take to produce fuel?
Nature takes millions of years to produce fuel.
2. How long does it take Solazyme to produce fuel?
Solazyme takes a matter of few days to produce fuel.
3. Where is Solazyme currently located?
 Solazyme is located in Peoria, Illinois

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

"DEE" is for danger:

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/10/cool-jobs-the-science-of-secrets/

1. Choose which of the subsections of the article you found most interesting and answer the following questions:

a) In what way does their research contribute to the greater good?
This research contributes that animals do communicate with each other just like humans but, in different ways. it also contributes that we can understand what animals are saying but, with practice and studying.
b) What questions did the scientist pose that led to the research that s/he did?
The question that this scientist posed is "when birds varied their calls,did that indicate they were giving a different meaning to each message? 
c) What field of science does this fall into? (Biology, chemistry, physics, etc.?)
This article falls into Biology.



2. Select one of the scientists mentioned in the article, and write a letter to him/her. In the letter, include what you know about his/her research, what you found most fascinating and include a minimum of two well thought-out questions.

           Dear Dr. Chris Templeton ,

        I enjoyed reading your article "Dee is for danger". It was very fascinating and interesting. The most fascinating thing about the article was, how you tested the chickadees by using different kinds of animals that are predators to them and seeing how they will react. i wanted to ask, why did you pick the bird chickadee to test on? My other question is, does every animal's name come from what they say when they try to warn or communicate each other? Thank you for your time to read my letter.

                                   Sincerely,
                                                          Dena
          
           



    



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

VDA 1

1) What was the title and URL of the article you read?The URL is http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/10/curiositys-watery-find/ and the title is curiosity's water find.

2) Do you have any questions about anything you read in the article? If so, what are the questions? No i don't have any additional comments.

3) What did you find MOST fascinating about the article? the most fascinating thing i found about the article is,the rover found rocks called conglomerates, which form when pebbles and sand get stuck together with wet sediment, so there must been water on Mar's.

4) What did you learn? I learned that the word conglomerates, which means conglomerates form when pebbles and sand get stuck together with wet sediment. I also learned that there might be water in mars.
5) Why was the science found in the article important, in your opinion? I think that it's important because it is really fascinating that there's water on mars so, this article will inform people what's going on Mars.

6) Any additional comments? No i don't have any additional comments.