In Science class we are learning about earthquakes right know. Do you know what an earthquake is? An earthquake is the shaking of the Earth's surface caused by the fast movement of the Earth's crust. Earthquakes occur when strain underneath the Earth's crust is released. Strain is what causes deformation of rocks and Earth's crust. Strain causes the build up of stress.The three types of stress are compressional, tensional, and shear. They act to change the shape or volume of a material.

Compressional Stress: causes blocks of rocks to squeeze
- causes a rock to shorten
- rock is pushed higher up and deeper down
- makes rocks denser by making volume smaller

Tensional Stress: causes blocks of rocks to pull apart or elongate
- rock becomes thinner in the middle than at the ends
- makes rocks less dense by making volume larger

Shear Stress: causes blocks of rock to slip past each other
- causes rock to twist or tear apart


Earthquakes ruin people's life all over the world. People are homeless because of earthquakes. I just hope there wont be anymore.

Check out the sources!!!!

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571674/Earthquake.html
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate5.htm

We Would Like To Thank Sir Isaac Newton!!!!

Have you ever heard that whatever goes up must come down?.............do you know who discovered that? Sir Isaac Newton of course! He invented thee three laws of motion. His laws changed the way we look at the universe. That there is something called gravity and it is what is always pulling anything that goes up.
Newton's First Law of Motion:
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same velocity unless acted upon an unbalanced force.
Velocity is means the direction in which an someone or something moves. An unbalanced force is a gravational pull, that goes in the direct opposite of an object and slows it down.
Newton's Second Law of Motion:
States that a force acting on a body is equal to the acceleration of that body times its mass. In the matimetical way it is written as F = m(a). Where F is the force in newtons, m is the mass of the body, and a is the acceleration in meters per second per second.
Newton's Thrid Law of Motion:
States that for every action there is a opposite re-action.
For example, what happens if we step off a boat onto the bank of a lake? As we move in the direction of the shore, the boat tends to move in the opposite direction (leaving us facedown in the water, if we aren't careful!).
These laws might get added on when man kind devolops. But what Sir Isaac Newton discovered will not change. He really was someone to look up to since he was one of those people who helped us understand our everyday life.


This is where I found the info!! Check it out!!!!!

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/newton
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/GBSSCI/PHYS/CLASS/newtlaws/u2l1a.html

Gassy Planet

In Illinois, some astroligists discovered a strange new planet on Wednesday. The planet is dense, gassy, and a little strange. Yet, this plant maybe the hottest planet known to mankind. It is smaller than any other planet and has a havy atmosphere. It is orbiting a star in the middle of a constellation called Hercules.
University of Central Florida's Joseph Harrington describes the hot planet as a black ball with a red spot staring right at its star. The planet is called "hot Jupiter." It is one of 14 planets outside our solar system that passes in front of and behind its parent star as seen by us. Harrington said that since the planet is so hot it must have been osorbing all the light that passes by it. The plant's temperature is 3,700 degrees. It is 279 light-years from Earth,
I think finding a new planet is awsome. Since we just figured Pluto isn't a planet anymore. I think that a planet so small has so much heat is hard to imagine. I think that making new discoveries improves man kind.

This is where I found the info!! Check it out!!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/05/10/hot.exoplanet.reut/index.html

Copy Cat!!!!

CC was cloned by Texas scientists. She has big green eyes, cute pink ears, and fluffy soft fur. CC stands for copy cat. CC was cloned in February. She is the first ever cat to be cloned, but she isn't the first animal to clone. Scientists cloned already cloned mice, pigs, goats and sheep. Cloning is a way breeding an animal that is an exact copy of a parent. Just like CC. CC was the exact genetic copy of Rainbow. The researchers from the Texas A&M University took genes form Rainbow and placed it another cat's, Allie, egg cell. The egg developed inside Allie. On December 22 Allie gave birth to cute CC. CC doesn't look anything like Rainbow, but they have the same exact genes. Some people think what the use of cloning something is. That it might affect the world in some way.
I think it is very possible to clone like that. But what is the use of cloning? It might help others, by, giving someone a new pet. But, when they die, there is one more pet to cry about. I think cloning shouldn't be used just like that, except for genetic needs. Like, CC is used. There is saying that “There is no one in the world that is like you," and that you are unique. But that will change if you have a clone.

Hey! This is where I found about this article!! Check it out!!!! http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/magazines/story/0,6277,212616,00.html

Punnet Squares!!

A punnet square is a chart which predicts all possible gene combinations in a cross of parents. Punnett squares are named after an English geneticist. His name was Reginald Punnett. He found some basic rules of genetics.

Know I will tell you how to use a punnet square.

Example:

Why don't we use pea plants since a very famous monk studied them! His name was Gregor Mendel.

For pea plants, tall pea plants, always, are dominant over short pea plants. Using punnet squares, you can predict the offspring's genotype and phenotype. By a cross between a homozygous (purebred) tall pea plant and a homozygous (purebred) short pea plant.

Steps:

1. Use letters that will represent the traits or genes. dominant= upper case letters recessive= lower case letters


2. Write down each gene of both parents. These are sometimes given to you or possible to determine. TT x tt (tall) (short) - both homozygous (same) or purebred


3. List the genes that each parent give. Parent 1 Parent 2- TT= T tt= t


4. Draw a punnet square. they have 4 small squares in shape of a window. Draw the possible genes of a male parent across the top and another possible genes of a female parent across the left side of the punnett square.


5. Fill in each box of the Punnett square by transferring the letter above and in front of each box into each appropriate box. As a general rule, the capital letter goes first and a lowercase letter follows.


6. Then list all the possible genotypes and the phenotype.

phenotype= physical appearance

genotype= genetic makeup

ex.

phenotype- 100% of being tall

genotype- 100% of Tt

PUNNETT SQUARE:

Check out the site!!

http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/CURR/Science/sciber00/7th/genetics/sciber/punnett.htm

Want to practice your punnett squares!!

http://www.athro.com/evo/gen/punexam.html

Meiosis

Meiosis is a type of cell division which forms sex cells with half the usual number of chromosomes. The meiosis process begins with a cell with 46 chromosomes and results in four reproductive cells (sperm or eggs). each of those cells carry 23 chromosomes.

• In the first step, the DNA of each chromosomes is copied to form two chromatids.
• Out of the 23 pairs there is a 50\50 chance of which poles either from the dad or the mom of chromatids to go.
• Now, the nucleus divides into two daughter nuclei. Each of them have some chromosomes from the dad and the mom but with half the full complement of genetic material (and no pairs at all). This division is called Meiosis 1.
• Finally the two daughter nuclei divide to form gametes. This is called the second division or the Meiosis 2. It works just like mitosis. Then the chromosomes split. They do that to form the genetic material of the four new cells.
• As a result there are four sex cells. Each of them have a complete but single pair of 23 chromosomes.

HEY! Here is where I found the info!! Check it out!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/img/bimeiosis.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/biology/cellprocesses/celldivisionrev3.shtml&h=496&w=514&sz=20&tbnid=JGuGlkXvMV_VTM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmeiosis&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://genetics.gsk.com/graphics/meiosis-big.gif&imgrefurl=http://genetics.gsk.com/chromosomes.htm&h=482&w=355&sz=26&tbnid=TLTQ04xJL-c8yM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmeiosis%2Bpicture&start=3&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=3

What a Storm!!

The Kennedy Space Center in florida built a space shuttle called Atlantis. the external fuel tank attached to the shuttle Atlantis and possibly the orbiter itself, were damaged by a hailstorm at the launch pad Monday afternoon. Shuttle Atlantis was supposed to luanch on March 15. But unfortenly the damage caused by the hailstorm the luanch is delayed. NASA meterologists at pad 39A obsereved wind gusts of 62 miles per hour and golf-sized hail. Pad 39A, was where Atlantis was undergoing final preperations for launch. The workers at Kennedy Space Center are still observing the damages the awful hailstorm left to the shuttle. The Program Officals hope that all the damage will repaired by late April or May. The initial inspections showed that maybe many small diviots went into the insulating foam on the top portion of the shuttle's external tank.
I think that it is a good thing that they strted inspecting because I'm sure they didn't want their shuttle exploding all of sudden like the Columbia shuttle.

Here is where I found this article! Check it out!!!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/02/27/space.shuttle/index.html