Your goal is to determine you and your family’s eco-footprint and develop an ACTION PLAN to help reduce it and start living in a more eco-friendly way. This post is for you to document your findings and how you and your family is addressing your eco-footprints! You can post pictures of how you have been changing habits to include your action plan. Please continue to document your progress throughout the summer and into net school year here at this post. Make a big statement and change with your actions not just words!!!
Your Environmental Footprint Action Plan
Are we alone in the Universe?
You have just seen the movie CONTACT, and you have just read about the Drake equation that calculates the probability of intelligent civilizations inhabiting th universe. From what you have seen and read and from what you may already know, can you comment on the following… What are your thoughts on the probability of life on other star systems in our galaxy and universe? What do you think must be present on a planet to support intelligent life? If you were in Dr. Aroway’s shoes and went on the voyage, what would you ask the beings that greeted you? Do you ever think we will contact or be contacted by another intelligent life form? Please respond to each question completely.
Question from the movie CONTACT…
As we watch and discuss the Carl Sagen’s movie Contact, questions wil arise that can bring about discusson. This is the first… Palmer Joss says in an interview, “are we better off today with science and technology?” Think about this question, as you answer use exaples to help support your view. Could you live without modern amenities? If not, why? You better make sure that you can defend your post one way or the other. Have fun!
FULL MOON MADNESS Looking at the affects of the Moon
You all know that the Moon is a ever present object in our skies. It seems to change appearance throughout the month due to its orbit around the Earth. When the Moon appears to be “full” strange things seem to happen… From reading this article entitled “Full Moon Madness” what if any affects can be contributed to the “full Moon? Do you believe that the Moon has an affect on us?
Warps in Spacetime Chapter 35 pgs 312-321
We have learn about gravity and its effect on any object. The mass of an object is factor that effects the amount of gravitational pull. Explain how space is like a stretched rubber sheet and how objects of mass affect the warping of this sheet (spacetime). Why did Einstein think that light could be affect ed by gravity as well? How does this lead to the idea of black holes? Remember during Einstein’s time, black holes were still a theory.
Inflation? This chapter is NOT about economics! pp 392-406
This chapter looks at the universe and its shape, size and overall appearance. In this chapter the word inflation is used to describe the early expansion of the universe, describe what the scientists and author means when they discuss inflation in relation to the universe and how does this “theory” help explain what we have been able to observe in the universe so far.
Singular Black Holes: Chapter 41 pgs 357-369
This chapter looks at how the idea of a “black hole” came to and the men involved with undestanding them. How does one find a black hole in space? What should we look for? We know that they are formed from neutron stars and have infinite amounts of mass. How about a “quasar“? What are they? What is a “Super massive black hole”? How is it different from a “stellar black hole”?
Chapter 40: Explosive? And How! pgs 346-356
We have been looking at the life cycle of stars throughout the universe. Our star the Sun is a main sequence star in the mid-life stage of its existance. Late in its life the Sun will start to undergo a transformation that will leadto its ultimate fate. Fritz Zwicky studied star evolution and developed the concept of neutron stars. How did Zwicky go about collecting and studing the data to develop this idea? Explain and discuss how he did this and what ”vocabulary” did he help to develop while completing his studies? Also please start thinking about your topic for your astronomy project please post your ideas in the other posting!!!!!
Astronomy Project Proposal
This post is for you to discuss your ideas for and about your Astronomy project in Mr.P’s class. The project requirements are in the early stages of development, one requirement though will be the incorporation of technology into your project. (i.e. website, blog, podcast, wiki, etc.). Good luck!!!! Possible project due date — Friday March 28th.
Chapter 39- A Luminous Indian pgs 340-345
We now begin our study of stars, looking at their life cycles and characteristics that make them uniques to one another in the universe. Our Sun, you will discover is a mid-sized common yellow star that boasts the claim of harboring life on one of its planets. In this reading we have discovered the advancements prosposed by Chandra. What is it he discovered and what problems did he encounter because of his findings? What new and “weird” idea was being tossed around based on these findings?
