Danny is small for a hurricane, with his winds extending just 70 miles from his center. The maximum sustained winds are at 105 mph. Danny is at about 930 miles east of the Leeward Islands, which is in the eastern Atlantic. He is moving west or northwest, weakening as he does so, and will reach the Leeward Island Monday, which could bring rain much needed in drought suffering places like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Hurricane Danny is weakening because of something called wind shear; wind shear blows away convection from the center of the storm.
I would like to introduce you to my hurricane friend- hurricane Danny. On Thursday, he became the first hurricane in the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. I was so proud when I heard. On Friday, Danny became a Category 2 hurricane, and is pictured below. Danny is small for a hurricane, with his winds extending just 70 miles from his center. The maximum sustained winds are at 105 mph. Danny is at about 930 miles east of the Leeward Islands, which is in the eastern Atlantic. He is moving west or northwest, weakening as he does so, and will reach the Leeward Island Monday, which could bring rain much needed in drought suffering places like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Hurricane Danny is weakening because of something called wind shear; wind shear blows away convection from the center of the storm.
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Do you know what the rock cycle is? Besides a cycle about rocks, obviously. The rock cycle is how rocks change into one another. Take a look at the diagram below: Igneous rock forms from cooled magma which makes crystals. Several things could happen to this igneous rock- It could, after adding heat and pressure, become metamorphic rock; it could weather down into tiny pieces of rock called sediment, which is then compacted to become sedimentary rock; or it could melt back into magma that might cool and become igneous rock again.
Now, say the igneous rock became metamorphic rock when heat and pressure was added. The heat and pressure from inside Earth bakes the rock; instead of a cake like when you bake, though, crystals form, or, if there were already crystals, larger crystals are formed. Since the rock changes, it is called metamorphic rock, as in metamorphosis- when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. The metamorphic rock is still made of what igneous rocks are made of, so it could also melt into magma. Or, again like the igneous rock, it could be weathered down into sediments. All the rocks can be weathered into sediment, actually. Especially sedimentary rock, which is made of sediments. To form sedimentary rock, layer after layer of sediment is laid down, eventually cementing into sedimentary rock; this is why sedimentary rock has layers. If you were to add heat and pressure to that sedimentary rock, it would become metamorphic rock. As you can see, all the rocks are connected, changing into each other again and again. That is why, after all, they call it a rock cycle. Source: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/rock.html Hello, everybody! Today I'd like to share some short poems I wrote about rainbows and rain.
Rainbow I'm a curve of colors in the sky But why do you see me? Why? When sunlight starts to shine Light goes slow enough through a raindrop So the frequencies inside split into colors so fine Violet on bottom, red on top The colors will be the same as long as you live- Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet But all you need to remember is ROY G BIV Whether I am in mist or spray Or across the sky, like you normally see You won't find a pot of gold, I must say Because there is no end of me Rain Rain is here when the clouds turn gray You see it and you run away Why do you not like to see me? Don't you realize I keep Earth happy? Every living thing needs water, you know I make that water cycle flow Why, I even water the crops you grow And I help when the water is low Now that you've stopped groaning so loud Let's discuss how I formed- from a cloud I start as warm air or vapor that begins to rise The I cool and condense into liquid- no lie It gets colder still and the droplets come together I get too heavy, fall from the cloud, and voila- rainy weather Before you leave, I must tell you some facts that are fun I'm not shaped like a teardrop; it's more like a burger bun 11 mph is the average speed at which I fall And the average annual rainfall for Earth is 39 in. tall! Source: Basher Basics "Weather" by Dan Green First, you will select one of the minerals. Try to scratch the mineral with your fingernail. If the mineral is scratched it is less hard than a fingernail. If the mineral isn't scratched, it is harder than a fingernail. Write down the results, then repeat the process using the rest of the equivalent items on the rest of the minerals. Good luck!
Source: Smithsonian Rock and Fossil Hunter by Ben Morgan I could introduce the new unit, but I'm going to leave that to some experts... Sources:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mineral https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Dioptase-36918.jpg http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/rocksandminerals.html http://f.tqn.com/y/geology/1/S/g/V/granitesalinia.jpg http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/17094/imagegallery/1pic-43069.jpg Hi there, everybody! Sorry about the lack of posts this month. I've been busy, especially with a trip to Washington, D.C. Anyway, I wanted to start a new unit because of going to the Smithsonians; I visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and there was this amazing exhibit on Gems and Minerals. All of the minerals on display interested me in that subject, thus, a new unit: Rocks and Minerals, along with the Weather unit.
Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Here's a little information on fireworks:
Fireworks... When we see them, we probably think of Fourth of July. But have you ever stopped and thought about how fireworks are made or things like that? I know I haven't, until now. Fireworks use something called black powder. Black powder is comprised of mainly potassium nitrite with sulfur and carbon. Wires are covered with fuel as well as well as something to make it burn (like black powder) called an oxidizing agent. This is what happens with a sparkler, which produces many sparks but burns slowly. As for firecrackers, the black powder is wrapped tightly in a paper tube, and when the fuse is lit, it explodes. BANG! But you're probably wondering about the fireworks that are launched in the sky. These are called aerial fireworks. They are similar to both firecrackers and sparklers. They are launched into the sky within small rockets, or launched out of a tube. These fireworks have something called a lifting charge that is filled with black powder, and when lit, it propels it into the sky. When the lit fuse reaches a certain height, it explodes. Tiny packets of chemicals called stars are released. The color depends on the type of chemicals in the fireworks. When a thing burns, a specific frequency of light is given off, which is seen as color to us. Aluminum or magnesium give off white, lithium or strontium gives off red, copper gives off blue, calcium gives off orange, barium gives off green, and sodium gives off yellow. Some fireworks are more complicated- these are comprised of several shells that burst at different times. The shells could also have different kinds of stars. The sound fireworks make also differs; they can whistle and crackle, or make more of a booming noise. But I have to warn you- don't go shooting off your own fireworks everywhere, because it could be dangerous. Serious burns can be caused from even sparklers, which burn at temperatures of hundreds of degrees. 12,000 Americans need to go to the emergency room every year because of firework accidents. So just leave the fireworks to the experts; they do put on great show! Fun Facts: Black powder was discovered around 1,100 years ago in China. Fireworks were used by Chinese to scare off mountain men. Aerial shells were invented in Italy. It's illegal to buy fireworks in New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. Sources: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/14-fun-facts-about-fireworks-180951957/?no-ist BrainPOP "Fireworks" Picture from: http://www.chesterlandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Fotolia_8425271_M.jpg So after that weekend off, it's time for our experiment. If you have any bottles left over, use them for this: a cloud in a bottle, from Weather Wiz Kids (http://www.weatherwizkids.com/experiments-cloud.htm)
Materials: A soda bottle, about two liters Warm water Matches (adults only) Procedure: Fill the bottle about one third full of water, and put the cap on. Uncap the bottle, then light a match quickly, drop it in, and close the bottle again. Squeeze the bottle hard but slowly, then release. A cloud should form. What happened? Warming air is represented by the squeezing, cooling air by the releasing, along with air pressure drop when you release, making clouds. The smoke added from the match "enhances the water condensation", or water vapor turning in liquid, by the drop in air pressure when squeezed, thus creating a cloud. Here's a little tornado and hurricane trivia for Fun Fact Friday:
While the eye or center of the hurricane is calm, the winds surrounding it are the most intense. A big hurricane releases the energy of about 10 atomic bombs every second. There's 10. 20. 30.... "The word hurricane comes from the Taino Native American word, hurucane, meaning evil spirit of the wind." (Hurricane Facts) "In Spanish, there are two words that sound like the word tornado. The word for “thunderstorm” is tronada and the word for “to turn” is tornar. Some people have speculated that the word tornado was formed by combining these two words. It is possible that this is not one of the tornado facts, and that the word tornado was actually derived directly from tronada. Whatever the case, it is certain that the word came from the Spanish language." (Tornado Facts) The Red Spot on Jupiter is a hurricane that has been going for over 300 years, and is bigger than Earth. "Tornadoes Make Infrasound Below the 20Hz Range of Human Hearing" (Tornado Facts) Some tornadoes are not visible. "There Are 3 Scales for Rating Tornadoes-To help establish tornado facts, scientists use different scales to rate tornadoes. The Fujita Scale is a rating of the destructive power of the tornado. Because many tornado facts are only revealed after the storm has passed, scientists evaluate the damage, and rate the tornado, on the Fujita Scale from F0 to F5. There is also an Enhanced Fujita Scale, which is an updated version of the original Fujita scale. For both of these, a scale F5 or EF5 is the highest rating. A tornado of this magnitude can rip a house right off its foundation! The TORRO scale or T-scale was developed by the Tornado and Storm Research Organization in the United Kingdom. This scale works on a measure from T1 to T11. Unlike the Fujita scale, the TORRO scale is based on the wind speed of the tornado, and not the destruction it causes. Of course, the higher the wind speed, the more likely a tornado is to cause significant damage. A tornado ranked highly on one scale is also ranked highly on the other scale. The subtle differences have to do with the different gradations of tornadoes. While some argue about which scale is better, one of our tornado facts is certain: we wouldn’t want to be in the path of any tornado that is ranked high on either scale!" (Tornado Facts) I hope you enjoy these facts as much as I did; they're really interesting. Sources: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/weather/hurricane.html http://interesting-facts.com/tornado-facts/ http://www.hurricane-facts.com/Interesting-Hurricane-Facts.php |
AuthorHello! I am Katrina, a science enthusiast, who also enjoys art, reading, and tennis. Archives
June 2016
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