This blog will unfortunately be coming to a close. TDSB has a new system that has a blogging feature and I will likely be using that more often. It is unfortunate as this one has been a lot of fun and some really interesting things have been written by my students. Thank you all who took time to post regularly. Enjoy yourselves and keep writing.

Well, I last posted in February. (You may insert a sheepish inflection of something like it.)
I also realize I should probably get fired for not having posted in so long. If Mr. Foster is reading this, then hopefully he won't fire me, 'cause, you know, that would be a little bad.
Moving on, plenty of things happened these past three months. Whether or not is important is up to you.
1) Made All-City. Concert's next month at Massey Hall. Yay.
2) Went on a trip for March Break. Lost my DS Lite, freaked out, found it. Yay.
3) Grandma kicked the bucket. Definitely not-yay. Good food at the funeral, at least.
4) Attempted to learn Python. Failed epically. Not-yay. (Those scripting languages are so confusing. How do people do it?)
5) Tried again. Not giving up! Yay.
And that's pretty much it. Oh, and there was plenty of poor time management in there too. Er...have a nice day?

Hooray For Long Weekends!

As you all know, Monday is Family Day, meaning no school! I'm sure you're all as glad as I am about this, as it's just one more day I can sleep in.

To kick off the weekend, I went to see a movie on Friday night with some friends. The twelfth of February was the day Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief came out, so of course, that's what we went to see. The movie, based off the popular series by Rick Riordan, was amazing! I'm still getting over it. So, if you haven't read the books, go read them now. If you haven't seen the movie, go by a ticket and see it.
Today (Saturday) was spent at home cleaning up my monkeys' - I mean brothers' mess. Lugging a vacuum up three flights of stairs is not fun. Not fun at all. That was just the morning though. It was the afternoon that was the hi-light of my day. I spent the entire time loafing around, because that's what weekends are for, right? Right!

I hope you all have a great long weekend!

How to: measure volume, density, and mass.

How do you measure the volume of an object if it is too large for you to take a ruler and use a formula? Firstly take the object that you are going to find the volume of put this object in a liquid, the amount that the water or liquids grows by is the volume of your object.

Density:

You can calculate density by dividing the volume by mass.

m

-

v

Mass:

Refer to my last post.

Finish your homework, which is due on monday.

MASS? WEIGHT?

First when you hear the word MASS you probably think of the word massive and come up with one conclusion, whatever your talking about must be HUGE, right? WRONG. Mass is not a size it is a nickname for matter. Matter is not weight it is what you are, two objects with the same mass can be totally different objects. Mass is calculated on a balance, this is an object that is used to put your mass on one side and a weight on the other side giving you a level bar. Having trouble understanding? Imagine a teetor totter and on one side is a tree, to even it out you must put weights on the other side of the balance to figure out the mass of the object.

Weight is NOT MASS. Weight is pretty much weighed on a scale it is the measure of how many pounds your body is. If you went to the moon your weight would decrease but your mass would not mass never changes.

Any questions? Refer to Mr. Foster, friends, or notes.

Fluids: Weight, Mass, and Volume.

Hello Everyone,

today in class we had a lesson on fluids, and I didn't blog last week because we tested our hover crafts, so I felt it wasn't crucial so I thought I was would do this class instead, but I will still nevertheless do Wednesday's class.

What is mass? Mass is matter, and matter is NOT WEIGHT. If your mass is 80 kgs and you decide to fly to the moon you are still going to be 80 kgs but your weight WILL change.

Mass can never change, 1kg of a substance has the same mass as another 1kg of another substance, even though they may be different, materials, shapes, weight.

There are different ways to hold matter.

Volume= Measurement of Space.

Volume measures how much space an object occupies.

The formula to figure out volume is :

Base X Width X Height

The basic form of measurement for gas is cm3.

Whereas liquids use litres or milliletres.

IF YOU ARE USING VOLUME LIQUIDS you can use cm3.

For more information, refer to Mr. Foster, he did hint a potential quiz, so get ready!

Air flow.

When you drive a car do you notice that there is a fan in the front? This is because without that fan air can successfully move around the vehicle without lifting it off the ground. As you may notice Volvo's do tend to have a higher fan this is because if someone were to fall in the road you wouldn't get caught under the car, not because of the air flow.

Turbulent:

This is somewhat of a crazy air flow, which means there is air flowing in ALL DIRECTIONS. You may notice that when you are in an airplane that it sometimes becomes bumpy, this is because the air surrounding the air craft is going in all directions.

Linear:

The air moves in one steady direction.

Cars tend to have both turbulent and linear wind patterns this means that in general the top layer of air the flies over top the car is linear and that the air flow near the bottom of the car is turbulent.

Any questions about the topics? Then consult your notes, myself, friends, or Mr. Foster. If you are still confused refer to the Internet.

Class- January 6th 2010

Hey everyone,
Today we talked about many things including particles, your science presentations which were due on the 18th, and fluids.

Starting with the science presentations, they will not be counted late until friday so please hand it in. Remember every day after the due date will have 10% taken off of it.

Particles! Today we talked about the particle theory which is below:

1. Matter is made up of tiny particles.
2.These particles are constantly moving.
3.Particles and Matter are held together by a very strong electric force.
4.There are empty spaces between the particles and matter that are very large when compared to the particles themselves.
5.Each substance has unique particles that are different from other particles and substances.
6.Temperature effects the speed of particles. The higher the temperature the higher the speed of the particles.

Remember all pure substances are homogenous.
Imagine a labradoodle (Labrador, and Poodle) this breed of dog would technically speaking be heterogeneous because the animal is made up of two different substances, whereas a purebred golden retriever is homogenous because it is made up of the same substances.

Ok, gold for example is a pure substance because it is built up of the same particles.
Gold in the periodic table is AU, it is easier for most people to remember Amazingly Unique, because those two words might help you remember the term AU, and gold is unique.

The Presentation

Hello FI8D!
Get your power point presentations done very soon.
Using the power point tool you will be able to create a presentation of about ten slides to get your audience more knowledgeable about your topic.
Many topics are: Is our society a consumer based society? Do we throw out too many items?
Get more informed and try to do as much work in class as possible. Please note that by only showing a slide you in fact are boring your audience. For further questions about this topic, please refer to Mr.Foster or fellow classmates.

The Great Debate!

There is a debate on Thursday SO BE PREPARED.


What do you need to do?:
Question people, ask questions similar to what they have purchased or why they have purchased an item. Did they replace it? You might want to even ask if job's make people bias, or maybe the community is a consumer based community. Get to the point ask questions about why they purchase everything! Good luck if you have any further questions refer to me at school or Mr. Foster, if you still have trouble read over the sheet and then if you STILL have trouble ask a friend or parent.

Systems, and a project.

Systems, and an individual project.

Remember everyone if you are having trouble understnading what I am saying please refer to my previous post if you STILL have trouble go to Mr.Foster early or after school, and everything will be dandy.

Ok so firstly here are some notes you need to remember.

-Undersired outputs are called side effects.
-All systems evolve when humans are impacting the system.
-An example of this is global warming.
-Human input may change the outputs and/or side effects

Good Effects that we do:

-Energy use reduction
- Hybrid Cars
- Sierra Club/ and WWF

Bad Effects:

-Water overus
-food waste
-cars and pollution
-Habitat destruction

These and good effect affect something called Global Climate Change.

Individual Project:
For those who missed the class you will be given a page with information on the porject which involves surveying people you know unless you really want to survey people you aren't familliar with, and so get the page tomorrow morning if you missed the class.

Systems: Open? or Closed?

What is a system? A system is a group of mechanisms that is used to do a function (lifting someting off the ground, or pulling snow off the ground, etc.In the world of systems we have learned about two. These are called open and closed. An open system means that at the end of the system there is a opening where a liquid, fluid or substance... pretty much anything, will eventually come out. Examples of this are: A car, because the exhaust comes out the back, the digestive system...if you know what I mean. Whatever comes in must come out, these systems never let the materials inside of them circulate.

Closed System:

This system has no start or stop button. These systems usually run in a circular motion allowing nothing to escape. An example of this is your body's ciculation. Heart pumps oxygen into cells, cells come back to get more oxygen, it is a continuous cycle.

Feedback:
The problem with any system is that without feedback you cannot know whether or not everything is going well. If you are at one end of a conveyor belt you can't see what's coming off of the other side, so it is wise to get FEEDBACK! You're brain is constantly getting feedback from the rest of your body.

The Five Simple Machines You Need To Know.

Hello FI8D!

In this blog I will be talking to you about two different simple machines.

(FOR LEVERS REFER TO A BLOG POSTED 2 WEEKS AGO)

The Wedge:

The wedge is similar to an inclined plane but is of course different. A wedge is usually used to keep something in place or separate two different objects. A door stopper is a wedge because it keeps a door from moving.
How do you find the MA of a wedge? divide the slopes length by its length at the end that is thickest.

The Pulley:
Do you remember when you were little, and maybe had a tree house? Well for me I would take a rope, attach something like a sandwich to the end of it and pull it up into my tree house, but a pulley is slightly different because instead of pulling the rope yourself you have to install a fixed pulley which is a way of saying a circle with a piece of metal that is attached.

If you are having trouble visualizing GOOGLE: FIXED PULLEY and it will be very easy to find on google images.

NO SCIENCE!

Hello Everyone,
Today we didn't have science class due to the RESPONSIBILITY ASSEMBLY. Congratulations to Hannah McMillan (sorry if I spell your name wrong). Remeber to try to go over your notes for any future pop quizzes. Review:
-MECHANICAL ADVANTAGE.

Important dates:
November 3rd: web outline+ materials (toy story project)
November 9th: Web outline+ technical drawing (toy story project)
November 17th: Calculation, research report, construction.

Hope you have a nice review of everything!

MECHANICAL ADVANTAGE- October 26th 2009

Mechanical Advantage a.k.a. (MA).

For an inclined plane : you find the length of the slope and divide it by the height of the slope.


So lets say the force you exert is 600
and the distance covered by an object you are pulling is: 1000(km)

MA= 6 over 10


To be honest, I need to have a further understanding of this topic, and the internet and my notes aren't great resources at the moment. So for further questions refer to Mr.Foster.

REMEMBER TO:
Complete all homework and come prepared to class.

Levers, and The Inclined Plane

First Class Lever:

No at first you think... how does this work? Look again can you figure out where the fulcrum is? Look at the leg that is touching the ice...we'll call this leg (F) the other foot which isn't on the ice will be called (R) for random. (F) is supporting the rest of the load (her body, from the end of her back to foot (R))... but where's the effort? Well before she started (which I couldn't get a photo of) she actually flung her arms from in front of her to beside her creating a pull that would make her spin. If you have any questions about this lever just ask me.

This is a second class lever. Ask yourself... where is the fulcrum? the Fulcrum is usually supports the rest of the lever. Now pretend that you are transporting some wood to your grandma's house where would you put the wood? In the basket, but is the wood going to exert and force and magically move itself to your grandma's house? no. So you need you effort. Its easier to lift than drag in some cases like this example so get your hands ready to lift. This is a second class lever because the fulcrum is in the far left the load is in the middle and the effort (YOU!) is on the side opposite the fulcrum.

Here is Julie, eating her delicious apple. Julie doesn't know that her mouth is actually a lever. It's in fact a third class lever. A third class lever occurs when the load is on the opposite side of the fulcrum and the effort is in between the two. The joints in Julie's mouth connect the upper and lower jaw together. Her teeth which are moving towards each other are touching her beautiful apple which is the load. The load in this photo is to the left of Julie's teeth meaning that the fulcrum is to the right of her teeth.

THE INCLINED PLANE:

This is simply a ramp but does it really make life easier? Well many people will agree that they would rather roll or slide an object than lift it. The resistance is gravity the force is YOU! and the object..well you can choose. How can you make it even easier to do this, while exerting less force? Make a longer ramp. Although you increase the distance you decrease the effort.... which for those people who don't like working well this is probably good for you.

Note Taking and Texbook Work-Class of October 9th

Hello!
Ok so on Day 4 of this week we went over information about notes and note taking.

Facts About Learning:

-You lose 47% of what you learned in 20 minutes.
-You lose 62% of what you learned after the first day.

Facts About Note Taking:

-It will be WAY easier to retain information if you:
-Turn off your cell phone, iPod, Radio, Computer, or anything that could potentially distract you during your studying or note taking.
-You need your absolute concetration, so move any objects thtat could potentially distract you, or that you might get bored of your work and use, toys...etc.

For those of you who weren't in class we read from pages: 414-434 (Science Textbook)

We are sadly no longer working on the levers project and will be working out of the textbook due to unsafe behaviour in the classroom.

Hello Everyone in class FI8D!
I am your new correspondent and although I haven't been to my class on Day 4 (that I will be rountinely reporting about) I must remind you that IF YOU DON'T SIGN UP FOR A JOB, it will be taken very soon. October 16th is when you can have two jobs! YOU NEED TO PAY YOUR RENT! So get moving...NOW.
Thanks, and be prepared for next class!
Evelyn

We have a new writer!

As part of her job description for the economic system running in our class, Evelyn will be writing the blog this year. Look for her exciting posts in the coming weeks.

As Evelyn begins Katie, Eric and Haley move on to bigger and better things. We wish them luck in their future endeavours.

Hope you enjoy the new writer!

Mr. F

FE7B, Math, Science and Fun!

Heya everybody! How's it going? Hopefully, it's going good. Now, as for class... in math we have started a new unit in measurement where we are learning how to find the volumes of 3D figures. But first, I promised that I would give instructions to drawing a 3D figure with two vantage points from the previous math unit.

Step 1: Draw a vertical line either above or below the horizon line. When drawing with one vantage point you use both vertical and horizontal lines, but when using two vantage points, you get rid of the horizontal lines and use only vertical.

Step 2: Connect lines from the top of the vertical line and the bottom of the vertical to both the vantage points. You should have four lines in total. Two lines from the top point of the vertical line and two lines from the bottom point of the vertical line.

Step 3: Start to make two sides of the figure. Connect the lines from the vantage points to the vertical line with...VERTICAL LINES! This makes the left and right side of the box. If this is too confusing: Connect both of the lines on the top of the vertical line to the lines on the bottom of the vertical line. Step 4: Erase the rest of the lines so only your two sides are left.

Step 5: Connect the two bottom points of the figure to the vantage points. They should meet and cross over each other at one point. That will make up the third side of your figure.

Step 6: Erase the extra lines and then you're done! Congrats! Here's what your figure should look like:

Here's also what you will soon be able to do!

Next blog I'll discuss different formulas to finding the area and volume of different figures.

Now as for science, we just recently got assigned a project...A video project! Each member in the class has to choose and endangered animal in Canada and create a movie on what's going on that's bad, and how we can fix those bad problems! Creative and Fun! Right? Now, recently in our heat and the environment science unit, we started learning about the heat part since we already know a lot about the environment part!

Here's some facts that should be known about heat:

1. Heat's scientific name is thermal energy.

2. Thermal energy transfers in one direction only- Hot to cold. Example: When you burn your hand on a hot pan, the heat from the pan is being transferred to your skin.

3. Feeling hot or cold depends on which the direction heat is transferring. For example: You put your hand in cold water, and your hand feels cold because it is losing thermal energy. You put your hand in warm water, and your hand feels warm because you are gaining thermal energy.

That's all for now. I'll blog soon!