Thursday, 15 March 2012


Critical reviews of contemporary science issues

Genetically Modified Foods: Helpful or Harmful
Personally I feel that genetically modified foods are helpful to feed the growing population in the world. Genetically modified foods can possess many traits which the plant originally did not possess like drought resistance. Stale food crops like rice can be harvested in a shorter time after genetically modifying it and this rice could be sold at a cheaper price which is more affordable by the poor. However, there is also a catch involving Genetically Modified Foods, among them are environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. If a foreign gene is introduced to the crop it may cause un intended harm to the consumers but I believe if safety precautions are taken it should be quite safe to consume. I truly believe that genetically modified food is the future of our future world where the population is double from the sx million now,

Personal performance
My target for the next class test is A1 and I am going to work hard to attain that.
3ps' to achieve my target
Pay attention
Practise more
Play less
Class test
Mcq 
Be more careful try to score full marks.


                                      Things I learnt beyond textbooks! 
1) Acids and Bases 
Acids
  • Tastes sour(E.g. Lemon)
  • Changes blue litmus paper to red colour
Basics
  • Feels slippery(E.g. Soap water)
  • Tastes bitter 
  • Changes red litmus paper to blue colour 
The table below shows the pH level scale from 0-14. 
pH
Acids
0(Lead battery acid)
1 
2(Gastric acid)
3(:emon)
4(Tomato juice)
5(Coffee)
6(Urine)
Neutral
7(water)
Bases
8(Seawater)
9(Household ammonia)
10
11
12
13
14

2) Water Pressure
The weight of the water on top creates pressure on the water underneath, which makes water spurt out rapidly when there is an opening. The pressure is proportional to the depth of the water above the opening thus if the hole is placed at the top there would be less water pressure. As the water level drops, there is less pressure, so the flow through the opening slows down.
 
3) How a fan works.
An electric fan is an electric motor with some fan bladse attached to its rotating shaft. As the fan blades rotate, each blade is inclined a bit, and as the inclined plane of the blade moves through the air, it forces the air ahead of it forward. Each blade does this on a continuous basis, and the result is a moving air stream. The fan takes air from the area behind itself and blows it out the front. The fan generates a movement of air, causeing the warm, less dense air to rise, and the cool, dense air to descend, thus creating a feeling of coolness in the air.

Wednesday, 14 March 2012



Today I am going to tell you what problems I have with science and how I plan to overcome them.
1) I am not good at phrasing my sentence structure in open-ended questions so I overcome it by practise, practise and more practise until I get done better.
2) I am not good at MCQ so again I overcome it by practise, practise and more practise until I get done better.

However the concepts in science as gotten much more complicated now involving mathematics(E.g. The vernier caliper), chemistry reactions(E.g.vinegar and sodium bicarbonate creates bubbles which are called effervescents) and the unit of measurement(E.g. the SI <System International> unit of time is seconds). 

Although these concepts are complicated they are fundamental and useful in the real world as it would help me in my daily life. For example, the unit of measurement can help me to communicate with other people more easily when I want to buy something like vegetables. I just have to tell the vendor:"I want 100 grams of vegetables" and he/she easily understands how much vegetables I want. Another example would be how we use chemicals to wash our uniform. We use bleach to wash our white uniform and in the bleach there is a chemical which helps to whiten our clothes. 

This is all about what I learnt in school about science and although I am not good at it I will continue to strive hard and do the best for all my Class Tests and all the homework given. Hope I get an A1 for my next test!


Sunday, 11 March 2012

I have learnt lots of science facts and science key words besides these I have also learnt the hazardous symbols of chemicals and how to use the vernier caliper and micro screw gauge. It was also fun mixing chemicals together and observing the chemical reaction. The pictures below are pictures taken in the lab of the experiments I did with my partner, Rhys.