Eyes

The Human Eye

The human eye consists of multiple parts:

The cornea, the pupil, the iris, the lens, the retina, and the optical nerve.

Each part of the eye works together in unison, to send the images of what the eye sees to your brain, so that your brain can process it, and you can see. When you look at something, the light from whatever you look at it is refracted throug hthe cornea, the transparent front layer of the eye, so that the pupil can take it in. The pupil is the dark hole in the centre of your eye. The amount of light that enters the pupil is controlled by the iris, which is the coloured ring around your pupil.

Once light is through the pupil, it enters the lens, which is a bi-convex, transparent, flexible disc, which focuses light onto the retina. The retina is a layer of cells at the back of your eye which are sensitive to light, which receives the final images of light, converting them to electrical impulses, which are taken up to the brain by the optical nerve, which is the bundle of nerves behind your eye that conencts your retina to your brain. 

Fun Fact #1: The image sent to the brain is actually upside down, but the brain is smart enough to convert it around.

Our Cow Eye Dissection:

Fun Fact #2: Cows have a lining behind their eye, (retina) which is blue and green, (like a paua shell), that makes their eyes more sensitive to darker light, allowing them to see in the dark.

Calculating the Circumference of a Circle

We discussed using squared numbers and pi to calculate circumference of the circle, and using area to calculate how big the barn was.

I kept on getting mixed up between radius and diamater, but eventually I caught on and was able to calcualte how big the circle was.

Chicken Run

"Dylan wants to make a rectangular chicken run at the back of the house.
She buys 12 metres of fencing wire.
What is the largest area run that she can make for her chickens?
What if Dylan has 60 metres of fencing?"

In class, we discussed what skills were require to complete this problem. In order to answer this question, you would need the ability to multiply numbers, and calculate the area of a object.
Many of my classmates had trouble distinguishing whether or not they had to calculate the area or calculate the perimeter of the chicken run, some not realising until much later in the period.

Monarchy

I am Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, and I ruled as the king of France in 1830. I ran an absolute monarchy, which gave me total control of the country, as opposed to a constitutional monarchy, where I would rule a government under a constitution. As a French monarch, I would live in the palace of Versailles. I ruled for twenty minutes before I abdicated due to the July Revolution, and be succeeded by Henry V.

Three SEEL Paragraphs.

Human Rights are one of the, if not the single most important thing in the world. Human Rights are the simple idea that every human deserves and is worthy of the same treatement. You, as a human, have thirty basic human rights, which will be listed below. Human Rights have been agreed upon almost worldwide, and if you have any concerns, you can send in a formal complaint to the New Zealand Human Rights comission.

The Universal Human Rights Commision

Article 1	Right to Equality
Article 2	Freedom from Discrimination
Article 3	Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security
Article 4	Freedom from Slavery
Article 5	Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment
Article 6	Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law
Article 7	Right to Equality before the Law
Article 8	Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal
Article 9	Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile
Article 10	Right to Fair Public Hearing
Article 11	Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty
Article 12	Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
Article 13	Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country
Article 14	Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution
Article 15	Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change It
Article 16	Right to Marriage and Family
Article 17	Right to Own Property
Article 18	Freedom of Belief and Religion
Article 19	Freedom of Opinion and Information
Article 20	Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Article 21	Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections
Article 22	Right to Social Security
Article 23	Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions
Article 24	Right to Rest and Leisure
Article 25	Right to Adequate Living Standard
Article 26	Right to Education
Article 27	Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community
Article 28	Right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document
Article 29	Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development
Article 30	Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights

Tea Bag Rocket

Aim:
To observe how warm air rises.

Equipment:
Tea bag,
a lighter.

Method:
1. Cut the teabag open, and unfold it.
2. Pour the tea leaves into a small pile on the ground.
3. Prop the tea bag up on the pile.
4. Light the top of the tea bag with the lighter.
5. Observe.

Results:
When the fire reached the bottom of the tea bag, it rose and fly into the sky.

Discussion:
The teabag rises when the flame reaches the bottom, because hot air is less dense than cool air. As the teabag is set alight, it makes sort of a vaccum of warm air, making the weightless teabag float.

Contraction in Gases

Aim:
To observe contraction in gases.

Equipment:
Almunium can,
scissor tongs,
Bunsen burner,
heatproof mat,
tripod,
gauze mat,
an open container of water.

Method:
1. Set up a Bunsen burner underneath a tripod and gauze mat.
2. Pour approximately 50-60ml of water into your can. It should be more than 1/4 full.
3. Heat the can of water until steam is seen escaping from the top.
    Carefully grip the can with the scissor tongs. Ensure you have a firm hold of the can before lifting      it off the gauze mat.
4. Quickly, but very carefully, invert the can as you plunge it into a container of water.

Results:
The can imploded as we dunked the can upside down into the cool water.

Discussion:
When the water boiled, steam began to rise up, into and out of the can, filling the can up with spread out gas atoms. When the can was dunked upside down into cold water, the gas contracted, and the atoms bundled up in the centre of the can, meaning there was nothing filling the can up, so the can imploded.

Convection in a Gas

Aim:
To observe convection in a gas.

Equipment:
Scissors,
paper spiral pattern,
string,
source of heat.

Method:
1. Carefully cut out the paper spiral pattern.
2. Tie a length of cotton through the hole on the top spiral.
3. Hold the spiral 30-40cm above a heat source such as a radiator.
4. Observe.

Results:
The paper spiral twirled around as the hot air rised up and ran along the spiral.

Discussion:
The hot air is less dense than the cool air, so it rises up to the paper spiral. As the hot air ran along the spiral, the hot air effectively pushed the paper, making it twirl.

Convection

Aim:
To observe convection in a liquid.

Equipment:
200 mL beker, water, teezers, a crystal of potassium permanganate, a drinking straw, Bunsen burner, heat mat, tripod and gauze mat.

Method:
1. Set up a Bunsen burner on a heatproof mat. Put the gauze mat on the tripod but levae it just to one side of the bunsen bruner.
2. Fill a 200 mL beaker with 150 mL cold water.
3. Place a beaker on top of the tripod and gauze mat.
4. Carefully insert a drinking straw down one side of the beaker, ensuring the straw is touching the bottom of the beaker. Be careful as you do not want to disturb the water too much.
5. Using tweezers, drop a crystal of potassium permanfanate down the inside of the straw. Wait for the crystal to settle on the bottom of the beaker.
6. Very gently, so to not disturb the water, remove the straw.
7. Light the Bunsen and slide it under the tripod so that you are only heating the outside of the beaker where the crystal is. Observe.

Results:
The potassium permangante's particles turned the water purple, and as we heated the beaker, the purple particles rose up the beaker.

Discussion:
Convection takes place when heat is transferred through a liquid or a gas by a hotter material moving into a cooler area. The potassium permanganate was slowly set into the beaker of cold water, and the crystal was heated up. As the purple spread, the water heated up, and because hot water is less dense than cold water, the hot water rised up the beaker, bringing the purple with it.