My name is Livia, and in health we were tasked with creating a poster to display our personalities. You can see from my poster that I am Albanian, and I enjoy playing volleyball and watching Netflix.
U.S Constitution- Declaration of Independence
For our History class, we were put into groups and given documents to research and create presentations on. Each group had a different document, and we took notes on the documents we did not research.
Portfolio Problem- Quadratic Equations
For my portfolio problem, I chose to do the desmos called Parabola Slalom. In this desmos, we had to create quadratic equations that fit through gates. You can see an example below.
In this desmos, I learned how different factors of an equation affect the graph. I also learned when it would be beneficial to use different forms, such as vertex or factored.
Throughout the activity, I made many mistakes in my equations. Most of the time I forgot to make my x negative to have the parabola pointing down. Other times I would make the graph too narrow or too wide. Overall, I enjoyed the activity and I would not change how I completed it.
Portfolio Problem- Equations and Inequalities
For our portfolio, we were given four options. I chose to do a desmos. In this desmos, we were tasked with predicting where two cars would meet.
First we were not given a number line, or the speed at which the cars were moving and were forced to make an educated guess.
Screen Recording 2019-04-23 at 10.39.59 AM-1qqmyub
Next, we were given the amount that it traveled after 4 seconds, and a number line.
After making our predictions, we were given the answer.
Screen Recording 2019-04-23 at 10.42.11 AM-1fiq383
The answer was 50.
In this activity, I learned how to use inequalities in real-life situations. I made some mistakes in my estimating, mostly because I didn’t create an equation at first and I just counted where they would be after every second. After creating the equation, I was able to easily figure it out. If I did this activity again, I would create an equation first for my estimating. I enjoyed the activity.
Gregor Mendel: A Travel Through Time
For our science project on genetics, we were tasked with creating “something awesome”. We were given a list of possible projects such as movies/movie trailers, pedigree charts, informational videos, drawings, etc. My group and I decided to do a movie trailer on Gregor Mendel as well as including the needed information on alleles, chromosomes, punnet squares/ punnet square probability, and inherited traits. Each project had to include six topics, such as the ones previously listed. After writing our scripts, we started our filming and then, later, editing. Finally, our movie trailer was complete. It follows the tale of Gregor Mendel and his experiments as well as Reginald Punnet coming in a time machine. A link is included below.
Element Resume
For our project on the periodic table, we were tasked with creating a resume for an element using prior knowledge and research. I created a resume for gallium, and provided information on its background, skills, and objective. You can see mine below.
Portofolio Day
For my portfolio problem today, I did a desmos focused on linear equations. The objective of the desmos was to create a line that passes through two gates of points. You can see an example below. Throughout answering the questions, I created formulas using slope-intercept form that would pass through the gates.
Science Fair
The topic of my experiment is making milk plastic with milk and an acid. I started my research in early September to find which experiment I would want to do. After researching, I created my research question and began creating my experiment in late September. Through October, November, and December I wrote my procedure and conducted my experiment. I had to redo it a few times due to errors. After conducting the experiment, I wrote my conclusion and data analysis. The science fair itself was conducted on January 23rd. To improve my experiment, I would test more acids with a wider range of pHs.
Data Tables and Graphs
Orange Juice
| Trial | Force Used(Newtons) | Average |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | |
| 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | |
| 6 | 0 |
Tomato Juice
| Trial | Force Used(Newtons) | Average |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | |
| 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | |
| 6 | 0 |
Tea
| Trial | Force Used(Newtons) | Average |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | |
| 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | |
| 6 | 0 |
Lemon Juice
| Trial | Force Used(Newtons) | Average |
| 1 | 1 | .74 |
| 2 | 1 | |
| 3 | 2 | |
| 4 | .2 | |
| 5 | .1 | |
| 6 | .1 |
Vinegar
| Trial | Force Used(Newtons) | Average |
| 1 | 2 | 1.84 |
| 2 | 3 | |
| 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | |
| 6 | 2 |
Data Analysis
From my data, I saw that changing my independent variable(the pH of the acid) affects my dependant variable(the strength of the plastic), and whether a plastic will form. As you can see from my graph, a high pH, such as the pH of the tomato juice, will not create a plastic and are therefore shown as zero on the graph. This is also seen with the orange juice and the tea, which both had a pH of four. This leads me to believe that any acid with a pH of 4 or higher will most likely not create an acid. The only acids to create a plastic were the vinegar and the lemon juice, which both had a pH of two. Although they had the same pH, the vinegar created a much stronger plastic. On the third trial, vinegar had its maximum force of 4, compared to the lemon juice who only had a maximum force of 2. Looking at all the trials, you can see that the force used for the lemon juice was mostly under 1, compared to the vinegar who’s force used was mostly over 1. I can conclude from this data that a more acidic acid, will create a stronger plastic.
Although the data seems accurate, there were most likely errors that occurred during the process, which can be seen in the data for the vinegar. In trials 4 and 5, the vinegar broke at a force of zero, which seems inconsistent compared to the other trials. Many factors could play into this. I might have used too much force when I started pulling down initially, which could have resulted in inconsistencies in the data. Another reason for this might be an inconsistent thickness in the plastic. It is nearly impossible to get an even thickness throughout the plastic because of how hard it is to roll out. This could have left some spots thicker than others. It could also explain why there is such a big difference between the lemon juice and the vinegar. Although I tried to prevent them from being different thicknesses, it is possible that one might have been slightly thicker than the other, resulting in more force needed to break it. Other than that, I see no other errors that may have occurred.
Abstract
The topic of the experiment is casein plastic made with milk and acid, for the purpose of determining how its strength is affected by changing the pH of the acid. I used five different acids with pHs of two, four, or five and made five batches of plastic, each with a different acid. Three acids with pHs of four and five did not create an acid. I tested the rest of the plastics by placing them on a spring scale and pulling to find how much force was needed to break them. I found that a lower pH results in a stronger plastic, and I am confident that my data and conclusions are correct.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A6zCdzAnj3LRsLJf6-hg9NGdfKtblScdwiqxnOpYb2k/edit?usp=sharing
Paragraph- Poetry Slam
The poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe uses repetition and word choice to portray the theme of love. One of the biggest themes in this poem is love. This poem portrays him and Annabel Lee falling in love, her dying, and him still loving her after her death. Edgar Allen Poe repeats many phrases in this poem including, “ My Annabel Lee”. The use of repetition lets the phrase linger in your head after you have read it, which relates to how his love lingered even after Annabel had died. Also, “my Annabel Lee”, was the phrase that was most repeated, which also shows how much the loved each other, referring to her as his. The author uses the connotation of words and phrases to relate back to the theme of love. Edgar Allen Poe uses phrases like “ It was many and many a year ago” and “ kingdom by the sea” to give fairytale-like characteristic to the poem. Whenever we think of fairy tales, we think of a Prince and a Princess living happily ever after. The author uses these phrases to portray their love as fairytale love, eternal and happy. The use of structure, such as repetition, and word choice portray the theme of love in “Annabel Lee.”
Distillation Lab
For our distillation lab, we were tasked with separating salt, sand, and water from a Erlenmeyer flask. We were given the flask filled salt, water, and sand mixed together. The first thing we did was separate the sand from the salt water. We placed a coffee filter over a beaker and secured with a hair tie. Then we poured the saltwater-sand mixture over top. Because of the different sized particles of the sand, water, and salt, we were able to separate just the sand. The coffee filter allowed the saltwater to pass through and left the sand on top. This is because the saltwater it is a liquid and had smaller particles than the solid sand. Unfortunately, we lost all of our photos of this process.
After that, we had to separate the salt from the water. We had to do this process twice, because we broke the flask the first time. We started by connecting a tube to our flask and then made our cooling stations. We cut two holes in a solo cup, one on each side, passed the tube connected to the flask through it, and filled it with ice. Then we took two large Dixie cups and cut a hole at the bottom of each. We filled one with ice then put the other cup over it, and passed another tube through it. We did not have this cooling station in the first attempt Finally we cut off the bottom of a balloon and placed it over the beaker that collected our water, which was in a solo cup filled with ice. Then we placed the tube through it. We connected each of our tubes with a glass connecter. Then we turned on the hot plate that the flask was on. Because water has a lower boiling point then salt, the water boiled, turned into water vapor, passed through the tubes, and left the salt behind. This is why cooling stations are important. As the water vapor passes through the tubes it goes through the cooling stations, turns into a liquid, and falls into the beaker which is also surrounded by ice. We also made sure to replace the ice that the beaker was in regularly. You can see our set-up for the second attempt in the pictures below.
