Welcome to Our Science Blog!

In class today, we performed a phase change on our lipid lactose solution and created a solid form.  We then disposed of this solid lipid lactose product.  Amazingly enough, the students had a great time doing this as they disposed of the solid lipid lactose product by eating it!  I promised I’d put the formula on this site so they could replicate this experiment at home to amaze their families.

Mix the following ingredients in a plastic ziploc bag.

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon sugar

1small squirt of chocolate or strawberry syrup, if wanted.

Seal this bag and then put this bag inside a larger gallon-sized ziploc bag.  In this larger bag, add

4 cups crushed ice

4 Tablespoons salt

Then you shake, shake, shake until the ice cream has solidified.  The whole point of the salt is to force the ice to melt faster and suck the heat out of the ice cream.  It’s the same thing those wacky northerners do to their roads when they get icy!

Danielle, Tiyana, Bobby, and Sean are shaking their baggies to mix the salt and ice.  The gentlemen are receiving a disapproving glare from Tiyana for their crazy antics.   he he he

Sarah thought I said to shake her body instead of her baggie, I guess.  Or else she thought that this extra shaking would get her ice cream to freeze faster…  Selena is providing dance accompaniment for the shaker!

Hi guys.  I left you guys yesterday just before 5th period and finally got to Fort Worth last night.  I could hardly sleep for all the excitement I was feeling about the cool science stuff I got to do today!  I spent the day at a place called the Barnett Shale, which actually is a huge area that goes all over Fort Worth and beyond.  It is a geological feature that has tons of natural gas reservoirs.  The natural gas mining process is really cool and complex.  I rode a bus from a drill site where they are making a new well to a well that is already built and collecting natural gas to a plant that compresses the natural gas and makes it usable for us consumers.  We got to trace the natural gas from the ground to consumer.  I was really impressed, but I have to say mining natural gas is loud and muddy work!

Here’s a picture of me in front of the well that is being drilled right now.  The giant tower is for holding the pipe straight to feed into the tunnel.

After the hole is drilled and the actual natual gas collection begins, they take this huge platform away and all that is left is a little tiny little metal cap.  I was amazed that after that huge structure, all that was needed to mine the gas was this little piece below.

When I got back to the convention center, it was time to tackle the exhibit floor.  There are over 400 booths and they all are handing out stuff like magnets and pencils and stickers and pamphlets.  I love collecting all the neat posters and such.  We entered about 100 drawings for free stuff.  I’ll let you guys know if I win anything!  Here’s a picture of the Joey I got to pet.  (A Joey is a baby kangaroo.)

Bye guys.  I’ll keep you posted and see you on Monday.  You better be good for the subs!

Mrs. Key

We did a couple of really fun labs last week.  (At least the students told me they were fun after being threatened with a meterstick.  he he he)  On Thursday, we looked at viscosity and density of different fluids to see how different densities float on each other.  On Friday, we examined the process of sublimation and phase changes with a dry ice lab.

First things first.  We all have to put on our goggles.  Even Mr. Baggins plays it safe and hunkers down behind some goggles.

Here, Bobby and Rico are contemplating density and life in 5th period.

Jacob and Damien are waiting for the VERY viscous peach colored liquid to exit the test tube.  It was a slow process, but their group kept up morale by telling each other what great lab group members they are!

Lauren, Kassandra, Tanya, and Hope are also patiently waiting for the more viscous fluids to pour.

Lilliana and Elizabeth are proving that where there is smoke, there is NOT always fire with their dry ice lab.  Dry ice is a solid that turns straight into a gas without turning into a liquid first.  This is called sublimation.

Putting dry ice into water causes a foggy effect that is often used for special effects on Halloween in witch’s brews and such.   Ram, Alexa, and Ilse are using these spooky effects.

We are going high tech this week with our temperature probes in use rather than the ol’ thermometers from the olden days.  he he he.  The laptops are part of a computer on wheels that the science department has and is very useful for lots of things.  We were doing a lab that had three different experiments.  One got really hot, one got really cold, and one stayed the same.  (Sounds like a Goldilocks story!)  I was impressed with how quickly the students caught on to the technology and figured out the many wires!

Here, group 5 desperately tries to keep up with the data gathering while starting a new lab.

Above: These two are a whirlwind of activity as they try to get their computer up and running first!

Below:  Certain members of group 6 take a break from lab work to ham it up for the camera.