Kavya Plate Boundary Excersise

The animation above shows how Iceland was created through two divergent oceanic plates. The plate on the left represents the oceanic North American Plate, while the one on the left represents the oceanic Eurasian Plate. Since the two plates are diverging, they are separating, and the space in the middle leaves magma that is not dense underneath. This is why the magma surfaces, and hardens immediately, which creates rock. This is how the country of Iceland was created in between these plates. The two plates are still moving apart, so Iceland grows approximately 1 centimeter from each side or plate that moves. Iceland will continue to grow this way.

Catalyst 10 9/16/15

Order of the earth's sublayers from the center of the earth outward:
Inner Core, Outer Core, Mesosphere (Mantle), Asthenosphere, Lithosphere

Photo Credits

How Old is the Ocean Floor?

In science, we have learned about the continental drift, and are learning about the age of rocks in the ocean and on land. This post is about the age of the ocean floor.

This map I have labeled shows the Mid-Pacific, Mid-Atlantic, and Mid-Indian ridges. At these ridges, new rocks come up from the earth's mantel, and push aside the old rocks. This is why most new rocks are at the ridges, or in the middle of the ocean, and older rocks are closer to land and near continents.

This map shows the Mid-Atlanic ridge, and its youngest and oldest rocks. The youngest rocks in the Atlantic are about 0.5 million years old, and the oldest are about 172 million years old.

Where are the oldest parts of the oceans?

The oldest the parts of the oceans are closer to the continents and land. There are some exceptions, but in general, the closer you get to continents, the older the ocean gets. This happens because the newer rocks come up to the surface in the middle of the ocean, and push the older rocks aside, and put them near the continents.

Do the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic ocean basins have the same age and patterns?

In general, all ocean basins follow the same age pattern (that the younger rocks are in the middle) but an example of an exception would be in the Pacific. There are no old rocks at the western outline of North or South America, while there is a huge outward bulge of really old rocks coming from eastern Asia. In this case, it would just mean that the tectonic plate is at the border of a continent. But in the Atlantic ocean, the tectonic plate is exactly between Africa and North and South America.

How does the age of the ocean floor compare with the age of rocks on the continents?

Rocks on land are 2.5 billion years old on average, while rocks in the ocean are 80 million years old on average. Erosion is one factor that tells us why the ocean rocks are so much younger than rocks on land. Since more erosion happens in the ocean with the water, it eats the rocks away, leaving newer or younger rocks. Another factor could be plate tectonics and ridges. When the new rocks come to the surface of the ocean, and push the older rocks aside, the older ones could either go under the surface, where they are not visible to us, or they could form new land (or connect to land), which would become the old rocks on continents.

These questions were the same as the questions in your pre-test. Reflect on what answers, if any, you changed after completing these activities. What did you learn from these activities with GeoMapApp? Did you need a lot of help from friends or your parents or teacher? What do you think helps you learn new material in science class? 

I think the GeoMapApp helped me understand the age of the ocean really well, because it was a great visual representation. Before I used GeoMap, I think I had a slight idea about what the answers were, but I wasn't sure, and didn't understand them in detail. I know this because the length of my answers has increased, and I was able to explain my answers in better detail. The one question I was way off on was the third one, because I said that rocks in the ocean were older, but my explanation didn't make sense. So the explaining was really where I grew here. Sometimes, the questions confused me, so I learned some things from my parents and teachers. In science class, I like when we get to have an activity like GeoMapApp on our laptops and be able to go at our own pace. But the big downside of using our computers like this is that if we are doing it at home, we can't ask our teacher about any questions. It's better to do it in science class, so we can ask our teacher to explain something to us, or show us something.

Portfolio Design

In art, we have just finished making our portfolio name designs. The idea was to draw your name creatively on your portfolio, which we will be using for the rest of the art semester. For my design, I wanted to incorporate one of my interests, so I used a basketball design and theme. Below is a picture of my final product.

To the left is a picture of my first ideas sketched out. I really liked the way my first one looked, because it involved my interest, and I liked the detail it involved.











Below is a picture of my full-sized rough draft. It is slightly blurry, but I did make some changes here, because I used the 7B to my advantage. I did this by putting it directly underneath my last name, and I curved the letters in my last name. I liked this idea because it really fit my theme. I also reorganized the layout and composition of the design.

 I made some minor changes in my final, like outlining 7B, and moving the basketball and the basket to the lower area.


Reflection Questions:

1. What was the best part of this assignment?
I liked how we got a lot of freedom with how we put everything together. The color, the media, and the techniques were all our choice, and we got the perfect amount of help and assistance. In terms of my own work, I'm really happy with my idea and the detail. I think the detail really paid off, and normally ideation is a difficult stage, but I'm proud of this idea.

2. If you could do this assignment again what would you do differently?
I think I got behind on time because I spent too much time drawing my name on my final. I think it was because I was unconfident and unfocused about the way I drew it. Next time, I want to focus a lot more on my final, and draw lightly, so that I can erase if I need to.

Age of Ocean Floor Pre-Test

1. Where are the oldest parts of the oceans?
I think the oldest parts of oceans are the areas closest to the continents, because that's where the oldest rocks from the mid atlantic ridge are. There might be some sort of connection between the oceans and the rocks.

2. Do the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic ocean basins have the same age and patterns?
I think they would have to have different age and patterns, because they split into continents/countries at different points in time.

3. How does the age of the ocean floor compare with the age of rocks on the continents?

I think the age of the ocean floor would have to be certain age older than the rocks on the continents above it, because the ocean is always there before the rocks are. 

Mathematical Reflections on Polygons

In Math, we have been learning about polygons and angles. This post has my answers to some questions about angles and polygons.

1. The common properties of polygons are...
Polygons should have no curves (only lines and vertices), are closed, are 2d figures, and should have no intersecting lines.

My drawing to the left shows these four rules of what a polygon has to be. The first shape has a curve, which means it is not a polygon. Another way to tell this rule is that the number of lines should equal the number of vertices. The shape in the first box has only one line, but but has two vertices.
The second figure is open, which polygons can not be.
The third figure is 3d, and all polygons must be 2 dimensional (length and width).

The fourth figure has intersecting lines, or lines that overlap, and polygons can not have intersecting lines.

2. The measure in degrees in an angle tells me that the angle...
    The measure of degrees in an angle can tell us what type of angle it is. For example, if the angle's measure is 180°, I know it's a straight angle.
        Some of the common angles are...
    Obtuse, acute, right, and straight angles are the most common.

My picture shown above shows the different angles. The first one is an acute angle. All acute angles must be less than 90°. They are the smallest type of angle. Right angles (the 2nd type) must be 90°. Obtuse angles must be between 90° and 180°. Straight angles must be exactly 180°.

3. Some strategies to estimate angle measures are...
    You can use benchmark angles like 45°, 90°, 180°, or 270°. For example, if you are trying to find the measure of an angle that is 85°, you will notice that it is slightly smaller than a right angle. So you might assume that it is somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees.

        To find accurate measurements with tools, I should...
    When you are measuring lines, angles, or any other geometrical shape, it is very important to line things up. For example, while measuring an angle, the 0 line on your protractor should line up with the initial side of the angle. If you are measuring a line, you should make sure that the 0 mark on the ruler matches up with the beginning of the line. This also means that the end of the geometrical figure should match up. So in an angle, the terminal side is on a line, and in a line the ruler is matched up with the end of the line. This is important because you can get really different answers if you don't do this. For instance, if you don't line it up, a 10° angle can become a 100° angle.
    While measuring angles, you also want to know which number to look at. This is because the measure for an angle greater than 180° is written above the measure for an angle less than 180°.

Week 2

1. What is the difference between an Observation and an Inference? An observation is something you notice with your senses, and an inference is the conclusion or prediction you make based on what you notice. An inference is a judgement or educated guess, while an observation is a fact.

 2. How can inferences and observations be related? Scientists must use the information they observe (observations) to make a judgement (inference). If you don't have any observations, it's hard to make an inference.

 3. Why are both observations and inferences important in science? When scientists see some sort of reaction, or anything happen while doing an experiment, they want to figure out what happened. This is why it is important for them to note what they saw, smelled, tasted, felt, or heard, so they can then infer what that means, and what happened.