Friday, December 16, 2011

Hey Guys

Umm, I've decided that I want to, how do I say it, re-invent myself so I've created a new blog. This one will stay, but it will be more for things like reports or experiments. My new blog is a book blog by the name of Ink and Paper. If you wish to contact me on it, use my new name "Rogue".
Plus, if the name changes to something you don't remember, it's because I'm still working on the title. : )

Oh and don't mention this blog there, please : )

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Burned


Title: Burned

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Pages: 531

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Ages: 15+


It contains adult topics, but OK for most teens.



Ellen Hopkins’ books are a work of art. It warns girls and boys alike, about how dangerous the world can be. Dealing with sex, abuse, drugs, and alcohol, it can be quite hard to read at times yet thoroughly worth it. The endings will leave you pondering for the rest of the day, and sometimes more.

Told in verse, the book tells the sad tale of Pattyn Von Stratten, the eldest daughter of a ‘good’ Mormon family. Her journey begins with a simple dream about a boy. With most families, it would not mean anything. But to Pattyn, it could be the first step to hell and eternal damnation.

The dream is the first step, but to what? Will the dream lead to a better life or hell? Pattyn ponders this and other questions. They are questions without any answers – about God, sex, and most of all, love. The readers will find themselves pondering these same questions along with her in this battle of good and evil. Soon enough, Pattyn gets caught with a real boy, and gets shipped to rural Nevada. There she finds something new to her: love and acceptance. And for the first time in her life, she feels worthy of it. But her past demons won’t let her escape. Pattyn goes down a path that will surely lead her to hell.

From the first pages, you are drawn into Pattyn’s harsh life. The way it is written makes it impossible to quit reading. It is not possible to skip a paragraph – because there are no paragraphs. Most of the book is thoughts and feelings, but the dialogue is very important to read. There are no annoying pages where the dialogue just goes on… and on. I love how you always know what Pattyn is thinking. When she is sad, you are sad; when she is ecstatic, you are too. Her story will leave the readers absorbed until the very end.

This book isn’t an easy read and some scenes could be quite traumatic to younger audiences. I don’t recommend this to kids younger than 15 or 14 (unless their parents permit them to read it). But with this said, it is an amazing book that I think everyone should at some point in their life. Ellen Hopkins’ books should be recommended reading in schools across the country and the world.



Ellen Hopkins also wrote:

Crank

Glass
Fallout

Identical

Impulse

Tricks

Perfect

Triangles [Adult book]

And some children’s science books



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Chemistry Experiment-Acids&Bases-Tumeric PH Indicators

So, for chemistry today we did experiments. We made PH Indicators.
...
...
Oh, so your wondering 'What in the world in PH?'. Right? Oh yeah, I'm right. Well, Wikipedia defines it as:
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution
Well, if you can understand that, good for you. Its basically that measure of acidity or basicity in something that is able to dissolve in water. Cool right?
...
If you said no!, I have a feeling you will change your mind after this experiment.
And if you said yes!, good for you.


Parental supervision may be required = turmeric stains :\

List of Ingredients:
A nice old pair of clothes
One handy adult - Optional ^^
Vinegar - Our Acid
Ammonia - Our Base
Lemon Juice - Another Acid - Optional
Turmeric, Red Cabbage Juice, or Beet Juice - warning: stains
Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) - Our neutral
Windex (not much) - Another Base - Optional
Lots of strips of paper towel - Around 6 - 7 - About an inch wide
Two small bowls - You use a very little of the ingredients 


Pour some rubbing alcohol and tumeric/reb cabbage juice/beet juice and stir for a few seconds. The alcohol will dissolve the tumeric. You will get a orangey-yellow liquid.
In the other bowl, pour vinegar.

Now, pick up those paper strips. Pinch the paper towel and dip it into the 1st bowl. If it done correctly (its pretty hard not to) the paper will change color. That means that the PH level has changed.

Tumeric: Bright Yellow
Red Cabbage: Purpleish Blue
Beet Juice: Redish color  

So that's it.





Not.


Now, open the container of ammonia, do not pour it into anything. Now pick up your orangish yellow/purpleish blue/redish color paper and hold it above the opening. You don't have to dunk it in, since ammonia is such a powerful base, the fumes will do the trick. I don't know what color beet juice or red cabbage will turn because I used tumeric. It turns a wonderful deep blood red. The change in color means that the PH level has changed. Anyway, now your going to be using the second bowl which should  be filled with vinegar. Vinegar is our acid, which will neutralize the base. Dunk the colored paper into the vinegar, and watch. The paper will turn into the color it turned when you dunk it in the first bowl!

You can experient in different ways. For example, you can use the Windex™, sprits it one a paper which has been dunked in the first bowl, and if you dunked your last paper into the acid, its okay. Once the paper dries, you can do it again. It will do the same thing as the ammonia. Lemon is another acid that you can use.

But whatever you do, never ever ever put bleach and ammonia together. The combination produces corrosive substances in your airways that cause your lungs to fill with fluid, it is called cholrine gas (read BAD).

And most importantly: Have fun ^^


This experiement is from the Happy Scientist
http://thehappyscientist.com/science-video/making-turmeric-paper *

He explains it much better than I do.

*needs flash