Week 5: Galaxies to Black Holes

 

  1. What did you do in lab today? In lab, we listened to different groups' presentations. I learned that stars have different life cycles depending on their mass. Our Sun won’t become a black hole or explode as a supernova. We also learned that most meteorites come from asteroids and many burn in the atmosphere. Comets grow tails when they get close to the Sun. Some groups also shared about important women in space science like Caroline Herschel and Maria Mitchell.​
  2. What was the big question? The big question was how do different aspects of space work and change overtime?​
  3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? On Thursday, I learned that the Sun was formed from a pile of gases and is held together because of its mass. As it burns fuel, it loses mass and becomes a red giant. Stars can make elements up to iron through nuclear fusion, and heavier elements come from supernovas. Earth was created 4.65 billion years ago from dust and debris, not in the Big Bang. Meteors are streaks of light, and meteorites are pieces that reach the ground. Galaxies have about 200 billion stars, and we live in the Milky Way on Orion’s arm. Most galaxies have a supermassive black hole in the center. Inner planets are rocky, and outer planets are made of gas or ice and have many moons and rings.
  4. Week 5: Galaxies to Black Holes ​​
  1. What did you learn? I learned that stars form from big clouds of gas and dust called nebulae. Gravity pulls these clouds together until a star is born. Small stars like the Sun become red giants and then white dwarfs. Big stars explode in supernovae and can become black holes or neutron stars. Stars make new elements, and when they die, these spread in space. I also learned that we are made of this stardust. The Milky Way is our galaxy with many stars and a big black hole in the middle. Gravity keeps everything in space moving and together. How bright a star looks depends on how close it is to Earth. The universe is very big and connected.
    ​
  2. What was most helpful? What helped me the most was learning how stars are made, their lifecycle, and how they die. It showed me where things like the elements come from and how everything in space is connected. Understanding that big stars can become black holes or neutron stars was really interesting. Also, knowing that gravity holds everything in space together made it easier to understand how the universe works. 
    ​
  3. What do you need more information on? Nothing that I can think of right now. ​

5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have? Nothing right now. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 10

Image
  What did you learn this week?  This week, we learned about evolution and its four main drivers: natural selection, genetic drift, migration, and mutation. Natural selection is the only one that isn’t random because it helps organisms survive. We did a preying on beans activity to see how natural selection works. We also visited the School of the Wild and acted as students in their lessons. In the lab, we talked about mutations and genetic drift, which is when allele frequencies change randomly. Migration can change the biodiversity in populations over time. We also learned how adaptation relates to natural selection. Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew? Yes, I can relate what I learned to what I already knew. I knew natural selection was important, but I learned it’s the only driver that’s not random. I also knew about mutations, but now I understand how they can affect evolution, especially with genetic drift, which is random. Migration makes se...
Read more

Week 3: Space: The Moon

Image
What did you do in the lab today?  In lab, we learned about how the Moon looks different in different places and why some parts of it are darker. We did an experiment using flour and cocoa powder to model the Moon’s surface. We dropped different-sized marbles from different heights to see how craters form and why there are darker spots. When the marbles hit, the darker cocoa powder showed through, just like how real impacts on the Moon can make some areas look darker. We also talked about how the Earth rotates counterclockwise on its axis, and we learned the difference between rotate and revolve . Rotate means spinning on its own axis, and revolve means moving around something else. Then we used styrofoam balls and a globe to figure out where the Moon would be during its different phases, like new moon, quarter moon, and full moon . We also learned that the Moon has a front side, which is the side we always see  , and a back side, which is the far side we never see ...
Read more

Week 10: Layers of Earth, Convection Cells, and Plate Tectonics

Image
  What did you do in lab today?  In our lab, we talked about the layers of the Earth, such as the crust, mantle, and core, and learned that the iron core helps protect us from the sun’s radiation. We learned about convection cells and how heat and density make the Earth’s plates move, which can cause earthquakes and volcanoes. We shared our convection cell videos and talked about how convection is like what happens in ovens and ocean currents. We also talked about why earthquakes and volcanoes can happen away from plate boundaries. For our lab activity, we used graham crackers, rice cakes, and whipped cream to model the three types of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform. What was the big question?  What is the Theory of Plate Tectonics​ What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? I learned that earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains all happen because Earth’s plates move. Earthquakes are caused by pressure building up and then breaking. Big ones can be...
Read more