Forensic Science Interesting Facts

1). Do you know that Forensic Science was not invented by investigators? They were invented by Cops, police officers who just felt that ancient methods were too inefficient to follow.

2).  Fingerprints aren't foolproof, although everyone would think that there isn't two people with the same fingerprints. Forensic Scientists say that its very difficult to find a matching fingerprint although computer analysing has made it much easier.

3). DNA testing isn't foolproof either, although the chance is extremely low, sometimes, the precise testing can cause mistakes.

4). Deleted files on the computer aren't always gone, Forensic Scientists or Investigators would be able to develope softwares to rewrite these deleted files.

5). Everything you do on the internet is tracked. Well, its scary, but the government can do that! Every click, everything you type, every website, the government can track even when im typing now. This applies to criminals who are released on bail.

6). TV policemen always get to use their guns at nearly every case they are called on to investigate?

No, The average police officer in the city of New York, America would have to work for approximately sixty years just to be able to shoot once.

7). Pigs are the closest analog to the human body. Forensic scientists use pigs to study decomposition of the human body as well as tool markings.

8). Most professionals agree that if a person knows that they are telling a lie, it can be detected by the polygraph. The polygraph measures the physiological arousal that occurs when people lie. Thus, the theory goes, a person could only “beat” the test if they are telling a lie that they believe to be the truth. Polygraphs are admissible in court if the judge allows the evidence.

Thank you very much for reading this post. Hope you like it:)

Forensic Science Reflections

Forensic Science Reflections


Well, forensic Science has been an enriching and interesting topic for me, it has 
covered things which i had not known before. For example, the fingerprinting, the different methods to solve crimes, through various exercises, I have learnt more about forensic science and how to apply it in our daily lives. Also, it has given me more skills on how to use Excel, to plot a graph with easily transparent shortcuts, and surprisingly, after i found our all these special features in Excel, on that day, i rushed home and started experimenting with what i had learnt. Also, studying Fingerprints closely and analyzing led me realize how much focusing and long attention span a forensic scientist needs to have. Last but not least, this module adds on new facts which we do not know such as the golden ratio. In conclusion, i truly appreciate the school setting up a new science topic different from the usual boring and standalone topics. Also, the use of videos have greatly enhanced the course. I hope that the school can have more of such modules for me to analyse different aspects of science. 

(Newspaper Article on Forensic Science) New Way to Analyze a Bloody Crime Scene: Chicken Wing Sauce and Trigonometry Brought to Bear On CSI Enigma

WSU physicist Fred Gittes, left, and doctoral candidate Chris Varney used a "clapper" to spray simulated blood and develop a crime-scene investigation method of pinpointing the height a liquid comes from. (Credit: Washington State University photo)

But then a scientist with forensics training told him that crime scene investigators could use a better way to analyze blood spatters. The physicist in Gittes rose to the challenge.

"It seems as though what was being done was very crude from a physics point of view and that intrigued me," he says.

Along with Chris Varney, a doctoral candidate in physics, Gittes has worked out a system that can often determine exactly where blood spatters originate, a critical piece of evidence in not only solving a crime but securing a conviction. A paper on their research, demurely titled "Locating the Source of Projectile Fluid Droplets," has now been accepted for publication in theAmerican Journal of Physics and posted online.

Until now, investigators have been able to determine the direction a drop of blood has come from, with a stain's elliptical shape practically pointing to it. They've even been able to nail down a source along a vertical line. But the tougher part is figuring out how high up the source was.

"I talked informally with a public defender and he said that it's crucial to know the height because so often it's a self-defense issue," Gittes says. "A defendant may claim that a victim was standing rather than sitting. That's a big deal, apparently."

Gittes and Varney started tackling the problem with a clapper -- two boards on a hinge that could be clapped over a liquid, producing a spatter from a known and measurable height and angle. To get a liquid with blood-like impact shapes, they tinkered with corn syrup, food coloring and a variety of sauces before settling on a blend of Ashanti chicken wing sauce and Ivory dish soap.

Most of the math they used is at about the level of first-semester college physics. We'll spare you most of it, except to say they worked back from measurements of known spatters and sources and found that well known equations of projectile motion could be used to develop a formula giving them the height of a liquid's origin.

They also realized that, plotted on a graph with x and y axes, data points on specific drops form a neat line when the formula is working correctly. If drops are launched from too wide a range of angles, the method won't work and the data points won't line up, preventing investigators from making a false conclusion.

Gittes says he is chiefly interested in the new approach as a teaching tool, and a WSU geologist has expressed an interest in using similar methods to study lava fountains and volcanic debris. Gittes says he is content to leave any forensic application to crime scene investigators. Besides, he is way too squeamish.

Reflection:

In a crime scene, Forensic Scientists will always look for Fingerprints. Second in the list is A blood splatter. A blood spatter contains DNA evidence of a person but the collection process is always very difficult. So now, Scientists have developed a way to make that process faster and more accurate. Also, scientists need to know where blood splatters originate to determine where the victim was killed or where the murderer had went etc. Well, everyone would think that the location could be determined by the blood stains but the other critical matter is the height. A defender can claim that the victim was standing instead of sitting. Well, now, scientists are using Corn Syrup, food colouring or even sauces to determine the location of the blood splatter! This method has just been released by researchers and needs more time to develop and for it to be implemented. But as in most cases, they would be disadvantages and in this case, if drops are launched from too wide a range of angles, the method won't work and the data points won't line up, preventing investigators from making a false conclusion. Let us just hope that Forensic Science becomes more and more universal and for everyone to appreciate it, and to develop more science to nab criminals and murderers easily!:)

Graded Activity 3: Skeleton measurements and the case of the middle aged woman

Below is the chart of Simon's Dimensions:

Below is the chart of my Dimensions:

Possible Reasons for discrepancies:
-Measuring tape was not able to pinpoint the exact location of the parts well.
-We did not take the average as it was only measured once.
-Height Differences during night and morning whereby we would supposedly be taller in the night than in the morning.
-Genetic differences.

Whether my body satisfy Golden Ratio?
Golden Ratio: 1.618
My Head to Naval: 62cm
My Naval to feet: 100cm
My Golden Ratio: 1.612
Difference to the real golden ratio: 0.006

Age of woman: 70 years old ( 2011 – 1940 – 1)
Height of the middle-aged woman+working:
Height of females are: 2.352×length of Tibia = 74.775
SO: Theoretical Height of Middle Aged Woman= 2.352 ×33.5cm + 74.775cm = 153.567cm (Answer)
Actual height after subtracting (Height decreases by 0.06cm per year after 30 years): 153.567 – (0.06 x 40) = 151.167 cm


Adjustments to the estimated time of death:
a). If the body is found unclothed, it will cool and decompose faster than a clothed body. However, since it is summer in August in Australia, the temperature is higher and speeds up decomposition too. Thus, overall, the body will decompose faster.

b). If the body is found lightly clothed, they body will similarly cool faster and decompose faster than a fully clothed one but slower than a unclothed one. Also, since the electric heater is giving out heat and thus will overall make decomposition even faster dramatically with the hot weather.

Here, i concluded the 3rd activity of the Forensic Science Topic. (Skeletal Measurements and Estimation of time of death) Look out for more posts on Forensic Science!:)

Pie Chart of Graph of Fingerprints 1A1

The following is the pie chart of the fingerprints of the teenagers in Class 1A1.

Conclusions
Well, This graph clearly shows that loops actually overwhelm the others in this fingerprint test in Class 1A1, this is somewhat correct to the theoretical proportions. However, all 10 of my fingers are whorls except for the last which is a composite. This is somewhat unbelievable as Whorls are supposed to take up only 35 % and loops are 65%. It is surprising that i do not even have a loop! Also, the proportions of the different types of fingerprints are rather similar to the theoretical proportions although the number of arches is far more than the predicted. This can be due to the human error induced during the experiment and not having examined our fingers closely enough due to the lack of time and advanced equipment.

Thank you for viewing. This is a graded assignment for Forensic Science.
Ye Jiadong 1A1

Lefty Lewis Forensic Science

Evidence that may have been left at the scene of crime:
-HIs 78 Holden tyre tracks in the mud
-Oil that leaked out shows path of his car
-shoe prints
-small trickle of blood
-Torch which fell out
-fingerprints everywhere (not wearing gloves)
-Back mudguard which scraped onto the gate
-footprints in the house

Evidence that may have been taken away by Lefty:
-His car, which would have pointed out the owner of the car which was Lefty
-Soil, dirt, pollen on Lefty's shirt and pants
-Jewellery stolen by him
-the "cased joint" which erased some evidence
-His jemmy and balaclava and his gloves in the car which had his fingerprints on them

Suggestions for the forensic scientist
-Firstly, to conduct a fingerprint test in the house, on the torch, on the window and all around the house.
-Second, take note of all the shoeprints in the house and outside and also footprints and compare based in database and find the matching person.
- Make out Lefty's car trails and find the path which he took home and also from the oil which leaked all the way.
-Find matching blood samples based on the blood collected from the scene.

Forensic Science Avatar Creating

This is the avatar of Josh Groban, a very pro singer.

The real Josh Groban. Compare.

This is the avatar of me:)

The Science of Aircraft

Hello everyone, again, this is going to be my last post as i sum my blog up. If you compare this with everybody's else, it will be the one which is the longest among the others, comprising of many paragraphs, structured to make it as interesting as possible.It will be, on the science of Aircrafts! An aircraft needs to have all its parts functional to allow it to lift off into the air, to touch down or to continue cruising in the air! Here, i shall talk to you about every specific and important part of an aeroplane and we would focus especially on the A380! Please also note that all the facts below and this entire article is written through knowledge and not copied from the internet. The basic parts of an aircraft, are the following- "Wing, Turbine Engine, Horizontal Stabilizer, Cockpit, Fuselage, Slats, Spoilers, Flaps, Winglet, Aileron, Rudder, Elevator and the Vertical Stablizer". Of course, there are far more minute systems in the aircraft body but they are just too "unimportant to be mentioned here".

So, lets talk about the wing first. Every Airbus or Boeing has to generate enough lift to lift itself, its passengers, cargo and the aircraft up into the sky and this is carried out when the aircraft flies so fast in the air, virtually "slamming" through the air at a moderate speed of 9ookm/h. This creates a huge aerodynamic drag over the wings. The winglets are then created and then fitted to the sides of the wings to reduce this drag created by the rapid passing of air to ensure that the plane does not slow down significantly and lose its lift. Although this is in heavy relation to physics over lift and drag, i would prefer to talk more about the physical side. Many people would think, the wings seem to be usless, they cant do anything! They are just there for nothing and in reality, create eaven more drag with the plane. But they are wrong! Without the wings, a plane cant have the flaps, the spoilers, the ailerons or even the engines. Without all these vital systems, do you think a plane can even lift off into the air with just its oval body? No! A wing comprises the important systems such as braking systems for a plane to slow down upon landing and also the 4 engines required to boom and to boost the planes to space.

Now, we continue, with the planes thrusters (engines) Most planes have the rolls royce Trent 900 engines but they are known to have caused many accidents before. General Electric sells aircraft engines too but no one can guarantee that one's engines are 100% perfect! These engines provide thrust to overcome the drag created by air resistance and to propel the aircraft forward through the air. One interesting fact about how the engines work is that they suck in air from the outside and a compressor raises the pressure of the air.The compressed air is then mized with fuel from the fuel tanks and an electric spark lights the mixture. The burning gases expand and blasts out throught he nozzle and this properls the engine and the plane forward at a very high speed. Tkae note that once an engine catches fire (Qantas a380 incident case), the pilot would automatically deploy a fire extinguisheif t engines are unable to shut down and the fire extinguisher puts out the fire in a few seconds. However, the downside is that once a fire extinguisher is ever used, the engines can never be tried to restart ever again. Similar for a birdstrike when the bird gets sucked into the engines and mized with fuel instead of air.

So now, we move on to the Horizontal and Vertical Stabilizer, have you every wondered about Jet Turbulence? Many of you would think that it was the pilots' effort to pull the jet out from turbulence but it is not actually. It is the work of the horizontal and vertical stablizers of the plane which does the work manually.The vertical Stabiliser prevents the plane's nose from swinging right and left while the horizontal stabilizedr prevents the nose of the plane from swinging up and down. They provide stability for the aircraft and ensures that it is flying straight.

The cockpit is where you get to see all the flight controls and the captain and the co-pilot controlling the aircraft. On Boeing planes, they use the Yoke to control it. In Airbus, its the Joystick. If you are lucky and flying on a very unpopular airline like Garuda or some Russian Airlines, they can allow you to seat at the Jumpseat and talk to the pilot after you bribe them a sum of money. Alternatively, they will allow you to fly the plane even for a larger sum of money provided you know how to fly it in the first place. In some airliners, even the good ones, the Captains prefer to leave the cockpit door ajar to give the passengers a bird eyes view of the cockpit to not let them worry and to send them a message that the captaisn and co pilots are in control of the flight.

Now, the fuselage. The fuselage of an aircraft holds the entire aircraft together. In some old russian airliners like the turpolev, you see crack in the fuselages and that is fatal. Passengers are usually carried in the back of the fuselage and in some aircraft, fuel in stored inside the fuselage.

Slats.Have you ever heard of slats before? Slats are aerodynamic structures positioned on the leading edge of an aircraft to allow the wing to operate at a higher angle. They are deployed to make the aircraft fly at a slower speed, especially during landing.

Spoilers have quite the same function as the slats. When they are deployed, they disrupt the air-flow over the wings and thus. decreases the lift produced, In an accident whereby an American Airlines overan a runway, the pilots forgot to activate their spoilers during landing and could not stop in time because the runway was wet and slippery.

Flaps are deployed downward on takeoffs and landings to maximise the amount of force produced by the plane. It has the same capability-which is to reduce the speed at landing or take-off.

Aileron works just like a car's steering wheel, by rolling the aircraft side to side, for example, when the aircraft is on the ground and wants to drive or turn left/right, when the pilot turns the yoke, the ailerons do the work, not the rudder. The rudder is used to control and manoevre the plane left and right when it is in the air. It is used to deflect te tail left and right and thus causing changes in directions in airflows, pushing the plane left or right, Similarly, the Elevator, controls the up and down movements of a plane, as it deflects the tail up and down instead. And one more is the hydraulics systems, they control the balancing of the aircraft and also the turning of the aircraft left or right. Without it, the aircraft would not respond to the yoke or Joystick. So how does it oprerate. A normal aircraft has 3 hydraulic fluids while an a380 only has two. They Hydraulics system are filled with different chemics, the a380 being green and yello while normal planes being green, yellow and blue, these liquids roll around in the plane and once the pilot jerks the joystick to the left, the fluid also moves to the left, automatically tilting the plane left. These are the science of an aircraft.

Here i have concluded an analysis on plane systems and i shall start my little interesting flight stories here as i have been on many airlines and flights before. Here, i shall give a detailed analysis of from the take offs to landing. Imaging you are an Emirates Captain of an A380-600 and you are commandered for take-off while your co-pilot shall do the landing. Before tazi to a runway, a pilot must complete a checklist regarding whether the number of passengers on board are correct, cargo, systems check, engine check and also that all the quipment are working fine. If anything, even the spoilers are not working well, the flight has to be cancelled. The most important instrument in a plane is its static port, which gauges the altermetre, the height and the speed of the plane. If one tapes it up as in recent accidents, the plane would giv ea false reading and eventually crash. After doing the checklist, radio control tower and state your flight, destination and request in a polite way. Get the green go sign and proceed to the runway. Put flaps to 20 degrees, heat up the engines, put tke off lights and all necesary lights on, and put throttle to full speed. Thereby, grab hold of the throttle and ensures that it does not slide back to 0% and the other hand hold on to your Joystick, When it reaches takeoff speed, which your co-pilot will be observing, he will shout "V1-Rotate" and when he does that, pull up the joystick by a little unless you have enough speed to do a fast ascent especially if you are taking off in Pakistan's airport and you have to ascend really fast due to security concerns there. Thereby, maintain speed and do the turns to the direction you are heading to. Upon hitting 8000 metres in the sky, release your hand on the throttle, set the plane on autopilot climb and straight mode, and also auto-throttle mode. Now, relax untill the time when you need to do a right or left turn, then disengage auto-pilot. When the plane reaches its final destinations, theres two ways of landing, the eye method, or the Virtual Glidescope method whereby every big airport would have a glidescope for planes to line up on its runways. Decrease altitude, put on flaps to around 80 percent 800 metres above ground, decrease throttle to idle mode, disengage auto-pilot, auto-thottle, deploy spoilers and slats, lower landing gear via the hydraulics, inform cabin crew and passengers etc and slower lower the aircraft until the back wheels touch the ground. The plane is so clever that when it knows you are going to land it will automatically tilt the front of the plane up so that your back wheels touch the ground first, and this technique is the most challengin to perfect especially on an a380 where you do not want to bounce after landing for such a heavy aircraft! Then, pull back the joystick and when the back wheels have touched the ground, gently and slowly release the joystick to its normal position. There, your plane has landed! Deploy thrust reversers, apply brakes, taxi to drop off area (terminal building) and have a good rest there after a long-haul flight!

Flying a plane is not that difficult, i myself, being an aviation enthusiasts has flown on many airlines before, including Singapore Airlines, China Eatern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Mexican Airways, American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Qantas, Emirates, Ethihad, Garuda, Ryan Air, Tiger Airways, JetStar, Jet Asia, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, a couple of bad Russian airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Brunei Airways, and a couple of very small American private airliners like Hawaii airlines etc.Well, i would advise everyone of you here, in most of the above flights stated, the flights were nothing to worry, but i was extremely disgusted at the way the Russian and the China small airliners handled their massive backlog of flights. See, there was this huge storm and the Russian Airline continued its flight despite warnings. I was soo worried as the plane was rocking like hell but in the end, i still managed to survive it. The china airlines' experience was even worse, upon take off, the plane immediately dropped like 800 metres in an emergency before the pilot managed to regain control and started to ascend again. They didnt even boter to investigate the problem at all and continued the flight with a 2  hours delay!! Thus, as an advice, dont ever take Russian or China airlines. The american small private ones are better. I have set in cockpit jumpseats before maybe i was very lucky just recently, got into an a380 one during take-off, you could request for it especially since its lufthansa and not SIA. The experience was fun and i understood how relaxing driving a plane was, the difficult thing was not about manoevreing but about remembering all the controls in the aircraft.

Most accidents are not caused by teh aircraft itself, bbut by the pilot. Remember the concorde incident whereby the whole air france concorde exploded into flames. That was caused by runway maitenance negligence. The worker forgot to spot some steel pieces lying on the runway and that pieced the tyres of the concorde and the tyre rubber flew off, got sucked into the turboprop engines of the concorde and eventually, the engine couldnt take it and burst into flames, englufing the entire plane with it, causing it to crash into some hotel. Thus, everytime, pilots should take upmost concern, especially the russian ones, old aircraft should be replaced, this to prevent any further accidents from taking place and toe nsure that Passengers get to enjoy aviation and the reality of planes in our modern society.

As i end my post here, i like to thank everyone who read through it and i hope you find the Science of Aircraft Interesting and at the same time amazing, and i hope you learn from my extrodinary encounters on the small airlines and gained an insight into how airplanes work. Thank you very much and hope you like my blog!:) Also, take a look down to the videos which i took on the various airliners. 

Well, this was to Zurich from Singapore and on the 14th of May. Although you may think that 14 May was a school day, that day and the after 3 days were holidays and just boarded this a380 for fun! (Singapore Airlines) 

This is Air France Take Off in Boeing 777. My seat is located near the engine. Very bumpy take off though.

This is Emirates B747 take off from Dubai, Well, i flew from Singapore to Dubai, then from Dubai to LAX. (Los Angeles) Their Service was pretty good, comparable to Singapore Airlines although Emirates B747 is very very rare.

Well, This is Qatar Airways, the World's 5 star airline and the best airline of the world 2010. This flight was from Casablanca to Libya Tripoli then transfer to Another Qatar Airways to Qatar then from there to Singapore. I love Transfers!! Best Service ever! Airbus A340.

Lufthansa, i would say, maybe comparable to Emirates. This flight was from Madrid to Frankfurt last December when i was exploring the Best of Europe! Airbus A320.

China Eastern Airlines. Well, whenever i go to China, i always take China Eastern and not Singapore Airlines. Well, low cost,, their service is also good and their planes are old though the seats are clean. Airbus A320 from Singapore to Shanghai Pudong.

British Airways takeoff from Spain Barcelona to London Heathrow Terminal 3. Service very poor, planes are very old, toilets are very dirty! Boeing 757-very old plane.

Russian Aeroflot Airline landing in Moscow. Took a flight from Heathrow to Moscow. Very bad flight procedure, pilot seems to be drunk and crazy, aircraft drops for 30 metres after take off suddenly. Boeing 767.

Japan Airlines Boeing 767 again from Tokyo Narita Airport to Bangkok. Pretty good flight attendants and service, overall 4 stars rating.

China Southern Airlines Boeing 757 Take Off from Hainan to Beijing. Similar to Russian Airliners very poor service and pilot experience. Not recommended.

American Airlines Boeing 737 Take Off from Miami to California in my America Exploration Trip. Very rare airplane but average service.

Qantas Boeing 737 from Brisbane to Melbourne. My gratitude to Qantas for letting me film the cockpit at the end of the flight. Very awesome service but lots of turbulence in the 737 which uses Yoke to fly instead of the Airbus's Side-stick.

Ryanair, a small private airline company which only has Boeing 737s in stock. No meals, alittle budget but service still good standards.

Well This is a video of Garuda Boeing 747. Well, pretty good service and meals. Thumbs up. This flight was from Indonesia to Greece.


Here ive concluded the list of videos i took. Hope you had fun watching the videos:)

My Last Post

Hello Everyone! I shall be concluding my Science Portfolio blog here in this last post before it is submitted on the 15th of September. I hope you have a good time navigating throughout my blog filled with amazing science stuff, and also articles which may challenge you and your thinking, hope you enjoy reading through the space articles although i apologise i havent been posting a Chemistry article for quite long. In science, everything is memorizing, there is plenty of knowledge in science, with the determination and perserverance, i believe that everyone can be the 20th Century of Albert Einstein! Buck up, Everyone, See you next year!

Over 10000 people in the world are killed by Sleepwalking.

Now, one more interesting topic, the fuel for writing such articles always come from the inspiration i get from technology. Now, this article contains plenty of research done over the past weeks, just like the other articles, im sorry to announce that there are very few articles pertaining to chemistry here because i obviously cannot write an article saying that i have discovered the cure of cancer! But, to repay that loss, this article is made as intereting as possible, i promise you you won't get your eyes off this article! I shall start by telling you a story.

2008, just in the night when all the Americans were in their homes sound-asleep, Brian was actually semi-conscious. He was not awake, nor was he asleep, he was just semi-conscious. Now, in your semi-conscious state, you can move inside your house without banging into any walls, but its just that you do not have the ability to make decisions, the right ones. You will not fall on the staircase and you will be able to take a drink out of the refrigerator to drink in your semi-conscious state but you can't decide whether to jump out of the window or not. Well, what Brian did was he got out of his bed at night, wrapped his hands around his wife's neck and squeezed and never let go. What, happened? She suffocated while asleep and died whereas Brian continued happily in his night terror, unnoticeable killing his wife. He found out about it only after he woke up but he didn't have any inkling about it when he was asleep at all, he was a victim of sleepwalking. According to police, Brian said that he saw a man wearing jeans and a black fleece laying on top of his wife, then he said he screamed at the man and grabbed him around his throat, but when he woke up, his hands were around his wife's neck instead!

So what causes sleepwalking in the first place? Usually, the culprit is the things that happen during the day, if you see something unpleasant for the whole of your day, then you are twice as likely to have nightmares, another factor is people suffering from sleep apnea who's sleep mostly falls under the rapid eye movement category. And how to find out if your family member has obstructive sleep apnea? If one day, you wake up and find your brother shifting their legs and arms in a fit-like movement, or snore consistently for long periods of time, you should consult a doctor before its too late. A sleepwalker's brain effectively "short circuits" allowing sleepwalkers to get up and start walking around. In our sleep, we have REM and Non REM sleep, sleepwalkers have difficulty switching from REM to NON REM sleep., which makes one part of the brain active and the other, idle, making the person self-conscious. When sleepwalkers dream, the brain allows them to act out their dream while for non, sleepwalkers, the brain paralyses them and prevents them from acting out their dreams. One such astonishing example will be a man who drove 20km without crashing before stabbing his mother in law and injuring his father in law!

This is actually because everyone's mid brain stores instinctive behavioral patterns, thus sleepwalkers will be able to do things without falling, banging, crashing or injuring themselves.There were also cases where people hanged themselves while sleeping and people jumping out of their windows. So, how do you sleep well then? Refrain from drinking a few hours before you sleep and keep the same sleep pattern everyday. Also, one should keep his/her bedroom dark and quiet because light suppresses our body's sleep hormone and makes it difficult for us to sleep.

Another fun fact is how to imitate the sleepwalking? Deprive someone of sleep, the allow them to sleep and in the middle of their sleep, play a very loud noise in the middle of the night, here, the will start to sleepwalk. Almost 12 percent of Singapore's youngsters sleepwalk now! Just one piece of advice for the sleepwalkers-don't sleep in the nude, because if you sleepwalk, you are gonna show off all your privaties!

I hope after this article, you have learnt about the dangers of sleepwalking and how brutal it can kill!

Term three Reflections

Here comes the term three reflections which are even more disastrous. Sigh, i still had an b3 in Science so i have decided to set my sights on my languages. I feel that i do not have the ability to excel in science as much or as hard as i study, i regret to say that but it isn't because i do not like science. I adore it but as much as i do, i cannot forsake my entire life because of one stumbling block! I shall carry myself forward to continue my path of success even with a handicap. I believe in chances, i believe in people who became businessmen because they believe in themselves despite of their difficulties. I believe that i have the strength and courage to excel and with my heart and soul, i shall do my best in the remaining of my endeavours. Here, i shall thank all for leading me through such a good year and preparing me so adequately for my Secondary two school. Term 4 shall be the deciding moment whereby i can see a real and standard gauge of my standards, I hope to see some improvements in my sciences especially. I thank everyone who had so much faith in me who envisioned me to be a future successor, i shall take my learning experience to good use. Overall, i adore the sec one life, the new things which we learn daily just that we have to wake up too early! I hope that i will have a vast improvements in my term 4 end of year and i wish everyone success!

Term Two Reflections

Hi, welcome back to my term two reflections! Term Two, i had scored even worse results-a c5! Even more disappointed than i am, i seriously cannot do anything about it, i had tried my best, studied hard and only a few careless mistakes are  to my blame. Maybe, i really do not have a major or interest in Science at all? Should i focus my time on other subjects which i have scored well consistently upon? Should i change my current study methods? I did memorize everything i was taught but the questions were distorted in such a way that it was actually testing our intelligence. Anyway, term two was even more encouraging, with many fun activities, challenges  competitions, CIP opportunities, science research studies, talks etc. These allow me to gain more insight into the world of science to expedite my deep delve into Science later on when i grow up. I just hope that the teaching can be made slower because the teacher just rambles from one chapter as fast as lightning and after one notes, continue to the next chapter, so on and so forth!

Made many new friends and got first hand experience of two terms of secondary school life, hope i continue to enjoy my sec one school life as i continue to persevere and strive to score better results. Buck up!

Term One Reflections

Sorry for the late reflection. I kept all the reflections in a document but could only find it until now. Hope you enjoy reading through my reflections! Term one was a swift 3 months of amazingly hard work, brilliant teaching by the teachers and innumerable failures for me. There wasn't an obvious success to which i am very disappointed upon. I had always wanted to strive hard but who knows what made me get only 30/40 for my science tests?! I had numerable and plenty of time to study but the facts just didnt got into my mind-it got distorted. Why did i had a particular problem in science but i still love it? People think im crazy-someone who has an b4  in science and wants to be a scientist? Maybe you would think the same but i figure im gonna be the one to discover or patent a cure for cancer. Big dreams come with hard work though, with the modern advance of technology, although Utopia is currently and futuristically impossible to attain. Technology success is undoubtedly just the rule of my thumb! Quantum dots, stem cell research, time travel, using bacteria to kill bacteria, interesting though it takes very long for the trial process. My aim is to make trials shorter, to make discoveries available to the public just in a matter of days. I shall abolish the trial system where it states that a medicine had to undergo a trial period of at least 7 years before getting the go green sign to go on stock! Although, i major in Chemistry, just like Einstein, i have decided to study physics instead-the law of gravity etc. And that harbours another dream of mine. Have you heard of scientists who are pilots? Yes, i wish to drive an a380 one day. So amazing! Anyway, revert back to the topic-term one reflections-its has been a fruitful term, having learnt many stuff which were unavailable during primary school period, and these new sources of knowledge actually encourage me to achieve greater success. I hope i can develope a stiffer approach to the realm of science to greatly understand its thoughts, how it works and its wonderful many phenomenas which will one day, allow me to time travel. Here,  i conclude my term one reflection, in the next post shall be term 2's reflections.

Dirt is actually good for you!

Again we have come across a very interesting topic-Dirt. Everyone may think dirt is bad for them and causes allergies. Yes, that is true but amazingly, there wasn't anything known as allergy back in the 1900s! When people get flu, they always blame dirt but amazingly, the culprit is their own hygiene obsessed lifestyle. Reduced access to bacteria and parasitic worms are actually damaging our immune system instead. As a result, the body's defenses have become dangerously over-sensitive to things. In the 1980s, only 10% of our population suffer from Allergies, now, there is more than 30%.! 

Many people would think that allergies are due to Carpeted homes, furry pets, toys etc but the main culprit here is our immune system! Whenever one uses hand sanitizer, mask to ward off bacteria and viruses, one is actually increasing his/her chances of falling ill! That is why people who had serious illnesses during childhood stand a less chance of getting allergies when they grow up. Without exposure to microbes, our immune system attacks otherwise harmless foreign molecules. That is why people working and growing on farms have a far smaller chance than their counterparts of developing allergies. Microbes from animal faeces, grass dust or milk guard against our immune regulation problems.

Another example is that while everyone would think that Babies in  Africa would have developed more allergies than the babies in Sweden, it is actually the direct opposite as the babies in Africa naturally have a stronger immune system due to everyday exposure to bacteria and viruses. So next time, when you family or kid comes home with muddy hands, do not scold him because the mud may stand to bring more good into the family than bad! I hope my article has given you a better insight to as how microbes like bacteria can actually benefit yo ur life instead of making you fall sick. Next time, whenever, you fall ill or come down with flu, flame it on being so obsessed with hygiene instead of all the dust, dirt and bacteria living around you! Allow your immune system to have more experience in fighting these germs to make your body more resistant to these germs!

Dark Energy in our Universe and Debunking Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Interesting topic, as you read the title, isn't it? In so many generations, nobody has or was willing to debunk Einstein's Theory of Relativity or very few people understands it, i understand that most articles in this blog is pertaining to physics and does not involve any chemistry, but read on and the next article would be on it. I hope you understand that painstaking research has been taken to write these articles and as interesting as it is, i cannot assure it to be of 100% correct. Our Universe is in the grip of a orce that appears to emerge quite literally out of nowhere! This anti-gravitational force is now regarded as one of the biggest challenges facing 21st century science.

Since the 1900s, many scientists have worked hard to find the driving force of our Universe. From distant exploding stars, the existence of dark energy is truly confirmed but it has the been the longest kept secrets even now. This article only gives my own views on it and does not include any specialilsts views or any otherwise stated. Einstein stated that gravity was the one allowing the stars to remain in space without falling and gravity was putting everything in place but now, in my opinion, dark energy has repaced Gravity as first place. It has defied gravity by being anti-gravitational although Einstein stated that everything in this Earth was joined together by Gravity alone. Now, it seems that dark energy was the one doing the work! Then, Newton can also be proved wrong 350 years ago when an apple from a tree dropped on his head.

In my opinion, Gravity lost control in shaping the content and ultimate fate of the Universe to dark energy but no one can say why. And how do they work? Now, i iwill present my conclusions to as how they work and this conclusion has not been thought up by many scientists alike but i cannot guarantee it to be the real truth among so many whys. Ok, when you put two metal plates very close together, they exclude some forms of quantum vacuum fluctuation. With fewer fluctuations trapped between the plates than outside, the plates will be pushed together, as if by some sort of invisible force, this made Scientists astonished and empty space has become capable of springing big surprises. This is very much in relation to the creation of our universe. I believe that after the Big Bang, a cosmic force was produced and it was so huge that it triggered an incredible rapid expansion of the Universe.Which means our universe is still expanding now! But it will eventually stop expanding one day whereby it expands so fast that it will one day slow down under the force of its own gravity, come to a halt and collapse backwards, smaller and smaller, and later, the dark forces will wrestle control from gravity again and the universe will start inflating again. This cycle is a repeated one. According to unnamed sources, this conclusion has never been thought of but just a figment of my imagination out together through countless of readings and discoveries and eveidence.

So how do the stars and planet float around in space when gravity is no longer the one doing th work? The anti-gravitational forces from our Dark Forces ensures that they remain in space, clumped together with the dark forces while our universe continues to expand. Without gravity, the stars and planets just stay still in their positions. Astronomers think that the strength of dark energy is trillions of times stronger than it is. But however, another theory is that if dark energy was too strong, it would prevent the attraction of gravity from pulling together the matter needed to form galaxies, stars and us! So its abit of contradictory. When one says that dark forces are very strong and another says that there would not be any galaxies or stars Earth or even us present if Dark forces were to be stronger than Gravity. If that was to be the case, gravity would not have been able to make sure we stay intact and the dark forces would rip us out, every intestine, every organ from top to toe.

Here, i finished my own analysis of dark power, note that everything is copyrighted to me and every analysis, including the one on the power of dark forces, the last paragraph is written here based on reference basis and for intriguing people who are the 21st century equilvalent of Einstein to further discover this theory and to further prove from my point of analysis which is around 80% correct. I hope you can understand my long and profuse statements and explanations about our dark forces since this requires lots of thinking and contemplation, here, i would like to end off this article with a truly 100% true statement-Dark forces even if they exist, cannot be stronger than Gravity!

Thank you!

The Dawn of Super Structures

This is an investigation into technology-being able to allow us to build skyscrapers that are bigger and smarter. 2011, we have already built a skyscraper thats half a mile high and thats in Dubai. But i have another solution, one to so many engineers and architects worries-whether its environental, physical, this can solve it all. Imagine you are in the 210th storey of a cuilding and the wall in front suddenly starts changing from green to red! Then, the air conditioning kicks in suddenly and cools the air. When the sun comes, your windows suddenly change to a tinge of black and the shades come down almost instantly. When your throat feels thirsty, the water dispenser automatically dispenses some water and a robot passes the cup to you. All this sounds a little far fetched but technology is currenly being developed to a status where everyone is visualising the future, the dawn of reality, allowing architects to build structures, not only standing out in terms of height but also intelligence. After all these painstaking research, i seem to have found a way, a seemingly impossible way and alittle doubtful because i am still a student after all!

What lies in the first step would be nanomaterials.On wikipedia, it states that Nanotechnology is a field that takes a materials science-based approach to nanotechnology.Nano is one billionth of a metre and nanotechology means one billionth of a metre techology.Surprising? Indeed, modern materials such as plastic have been nano engineered, window planes, made to absorb less heat, solar panels, floor tiles and even your washing machine! Medicine too, such as the delivering of drugs through our blood through nanotechnology. Today, i am going to focus this talk on nanotechnology. What shows to be the most promising now is carbon nanotubes, although you may think that they are tiny since they are one billionth of a metre, they are even 140 times stronger than steel, so to say the strongest material on Earth. This makes it very effective in the maintenance of buildings and also challenging building projects, for example, nanotechology can be used in the recent upcoming downtown line line project, whereby different construction obstacles still stands. Using carbon nanotubes to replace steel, these reinforced concrete are much stronger, allowing the workers below to drill with much more safety. That is again applied in skyscrapers. Most of the world's skycrapers are amade of steel, and many of our flats, roads are ade with steel reinforced concrete and steel is made up of a large majority of carbon. If we could successfully replace the carbon with carbon nanotubes, steel acquires more strength literally.

Anther example-the World's longest suspension bridge now stands at 1991m in Japan, but with nanotechnology, a bridge of 6000m-6km with only two supporting structures can be achieved-with carbon nanotubes instead of steel. Also, the talles building in World is the Burj Khalifa buiding in Dubai which stands at 828m. With nanotechnology, the world's talles building can stand at 2400m astonishingly! For a tall skyscraper, it has to cope with something called cortex shedding, which occurs when a rapid flow of air round the building aligns with its resonant frequency, generating huge forces that shake the structure. To combat that, the Burk Khalifa changes its shape as it goes taller, but that reduces valuable office space. So what i sugest it does is to use moving vertical ailerons-similar to the horizontal flaps on airplanes and put them on the side of the building, maintaining air flow.

After this, we still need to ensure that the building maintains its intelligence. So what can we do? Use tiny sensors, of course! These sensors can be developed to collect everything from concrete cracks etc and with microprocessors and 100 intel core 7 2nd generation processors churning information, the building will turn into one with a brain. So what about the heart, the heart that keeps all these sytems running? Of course, power! And power can be derived fromm the sun, once cagain, we mention nanotechnology to capture as much sunlight as possible.

In this area of research, now we have come to area whereby how to make walls change colour itself based on the temperature of the room? Quantum dots, they are called, tiny particles of semiconductor material and they display unique properties, responding to environmental changes, thus, when they are inserted into walls, they change colour whenever the room cools or heats. Or even switching on the air conditioning when it is needed. Also, they may be inserted in a building and alerting it of excessive strains! However, something which we cannot guard against is the toxic materials found in Nanotechnology causing long-term health implications.

Here, i end my long but painstaking reserch on Super Structures, i hope you have a better insight of our technology now!

Dry Ice

The investigation of dry ice by jiadong

This powerpoint shows the investigation of Dry Ice. It contains many interesting information about dry ice.For example, you could make a bomb with Dry Ice, as medicines, as cooling agents etc. Dry Ice is solid Carbon Dioxide and it has actually been found on several other planets, including Mars.


Reflection:
I feel that after doing this PowerPoint, I gained a lot of information about Dry ice, having not come into contact with them before. I found out their destructive force, their cooling agents, their abilities and I am very astonished with Carbon Dioxide Ice. I was watching the YouTube Videos about people putting dry ice inside a water cooler, sealing its top and after a while, the cooler was instantaneously “bomb” and break into pieces. That was quite interesting but I couldn’t obviously try it in Singapore.
I found out its many uses, compiles videos, such as dry ice forming a huge bubble, volcano eruption, and so to say, it actually gave me an insight to how dry ice works, how it forms, its dangers, etc.

I hope to do more of these kinds of projects because not only can I learn more, I could also experiment myself and do some hands on.

Candy Chromatography Experiment

Candy chromatography experiment

This is a Candy Chromatography Experiment done by me. Have you ever wondered what colour are the dyes of M&M? Many candies contain colored dyes. Bags of M&Ms or Skittles contain candies of various colors. The labels tell us the names of the dyes used in the candies. But which dyes are used in which candies? We can answer this by dissolving the dyes out of the candies and separating them using a method called chromatography. Below is the video of the experiment i did.

Chromatography is a technique used to separate the various components in a complex mixture or solution. It works because the components of the mixture will differ in how much they "stick" to things: to each other, and to other substances. For example, some of the components of the ink will stick more tightly to the paper fibers. They will spend less time in the water as it moves along the paper fibers, and thus they will not travel very far. Other components of the ink will stick less tightly to the paper fibers. They will spend more time in the water as it moves along the paper fibers, and thus they will travel farther through the paper.
Other materials than paper and water can be used for chromatography, but in each chromatography apparatus there is generally a stationary phase and a mobile phase. In paper chromatography, the paper is the stationary phase, and water is the mobile phase. Another example of a chromatography systems is a glass column filled with tiny, inert beads (the stationary phase). The mixture to be separated is added to the column, and is then "washed out" with some type of solution (the mobile phase). In this case, the separation is based on molecular size. Smaller molecules will pass through the spaces between the beads more easily, so they will come out of the column more quickly. Larger molecules will take more time to pass between the beads, so they will come out of the column later. You can separate the smaller molecules from the larger molecules by collecting the liquid that comes off such a column in a series of separate containers.

Materials:
-Candies of Different Colors M&M or Skittles work Well - Filter Paper - Tall Clear Glass or Jar - Water - Salt - Pencil (no pens or markers) - Scissors - Ruler - Toothpicks - Empty 2 liter Bottle and Cap

7) Let the colored dots on your filter paper dry.
8) Repeat step 6 to get more color dye on each of your filter paper dots. You will need to do steps 6 and 7 a total of three times. Be patient!
9) Once you have completed step 8, fold the filter paper in 1/2 so it will stand up on it's own. The dots need to be on the bottom portion. 10) Lets make a developing solution next. Measure and put ⅛ teaspoon of salt and 3 cups of water into the empty (and clean) 2 liter bottle. Screw on the lid. Shake until the salt is dissolved in the water making a solution. This is called a  1% salt solution.
11) Pour 1/4 inch of the salt solution into a tall glass. The level of the solution needs to be low enough so that when you put the filter paper inside the dots will initially be above the solution level. Hold the filter paper with the dots at the bottom and set it in the glass with the salt solution.
12) The salt solution will start to climb up the paper using a process called capillary action.

13) The solution climbs up the filter paper and moves through the colored dots. The colored dots begin to separate into different color bands. Notice that some candy colors were made from mixing several different dyes. These colors separate into different bands as they move up the filter paper. Dyes separate due to some dyes sticking more to the filter paper and others being more soluble in the solution. As a result the dyes climb will stop at different heights on the filter paper.
14) Once the solution gets about ½ inch from the top edge of the filter paper, remove it. Lay the paper out to dry.
15) Compare the spots from the different candies, noting similarities and differences. Record your results. Which candies contained mixtures of dyes? Which ones seem to have just one dye? Do similar colors from different candies travel up the paper the same distance?
16) Repeat the experiment with a different kind of candy. If you did the M&M's first, then try the skittles.

Chromatography is the collective term for a family of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures. It involves passing a mixture dissolved in a "mobile phase" through a stationary phase, which separates the substance to be measured from other molecules in the mixture and allows it to be isolated and viewed.

Reflection

I had a lot of fun doing the experiment as I got to get a feel of the dyes inside the different candies. However, the results in the end were not very clear, maybe because of the filter paper I used. I used kitchen paper instead of chromatography paper. This experiment was very fun and I enjoyed doing it as it had a lot of significance to our syllabus. I got to hands on with dipping the dyes inside the salt water, looking at how the dyes followed the water up. It gave me an insight as to what dyes were present in the candies.

I love doing experiments, especially fiddling with different chemicals as they are every interesting, teaches me more about the relevant subject, such as the dyes present in the candies, and so to say, my goals was achieved. This experiment was a success!

Science News *Fastest Sea-Level Rise in 2,000 Years Linked to Increasing Global Temperatures)

Rising seas lap at a house in South America

 ScienceDaily (June 20, 2011) — The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years -- and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level.

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The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was conducted by Andrew Kemp, Yale University; Benjamin Horton, University of Pennsylvania; Jeffrey Donnelly, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Michael Mann, Pennsylvania State University; Martin Vermeer, Aalto University School of Engineering, Finland; and Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany.
"Having a detailed picture of rates of sea level change over the past two millennia provides an important context for understanding current and potential future changes," says Paul Cutler, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
"It's especially valuable for anticipating the evolution of coastal systems," he says, "in which more than half the world's population now lives."
Adds Kemp, "Scenarios of future rise are dependent on understanding the response of sea level to climate changes. Accurate estimates of past sea-level variability provide a context for such projections."
Kemp and colleagues developed the first continuous sea-level reconstruction for the past 2,000 years, and compared variations in global temperature to changes in sea level over that time period.
The team found that sea level was relatively stable from 200 BC to 1,000 AD.
Then in the 11th century, sea level rose by about half a millimeter each year for 400 years, linked with a warm climate period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
Then there was a second period of stable sea level during a cooler period called the Little Ice Age. It persisted until the late 19th century.
Since the late 19th century, sea level has risen by more than 2 millimeters per year on average, the steepest rate for more than 2,100 years.
"Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change," says Horton, "as rising temperatures melt land-based ice, and warm ocean waters."
To reconstruct sea level, the scientists used microfossils called foraminifera preserved in sediment cores extracted from coastal salt marshes in North Carolina. The age of the cores was estimated using radiocarbon dating and other techniques.
To test the validity of their approach, the team compared its reconstructions with tide-gauge measurements from North Carolina for the past 80 years, and global tide-gauge records for the past 300 years.
A second reconstruction from Massachusetts confirmed their findings.
The records were corrected for contributions to sea-level rise made by vertical land movements.
The reconstructed changes in sea level over the past millennium are consistent with past global temperatures, the researchers say, and can be determined using a model relating the rate of sea level rise to global temperature.
"Data from the past helped calibrate our model, and will improve sea level rise projections under scenarios of future temperature increases," says Rahmstorf.
Support for the research also was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, the Academy of Finland, the European Science Foundation through European Cooperation in Science and Technology and the University of Pennsylvania.

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2011) — The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years -- and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level.

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Reflections:
So Sea Level is rising again! This time, by more than 2mm per year! And all these are linked to Global warming, our climate is getting hotter and hotter, the ozone layer is depleting, the world's sea levels are rising drastically and drowning islands, our world is getting dirtier, weaker and warmer. And nobody is doing anything to save it, just quite ignorant of the fact that by dumping one peice of rubbish doesn't really making a difference on the world's climate and ecosystem. But imagine a entire city of million doing the exact same thing and h ow it is going to hurt our ecosystems. Rising temperatures melt land-based ice, and warm ocean waters, these water from the ice eventually flows into bigger oceans lie the Atlantic and Pacific. When the ocean waters warm, fishes cant survive, coral reefs get bleached and die. A warm sea has greater volume than a cold sea and when the sea is heated it will increase in volume, leading to changes in sea level (thermal expansion). The oceans are large and are enormous energy stores. They are heated slowly and retain the heat for a long time, long after the heating has ceased. It takes years to transport heat down to the ocean depths. Even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases today, the sea will get warmer and warmer, and rise for the next 20 years. Plankton will also not be able to survive in these warm waters and many animals in the water will migrate in search of colder areas. This is a serious cause for concern but many people are still not aware of it or they are just acting ignorant of teh fact that they, themselves will be the ones paying for their mistakes. When the ocean floods towns and drowns people, and the Sun's UV Rays shine through and more people die from skin cancer, droughts occur, only then will the uncaring people regret what they've done over the past few decades. When people cut down trees, they may say that it is essential to cut trees for paper, if not, there would not be enough paper in the industry. These paper companies have never thought of any initiatives to save these trees, these trees just give them money, and money is what they want. Everyone, including you and me will have the mentality when we litter that, our one piece of litter doesn't affect our climate at all, but imagine the difference when 10000 people in the world litter at the same time. Our Earth may be able to tolerate 100 peices of litter, but will it be able to tolerate 10000 peices of litter at the same time? We may think that we are not going to be the ones affected because there is still a long time before Sea Levels start to flood islands and  the Ozone Rays get depleted, but that is a seemingly irresponsible and selfish thought. Haven't we always wanted the best for our children and further generations? If these were what we wanted to give them, i would like to say that mankind has failed itself. Without doubt, i could point everyone who is hurting the environment in his own way. Be it, logging, littering, not recycling, reusing or reducing or dumping rubbish at landfills, everyone is an environment destroyer. The world we live in just gets hotter and hotter, for example, Singapore's temperatures have been rising drastically, over the past few years and i have reasonable evidence that many singaporenas like you and me are feeling the heat. We may be able to stant the heat now and until we die, but will our children be able to stand the climate conditions when the temperateure goes over 40 degrees? The climate changes, storms erupt more frequently, resulting in severe flooding, during very warm weather, droughts starts, islands get flooded by the sealevel and in the worst case scenario- Many people die from heatstroke. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornados become even more common. During that time, every country an every island will be affected by some form of natural disaster, and no country will be spared! Even then, we may be already lying in our own graves an watching the inferno outside, but think, if the disasters were all whecked on our children and us responsible for it, think of the pain they will suffer. Why not just make our Universe a better place for everyone? So if we do not start now, and continue our ignorant, irresponsible and uncaring mentalities and ways, never will we be able to save our universe, it will just forever remain as a broken promise. A broken promise made by the 21 century people to save the universe. But they never did. Start now! Cut down on logging, reduce emmissions, reduce, reuse and recycle! And most importantly, dump your car and never drive it again. As i end my long reflection here, i want to urge everyone to be mindful of the state of their Earth and not be ignorant, irresponsible about their future. The future of everyone belongs and depends on us, it is up to us to make the right decisions! Below is an interesting video about the Rising Seas.

Hoped you liked that video which mentioned many important information about the warming of ocean and the rising of sea levels, including the melting of Glaciers and the Antartic Ice Sheets.

Practical Four and Five (Observations and Recording)

In this post, i am going to talk about sodium bicarbonate which is also known as baking soda, since this practical featured an experiment on baking soda. Baking Soda, so what are its uses? Everyone might think that it is just something sommonly used during cooking, flavouring etc. however do you know that Baking Soda can actually act as a cure for certain caners? Just white powder, do not underestimate its powers, eating it everyday will give a boost to your health but i believe no one will dare to eat it plain. Read on to find out more. But before that, i would first like to show you a baking soda bomb.

Wasn't it cool? The men were completely covered with the reaction of Baking Soda with Water. So what is Sodium Bicarbonate? Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. The natural mineral form, nahcolite, is found in dissolved form in bile, where it serves to neutralize the acidity of the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach, and is excreted into the small intestine via the bile duct. It is also produced artificially. Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda.

Sodium Bicarabonate is a very useful product, i now list out, its many uses. Sodium bicarbonate is primarily used in cooking (baking) where it reacts with other components to release carbon dioxide, which causes dough to rise. The acidic compounds that induce this reaction include phosphates, cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, etc. Sodium bicarbonate can be substituted for baking powder provided sufficient acid reagent is also added to the recipe. Thermal decomposition causes sodium bicarbonate alone to act as a raising agent by releasing carbon dioxide at baking temperatures. The carbon dioxide production starts at temperatures above 80 C. The mixture for cakes using this method can be allowed to stand before baking without any premature release of carbon dioxide.

Many laboratories keep a bottle of sodium bicarbonate powder within easy reach, because sodium bicarbonate is amphoteric, reacting with acids and bases. Furthermore, as it is relatively innocuous in most situations, there is no harm in using excess sodium bicarbonate. Also, sodium bicarbonate powder may be used to smother a small fire, as heating of sodium bicarbonate releases carbon dioxide^.
A wide variety of applications follows from its neutralization properties, including reducing the spread of white phosphorus from incendiary bullets inside an afflicted soldier's wounds. Sodium bicarbonate can be added as a simple solution for raising the pH balance of water where high levels of chlorine (2–5 ppm) are present as in swimming pools and aquariums.



Sodium bicarbonate is used in an aqueous solution as an antacid taken orally to treat acid indigestion and heartburn.  It may also be used in an oral form to treat chronic forms of metabolic acidosis such as chronic renal failure and renal tubular acidosis. Sodium bicarbonate may also be useful in urinary alkalinization for the treatment of aspirin overdose and uric acid renal stones. It is used as the medicinal ingredient in gripe water for infants.

Bicarb has been known to be used in first aid, in treating scalding, to prevent blistering and scarring with instructions to cover scaled area with a liberal layer of bicarb. It is used as well for treatment of hyperkalemia. Since sodium bicarbonate can cause alkalosis, it is sometimes used to treat aspirin overdoses. Aspirin requires an acidic environment for proper absorption, and the basic environment diminishes aspirin absorption in the case of an overdose. Sodium bicarbonate has also been used in the treatment of tricyclic antidepressant overdose. It can also be applied topically as a paste, with three parts baking soda to one part water, to relieve insect bites.




A paste from baking soda can be very effective when used in cleaning and scrubbing.  For cleaning aluminium objects, the use of sodium bicarbonate is discouraged as it attacks the thin unreactive protective oxide layer of this otherwise very reactive metal. A solution in warm water will remove the tarnish from silver when the silver is in contact with a piece of aluminium foil.

Baking soda is commonly added to the rinse cycles of washing machines (together with the detergent) as a replacement for softener and also to remove odors. Sodium bicarbonate is also effective in removing heavy tea and coffee stains from cups when diluted with warm water.

Also, Baking Soda can be used ot put out small fires as it releases carbon dioxide upon heating. Recently, new studies have shown that Baking Soda can actually improve or even cure some types of cancers. Sodium Bicarbonate is indeed an useful chemical which i feel should be further exploited for any other uses, because studies may open up even more benefits of Sodium Bicarbonate! I end my post here and i ho[e that you have learnt alot about this special chemical usually used in Cooking. I will be skipping some practicals on the Measurement of length, and the densities of the regular and irregular solids.