Sabbatical-Science Eureka

For Term 1 sabbaticals, I attended this course, Science Eureka. This was because I was interested in Science, and found this course very meaningful for me. We conducted experiments of many kinds, physics and chemistry. To me, I prefered chemistry, and the experiments were also very fun. Here are a few...

 

1) Making snow

 

We used sodium polycrylate, a chemical able to absorb 800 times it mass in water, and could form beads which resemble snow. This was a very quick and easy process, and was very fun as we did it, and we got to learn a lot from it. We also got to keep the snow afterwards.

 

2) Artificial Blood

 

There are many uses for artificial blood, as seen in movies and tv shows. However, how do they make the "blood". Well, hollywood does it this way. It is a combination of Iron(|||)Nitrate and Sodium Thiocyanate. This forms a colour that is nearly identical to blood, and makes it seem very guesome. It was also a fun process.

 

3)Apple juice

 

To produce more apple juice (although may not be drinkable), there is this enzyme pestinase. This substance is able to break down pectin, which is a substrate found in the cell wall of plants. This would then release more juice.

 

The sabbatical is very enjoyable, as well as educational. We conducted many more experiments, and these are just only a few. I really enjoyed it, and am very interested in such courses in the future.

Importance of Science

Science is really important in our lives. This is because of many reasons. Just stating a few, science can allow us to understand our universe, understand our history, and maintain our earth's sustanability for living, and also benefit us in our daily lives.

Through new discoveries in technology, man has been able to send up satellites into space, and also allowed man to explore space. Through this, it could also give rise to commercial space travel. We can also observe other planets, and conduct so much research on our universe, so that we could understand our planet and world better.

We can also discover our history. Through science technology, we can discover ancient artifacts such as vases from ancient China, our fossils of dinosaurs living more than 5 billion years ago. Through this, we can understand more of our past and about man's evolution.

Other than that, science also helps us to maintain our earth's sustanability. We need resourses for living, such as food and water. Through technology, such as NEWater and distillation plants, we would be able to produce our own drinkable water. Other than that, conserving energy devices such as solar panels are invented because of the development of science. This helps us to conserve earth's scarce resource, and also protect our environment.

Other science applications are those used to catch criminals. Such as DNA scanner, which are able to help police discover the offender. Or our living environment, such as televisions, lighting. All this technology is based on science discoveries, and which is why science is important.

Science Lab Lessons

Every week, our class has one science lab lesson, where we visit the science lab to conduct various experiments. The experiments were very helpful in our learning, as we got to understand more about what we learn. Such experiments we conducted was on chemistry. My favourites was when had experiments on acid reactions. For example, what happens when acid reactions with carbonate.

 

Acid+Metal-->Salt+Hydrogen

Eg.Hydrochloric Acid+Iron-->Iron(||)Chloride+Hydrogen

 

Acid+Carbonate-->Salt+Water+Carbon Dioxide

Eg.Sodium Carbonate+Nitric Acid-->Sodium Nitrate+Water+Carbon Dioxide

 

Acid+Bases-->Salt+Water

Eg.Nitric Acid+Potassium Hydroxide-->Potassium Nitrate+Water

 

From the experiment, I also found out that some common salts were nitrates, sulfate, and chloride. And that common acids were hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. We also found out about the application of these acids. We could conduct the experiments ourself, and thus develop a greater understanding on it, rather than listening to the teacher explain.

 

Thus, I feel that Science Lab lessons are very meaningful and helpful.