Viscosity

     A week ago, in IPC we did a lab on viscosity. We went around the room and dropped a marble in all sorts of liquids. Among the liquids, there was hair gel, hand soap, shampoo, motor oil, and syrup. Our goal was to figure out which liquid was the most viscus. Viscosity's definition is a liquid's resistance to flow. The thicker a liquid is the higher it's viscosity is. The thinner it is the lower the viscosity is. The motor oil was probably the least viscus out of all of them. Once we dropped the marble, it immediately sank all the way down to the bottom. The hair gel was the most viscus. When we dropped the marble, it never left the top. The shampoo and the hand soap were on the medium side of viscosity. It took a little while for them to sink to the bottom but they did. The syrup was the second in line for the most viscus. It took a while for it to leave the top and then it took maybe three minutes to sink all the way down. I think it was the most funnest lab that we have done so far in IPC. It was a fun way to learn about viscosity.

The Video of the Lab

The BioPen

If you had a missing organ, wouldn't it be cool if we could just press a button and you could have it? Well that is what is in production right now. In Australia, scientists have created the BioPen. This pen is quite remarkable. It lets physicians "draw" new bones on people with something called 3D printing. I'm kind of hesitant about this because it does not seem very consistent and it does not seem like it would work. The pen, which is loaded with "stem cell ink", does not have much promise. Stem cells are a batch of human cells that help make a new bone. Apparently, people have already experienced 3D printed bones. But, this BioPen, shows more precision. It still has to go under clinical testing, but people, so far, are talking about it. I don't understand how this is going to happen. I have a bunch of questions. How will they get this to work if they are applying it to a bare bone. But, I do think it would be very cool if they actually got this pen to work. A family member of mine lost his leg in the army. If this pen was around when he lost his leg, that would have been amazing. Even though I have my doubts about this pen, I do think that it will be remarkable if the pen did work and do it's job correctly. What about you? Do you think that this pen shows promise?



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Our Solar System

     Whenever we look up at the sky, we usually see the sun during the daytime and the moon and stars at night. We never really stop and think about the planets and all the galaxies up there. The sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all make up our solar system. Our solar system often gets neglected. That is why it is important for us to have astronomers and telescopes. Without these resources, we would not be able to learn anything about what is up in the sky and space. If you ask me, the planets and galaxies are pretty amazing to look at. There are a bunch of galaxies up in space. Some of them are so tiny, you can't even see them. There are also billions of solar systems in our galaxy. Our solar system is made up of a whole bunch of different parts that is impossible for me to name them all. So now, when you look up at the sky, I hope you realize what amazing creations are up there.

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