Atoms: The Story Of How Atoms Were Found

Yes. Atoms. But what are atoms? Well, they make up everything! They’re made  up of 3 teeny weeny particles: the proton, the neutron, and the electron.

The biggest idea from all time, is that stuff, is made, from atoms.

When the theory was proposed, it sounded absolutely insane! Nobody believed it! Now, nobody would run around shouting “Atoms are just a theory!” But not so long ago, people did do that. And you wanna know who settled it for good? Einstein.

Yes. The amazing scientist and mathematician. Of course it’s Einstein. Atoms had been theorized for a long time by the 20th century, but only when Einstein proved its existence in 1905 with amazing math skills (which I will never have), is when the matter was really settled.

Here’s the story about how the ancient Einstein found out about atoms. But it first started with a botanist.

In 1827, a botanist named Robert Brown was looking at pollen grains in water through a microscope and he noticed that they moved around even when there was no movement in the water to cause it! It was a mystery that lasted a really long time.

Until… In 1905, when Einstein theorized that this incident was caused by as to-be-proven atomic particles actually hitting into the grains of pollen. He wrote some fancy complicated math equation, proving that his theory predicted this motion almost perfectly, so everyone had to agree that yes, tiny bits of matter were really smacking into the pollen, and so atoms, had to exist.

Yes, a very interesting story indeed. I wonder how complicated Einstein’s math equation really was.

I-Beams

I-Beams. When you first hear it, you might think, “Oh, it’s a beam that’s shaped like an I!” Well, you are correct! I-Beams are used in many places. I-Beams are used in the structural steel construction industry. They are often used as the main support for trusses.

(Trusses means triangles.)

For our project this week, we’re supposed to make 2 beams: One of them is an I-Beam, and the other one is a beam of our own design.

On 9/23, I built my 2 I-Beams. One of them was longer, and the other one was shorter. I made both of them in the Zoom for extra help. (At the Zoom, I was eating my lunch, dumplings, but the teacher couldn’t see me. Tee-hee! But later, my longer one broke. Whoops.)

The second part of the project was to film a Flipgrid (an app) video, and you’re supposed to show you testing your beam.

My I-Beam withstood eight pounds before it collapsed. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. 🙂

I think that this project was super fun. You know, I actually made another beam to use as my main beam because my main beam was too short.

Whoops.

The First Day Of SMS

The first day of actually going to Scarsdale Middle School in person was really intimidating. I was so nervous when my mom dropped me off. She said: Don’t worry! You’ll be okay. Everyone is nervous on their first day. I knew that, but still, I was scared. But who isn’t? It’s a big transition from elementary school to middle school. The building is bigger, there’s more classes, more teachers, and most importantly, more homework. (This is what I’m most afraid of.)

I walk into the doorway on the upper circle, and ask a lot of teachers for help to find my homeroom. Finally, I get to my homeroom/science room. Dr. Williams was at his desk, and some other people were already there.

“Go to a desk with an iPad case on it.” Dr. Williams said, so I sat at the front row. How do I put on my iPad case? I wondered while awkwardly putting some of my things on my desk. I awkwardly looked around at all the people around. Wow, there are so many boys! How am I gonna survive?

Soon, class started. Dr. Williams introduced everyone, he helped me with putting on my iPad case (he said his thumbs are still sore from putting on the case), and I really enjoyed the class.

Next, we had technology. It was really interesting! Mr. Calvert talked about the Dee Bridge Incident, the 1986 Challenger Explosion, the Titanic, and how they all had the incident not because of the design, but because the choice of material.

Social Studies was a bit different. Ms. Castiello was zooming in from Zoom. It was a little bit echo-y because we also joined the Zoom from our iPads, but it was a really good class!

At the end of the day, I was so sad that I had to go home! School was already over! So sad 😥. (Yes, yes. I know. I enjoy school. Don’t judge. Humph.) I saw some of my friends while waiting for my mom to pick me up. We talked a little, but then my mom called me and I left.

Capstone Blog Post #3

Now, we’re on the final part: making our presentation. For me, it’s pretty simple considering I just have to make a slideshow with pictures and a few words. But some people are making movies/videos from iMovie, WeVideo, and Adobe Spark.

Answering my main inquiry question was not that hard, but not that easy. Making my script was nerve-wracking. I asked my mom for help on reducing my script, but she helped me get more information. I was scared that my script would end up longer than five minutes, because that’s the maximum time your presentation can be, but it was three minutes and thirty seconds! I was pretty surprised because my script was pretty long.

Overall, I think Capstone was a really good experience for me because I got to interview people, I got to work with deadlines, and it was just fun!

Here’s my TED talk video:

Capstone Blog Post #2

Yesterday, on June the second, I had my Capstone interview. I interviewed the EPA Regional Energy Star coordinator, Juan Gutierrez. I was super nervous because I was afraid that I would mess up, and also because I was interviewing an EPA coordinator, and he’s a professional! But at the end, the interview ended up well.

Around fifteen minutes before the interview, I talked with my mom, and she gave me some tips. For instance, if your interviewee stops talking for a second, don’t hurry on to the next question. They are willing to give you information, just ask them if they are done talking.

When the interview started, I was a bit nervous and scared. A few minutes before, I was so nervous and pacing around a lot.

At the end, I was so much happier. I was late on the deadline for the interview, and was super nervous that I might not get enough information. But it was a great experience for me, and I definitely enjoyed it.

Capstone Blog Post #1

My grade is starting a project called Capstone. Capstone is where you find a topic, and answer a question about it. You have to make a presentation and present it to people. My topic is global warming, and my main inquiry question is “What is the economic effectiveness of planting trees to reduce global warming and how can it be made more effective?”, and I want to try and find information to answer that question.

I think what was helpful while choosing my question was my teacher. She helped us by making a Zoom meeting for us, and had a Google Doc made for us so that we could find our interests and then she would guide us even more. I am very grateful for that.

I was a little stressed about what my teacher would think about my Google Doc questions, and I was a little scared that my teacher would be disappointed in how my questions were formed. But I forgot that my teacher’s motto was “No Stress”. And at the Zoom meeting, it actually took about 8-10 minutes! I thought it would take about half an hour!

Capstone seems like a very fun project, and I looked forward to it ever since I knew about it. In fourth grade, we got to see the fifth graders’ presentations. It was really interesting, and got me even more excited for Capstone. But now, I realize how much work it is to do the work. That’s what I always realize when I start working on stuff.

I think that Capstone is really fun, and that I’m really happy that my school has this project.

Curling

During gym class, we were learning curling. Curling is supposed to be played on ice, but of course, schools wouldn’t be able to have an ice rink. My PE teacher first taught us how to curl in 3rd grade. At first, we first threw beanbags to get used to playing. You have to bring your hand back, lunge, and throw the beanbag at the same time you lunge. Next, we started using blue and red stones and playing against other pairs. When my PE teacher told us to do rock, paper, scissors, and if I won, my partner and I would either choose the color or the hammer. The hammer is when you get the last hit. It’s good because you can knock out the other team’s stone, or you can knock in one of your teammate’s stones into the house. Sometimes, though, I choose color because either the color stone is better, or I just feel like it. Then, we learned how to use a carpet to slide. It was the hardest part of the unit. Sometimes, I’d slide, and then the stone would turn to the right, and would avoid the house. The house is where you want your stone to go in. The closer your stone is to the button (the middle of the house), the better. But everyone only gets one stone each. Sliding on the carpet was easy. But coordinating it while sliding the stone was hard. That’s all the stuff I’ve learned so far. Hopefully, I’ll be able to learn to sweep. Sweeping helps the stone move farther. I really want to continue to learn how to curl, and hopefully, I will. Curling is a good sport, and it teaches you to have good sportsmanship. You should try it, and maybe you’ll like it, too.

Rocket Launch #2 Reflection

On October eighteenth, my team, the New Newtons, had our second launch. I think that our second launch was really good, even though when we checked how high our rocket went, it was lower. I think this happened because two of our fins were wiggly, so we pulled them off and our teacher aide glue it back on, except one side of our rocket had no fins, so the fin placement was really important. Our variable change was our nose cone, because it was really dirty. So we made it pointier on our second nose cone, and I think it turned our really well. On launch two, it was really windy and cold. I think the wind affected the launches for every group. I think that the clinometer readings could be wrong, because it was really chilly, so the clinometer readers might have moved a bit while taking the reading. The hardest part about the whole entire process was that when making the changes, everyone’s decision counted, it wasn’t just my decision, which was pretty hard for me. This is my YouTube video of my model rocket launches.

20 Facts On The Boston Tea Party

  1. It took place on December 16, 1773.
  2. It was a protest by the American Colonists against the British in regards to the tea taxes that had been imposed on them.
  3. This protest involved throwing chests of tea from three British trade ships into the Boston Harbor.
  4. The colonist group, the Sons of Liberty, organized the Boston Tea Party to protest the Tea Tax created by the British.
  5. The import tax on tea imposed through the Tea Act was actually lower than what the colonists had already been paying.
  6. John Crane was the only “tea parier” man harmed in the Boston Tea Party.
  7. American colonists consume 2 to 3 cups of tea each day.
  8. It took place a few years after the Boston Massacre.
  9. The three ships in the Boston Harbor that were raided in the Boston Tea Party included the Dartmouth Ship, the Eleanor Ship, and the Beaver Ship.
  10. The fourth ship, the William, ran aground in a storm off Cape Cod and never made it to the Boston Harbor.
  11. The Dartmouth Ship was carrying 114 chests of tea.
  12. The 342 chests of tea would have made approximately 19 million cups of tea.
  13. All 342 chests of tea were dumped into the Boston Harbor in the protest, destroying all of it.
  14. The chests of tea on the three ships included 240 chests of cheap black tea, 32 chests of superior cheap back tea, 10 chests of superior black tea, and 60 chests of green tea.
  15. The Tea that was marketed in America, was sold by shipment dealers selected by the East India Trading Company.
  16. Most of the tea from the East India Trading Company was actually from China.
  17. The Boston Tea Party monitored another pre-Revolutionary occasion called the Boston Massacre that occurred on March 5, 1770.
  18. 90% of the tea drank in the colonies was smuggled in.
  19. The new import tax on tea of 3 pence was considerably less than the previous one.
  20. Only ships owned by the East India Company could carry tea.

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