Science: Rock Candy

 Hi there! 

Today I will be writing about how I made Rock Candy at home during lockdown. 

Aim: Make rock candy at home

Method: 

(Note: make sure you have a 3:1 ratio of sugar and water, I will be using 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water.)

1. Combine equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan and heat.

2. Slowly add more and more sugar and mix until it doesn't dissolve any more. The water will start to look a little cloudy, this means no more sugar will dissolve. You can double or triple the recipe if you want, as long as a 3:1 ratio remains. At this point, you can also add flavouring or food colouring if you would like. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Cut skewers to a desired size (which fits in the jar you will use), then dip them in water and then in sugar. Set them aside and allow to dry fully. 

4. Once the sugar-water mix has cooled down enough, pour it into jars (or whatever you are using). Once the sugar dipped sticks are dry place them in the jar. They must be fully dry, if they aren't, when you place them in the jar the sugar will dissolve. Also, make sure the skewers aren't touching the sides or bottom of the jar. 

5. Let it sit for a couple of days or as desired and you can eat the rock candy. Once you take them out, let them dry and enjoy!

Results:

Day of making:

Discussion:

When the water and sugar are heated together, it creates something called a 'supersaturated solution'. This means there are way more particles of dissolved sugar/solute than water/solvent is normally able to dissolve at a regular temperature. By stirring sugar in hot water, the sugar dissolves faster in the heated/fast-moving water molecules.

As the water cools down, the large amount of sugar particles remains in the supersaturated solution, meaning there's now more sugar than can actually stay in the liquid. This leftover sugar falls out of the solution as particles. They connect with other sugar particles and a rock candy crystal will start to grow. 

The sugar-dipped skewer is a key part in actually getting the crystals growing. The dried sugar acts as 'seed' crystals when you place it in the supersaturated solution. As all the sugar particles start to settle, they join together, forming crystals with other molecules of sugar. You can see this crystallisation happen on the sides and bottoms of the jar, and of course on the skewer. Until you take out the skewer, the molecules of sugar will continue to crystallise on the string and other crystals giving you rock candy.  

Conclusion:

I really enjoyed this experiment. Unfortunately, for me it didn't work on my first attempt so I tried again and it worked. However, crystals grew everywhere in the jars I used apart from the skewers which I found funny. Even if they didn't end up growing, I liked checking on the skewers everyday in the morning.

Thanks for reading!

Art: Attempted Use of White Space

 Hi there! 

Since New Zealand is still in lockdown and schools aren't open, school has become interesting. For Art class, this applies too. Our teacher set us to a really cool task to draw in a similar style of Joanna Margaret Paul. We had to try instil the use of white space. Paul would use white space to her advantage, creating spectacular pieces of work. Here is some more information about her:

Joanna Margaret Paul was a Kiwi artist born in Hamilton on the 14th of December 1945. As a child, she was always around artists and people of literature, something she and her family regarded very highly. After finishing boarding school at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, she went on to the University of Waikato to study History, English and French. 

She graduated Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1969 and had her work featured in an exhibition while studying there. Paul passed away in 2003, her works have since been featured in Victoria University’s Adam Art Gallery and the London Film Festival in 2016. 

Here is a link to the instructions if you would like to see.  I used charcoal pencils, watercolour, and coloured pencils to make my pieces, but you can basically use anything, as long as you can colour with it. Below are some attempts of mine using white space while drawing a still object. 

The images above were my first attempts at drawing using white space. As you can see, I left a lot of it. I drew one of the many orchid plants in my house, the plant didn't actually have any flowers. But, I felt like drawing a flower as my confidence levels regarding drawing were high and I had a "what the heck" attitude brewing so I went for it. Also, adding to the "what the heck" attitude, I decided to stray away from 'normal' colours and instead used dark and light brown. Something in me was drawn to them, and I am really glad I listened.  Considering these two images were my first attempts and I am not the most confident at drawing, I am pretty pleased with myself. However, I didn't colour some of the leaves properly, so they look a bit transparent. 

The images above were my attempts at using white space with watercolour. I did these a couple of days after my first attempts, since I finally found the watercolour kit I got on my sixth birthday which I was struggling to find. I used black water colour for most of my water colour pieces. However, the brown in the palette called to me again and I used it to draw a Bundaurg Ginger Beer glass. I used a thick stick I found in the back of my garden to do the drawings. I also used a cabbage tree leaf. I really enjoyed using the stick to draw the images. Depending on how I held the stick, I would get a different type of stroke which I found very cool. I would get a lot of colour onto the stick, and as it got depleted of colour I would use it to outline the next strokes I would take. Again, the transparent leaves came to haunt me, but I am still proud of my effort!

In this drawing, I used charcoal pencils to draw the image. It is from a different orchid plant, however I added a couple more leaves to it as it originally had (I accidentally broke a leaf off, sorry again mum). I used a black charcoal pencil first, then, when I had finished with my drawing I went over with a white charcoal pencil to give a "smudged" effect. When I started drawing this, I got was bit shocked because I had gotten used to the freeness of the water colour, whereas the pencil was the opposite. Transparent leaves appeared once more. But, if I keep on forgetting to make them opaque, I might as well make them a signature piece in my future drawings so they are legible. 

I really enjoyed attempting to use white space, I noticed as I did more and more drawings I got quicker at doing them too. I learned that I am masterful in drawing transparent leaves and that although it is peaceful, drawing in a garage with the door open gets very chilly. All in all, what matters is that I did the work, but most importantly, I had a lot of fun doing so.

Thanks for reading!

Science: Genetic Disorders - why do they occur?

 Hi there!

Before lockdown, in Science class we were learning about Genetics and Evolution. Since we are now in lockdown, our learning is a little different. I decided I would make a post about genetic disorders. 

What is a genetic disorder?

A genetic disorder is a disease caused by mutation or change in a person's DNA sequence.

Why do genetic disorders occur? 

Genetic disorders don't just occur one way. You can actually inherit genetic disorders from your parents. Some don't show up right away when you're  born but instead appear when you are in adulthood. Most of the time, inherited genetic disorders show up when you are born. Some genetic disorders people inherit from their parents are: 

- Huntington's Disease 

- Cystic Fibrosis 

- Haemophilia

Some genetic disorders can occur because of errors in DNA replication, or environmental factors like: radiation exposure, cigarette smoke, some chemicals and ultra violet rays. These factors can cause changes in the sequence of DNA, the mutations can then lead to genetic disorders. 

A human's genome, or complete set of genetic instructions is like a recipe book. However, unlike a recipe book, our genome can change. The changes can affect the bases in DNA (adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine) or a chunk of DNA. Sometimes it can even affect chromosomes too.

Our DNA provides special codes to make protein or large molecules made from amino acids. These molecules are mostly responsible for controlling functions in our bodies. But, when a part of our DNA is changed, it can alter the protein code it makes too. This means the protein is affected and can sometimes stop functioning. 

Depending on where the mutations happen, they have little to no effect on the person, or they can greatly alter the makeup of cells in our body, leading to a genetic disorder.

Thanks for reading!

Science: The Ethics of Cloning

 Hi there! 

Today I will be writing about the ethics of cloning (as you can tell by the title). I will discuss how a clone is made, the ethics of cloning, and my opinions on some situations where cloning might be used. 

How do you make a clone?

To make a clone of any person, (let's use Leonardo da Vinci (L.d.V.) as an example) you would first need one of L.d.V.'s skin cells (all 46 chromosomes) and secondly, an egg cell (23 chromosomes) from a donor. Thirdly, the nuclei from both of the cells would need to be removed using a micropipette. Next, the nucleus of L.d.V.'s cell (with all 46 chromosomes) would be inserted into the donor egg cell, meaning the egg cell now has all the instructions to make Leonardo da Vinci. The egg is then surgically inserted into the same egg cell donor's womb. Finally, 9 months later a perfect genetic clone of Leonardo da Vinci is born. 

Ethics of Cloning

Ethics are behaviour's people have regarding right or wrong. Everyone has their own beliefs around ethics, take for example pineapple on pizza. Some people believe putting pineapple on pizza is wrong, whereas some people believe it's right. We could view this as an ethical dilemma. 

Personally, I think cloning is an ethical dilemma, some people think cloning is good, but when the thing being cloned is changed they might begin to think otherwise. This is also vice versa.

There are two sides to cloning, the positives such as being able to make copies of just about anything. But, there are also negatives, such as the reasoning behind a clone, for example, cloning strong, abled people for armies, knowing the people they clone don't have a say. 

Below, I'll put some cloning scenarios and my opinion on them. Just remember, people will all have different answers when it comes to cloning, no answer is right or wrong. Even scientists have been debating cloning for years!

Scenario 1: Cloning should be used to replicate extinct animals

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to replicate extinct animals. As much as it would be amazing to see Megalodons or Moa they wouldn't survive very long, as the environments they once lived in have completely changed. 

Scenario 2: Cloning should be used to staff armies

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to staff armies because it takes away the rights humans have. A person should not have the right to choose whether or not they join the army or any other defense force taken away from them automatically. 

Scenario 3: Cloning should be used to harvest organs for people who need them

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to harvest organs for people who need them. Like Scenario 2, people should be allowed to decide if they want to donate their organs. They shouldn't be 'bred' to give other people organs without consenting they'll do it first. 

Thanks for reading!

Science: Famous Scientist Research

 Hi there!

In Science, we were tasked with researching a famous scientist. After a long debate with myself, I have finally chosen to research about: Charles Darwin. 

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on 12 February, 1809. He died on 19 April 1882 in Kent, England.  

Darwin was famous for his book, 'On the Origins of Species' which he released in 1859. He gathered information to publish it after going travelling for 5 years across the world to different places. 

The book explained Darwin's ideas about evolution, however this caused a lot of controversy in the non-scientific community of the early 19th century. The evidence he gathered is seen as conflicting with some religious beliefs about creation of creatures on the world and the world itself. 

Darwin is also famous for studying the wildlife on the Galápagos Islands, a cluster of islands on the equator almost 1,000km west of Ecuador. While on the island, he noticed that the finches on the different islands were similar to each other, but not exactly alike. He noted that each bird had a variation in size, beak and claws. 

Darwin concluded that the islands were so distant from the mainland, that the finches which arrived previously to the islands had changed over time. Darwin ended up with almost 30 years of research and studied hundreds more plant and animal species. He made his theory of evolution by natural selection public in 1858. Nowadays, evolution by natural selection is the foundation of modern biology, accepted by scientists all across the world. 

Two random facts about Charles Darwin:

- He and Abraham Lincoln, former U.S. President were born on the same day.

- In Zimbabwe, there is a mountain named 'Mount Darwin', after him. 

Thanks for reading!

Lockdown Blog! Again...?

Hi there!

Last night at 11:59 p.m. the whole of New Zealand went into lockdown, as you probably already know. 

If you have been reading my blog since early last year (if you have, thank you!) you would know I had a lockdown blog about what I had been doing to keep myself from going stir crazy. 

That blog, even now, is still my most popular blog of all time, racking up 89 views and (for me) a very impressive 6 comments. I am very proud of this achievement,  I definitely don't check every once in a while to see how many views it has...

So anyway, I am going to do another lockdown blog, as it seemed like people loved it last time. Will I be able to do it again? I am hoping so, yes. Although this may not be as interesting as my original lockdown blog, I hope you will still find it interesting!

What have I actually been doing at home so far? 

After waking up stressing I was going to be late for school and then realising we're in lockdown, I started doing schoolwork from my English and Science classes. My goal is to stay on top of my schoolwork this lockdown, even if it is only for 3 days at the moment. I am doing this because when we do go back to 'brick and mortar' school I want to be ready and not ridiculously behind. 

I also am in a bit of a predicament; exercise. In short, I had surgery on my knee in April to replace a torn ligament. I am doing rehabilitation so I can go back to sports as soon as it is safe for me to do so. I need to go to the gym 5 times a week, 3 times doing circuit training to strengthen my muscles, and running on a treadmill 2 times a week. 

Here is my predicament: Gyms. Are. Closed. :(

I can go running throughout my neighborhood, no issue there. But, a lot of the equipment I need I don't have at my house, for example a barbell. I will try to innovate and create the best home gym I possibly can and hope we get out of lockdown soon.

I also have some sad news. My family's lockdown garden from last year has completely gone away. There are planter boxes outside with shriveled plants laying inside them. I am pretty sure there are no more plants that are left. Our pre-lockdown amusement greenhouse we bought has been packed down and retired to our garage. Luckily, it has a dual purpose! The structure of our former greenhouse can actually be used as a drying rack for clothes when it is raining outside!

Thank you for reading my blog, stay safe!

A Summary of my Lockdown

Hi there! 

Guess what? 

As I am writing this, I am sitting in my class with all of my peers! I'm back at school! This blog will be about my experience in lock down. 

For almost 50 days, the only people I saw daily were my mum, dad, sister and our adorable dog. During this ever-lasting journey through lock down (and the measures that came with it) I did a lot of things which, in my opinion, would've altered my expedition through the outbreak we called Covid-19. I will now write about what I have done and achieved for almost two months, while I have been snug in my abode. 

My family has started a garden, we have a lot of fresh produce and it's been really cool to see them grow. Some plants we planted on the first day of lock down are now climbing their way to become taller and taller which is quite cool when you think about it. Something that was a seed turning into a plant with leaves that make your hands look like something the size of a ladybug. The most exotic plant we have is a chilli plant. We have gotten 5 or six chilli's from it so far, and by the looks of it, I think there are more on the way. We have used spinach, chilli, lettuce and mint from our garden to make meals. I used mint at the beginning of lock down to make myself peppermint tea, because we had run out and it tasted really nice. Something I wish I had done is let it steep for longer, it didn't taste like it had steeped to its full potential. 

I also exercised quite a bit during lock down, here is a list of what I did:

• I went on some long walks at parks and beaches. (I saw plenty of cute dogs!)
• Workout videos
• Rowing on a rowing machine
• Running
• Netball drills
• Muscle strengthening exercises. 

Some negatives I experienced was trying to figure out what type of exercise I would do and when I would do them, this happened quite a bit but I managed to get them all done. Another negative I encountered was that I wouldn't really have any motivation to do physical activity but I would get on with it because I knew once I had started that I would enjoy what I was doing and that it was good for me. Some positives I had were that I got to workout when I wanted and do what I felt like I wanted. I also enjoyed trying out the rowing machine, I am definitely going to carry on using it! 

I got inspiration from the T.V. show, Grand Designs to try make a floor plan of a house I would like to live in on an app I found. Unfortunately, I forgot that wall lengths existed. So, some of my walls ended up being quite long!

Another thing my family and I did during lock down was watching bucket loads of movies and T.V. episodes. We also ended up having plenty of impromptu marathons, movie marathons. The longest movie we watched was 4 minutes away from being 4 hours long. We watched shows and movies from lots of countries. One of my favourite movies we watched was called 'Little Tito & the Aliens'. It's about a professor whose wife has died, so he now lives by himself in the Nevada Desert, near Area 51. He is supposed to be working on a secret mission for the U.S. government but he is actually just lazing about. The only contact with the outside world is with a woman named Stella. Stella runs alien themed weddings for tourists. The professor receives a message from his brother who is about to die in Naples, and entrusts him with his two children Anita & Tito. Anita & Tito expect to be living in the glamorous city of Las Vegas, but are really stuck with their uncle in the middle of the desert.  

Overall, I have enjoyed being at home, however I wish I was able to see all of my friends in person, not through the screens of our devices! I am excited to be back at school seeing all my teachers and peers.

Thanks for reading!

Social Studies: Where the Black Plague fits in History

Hi there! 

In Social Studies we are learning about the Black Plague. An interesting fact I have learnt is that the deaths caused by the Black Plague is estimated to be between 75-200 million. 

Here is a timeline showing where the Black Plague:

Thanks for reading!

Lockdown Gardening Blog!

Hi there! 

I thought today I would share with you how my family garden is going and show you some photos too.

In our garden we have:

• Lettuce varieties
• Cauliflower
• Chilli 
• Snow peas
• Basil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Mint
• Sweet corn
• Sunflower
• Baby spinach
• Bean varieties
• Silverbeet

We have also planted some zucchini and tomato seeds but we are still waiting for them to start growing. 

Something I have noticed is that our so-called 'baby' spinach is actually quite big, not miniature like it normally is from the supermarket. Another thing I have noticed is that our basil plant seems to be not growing very much, in fact I think it's actually shrunk a little bit which is a bit daunting. 

It turns out I have eaten the chilli! My sister made a curry and she put it in! She said she only put a little bit in, I noticed it tasted spicier than usual. I'm still building courage to try it by itself (with a nice cold glass of milk!). I'll let you know my experience if I do!

Here are some photos of the garden:

Cauliflower

Mint

Green/Glass House

Chilli

Parsley

Lettuce

Lettuce

Snow Pea

Beans

'Baby' Spinach

Thanks for reading!

P.E: The History of Netball

Hi there! Today I will be writing about the history of Netball as a task for P.E. while I am at home.

Netball originated in England in 1895 and was first played at Madame Ostenberg's College in Kent. It had a nine-a-side version and a five-a-side version when the game was first played. In the first half of the 20th century, the popularity of Netball began to grow.  Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia are just two of many who took the sport up. 

Some legends in Netball are: 

• Laura Langman
• Leana de Bruin
• Geva Mentor
• Jhaniele Fowler
• Caitlin Bassett
• Irene van Dyk
• Maria Folau
  

Laura Langman is a New Zealand Netball player who also plays for the Australian Netball league too. She plays the tiring position of centre in the game. She is famous for her amazing stamina in a game, this dates all the way back to to 2005. She is considered one of the fittest Silver Ferns and is the second most capped Netball player in New Zealand's history.

Leana de Bruin is a former South African born Netball player but played out the majority of her career in New Zealand. She played the crucial defense positions of goal keeper and goal defense for over 17 years. She played for New Zealand over 100 times and has played in Netball World Cups from 2003 to 2015. She has also gone to 3 Commonwealth Games and won 2 gold medals at these events as well as a silver medal.

Geva Mentor is a British Netball player standing at over 1.9 metres tall. She is a defender, playing wing defense, goal defense and goal keeper. She has been playing Netball since 2001 and is still playing. She has played for England 146 times and has so far participated in 3 Commonwealth Games, gaining one gold medal and 2 silver ones.

Jhaniele Fowler is a Jamaican born Netball player but has played in the Australian Netball league as well. She clocks in at a jaw-dropping height of 1.98 metres tall, the world's third tallest Netball player in the world. She played for New Zealand for a short period of time and has played for Jamaica 46 times since debuting in 2010. She plays the all important position of goal shooter.

Caitlin Bassett is an Australian Netball player in the top 5 tallest netball players in the world, being 1.96 metres tall. She started her career in 2005 and is still playing for the Australian Diamonds in her position of goal shooter. At the 2011 Netball World Cup she only missed 4 goals throughout the whole tournament (151/155).

Irene van Dyk is a South African born player but played the majority of her career in New Zealand. She is considered the best player of all time, playing goal shooter and goal attack. Her phenomenal accuracy almost never dropped below 90%. She started her career in 1994 in South Africa playing 72 games for the South African team, she stopped playing for South Africa in 1999. The next year she moved to New Zealand and played the rest of her year career here, retiring from netball fully in 2016. She is the most capped international player in the world with 217 games played all together and has gone to 5 Netball World Cups and 4 Commonwealth Games, one of which she was the flag bearer. 

Maria Folau is a Netball player from New Zealand with an unbelievable skill in the shooting circle. She played the positions of goal shooter and goal attack. Her Silver Ferns debut was in 2005 and retired in 2019. She can shoot from anywhere in the shooting circle, which made her a dangerous opponent. She has gone to 4 Netball World Cups and 4 Commonwealth Games, in 2019 winning a World Netball Champion title with the Silver Ferns.

Netball is played professionally in many countries but is also played as a grassroots sport for children or those who aren't in the pro leagues. Netball is played with 7 seven players on each team. Positions played are goal keeper, goal defense, wing defense, centre, wing attack, goal attack and goal shooter. To play a game of Netball you need bibs with all positions for both teams, two umpires (referees), a netball, scorekeepers, a timekeeper, netball court and suitable playing equipment for players.

Netball has evolved a lot since it's discovery over 100 years ago. Netball was played in long, heavy dresses previously and is now played in light, sweat-wicking, shorter dresses. Baskets were used as hoops, there were no boundaries, no lines or circles back then. Netball was also played on grass courts all those many years ago.

Netball has evolved much over the decades, I think it will continue to do so for many more.

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Hi there! This will be quite literally Home Economics. Today I will be making Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I am using a recipe from the Chelsea's Sugar website.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups Standard Grade Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 large ripe bananas (mashed)
• 3/4 cups White Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup Butter (80g), melted
• 150 g dark (or milk) chocolate buttons (you can use chips if you like)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C bake. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.  
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine the bananas, white sugar, egg, and melted butter. 
4. Fold in the flour mixture and chocolate buttons until only just combined.
5. Spoon evenly into muffin tin and bake 20-25 minutes until muffins spring back when gently pressed.

Tips/Notes:

• When sifting the flour baking powder, baking soda and salt first put half of your measured flour into the sieve. Then put the baking powder, baking soda and salt on top of the first half of flour, then put the second half on top of the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• When adding sugar to the banana mixture also sift it like the flour, in case there are clumps in the sugar.
• Before adding the melted butter, I put mine in the fridge and covered it with plastic wrap so it would cool quicker, remember to check on it so that it doesn't start to solidify. If the butter is too hot, it'll cook the egg in the banana mixture.
• When combining the banana mixture with the flour mixture add the flour and chocolate buttons in bit by bit, it'll make the mixtures combine faster than adding it in one go. 

My muffins turned out really well and I am very happy with them. They were a hit with my family too! The muffins tasted like bananas and the chocolate buttons provided a pleasant sweet flavour which went really well with the banana. 

The muffins looked like classic homemade muffins as well as having a light and fluffy texture. When pressed, they would spring back to their original shape. They also were easy to bite through.

Here are some photos of my process of making the muffins:

Thanks for reading! 

Lockdown Blog!

Hi there!

Today I will be writing a short summary about what I've been doing during the four week nationwide lock-down due to Covid-19 in New Zealand. 

Before the lock-down, my family and I bought a greenhouse to see if we could grow any vegetables during the lock-down. Boy oh boy! We have a lot of vegetables, we've even got a splendid, blazing yellow chilli plant! I haven't got the courage to try it yet, I'm a bit afraid it'll scorch my mouth.

I have been keeping my fitness up by using an old rowing machine which was hiding in our garage. My dad showed me how to use it and I have been glued to it almost everyday! I really like using it, it's quite a lot of fun to use.

I have also been going on walks with my mum, sister and dog everyday as another effort to keep in shape. When we get back from a walk on the mostly gusty days, we have established a process before going into the house.

Before leaving to go on our walk we fill up a tray with water and soap. The reason for this is so we can dip our shoes in it as an effort to try reduce the chance of germs on the bottom of our shoes when we get back from our trek around the neighbourhood. At first it was a bit weird, still is a bit odd but I have gotten used to it. 

I have also dug into the vast plethora of e-Books from public libraries. I have almost finished a book series with 10 books in about a week's time which is a feat I haven't achieved in a little while. 

After having dinner my family and I will watch some sort of movie or series to finish off our day. 

Thanks for reading!