7th grade learning
  • Home
  • Social Studies
  • Science
  • Math
  • LA

Endangered Animal Project: Polar Bear

2/17/2015

0 Comments

 
I am a polar bear living in the very cold Arctic.  I have white fur and I’m big and heavy, because I need a lot of fat to stay warm in the frigid temperatures here!  Also, I’m very good at swimming and at hunting to get food for myself.  Using my big incisors, I can bite onto prey and get them out to eat.  I mostly eat seals to make sure I have enough fat to survive.  I spend my days walking on the ice, swimming, and hunting, which is sometimes difficult because my prey gets away.  My life is usually nice, but if everything was perfect, I would always have enough food to eat and the ice wouldn’t be drifting and melting away.
Picture
Me struggling to live on melting ice.
I am an endangered animal, and the reason for that has been caused by different things around me.  Humans and environmental factors are making me endangered, and I’ll talk about the humans first.  Sometimes when I spend longer time onshore, I run into Arctic coastal communities, and when we interact, they try to get rid of me, but I’ve thankfully gotten away.  Unfortunately, polar bears who were not as lucky as me were killed by the people working in the communities.  I know a lot of humans are trying to help us, but sometimes it’s not enough, because there are still illegal hunters trying to get me and other polar bears.  If we are still being hunted, that means our population could still be going down, and this scares me a lot.  Adding to that, people are starting to increase the oil drilling in the Arctic, and I could possibly die if I came in contact with spilled oil.  Even with all of this human interference, there are still more environmental problems that have caused us polar bears to become endangered.  A huge problem is global warming.  Global warming has caused large amounts of ice to melt, so I have to travel further to find good places to stay.  Maybe people don’t realize how important polar bears actually are, but we are the top of the food chain, and if we are gone, the overall marine environment could be damaged.
PictureThis picture shows the 19 subpopulations of polar bears in the Arctic. Hopefully the polar bear population can grow so that the area we cover becomes larger!
Just because there are a lot of things making polar bears endangered doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to turn things around to save us.  For stopping people from killing polar bears to protect their Arctic communities, there are already methods of doing this.  Humans have been using better lighting near public places, electric fencing, bear-proof food storage containers to make sure they can see us if we are coming near where they are.  Then, we will leave without getting hurt or hurting people.  But, if we do get too close to the humans, they should use something like pepper spray to keep us away rather than killing us.  I’d rather have my face sting than be killed! The humans need to keep using these methods in all of their Arctic communities so that the polar population doesn’t have to decrease even more.  Also, people need to stop the negative industrial impacts coming from oil drilling and such.  To do this, they need to make sure their technique of oil drilling is well managed so that oil isn’t likely to spill out.  They also need to make sure that they do not drill in ecologically fragile places.  By doing these things, polar bears like me will be more protected from the danger of oil drilling.  Now, with global warming, it’s hard for people to save us from this big of an environmental problem.  However, they can work with the biggest area of ice there is right now, in the High Arctic of Canada and Greenland, and manage it well and create a good habitat there so I can live well.  This way, other polar bears and I don’t have to worry about traveling to many places to stay.  If the humans do all of these things, polar bears will be in for a comeback from being endangered.

0 Comments

Electric Circuits

12/3/2014

0 Comments

 
There are two types of electric circuits: series and parallel circuits.  A series circuit is an electric circuit that has series connections to work, and it doesn't have branches.  One advantage of having a series circuit is that if it goes out, you know that one of the components have failed.  However, one disadvantage of having a series circuit is that if one component goes out, then the whole circuit is going out.  You can find series circuits in flashlights and christmas lights.
Picture
This is an example of a parallel circuit
Picture
This is what a series circuit looks like
A parallel circuit is a circuit that is connected in branches.  An advantage of having a parallel circuit is that if one lightbulb goes out, the others keep working.  A disadvantage is that parallel circuits use a lot of wires.  You can find parallel circuits in your home and at your school.
0 Comments

A Day At the Playground!

10/31/2014

0 Comments

 
This video was made by me and my partner, Lexi.  We were to make a slide show demonstrating the way different types of energy works.  We decided to have a dog in our story undergo the effects of many different types of energy.
0 Comments

A Nuclear Power PLant in Beachwood?

10/23/2014

0 Comments

 
A nuclear power plant is a place where a nuclear reactor is used as thermal power, and it makes steam, which is put through a steam turbine, which is connected to a generator that makes electricity.  There are nuclear power plants all over the world.  However, I wouldn't want a nuclear power plant to be built in Beachwood.  Nuclear power plants create a lot of radiation, which is very harmful toward people and their health.  I wouldn't want the people in Beachwood to have their health in danger because of a nuclear power plant.  Also, if there was an accident in the power plant and it exploded, so much radiation would be released and many people could die.  This actually happened in real life, when the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine had an accident, and part of  the plant exploded, causing massive amounts of radiation to be released.  I wouldn't want a nuclear power plant in Beachwood because of all of the catastrophic events that could take place and harm many people.
Picture
The result of the Chernobyl disaster
0 Comments

Mechanical Waves

10/17/2014

1 Comment

 
The photo shown to the right is an example of a sound wave.  Sound waves can be longitudinal or transverse.  

In the environment, we can make echos, which is when sound waves bounce off surfaces and come back so we can hear them again.  If it is a louder echo, the wave will have a larger amplitude, and if the echo is softer the wave will have a smaller amplitude.  If the echo is more high pitched the wave will have a smaller wavelength and a higher frequency, but if the wave is more low pitched then it will have a larger wavelength and a lower frequency.

Also, fire alarms produce sounds when there is smoke around, and that affects the way we live our lives if there is a fire.   If the alarm is louder, the wave will have a higher amplitude, and if the alarm is softer, the wave will have a lower amplitude.  If the alarm is more high pitched, the wave will have a smaller wavelength and a higher frequency, and if the alarm is more low pitched, the wave will have a bigger wavelength and a lower frequency.

People can also listen to music, which is also created by sound waves.  If the music is louder, that means the wave has a higher amplitude, and if the music is softer, that means the wave has a lower amplitude.  The pitch of the music depends on the frequency of the wave.  If the music is more high pitched, that means the wave has a shorter wavelength and a higher frequency, and if the music is more low pitched, then the wave has a longer wavelength and a lower frequency.
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Acids and Bases affect our lives

10/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Acids and bases can affect our lives in positive and negative ways.  These two types of solutions can do good or bad things to people and the environment.

Using products such as antiperspirants and deodorants involves the use of acids and bases.  People need to learn about antiperspirants and deodorant so they understand their use of acids or bases.  Antiperspirants help stop the production of sweat by sealing or clogging sweat glands while deodorants do not stop the production of sweat, but only stop the bacteria, which makes the odor less strong.  By understanding what these certain products do, it becomes more clear how acids and bases affect us.

Did you ever wonder how a pickle goes from being a cucumber to a pickle?  This process, again, includes the use of acid.  Cucumbers are put into a salty water called "brine", and the brine's acidity preserves the cucumber and gives it a salty taste. The water's acidity overcomes the harmful bacteria in the cucumber that would rot it if it wasn't saved somehow.  Even this every-day food depends on acid to be preserved, which shows what kind of part acids and bases take in our lives.

The quality of the environment can be changed by the way acids and bases take place in them.  It is important to know the pH scale so you know how acidic or basic substances are.  An important factor for living things is the acidity of the substance they are in.  For example, some grasses need a soil with a certain pH to grow correctly.  Also, the acidity of bodies of water need to be checked on so that the organisms living in the water don't die if the water is to acidic.  Many things in nature that we are familiar with can be changed by acids and bases.

0 Comments

    Author

    I'm Athena and I'm 12 and a 7th grader.  I love dancing and playing piano.

    Archives

    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.