Severe Weather Project Reflection

12/12/14 Tsunamis

Summary

This week our class worked on our weather projects. My group is doing a weather broadcast. So far over the week I have been researching about tsunamis. I learned many things such as what a tsunami is, the geographical occurrence of tsunamis, and what are the ingredients of making a tsunami. A tsunami is a series of very large waves that are formed by underwater earthquakes. Another thing I learned was that four out every five tsunamis was caused by and in the ring of fire. The ring of fire is an dangerous area where many earthquakes are caused.

Backwards-looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

Before I started researching about tsunamis I thought they were only very big waves. I knew that tsunamis were very dangerous and large. I already knew what a tsunami was and how it is caused by earthquakes but I didn't really know specifically what caused them or what you should do when a tsunami happens. A cool fact that I learned was that things can catch on fire from a tsunami and that debris floating on top of a wave can catch and stay on fire. I also learned that most tsunamis are caused by the ring of fire.

Inwards-looking Reflection

What were your goals for this week? Did your goals change as you worked? Did you meet your goals?

This week we had to write a daily goal, if we accomplished our goal, what our next steps will be, and any questions we had. So far I have always met my goals. Today we learned about writing SMART goals. S stands for specific, M stands for measurable, A stands for attainable, R stands for realistic, and T stands for timeframed. My goals did not change over the week and I think I wrote very SMART goals.

Quiz Makeup for 5th Weather EdHEADS 12/08/14 Quiz

Here are my answers to the questions I got wrong on the quiz.

How do weather patterns generally move across the United States?
Open the image before answering.

A) West to East

B) East to West

C)North to South

D)South to North

The correct answer for this question is west to east. The reason why is because we receive most of our wind from Alaska. Alaska is on the north west of us and its weather pattern blows east. This is why the weather pattern in the US moves west to east. The answer that I chose on the quiz was east to west. This answer is wrong because the wind pattern in the United States does not go east to west. The reason why is because since we receive most of our wind from Alaska and Alaska is to the west of us our wind pattern is from west to east. If Alaska wa on the east of us east to west would be correct. Since Alaska is on the north west side of the US the weather patterns moving across the US is not east to west. Next time i will be more careful and refer more to my notes to help me answer questions.

To predict the weather, you do NOT need to know which of the following:

A)Front Speed and Direction
B)the Distance of a Front or Weather System from the place you are Forecasting for
C)the Current Weather Conditions
D)the Current Phase of the Moon

The correct answer is D. The reason why is because d is the only thing not needed to predict the weather. You need to have A) front speed and direction because with that information you could more easily keep track of where a storm is going. Also, it is one of the things you need to tell people when you are broadcasting weather. I chose B for my answer. You would need B) the distance of a front or weather system from the place you are forecasting for because with that distance you can tell how far the storm (or any form of weather) is from you and where the weather you are predicting is. Another reason why is because even if you are correctly predicting the weather there you wouldn't even know where you are predicting the weather for. That is why my answer was wrong. The reason why you need to know C) the current weather conditions is because that is the most important thing. You definitely could NOT predict or broadcast the weather without knowing what the weather conditions are. Knowing the weather conditions is the most important thing because without knowing them you would have no idea at all what the weather was like. The correct answer is D) the current phase of the moon. The reason why B is correct is because the phases of the moon has nothing to do with weather like the sun does. Weather does not depend on the moon and the moon does not affect it. The sun on the other hand has a lot to do with weather. Next time when answering a question like this I will read the question and answers a lot more carefully and think about my answer before I answer.

Which of the following systems would most likely have the greatest amount of moisture associated with it?

A

B

C

D

The correct answer is A. The reason why the answer is not B is because up where B blows the air that is where mountains are located. The mountains bolack all the moisture from blowing in. In A however the moisture can blow in freely in and all the moisture is collected. In A there is nothing to hold back the moisture unlike the mountains in B. The reason why my answer C and the option D are not correct is because the H represents heat. The heat sucks up all the moisture so that way there is less moisture. Next time, when I see a question like this I will think carefully about the pictures and observe what is happening and in the pictures.

12/5/2014 Weather

Summary

This week we studied about the water cycle and weather. We finished our water cycle comic strips in the beginning of the week then learned about weather the rest of the week. In class we did a water cycle model that represented the water cycle. We took notes about weather and learned about different things that have to do with weather such as wind speed, temperature, and wind direction.

Backwards-looking Reflection

Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?

In third grade, I also learned about the water cycle. We also did a demonstration of the water cycle similar to how we did it in class. In art we made posters that show the water cycle. They were cartoon diagrams ssimilarto the comic strips we made in class this week. This year during each topic we learn about we uusuallylook at a powerpoint to learn and take notes off of. This year we have done that multiple times.

Inwards-looking Reflection

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week I was really proud of my water cycle comic. It was about Percy the Demidrop and his journey through the water cycle. I named it Percy the Demidrop and his Slippery Adventure! I spent a lot of time working on the colouring making sure it was good quality and looked very nice. I used a lot of important science words such as writing precipitation instead of rain, accumulation, evaporation, and condensation.

11/14 "Deforestation"

Summary

This week I wrote a letter to Mr. Cuttatree telling him why he should not build the Uppitty Resort. My three main reasons to convince him with were because the food web will be affected in a negative way, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought will happen. First we brainstormed ideas about what would convince him, then we picked the top three, next we made a topic sentence and graphed out where everything would go as well as adding in facts and examples to guide us while we write our letters. 

Backwards-looking reflection

Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?

Earlier in the year we worked on our letter to the school board trying to convince them that science was important and a big part of our education. This letter was similar to the letter to Mr. Cuttatree because in both we were trying to convince someone to do or to not do something. In both letters we wrote down our reasons and facts on a organizer which I think really helped both times. I think the second time writing the letter (which I am working on and not finished with) it was easier and I typed in a lot of information. 

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week  really enjoyed writing my letter. I think that so far I did a good job and put in a lot of interesting facts. I especially liked my comparison between a kitchen and the rain forest's food web. 

I wrote "An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen!" I really liked this part of my blog. Another thing I did that I liked was adding in facts like how about 150-200 species become extinct everyday and how every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down.

Letter to Mr. Cuttatree

Dear Mr. Cuttatree,

        Today I am writing to you because I have heard that you are going to build the Uppitty Resort. I think that you should not build it. You should not build the Uppitty Resort because to do so you have to cut down a large amount of trees which will cause the rainforest's the food web to be affected in a very negative way while loss of biodiversity will happen, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought may happen. There are many more reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort but those are three important reasons why. Here is more information about my three reasons why you should not build the Uppitty Resort.

        My first reason why you should not build the Uppitty Resort is because the food web in the rainforest will be negatively affected and loss of biodiversity will occur. This will happen because is one animal in the food web disappears (which at least one probably will if you build the Uppitty Resort ) then the whole food web will be affected since every single organism in a food web will be affected. For example, if the keel-billed toucan (a type of animal that lives in the rainforest) went extinct, what do think would happen to everything else? Well, lets see. The harpy eagle, one of the keel-billed toucans main predators will become endangered which will eventually lead to it homecoming extinct because it's main food course is now gone. Then the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, then the thing that eat the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, and so on. Also since the keel-billed toucan eats mainly fruits (when I say mainly I mean it eats A LOT), if it becomes extinct then the fruits will overgrow since the keel-billed toucan eats so much of it. Even if other animals eat fruit they usually don't eat as much as the keel-billed toucan. The other animals that eat fruit will over populate and the things that eat those animals won't be able to keep the balance between each organism and eat the fruit eating animals fast enough. An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen! If you want to build the Uppitty resort you have to understand that if you build it, chances are that at least one animal will become endangered or maybe even extinct that the whole food web ( which is basically every single animal in the rainforest ) will be affected in a negative way. Also not only organisms in the rainforests will be affected we will to. By cutting down trees and plants, some plants that are used for important medicines or can be used for potential medicines will become extinct. Imagine how lives could be saved if we started preserving forests. Everyday we are missing out in incredible medicines because so many trees are being cut down. From about 150-200 species or both animals and plants become extinct everyday! Do you really want to do this to the rainforest?

       Oxygen! Without trees how do we breathe? Trees are awesome, they supply us with oxygen so we can live and breathe. Everyday second us humans cut down two U.S football fields of trees. Imagine how many are cut down in a year!! If there are no trees to produce oxygen then us humans would cease to exist. Plants produce oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Photo means light, while synthesis means makes from. For plants to eat and live they do photosynthesis which is their process of making food. They need sun energy, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. During photosynthesis the plant absorbs sun energy and oxygen and the roots absorb nutrients and water in the soil. During photosynthesis they release oxygen and produce glucose which is sugar. Chloroplast an organelle is what makes photosynthesis happen. It is why the plant is green and can only be found in plant cells. It is a round green oval filled with chlorophyll inside. It has stacks of thylakoids which are called grana. That is why us humans can't produce our own food like plants. Humans and plants are the perfect pair because in order for humans to breathe we need oxygen which plants release during photosynthesis while plants need carbon dioxide to do photosynthesis which we release. By cutting down trees to build the Uppity Resort you are breaking the friendship between plants and us. Us humans would have a very hard time breathing if this rate of deforestation continues. As you can see, you really should not build the Uppity Resort. 

      Deforestation equals less trees, less trees equal global warming, global warming equals drought, and drought equals chaos everywhere. Really, i'm not joking. Drought really does mean chaos everywhere. For example, if there is drought than trees will not get enough water and die and all the same effects from deforestation will again occur. If people do deforestation still than not only that will happen drought will happen to which comes from deforestation. Double the trees will die!!! What does drought have anything to do with deforestation you may ask? Greenhouse gases are gases that cause global warming. They build up like a big blanket around the earth which traps sunlight inside causing the world to overheat which leads to drought. Trees help prevent drought because during their process of photosynthesis they take in a lot of carbon dioxide which is one big greenhouse gas. Trees help us a lot like how they absorb carbon dioxide. Without them the world be definitely overheat and become a dry wasteland. Everyone would be fighting over water and that wouldn't help.When drought happens everything is effected. You can help stop drought from happening worldwide by not building the Uppitty Resort. 

       So, I hope you listened to my three reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort. YOU can help prevent deforestation from becoming an even BIGGER problem. Imagine if your grandkids  or great grand kids were born when there was barely any trees left because of deforestation. They wouldn't be able to walk around in the forests and look at the beautiful nature. They would not be able to have the same experience as you did all because of deforestation. And even worse, you did some of that deforesting. YOU can help make sure that never happens. YOU can play a role in stopping it. YOU can make a difference by not building the resort. Anyone can make a difference in the world,  here is your chance. I hope me and my classmates showed you that building your resort will make a big impact which is not all good. Even if the resort does supply jobs for many people it also will do many negative things that we are trying to prevent. There are more cons to building the Uppitty Resort than pros. Please help the world prevent BAD stuff from happening by not building your resort. if you can't stop building it or want it to be built to badly please consider building it somewhere else where no trees will be cut. Remember, YOU can make a difference by not building the Uppitty Resort.

11/7 "Deforestation/Keel Billed Toucan"

Summary

This week I learned a lot about deforestation. I learned about why deforestation happens and what happens when deforestation is happening. Deforestation is a terrible thing but it can sometimes benefit us humans such as how Mr. Cuttatree claims building the resort will give many people an opportunity for work.

Backwards Looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

This week I learned many things about deforestation. At first I thought that every 5 seconds a tree is cut down but I now know that every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down every second. This is terrible since we get all of our oxygen from plants. At first before we learned about this I never realised how bad deforestation was happening and doing to us. I learned that 137 species become extinct every day. Brazil is where deforestation occurs these days and 90-95% of it's rainforests have been cut down. Deforestation causes homes of animals to be destroyed, erosion, less oxygen for us, less biodiversity, and many other things. People do this so they have room for buildings, farms, room for mining, and so they can make materials. did you know that 214,000 acres of land is cut down every day. That's an area of land larger than New York City.

Inwards Looking Reflection

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week I was very proud of my rainforest animal presentation. I think I had a lot of information about the keel billed toucan and when I presented it on exhibition night I did a very good job showing them that one thing can effect the food chain and we have to try very hard to make sure the biodiversity of the rainforests stay. I was especially proud of this project because I felt like I put a lot of hard work into making it interesting and helpful and on exhibition night my hard work really showed off. I think I did a very good job presenting my project on exhibition night and I feel very proud of myself.

10/31 "Interdependence of Organisms - 2"

Summary

This week we learned about symbiosis and made symbiosis foldables. We also started on our rainforest animal presentation where we pick a animal, do research on the animal, put our information on a google presentation, then present.

Backwards looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

Before I learned what symbiosis was I never even heard the word. I knew nothing about symbiosis but I know many things about symbiosis. Symbiosis is when organisms interact. there are three forms parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism. Parasitism is when one organism benefits while the other is harmed. Am example of this is when a dog has fleas in their hair. This flea is benefited because it gets a home in the dogs hair while the dog is harmed because the fleas make it itchy. Commensalism is when one organism is benefited while the other doesn't care. An example of this is when a bird makes a nest in a tree. The bird gets a home but the tree doesn't care. The last one is Mutualism, it is when both organisms are benefited.  An example of this is when a bird picks food out of the crocodiles mouth. The bird gets benefited because it gets food while the crocodile gets it's teeth cleaned.

How do you feel about your work this week? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why?

This week I feel like i had very quality work and that I did a good job making sure everything was good. I feel that I particularly liked my symbiosis foldable because it took me a long time to finish and because it was colorful and descriptive. One thing I disliked was that my original foldable fell out of my backpack so I had to restart. Restarting was still okay for me because on my original one I only had the titles in.

10/24 "Interdependence of Organisms - 1"

Summary

This week we started our independence of organisms project. We learned about photosynthesis, why everything depends on plants, and what food web and chain are. We also specifically learned about why everything in the food web and chain need each other to survive, if one thing disappeared than everything else would collapse and slowly die out.

Questions

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

At first I knew that plants did photosynthesis but I didn't know specifically where it happens. Now I know that photosynthesis happens in the plants chloroplast organelle. I also thought that plants got all their matter (as in what's inside of them that makes that shape) from the sun but then I realised sunlight cannot fill up something. I finally found out that it is from carbon dioxide, a gas. I also learned that plants get their energy from sunlight, water and nutrients in the ground, and carbon dioxide. As it turns out, plants and animals are the perfect partners because we humans need the oxygen that plants release to live and they need the carbon dioxide we need to live.

How do you feel about your work this week? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why?

This week I really liked the things that we did, it was really fun. I think I did a good job focusing on my work in class but I didn't do a very good job my goal. My goal was to finish my blog on wednesday because I was very busy thursday and friday and because I didn't, I had to finish up my blog last minute on saturday, past its due date. I really liked how we get to watch videos about the topic because I think that it really helps me understand and visualise the topic. Also, it is really fun watching the videos. Another thing I particularly liked about this week was that we got to liste to the science songs in class. It was super fun and funny and I think that the whole class enjoyed it because it is a fun way to learn about things in catchy songs. There was nothing I disliked about this week exept the fact that I did not follow my goal.

Figs and Monkeys Simulation Reflection

What Would Happen if One Species of Plant Disappeared ?

In the figs and monkeys simulation project it would be impossible for the eagles and monkeys to live without the figs. If the figs disappeared then the monkeys would have no food and become extinct. If the monkeys go extinct, then there will be no food for the eagles which will cause them to become extinct. Another example, lets say there are foxes, which eat rabbits, which eat grass. If the grass disappeared the there will be no more food for the rabbits and the rabbits will starve. When the rabbits starve they will become extinct which will cause starvation for the foxes because their food source depends on the rabbits. When the foxes starve they will become extinct. As you can see i any species of plant disappeared the food chain would collapse and all the animals connected to it ( which would be ALOT ) would become endangered or extinct. 

What Else Do Plants From The Rain forest Help Us With?

      Plants from the rain forest help us with many things such as providing oxygen for us to breathe. Thankfully, they help us do far more things than that. Providing oxygen is a very important thing but they also help us with other things such as providing the things we need to make medicine. Many medicines need certain plants to be made. For example,some of the people in Costa Rica use a plant called tirrokicha also known as aristolochia gigantea to treat snakebites. Also, lots of bananas are grown there and everyone knows why those are important... So we can eat them! As you can see, rain forest plants play a very important part in our lives. They certainly help us in many ways!

Human Body 2.0: The Nervous System

The Nervous System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/
b2/TE-Nervous_system_diagram.svg/2000px-TE-Nervo
us_system_diagram.svg.png

Basics

Function:

The nervous system is all about sensing and movement. It allows you to think and move and controls and instructs your organs. For example, lets say you want to walk, your nervous system will transmit signals that will tell your muscles to contract.

Organs:

There are 3 major organs in the nervous system. Your brain, spinal cord, and nerves,

BRAIN: Your brain is a soft, wrinkled, three pound organ that is protected by the skull. It is the main control center of the body and holds approximately 100 billion neurons. Some of the functions that the brain does includes your consciousness, memory, voluntary actions as well as the maintenance of heart rate, respiration, digestion and blood pressure.

SPINAL CORD:  The spinal cord is the highway for information from your brain to your body. It is located from your brain to your pelvis going down your back. Your nerves are connected to your spinal cord, when your brain sends messages down your spinal cord, it stops at the right nerve and travels around to the place that is being given the command. Information can also be sent back to the brain from the spinal cord.

NERVES:  Nerves carry electrochemical signals from the brain to and from other areas of he nervous system as well as to other organs. There are four types of nerves, " Cranial nerves connect your sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, mouth) to your brain, central nerves connect areas within the brain and spinal cord, peripheral nerves connect the spinal cord with your limbs and autonomic nerves connect the brain and spinal cord with your organs (heart, stomach, intestines, blood vessels, etc.) ".

Interactions With Other Systems

The nervous system interacts with all body systems.

All Of the Systems

The nervous system sends commands to as well as receives information from almost all organs in the body whether it happen consciously or unconsciously. For example, when you want to walk your brain sends commands to your muscles telling them to contract and relax. Another example is when you get a paper cut. When you get one information gets sent up to your brain allowing you to feel the stinging on the cut. Your skeletal system works with your nervous system by protecting the organs of the system. For example, your skull protects your brain.

Analogy: The Brain is like a Post Office

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3
/30/B_Free_Franklin_Post_Office.jpg

The brain is like a post office because...

• it is the center of the whole mail system just like how the brain is like the control center of the body.
• it is constantly sending out mail as well as receiving some just like how the brain sends out commands and receives information.
• it is also where mail and stuff is stored. Information is also stored in the brain.

If the brain was a post office, the commands and information be sent to and from the body would be mail since mail is always being sent to and from the post office like information in the body. The spinal cord would be whatever means of transportation the mail takes ti get to its designated area (a delivery truck, plane, bike, etc.).                      

Structure and Function: Brain

The functions of your brain is store and receive information, send commands, and allow your body to function, fell, and move. How does the structure of the brain help it perform these functions?

       The older you get, the wrinklier your brain gets. Why is your brain wrinkly? and how does its wrinkliness allow it to function better? Well, a wrinkly brain allows it to have more surface area within a smaller space. When you look at a brain, you are actually only seeing 1/3 of its surface area. A larger surface area allows the brain to have more neurons located closer together allowing it to function faster and more efficiently.

The structure of the brain allows it to perform its function in faster and more efficient ways.

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_nervous.html
http://www.innerbody.com/image/nervov.html
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110630013102AAqsjtB
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-our-brains-wrinkly-29271143/?no-ist

Human Body 2.0: The Urinary System

The Urinary System

Basics

Function:

The function of the urinary system is to get rid of liquid/soluble waste also known as your urine from the blood. It also is in charge of keeping a stable amount of salts and substances in your blood.

Organs:

The major organs of the urinary system include the  kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.

KIDNEYS: There are two kidneys in the human body. They are kidney bean shaped organs located around the middle of the back. Its main function is to filter your blood by getting rid of all the harmful molecules in it. Those molecules are made into urine. This process is called osmoregulation. Another function that the kidneys perform is has to do with hydrating you. When you are extra dehydrated, your kidneys start absorbing as much water as they can. This means less urine will be created meaning you body will lose less fluids.

URETERS: There are two 8-10 inch long ureters in your body that connect your kidneys to your bladder. They carry the urine created in your kidneys down to your bladder. The walls of the ureters are made of muscles that regularly contract and relax to force the urine in the bladder.

BLADDER:  The bladder is a hollow muscular organ located around your pelvis. It stores urine from the kidney inside and is emptied during urination. The urinary bladder can hold up to 2 cups of urine from 2-5 hours.

URETHRA: The urethra is the final part of the urinary system. It is where urine stored in the bladder exits the body during urination.

Interactions With Other Systems

The urinary system works with the circulatory system.

Circulatory System

The urinary system filters and cleans the blood that circulates through the circulatory system. This happens on blood's way back to the heart. In addition to cleaning the blood, the kidney also controls the amount of salt, water, and other things in the blood. All blood in the circulatory system will eventually pass through one of the kidneys at some point in time.

Analogy: The Kidneys Are Like 

Water Treatment Plants

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Illustration
_of_a_typical_drinking_water_treatment_process.png

The kidneys are like water treatment plants because...

• in order for the both the blood and water to get cleaned, it needs to pass through the kidneys and the treatment plant.
• their goal is to make sure that the water is safe to drink or use, exactly like how the purpose of the kidneys is to make sure the blood is safe and doesn't contain any harmful molecules. 
• after the water is treated it is transported to a storage tank for later use, similarly to how the urine kidneys produce are transported to the bladder so it can be stored until urination.

Kidneys are similar to water treatment plants in many ways. If they were water treatment plants, then the bladder would be the water storage tanks while the pipes that carry the water would be the ureters. 

Structure and Function: Bladder

The functions of your bladder is to store urine inside them until urination occurs. In order for them to be able to efficiently do this, they need specific physical traits.

1. Your bladder is slightly stretchy. It's stretch allows it to hold your urine in when you don't pee for a while. If your bladder wasn't stretchy then urine would leak out it if it was full. It is similar to a balloon. If you add in more and more air to a balloon the balloon will stretch to accommodate to the amount of air you blow in.
2. At the base of the bladder there are also sphincter muscles that contract to hold in your urine. During urination, these muscles relax allowing the urine in the bladder to freely flow out of the urethra and body. If you didn't have these muscles then once urine would be transferred into the bladder it would just leak out. The muscles allow your bladder to hold your pee.

The structure of the bladder allows it to perform its function in multiple ways.

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_excretory.html
http://www.kidneyhealthcare.com/2010/02/organs-of-urinary-system-and-their.html

Human Body 2.0: The Skeletal System

The Skeletal System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/701_Axial_Skeleton-01.jpg

Basics

Function:

Your skeletal system allows your body to move as well as protects your vital organs such as your heart, lungs, and brain. And though the main function of the skeletal system is to support, give shape, protect, and help your body move, it also creates red and white blood cells within your bone marrow (the inside of your bone). In addition to that, the skeletal system works closely with your muscular system to help you move. Without it, organisms would  just be blobs of tissue.

Organs:

There are 4 major organs in the skeletal system: Bones, Ligaments and Joints, Tendons, and Cartilage.

BONES: Bones are the organs that give your body shape, protection, support, as well as create blood cells. There are 206 bones in a fully developed human body. They are extremely hard.

LIGAMENTS & JOINTS: The second organ would be your ligaments and joints. Your bones are attached together by your ligaments, forming joints. Your joints allow your bones to move in certain directions to a certain extent creating the movements of your body. 

TENDONS: The third organ is your tendons. Tendons are similar to ligaments. Instead of connecting bones to bones, they connect your bones to your muscles allowing you to move. Their flexibility is what allows you to do things like running and walking. 

CARTILAGE: The fourth and final major organ in the skeletal system is called cartilage. Cartilage is soft and flexible connective tissue. In addition to forming the shape of human ears noses and other organs, it also prevents the forces of friction from corroding the bones.

Interactions With Other Systems

The skeletal system mainly works with two other systems: the muscular and circulatory.

 

Muscular System

The nervous system tells your muscles (muscular system) to move moving your bones which move your body. Moving your muscles moves your bones because of your tendons which connect the two together. Without your muscles, you wouldn't be able to move! Your bones aren't making you move, your muscles are by moving your bones. 

Circulatory System

Now, let's talk about how the skeletal system works and interacts with the circulatory. Like I said earlier, the bones withing the skeletal system also creates white and red blood cells. Those blood cells get transported or circulated throughout your body by your circulatory system.

Analogy: Tendons Are Like Ropes

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRyUCpjG9ystLhkn4MsDyVWdrBl8xZrFgTFoW_dLTVcnyVEiUpmcA

Tendons are like ropes because:

• ropes are made out of long fibers braided together. Just like ropes, tendons are made out of long pieces of collagen fibers running parallel. 
• the function of both ropes and tendons are to connect and hold things together. 
• ropes are extremely strong as well as flexible. In addition to being able to hold tons of pounds, ropes are slightly stretchy and can be bent in any direction. 

Ropes share many similar physical properties with tendons as well as have similar jobs despite being how tendons are found inside organisms.

Structure and Function: Tendons

The main function of the tendon is to connect your muscle to your bones allowing you to move. In order to be able to do so, they have to have specific physical traits.

1. The tendon is made out of parallel collagen fibers running from one end to another. These fibers make the tendon remarkably tough and strong. A tendon need to be tough because it is constantly being stretched. If a tendon was weak and easy to break, then your movements would be painful and you would be extremely prone to injury. 
2. However, being strong isn't enough. A tendon is also flexible. If it was just a tough band, your movements would be strained and limited. Their along with your ligament's flexibility is what allows you to be able to move in a wide range of motions. 

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_skeletal.html

http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Skeletal-System-Organs.html

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19089.htm

https://www.britannica.com/science/tendon

Human Body 2.0: The Muscular System

The Muscular System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/w
ikipedia/commons/4/46/
Muscle_posterior_labeled.png

Basics

Function:

The main function of the muscular system is to move your body. Muscles do this by contracting and moving your bones. Examples of body movement caused by the muscular system might include moving your legs while you walk or even contracting a small blood vessel in your head.

Organs:

There are 3 kinds of muscles and organs in the muscular system: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles.

SKELETAL: Skeletal muscles are strong voluntary meaning you can control them and decide whether or not to move them. These are the muscles that allow you to move. They are attached to bones via tendons. When you contract and relax these muscles, your bones will move, moving you. Some skeletal muscles include your abs, biceps, and calves.

CARDIAC: Cardiac muscles are involuntary, meaning you can't control them. Instead, they are controlled by something called the autonomic nervous system. They can only be found in your heart. In fact, your heart is almost entirely made of cardiac tissue. Cardiac muscles are responsible for pumping blood throughout your whole body.

SMOOTH: Smooth muscles are usually involuntary. Smooth muscles push food along the digestive track and control the flow of blood through blood vessels. Most of the digestive system's organs are made of smooth muscular tissue. They can be found in organs such as your bladder, intestines, stomach, diaphragm, veins, and arteries. 

Interactions With Other Systems

The muscular system mainly works with two other systems: the nervous, digestive, and circulatory.

Nervous System

The connection between the muscular and nervous system is pretty obvious. Before you move or do anything, you have to think. Skeletal muscles contract in response to signals from the nervous system. Involuntary muscles like the smooth and cardiac are controlled by the automatic nervous system.

Digestive and Circulatory System

Now, let's talk about how the muscular system works and interacts with the digestive and circulatory. For one, smooth muscles make up most o the organs in the digestive system anyway. They push food along the digestive track. Smooth muscles also control the flow of blood through blood vessels that are a part of the circulatory system. In addition to that, the heart, an organ of the circulatory system, is also almost entirely made of cardiac tissue.

Analogy: Skeletal Muscles Are Like Car Pistons

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Internal_
combustion_engine_pistons_of_partial_cross-sectional_view.jpg

Skeletal muscles are like car pistons because: 

• when the pistons move up and down like how the skeletal muscles contract and relax, the wheels of a car start moving like how your bones would. Moving the wheels (or bones) moves the whole car (or organism).
• pistons are also voluntary. they only start moving up and down when the driver presses the gas button. Skeletal muscles only contract and relax when you tell them to.

How pistons move up and down is quite similar to the movements of your skeletal muscles. If the pistons were the skeletal muscles, then the muscular system would be the entire engine since both things move the car and organism.

Structure and Function: Skeletal Muscles

Skeletal muscles move your bones which move you. However, in order to prevent regular muscle tearing and so on, it needs to have a few specific traits. 

• For one, muscles are slightly stretchy. Their ability to stretch is based upon the flexibility of the muscle. Whenever you do exercises like running, you are stretching out your muscles. If you stretch it out too much, however, you can get an injury. Your muscles need to slightly stretchy for you to be able to really move. 
• The size of the muscles also allow it to do it's function. For example, your muscles grow in accordance to your bones. Imagine if your you quadriceps muscles were extremely small and attacked to your long femur bone. How would you move? Your skeletal muscles (and all your muscles really) need to be appropriately sized to be able to function properly. 

As you can see, in order to smoothly function, skeletal muscles need to be slightly stretchy as well as appropriately sized.

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_muscular.html 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/93790-organs-make-up-muscular-system/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/88742-three-types-muscles-human-body/

Human Body 2.0: The Digestive System

The Digestive System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Digestive-system-for-kids.png

Basics

Function:

The function of the digestive system is to break down food into solid waste and nutrients. It removes the solid waste from the body and absorbs the nutrients to help the body and create energy. 

Organs: 

There are 5 major organs in the skeletal system: Your mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestine.

MOUTH: The mouth is where the whole process begins. In the mouth, teeth crush the food into smaller pieces while the tongue adds saliva to the food to make it more soft and mushy so it can travel down the esophagus.

ESOPHAGUS: The next organ is the esophagus. It is a tube that starts in the mouth and goes down into the stomach. The esophagus brings the food in the mouth down into the stomach.

STOMACH: After swallowed foods and liquids are swallowed, they end up being stored in the stomach and mixed with the digestive juices the stomach produces. This breaks down the food even further. The stomach then slowly empties out it's contents into the small intestine.

SMALL INTESTINE:  The small intestine mixes the food with even more digestive juices from the liver, pancreas, and intestine. The walls of the small intestine then separates the waste and nutrients by absorbing all the nutrients within the mixture into the bodies bloodstream. The blood delivers the nutrients to the rest of the body through veins and arteries. 

LARGE INTESTINE: Muscles push the mixture into the large intestine. The large intestine is made out of three parts, the cecum, the colon, and the rectum. It absorbs all the water and leftover nutrients transforming the liquid into feces. The feces is then stored in the rectum until it is pushed out of the body.

Interactions With Other Systems

The digestive system mainly works with two other systems: the circulatory and excretory.

Circulatory System

The digestive system works with the circulatory system to get the digested nutrients transported throughout the whole body. Like I explained earlier, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients transferring it into the bodies bloodstream. The nutrients are transported throughout the whole body through the veins and arteries of the circulatory system.

Excretory System

Though the urinary system doesn't directly interact with the excretory system, both systems work on controlling the amount of water in our body and are closely connected by that. While the digestive system works on collecting and removing feces from the body, the excretory system is filtering compounds from the blood stream and collecting them in urine.

Analogy: A Mouth is like a Garbage Disposer

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3289/2794936916_a3abf9aa18_b.jpg

A mouth is like a garbage disposer because a garbage disposer:

• mashes up food you push down it just like how you chew up your food inside your mouth with your teeth.
• pushes the mashed up food down a pipe just like how you push your chewed up food down your throat and into your esophagus.

The blades that grind up the food inside the disposal would be the teeth inside the mouth since both of them do the majority of the breaking down in the mouth and machine. Even better, the pipe that transfers the grinded food into the container that you empty out would be an esophagus while the container that stores all of the waste would be the stomach.

Structure and Function: Esophagus

The main function of the esophagus is to move food and liquids from the mouth down to the stomach. In order to be able to do so, they have to have specific physical traits that allow everything to run smoothly.

1. The esophagus is lined by a moist pink tissue called mucosa. The fact that the tissue is moist plays an extremely important part in allowing food to smoothing run down. Imagine if the esophagus was dry and parched. It would be painful for your food to run down.
2. On the upper part of the esophagus there is a bundle of muscles. How do they help the esophagus perform it's function? Well, these muscles serve the purpose of preventing food and liquids from going down our windpipe and ensuring that they are going down the correct tube.
3. On the bottom part of the esophagus there is another bunch of muscles. However, instead of making sure something goes into the esophagus (and not down your windpipe), these muscles make sure acids don't go in. The muscles close when the esophagus is not in use preventing acids from accidentally moving upwards or into the esophagus. 

Now, you know why esophagus' are lined by mucosa and why they have bunches of muscles both on the top and bottom of the organ.

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_digestive.html

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Anatomy/your-digestive-system/Pages/anatomy.aspx

https://www.insinkerator.com/us/en/garbage-disposals#tab1

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/picture-of-the-esophagus#1 

Human Body 2.0: Respiratory System

The Respiratory System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Respirator
y_system_complete_en.svg/721px-Respiratory_system_complete_en.svg.png

Basics

Function:

The function of the respiratory system is to bring oxygen into your body. You need oxygen to survive. The respiratory system also helps your body get rid of carbon dioxide. In other words, oxygen from the air is diffused into the bloodstream while carbon dioxide from the blood stream is diffused into the air. We call this process breathing or respiration.

Organs:

There are 3 major organs in the respiratory system: your Trachea, Lungs, and Diaphragm.

TRACHEA: The trachea also known as your windpipe is a cartilage tube composed of about c-shaped rings. The it's job is to get oxygen and carbon dioxide into and out of your lungs. When you breath in, oxygen goes down your windpipe and into your lungs. When you breath out, carbon dioxide goes up your wind pipe and out of your body.  

LUNGS: The lungs consists of a pair of bronchi and millions of alveoli. The lower trachea divides into two creating the primary left and right bronchi. Gas coming into and out of the lungs enter them and get filtered through the bronchi. Each bronchi branch out further into the lung creating secondary bronchi, tertiary bronchi, and bronchioles. At the end of the bronchioles, there are small balloon like sacs called alveoli. The alveoli allow oxygen and carbon dioxide to move between the lungs and bloodstream. They are connected to pulmonary arteries and veins. 

DIAPHRAGM: The diaphragm is what does the actual job of breathing. It is a sheet of muscle located under your lungs. It contracts to pull oxygen into and inflate the lungs and relaxes to push carbon dioxide out. 

Interactions With Other Systems

The respiratory system mainly works with two other systems: the circulatory and digestive.

Circulatory System

The circulatory system exchanges gas with the respiratory system. The process happens in the aveoli of the respiratory system. It is connected with veins and arteries from the circulatory system. Both oxygen and carbon dioxide is absorbed into and out of the bloodstream through the thin (one cell thick) walls of the alveoli. Oxygen from the respiratory system is need to oxygenate the blood of the circulatory system while carbon dioxide from the circulatory system needs to be taken out of the body through the respiratory system.

Digestive System

The respiratory system, specifically the mouth and pharynx (two other organs in the respiratory system), also interact with the digestive system. In addition to being part of a path that brings gas in and out of the lungs, these two organs also aid in swallowing food and moving it along the digestive track. In other words, the mouth and pharynx play a part in both the digestive and respiratory system.

Analogy: Bronchi Are Like Trees



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Bright_green_tree_-_Waikato.jpg

Bronchi are like trees because:

• they start as a single trunk and then branch out further and further as well as get smaller and smaller just like how the bronchi starts as one piece then eventually turns into millions of tiny bronchioles.
• the branches transport nutrients and water from the ground to the rest of the tree through the branches and trunk like how the bronchi transports oxygen from the air to the lungs(where it will be distributed to the rest of the body through the bloodstream) through the primary, secondary, and tertiary bronchi along with the bronchioles. 

If bronchi were trees, the trachea would be the trunk of the tree. The bronchi would be the first few branches while the smaller branches would be the secondary, tertiary bronchi, and the bronchioles. As you can see, trees and bronchi are similar in multiple ways.

Structure and Function: Bronchi

The main function of the bronchi is to allow gas to move in and out of your lungs so you can respire or breath. In order to be able to do so, they have to have specific physical traits.

1. The diameter of the bronchioles (the structure) play an extremely important role in controlling the air flow (the function). The diameter changes in size either to increase of reduce the flow of air. It does this to make sure you are getting the right amount of air in and out of your lungs.
2. The bronchi branches out so many times filling up practically the entire lung (structure). The bronchi has to branch out this far to make sure the entire lung is being filled with air (function). If the bronchi only branched out a few times and stopped halfway through the lung, then it would be harder and take longer to push air out of the entire lung. A bronchi branches out around 20-25 times.

As you have read, the diameter of the bronchi as well as the amount of times it branches out helps make sure the bronchi is able to easily allow gas to move in and out of your lungs.

Sources:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_respiratory.html

http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/organs-involved-in-the-respiratory-system

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/lungs-article.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronchiole

Human Body 2.0: Circulatory System

The Circulatory System

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Circulatory_System_en.svg/723px-Circulatory_System_en.svg.png

Basics

Function:

The circulatory system is the transportation system for the body. It carries chemicals and more to points in the body. For example, it delivers oxygen, nutrients, and hormones as well as aids in the removal of carbon dioxide, ammonia, and more. The fluids also carry dissolved gasses and waste products for your cells.

Organs:

There are 4 major organs in the skeletal system: Your heart, capillaries, arteries, and veins.

HEART: The heart pumps blood throughout your whole body. It is located on the left side of your chest, protected by your rib cage, and made out of strong muscle tissue. It consists of four chambers that all pump and push blood throughout your body.

BLOOD VESSELS

ARTERIES: Arteries are tube like organs that carry oxygenated blood away from the heart and to the tissues with the exception of pulmonary arteries. They carry blood to the lungs so it can be oxygenated.

VEINS:  Veins are similar to arteries. However, instead of carrying oxygenated blood away from the heart, they carry deoxygenated blood towards and back to the heart.


CAPILLARIES: Capillaries are extremely tiny blood vessels that form a connection between arteries and veins. They are also in assist in the transfer of oxygen, wastes, and nutrients in and out of your body.

Your blood vessels allow blood to be quickly transferred from one region to another as well as to and from the heart.

Interactions With Other Systems

The circulatory system works with and aids almost all body systems.

Respiratory System

The circulatory system aids the respiratory system by delivering oxygen to your cells and carrying dissolved carbon dioxide back to your lungs. In fact, the circulatory system is connected to all body systems so it can efficiently transport oxygen.

Digestive, Endocrine System, and More!

The circulatory system delivers nutrients from the digestive system to the rest of the body as well as hormones from the endocrine. In addition to that, every cell that needs oxygen needs access to the fluids of the circulatory system.

Analogy: The Circulatory System is like Amazon

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3409/3550005149_c6d27b1cdc_b.jpg

The circulatory system is like amazon because amazon:

• transports all kinds of items to whoever needs them or has ordered the items. Just like how the circulatory transport oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and more to various cells and organs.
• constantly has items being shipped to and from the packaging centers. Like how blood is constantly being brought into and out of the heart.

If the circulatory system was Amazon, then the packaging centers would be the heart. This is because, the heart is what pumps blood throughout the whole body and the packaging centers are kind of the center of the whole process. The items are shipped to and from there. The boxes would be the blood since it gets shipped or delivered everywhere as well as contains different things that the cells (or buyers) need. The roads and streets that the delivery trucks follow would be the veins, arteries, and capillaries since everything gets transported through them.                                                                                                

Structure and Function: The Heart

The main function of the heart is to pump blood throughout and move it in and out of it's four chambers. Why does the heart have four chambers?

1. Some animals have two chambered hearts, some have three, the human heart has four. Humans have four chambered hearts to allow the heart to perform four different functions. The right atrium receives blood from the vena cava (a large vein) and sends it into the right ventricle.
2. The right ventricle sends the blood to the lungs to be oxygenated through different arteries. Though both of these chambers work together, both are also needed.
3. The left atrium receives blood from the pulmonary veins and sends it to the left ventricle.
4. The left ventricle sends blood to the rest of the body through arteries.

The structure of the heart (the fact that it has four chambers) allows "clean" blood to be delivered to the body and "dirty" blood to be sent to the lungs without mixing the two.

Sources:

http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Circulatory-System-Organs.html

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/systems_circulatory.html

https://www.sharecare.com/health/circulatory-system-health/why-hearts-have-four-chambers

https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-human-heart-have-4-chambers