How to Treat a Jellyfish Sting

    First off, you must get the person out of the water. If you are in non-tropical waters, wash the area with seawater to deactivate the stinging cells. If you are in tropical waters, rinse the area with vinegar, but do not use fresh or tap water or it will reactivate the stinging cells. Next, you need to wash the sting out with vinegar for at least 30 seconds. If you do not have vinegar, you can try a baking soda solution. The vinegar or baking soda will deactivate the stinging cells. After, you should soak the stung area for 20 minutes in hot water. If hot water is not available, you can use a cold pack against the sting. To reduse the discomfort, you can use a mild hydrocortisone cream or an oral antihistamine. 

    In some places, putting vinegar can make the sting worse. Make sure to try to research what type of jellyfish you think it was, and where you were at when you were stung. If you try the steps above and it feels worse or not getting better, you should go see a doctor. Some jellyfish stings are much more serious than others and may need immediate medical attention.

    To my surprise, urine on the wound could make the sting worse. It can upset the stinging cells more and make more venom be released. This goes to say that the belief of urine on a jellyfish sting, can sometimes hurt you more than help you.

Websites: 

"Jellyfish Stings Treatment: First Aid Information for Jellyfish Stings."WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. <http://www.webmd.com/first-aid/jellyfish-stings-treatment>.

"Fact or Fiction?: Urinating on a Jellyfish Sting Is an Effective Treatment."Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-urinating/>.

Chemical Bonding

       Chemical compunds occur when two or more atoms join together. A stable compund is created when the two compounds have less energy together than apart. Two cases of chemical bonding are covelant bonding and ionic bonding. A covelant bond is when one or more pairs of electrons are shared by two atoms. An ionic bond is when ions are attracted to each other because of their opposite forces. An ionic bond happens between a metal and a nonmetal. 

       Did you know that Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl) are toxic? When you combine the two elements together, you get salt. Yes, I am talking about the salt that we eat on EVERYTHING. When mixed together, you get NaCl, a nontoxic salty mixture. When you mix elements together, you can create a totally different substance! 

Covelant Bonding Picture (above):

Ionic Bonding Picture (above):

Sources: 

     "Chemical Bonding." Chemical Bonds. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. <http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/bond.html>.

     "Ionic Bond." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014. <https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Ionic_bond.html>.

A Killer Element Called Plutonium

       As you know there are 118 elements on the periodic tables. Have you ever wondered if any of them are dangerous? Well, today you can learn about one of the deadliest elements. We call it plutonium. 

       Plutonium is the 94th element and the symbol is Pu. It was discovered in in 1941 by Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California - Berkeley. Plutonium is made by uranium in nuclear reactors. The element is used to make nuclear weapons. The bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan happened to have plutonium in it. 

      If you inhale plutonium, it could be destruction to your body. In some cases, if it comes through your body with food, it can go through your system and exit, as normal. If you inhale it through dust with plutonium in it, it can start by landing in your lungs. Once in your lungs, it can go through your bloodstream. Once in your bloodstream, it has links to all the major parts of the body. It can land up in some of your organs. Plutonium once in your body, can cause illnesses like cancer. Luckily, plutonium is not very high in the air today. 

      I hope you learned today that plutonium is not some element that you can mess around with. Plutonium is an element that causes mass distruction and harm. Too many people died from the bomb in Nagasaki. Let's remember that every human life is important. Don't play with plutonium.  

(Picture of Nagasaki Bomb on August 9, 1945)

Plutonium Information: 

"Plutonium." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. <http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/plutonium.html#discovered>.

Nagasaki Bomb Picture:

 "US Sends First Representative to Attend Nagasaki Bombing Memorial." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 09 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8690281/US-sends-first-representative-to-attend-Nagasaki-bombing-memorial.html>.

Salt - How It's Made

        According to the company Morton Salt, there are three ways to make the salt that we eat every day. The three salt making processes are solar, evaporation, and rock mining. 

        The first method is solar evaporation. This method is the oldest method of the three. When people saw salt crystals in the sea, they began using it. In solar evaporation, it has to be done in warm places because it occurs when the evaporation rate exceeds the precipitation rate. In most occurances, the salt is received from a pool of water, where the sun has evaporated most of the water and has left the salt. There are two different kinds of ponds that are used during the process. There is a concentrating pond, where the salt water from the ocean is being concentrated. There is also a crystalizin pond where the salt is being produced. 

{Picture of solar evaporation process}

        The next method is the rock salt mining method. This method is an underground mining method. Giant machinces go into caves and receive the salt. The temperature of the underground mines usually stay at about 70 degrees year round. Most domes of salt are located from Alabama to Texas. Usually 45 to 65 percent of the salt is taken away, but they must leave some still standing so the cave will not collapse on the workers. The first step is undercutting. Next they drill small holes into the walls. Then they add explosives to the holes. When they explode, several hundreds or thousands of tons of salt are all along the floor of the cave. They then continue to clean it and send it all over the world.

{Picture of rock salt mining process}

         The last method is the vacuum evaporation method. This method is the evaporation of salt brine by steam heat in evaporators. The evaporators are called vacuum pans. The first process is called solution mining. This is when they drill holes into the salt deposits. The process starts by having water being pumped down one side and dissolves the salt. The brine is pushed out to the surface and taken to storage. After that, the brine is put under giant vacuums. The principal that they work around is that 'Whenever the pressure is lowered, the temperature at which water will boil is also lowered'. Steam is fed to the first pan causing the brine to boil. The steam from the first pan will cause the second pan to boil. The pressure of the pans increase, so the steam from the previous one will make the next boil. 

{Picture of vacuum evaporation process}

ALL INFORMATION AND PICTURES FOUND AT:

"Morton Salt." Morton Salt. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.mortonsalt.com/salt-facts/salt-production-and-processing>.

Viscosity

           Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. Vicosity is the condition or property of being viscous. This means that the thicker the fluid, the higher viscosity it has. Suppose you are pouring out syrup from a cup. The syrup would take awhile to come out of the cup because it is so thick. If you poured out water, it would go much faster because it is so much thinner. 

           We did a lab where we tested the viscosity of different liquids. We would drop a marble down in a tube filled with the liquid. The longer it would take to fall, the higher viscosity it had. It was interesting to see that the most viscous liquid was hair gel and the least viscous was rubbing alchohol. You can use whatever liquids you would like, but it is interesting to see how high a viscosity the things you use every day are!

           The temperature of the liquid changes the viscosity. If the temperature increases, the viscosity usually decreases. If the temperature decreases, the viscosity will increase. The viscosity also depends of the composition, size, and shape. The viscosity changes with the kinetic energy of the molecules, which depend on the temperature. This all being said, the viscosity of a liquid can change, if it is heated or altered.

            Viscosity describes the internal friction of a liquid. A liquid with a high viscosty resists motion because its molecular makeup gives it a lot of internal friction. A liquid with a low viscosity flows easily because its molecular makeup results in very little friction when it is in motion.

You can tell in the honey that it has a high viscosity because it is thicker and is more viscous.

You can tell in the water that it has a lower viscosity because it is thinner and is less viscous. 

Work Cited (3 websites):

"DEFINITION OF VISCOSITY." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. <http://www.princeton.edu/~gasdyn/Research/T-C_Research_Folder/Viscosity_def.html>.

"Viscosity." Viscosity. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. <http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/liquids/viscosity.html>.

"Viscosity." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/viscosity>.

Flu - The New Deadly Bug

    

         Have you heard the new sad stories of someone dying of the flu? Yes, it is the flu season again. If you did not know the long word for flu is influenza. The flu is an infectionn on your nose, throat, and lungs. You can get the flu by inhaling tiny droplets of liquid when someone with the flu coughs or sneezes. You could also get it if you touch something that has the virus on it, then touch your mouth, eyes, or nose. The first trigger of the flu is with a high fever. Other symptoms include dizziness, chills, nausea or vomiting, flushed face, body aches, headaches, or lack of energy. Those symptoms usually go away within 2-4 days and new ones come in. Such as a dry cough, increased breathing symptoms, runny nose, sneezing, and a sore throat. If you think you have the flu, go to the doctor and get checked out. To lower the fever, you may use tylenol, motrin, or advil, unless told otherwise. You should be getting lots of rest with a lot of liquids to keep you hydrated and rested. Do not forget that you can try to prevent the flu by getting yourself a flu shot. In some cases it does not work, but it never hurts to help your body fight it! If you go to your local doctor's office or a Walgreens or CVS they have vaccinations, and you can pick (at most places) either the shot in your arm or a mist up your nose. The highest peaks of the flu usually appear in the fall and January to February. 

         There are mulitple different types of the flu. You can get swine flu, influenza A, & influenza B. Go to a doctor if you think you have any of these symptoms. The flu can be a serious illness that kills many people per year. Get your vaccination and make sure your friends and family get it too.

Information From:

Paragraph Information From:

Board, A.D.A.M. Editorial. Flu. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001144/>.

Picture 1 From:

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EM_of_influenza_virus.jpg

    Picture 2 From:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza

The Milky Way

          The Milky Way is a popular galaxy in our universe. Did you know that there are actually billions of galaxies in our universe as well? The Milky Way comes from the translation of the Latin words "Via Lactea", which comes from the Greek words "Kiklios Galaxious" which translates as milky circle. The Greek myth on how it was created started when Zues was bringing baby Heracles to his mother to be fed, and the Milky Way was simply spilled milk. Scientists believe the Milky Way to be about 800 million to 13.5 billion years old. Can you imagine being that old and looking so great? The diameter of the Milky Way galaxy range is about 100,000 to 120,000 light years. Astronomers have used Kepler's 3rd Law to study the mass of the galaxy. Kepler's 3rd Law relates orbit radius and period with central mass. When you take the radius of our orbit with the center of the galaxy and the time it takes to complete one orbit you can plug in those facts to Kepler's 3rd Law. You would get about 750 billion to 1 trillion solar masses. As you can tell, the galaxy is very big, in fact there are about 100 billion stars in the galaxy. Even though the Milky Way is GIANT, there are still other galaxies out there that we may not be able to see that are EVEN BIGGER!

           An overview of the Milky Way

          A side view of the Milky Way

Information & Pictures from:

"The Milky Way Galaxy." The Milky Way Galaxy. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2014. <http://www.astrodigital.org/astronomy/milkywaygalaxy.html>.