That's small. You're small.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that protons, electrons, and neutrons are the smallest particles. But they’ve often wondered what holds those particles together and what causes them to have negative, positive, and even no charges. This curiosity led to the discovery of the two fundamental forces: quarks and leptons.

            Quarks are divided into six flavors according to three generations of matter. The six flavors or the six kinds of quarks can be characterized by their particularly funny names: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. Quarks have electric charges in units of 1/3s or 2/3s. Quarks do not exist freely, or on their own. They do not like to be separated from each other so all quarks much be bound to another by the exchanging of gluons (particle forces that keep the quarks together). They always travel in pairs or in threes. The same goes for the antiquarks. A hadron is a type of quark. They are particles that interact by strong forces which are baryons and mesons.

            Leptons are another one of the two fundamental particles. There are six leptons as well as well as quarks. They are their own particles. Electrons and neutrons are classified as leptons.

            Antimatter particles are the corresponding particles to matter. Although its mass is the same as matter, its sign or charge is different. Every particle in the universe has an “anti” particle that compliments them. “Anti” meaning the opposite charge.

            Scientists have played around with trying to figure out how the universe was created. They’ve come up with the “Big Bang” theory which believes that the universe was created when particles of matter collided with its antiparticles with the opposite charge. With a huge explosion, the universe was created; stars planets, solar systems, and the universe in general. The Large Hadron Collider is created to try and discover more about that theory. It lies 574 feet below the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is designed to collide proton particle beams.

            The Large Hadron Collier was created by European scientists in the hopes of testing high-energy physics. The project costs approximately 9 billion United States dollars. The tubes that exchange particles are colder than the space between the stars, which is extremely cold!

            Scientists have yet to discover exactly how the universe is created, or if their hypotheses are correct or not. But there are still much, much more information they have to obtain in order to have a solid idea of how the universe was created, and how we all exist.

One of My Favorite Shows. Part II

The Mythbusters did prove plausible of this experiment in a small scale, but now they use a bigger container to make “doubly sure.” Using a 10 liter glass container, about the size of a small fish tank, the Mythbusters place plastic and about 20 antacid pills inside. It works, but the Mytbusters, being as they are, take it to the next level and double the amount of tablets to from 20 to 40. The 40 tablets of antacid only produce 40 psi, which is not what they expect to happen. The amount of pressure is only doubling by 80%. They conclude that the size of the container does affect the pressure.

            The Mythbusters decide to move on to the actual-scale experiment. They start out with 22000 antacid tablets. While setting up the experiment, Adam tells us that when the tablets react with water, one of its byproducts is carbon monoxide, so there’s a high risk of suffocation. Luckily, Buster, their test dummy, is there to take safety precautions. With the 22000 tablets combined with 350 gallons of water, they’d thought it would work, but a small leak was detected, and the experiment had to be redone. The source of the leak was coming from the sink and the toilet installed within the cell. They had to “eliminate the variables” to make sure another leak would not occur. They decide to go “the extra mile” and do something that wouldn’t be realistic in a jail environment. This time, they 72000 antacid tablets plus 28000 store-bought tablets adding up to the 100000 tablets they decide to use.

            Jamie explains that the problem with this experiment is that we don’t know when or if it’s going to go off. For safety, they stay behind a thick glass shield and watch the experiment from meters away. In the end, the experiment is successful; it does pry open the door of the cell. Unfortunately, no human could survive the pressure being produced by the carbon monoxide expanding inside the plastic. Buster, the test dummy, was crushed. If the pressure could bend a steel door hinge, it could indeed press a human to death.  

            In the overall conclusion of the “Antacid Jailbreak” myth, Adam and Jamie declare it “BUSTED.” First, there would be a leak (from the sink or toilet), letting the pressure escape. Second, the amount of antacid tablets is most likely not realistic in a jailed environment. Third, the pressure needed to burst open the jail door would definitely crush the inmate to death.

            Adam and Jamie didn’t seem to have remaining questions about this experiment, and neither did I. It seemed to have explained itself in the end. It was pretty funny to watch, too. 

One of My Favorite Shows. Part I

The Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, are a couple of scientists who look for myths to prove legitimate or, in their words, “BUSTED.” This week, Jamie and Adam set out to prove if the “Antacid Jailbreak” myth is plausible or not.

            The “Antacid Jailbreak” myth is one Jamie found. The Mythbusters explain that a prisoner had escaped his jail cell with the use of 1/4^th of an inch plastic, a 10-year’s supply of antacid pills, and water. The inmate apparently lined the whole cell with the plastic (with him outside of it), and mixed the antacid pills with water to create enough carbon monoxide, or CO² gas, to expand the plastic, eventually breaking open the cell walls. But their big question is can a massive amount of carbon monoxide produced from a pile of bubbling tablets really budge bricks and medal?

            Jamie and Adam start by testing out the kinds of pressures the antacid tablets produce when exposed in water. Of course, they start out in small scale, to take caution. But before they test out the pressure, they build the 10 ft. long, by 7 ft. wide, by 6½ ft. high standard jail cell to test out in their final experiment.

            One of the Mythbusters’ first tests is a volumetric test to see how much gas is produced by the antacid tablets. They have a set of flasks connected by tubes to each other. The first beaker is filled with a fair amount of water; when Adam puts an antacid tablet in, the water and the tablet react, creating carbon monoxide. The gas expands through the tube leading it to the next flask measuring the amount of pressure, pushing the water to another set of tubes, into a beaker which measures how much gas is produced. Confusing, right? The whole point of this experiment is to simply test out how much volume is produced with multiple antacid tablets.

Adam and Jamie find out that one tablet produces 75 milliliters of gas. When they dropped two tablets in the water, the amount of gas more than doubles, past 160 milliliters, on to about 275 milliliters. They asked if they doubled that amount, the gas would more than double. Indeed, the amount of gas more than doubled by adding two more tablets to the equation.

           The next step was the pressure test. Using the same method as Jamie and Adam used with the volumetric test, they find that one antacid tablet produces 1.9 to 2 psi, or pounds per square inch. They asked if pressure, like volume, increases what would happen. They conclude that just like the volume test, the pressure test more than doubles the amount by adding one more tablet, as well. The overall conclusion with their small-scale testing is that they may be able to crack a jail cell with a few antacid tablets.

So yah, Curie.. for Curieous?! Ahaha, JK. Don't read this. ;)

Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on November 7^th, 1867. She was the daughter of a secondary school teacher. At the age of 15, her mother and sister died of different illnesses. She graduated high school with the highest honors. She seemed to have suffered depression, at the time because she was too tired to do anything. Her depression was supposedly caused by the tragic deaths of her sister and mother. Because of this, her father sent her to the countryside. She then moved to Paris, France.

While looking for a laboratory, she found her husband, Pierre Curie. Together, they studied general physics. She earned Licentiateships in Physics and Mathematical sciences and gained her Doctor of Schience degree in 1903.  She also was the professor on the School of Physics. After the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took his place and became the new Professor of General Physics and the Faculty if Sciences. Se is the first woman who held this position. She attended the University of Paris where she was also appointed the Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute.

Because of where she stood, she had to undertake much teaching in order to earn a livelihood, even with her husband. When Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896, it inspired Curie and her husband with their analysis which led to the isolation of plutonium and radium. 

Curie developed methods for the separation of uranium from radioactive residues. In order to do this, she had to do some careful study of its properties (its therapeutic properties in particular). After further study, she promoted the use of uranium to help relive suffering. In her lifetime Curie was presented many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships. When her husband was still alive, together the Curies were awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for their. They earned half of the Nobel prize because Becquerel, who discovered uranium, was awarded the other half. Marie Curie received another Nobel Prize, in Chemistry this time in recognition of her work in radioactivity in 1911. United States President Harding presented Curie one gram of uranium in recognition of her service to science, on behalf of the women of America.

Marie Curie discovered the element radium. It changed the how scientists think about matter and energy. Also, because Curie studied intensively in the subject of uranium and uranium use, she led the way to a new era of medical knowledge and treatment of diseases. 

FRECKLES!

I hate my freaking freckles! I don’t understand why me of all the people in my family has to be the one with the freckled-up face. I’m tired of it. They say that freckles come from a large amount of time exposed to the sun. Well, of course I’m going to be exposed to the sun for a large amount of time because I like on a freaking island!

            Freckles are usually genetic. But it’s a skin mutation (yeah, that’s right, I’m a mutant). Surprising enough, I got my freckles from my mother’s side. Strange thing is that she’s Chamorro; Chamorros are not usually the type of people to have freckles, but for my family, it’s normal. A lot of my Chamorro side have freckles, but they’re not as massive as mine are. Mine are all over my face! Not just on my nose or maybe even somewhere on my cheeks. No, my freckles are all over my face… well, besides my forehead, but still. That is a lot of freckles.

I hope when I get out of high school, I’ll be able to stay out of the sun for a while, so I can lose some freckles.

            I read that you can visibly lighten, and even remove freckles from your body by rubbing some lemon juice on the areas containing them. So while I was in Hawaii this summer, I bought an excessive amount of lemons, not telling anyone what it was for. I cut them in half and brought them in the bathroom with me every night. I rubbed them on. NOT the best idea. Considering it was me performing that, I was bound to get some in my eyes. I quit after a couple weeks, first, it wasn’t working, and second, it was too painful. Those things sting!

            So I just decided to put some sun screen when I went out in the sun, to lessen the amount of sun damage to my skin. I have yet to master my freckles, maybe I can even accept them some day, but until then, I’ll be trying to get rid of them little buggers! 

The Facebook 25

The Random 25 posted at 12:34 AM, on July 10, 2010.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)


01. My right eye is bigger than my left.
02. I have a newly-found passion: Korean dramas <3
03. I hate my freckles.
04. I hate ferris wheels...
05. I try my best not to squish bugs while I walk.
06. I tend to over think things.
07. I want to be in a Korean drama... I know, it's most likely never going to happen. But I can dream, right?
08. 맥스. (:
09. I will hurt you if you piss me off, or talk bad about what I love. (Eg. Maddie, monkey bars. (: )
10. My hair is retarded.
11. I will tell you the ugly truth whether you like it or not.
12. A fish bit my toe, once! :D
13. Hey, hey Apple?
14. I can teach a dog how to sit in less than 5 minutes. ^_^
15. I was born on August 31.
16. Can you come over tonight? JK, I need my personal space. ._.
17. I now know why guys wake up with boners. ((: (Thanks for the explanation, Mr. Tessen!) xD
18. I tend to smile at random strangers... weird.
19. I used to believe I could fly on a broom when I was little, thanks to "Kiki's Delivery Service."
20. I get annoyed when people put their smiley faces as ":)" instead of "(:"
21. BEATLES. BEATLES. BEATLES. <3
22. Don't touch me when I'm sleeping, don't talk to me when I just wake up.
23. I'm sorry if I hurt you, but you started tickling me first!
24. "Does this count as annoying??"
25. 사랑해! <3

FINNISHI (:

Ham

I remember when I first got him in 8th grade.. he was on my Christmas wishlist for a while. My parents finally decided to surprise me with what I thought to be the best Christmas present ever. I'd never thought how much a little dog could change my life, but 

It was Late November and I happened to stumble upon a thought: "I wonder if the pet store has any puppies." As my mom and I were on our way home, I forced her to stop by the pet store that I glanced at from the corner of my eye. She didn't want to stop by, but I compelled her to do so. We parked up at a grassy parking lot. I ran inside as fast as I could.

The pet store was mostly filled with fish and birds, but I heard a bark; the one bark that changed my direction. It wasn't the bark of Ham, though, it was his dad's. Ham’s dad was a maltase. He was a quite feisty one at that. Next to his dad was his mom, I presumed. She was a shitzu, a calm, collected, cute little dog. I fell in love with both of them. I wondered if they were for sale, but the owner of the shop told me that they weren’t willing to sell them.

            On Christmas day, I was picked up by my dad. I saw a mysterious box in the front seat, and when I sat in the car, the box started to move. I heard a little crying noise. When I opened the box, out popped a little head! The cutest little head I’ve ever seen! It was such a surprise because my parents told me that I wouldn’t be getting a puppy. But I didn’t want to argue with what I had just got! One of my most memorable Christmases ever! I decided to call him “Ham.”

            The first few months with Ham were a nightmare. His constant pooping and peeing on anywhere he desired, the backbreaking work I had to do to keep him happy, and the early morning potty sessions out side. But it was all worth it. I loved that little puppy, whether he caused me so much pain.

"Finish your food, young lady."

America would have to donate $13 billion to satisfy the world’s sanitation and starvation levels.  That much money is spent on perfume each year by the U.S. and European Union alone.  If only money that could be used on more helpful and worthwhile things, like saving thousands of lives, will the world’s hunger drop.  But, prices are higher than ever today. People tend to save as much money as they can.  But if big corporations that could actually help start chipping in, this would greatly affect the economy of the poorer countries.

People also tend to be lazy.  Laziness is not an option. If going about their leisure is more important than saving the lives of millions of people, then the world has dropped to an all-time low. It is also very important to think about the lives that are being affected, the families it hurts, and the lives it takes away.

Starvation can be solved in many ways; people just need to be able to know how and why they would need to help. If people are aware of what is going on, and how much it affects the world, then they would hopefully help. Being an open-minded community can drastically help the world’s economy.      

I'm hungry.. so is the world.

Starvation is a very big problem in the world today. Millions of people die because they have no food.  Over 4 million people die each year because of starvation. Statistics show that the Indian subcontinent holds half of the world’s starving people. Asia and Africa, combined, hold about 40 percent, Latin America, and parts of the world hold the other numbers of starving people. Starvation is world-wide and abundant. Trying to prevent it is very controversial today, but it is possible to help drop starvation numbers around the world.    

Usually, you can find most of the world’s starvation in areas with a lot of poverty.  Areas of poverty have an aggressive atmosphere.  Many people that live there, are poorly educated and do not know better.  People in areas of poverty would do almost anything to survive, even if it means taking the lives of other people to save their own.  A big part of trying to survive is having enough food to keep them going.  In the poorer areas of the world, like parts of Asia, Africa, and India, food is scarce and can be easily fought over.  This creates a snowball effect: if people do not have enough food, it clearly means that they do not have enough money. Without money, there is poverty, with poverty comes crime. The last thing each economy needs in its possession is more crime.

One solution to help with the world’s hunger is through education: education for both fairly wealthy areas, and poor areas as well.  If the government and private school systems start to let their students know more about the problems around the world, it would encourage them to help.  If people have more knowledge about what is going on, it leaves a bigger space for assistance.  Also, teaching the unfortunate people. Letting them know about what their future holds. A better education could broaden people’s job and future choices to hopefully end their troubles. But, of course, one little tweak of the economy would surely not have a huge impact on the world’s starvation levels.

Another solution to the world’s problem of hunger lies within the fortunate people. If people have knowledge about the suffering that is going on, they might help. People could give donations to the starving. But, a big problem with donations is that people are not always sure what to do.  If America and other parts of the world simply set up organizations and programs that could potentially help the malnourished, people could easily drop off their endowments to said programs and organizations and not have to worry about signing forums or having to let out personal information

Beatles vs. Stones Part 2

The fans of the Beatles were of the wider age range.  They tended to have the younger and the older audiences.  They still had the vote of hundreds of thousands of female fans, partially because they were the cute boys.  The Stones tended to have the older, young-adult audience.  Since their music and appearance were greatly influenced by heavy rock and roll, sex and drugs, they were limited to the amount they would have.  They were well-liked for being the dangerous boys.  They both had their own audience range and were both widely known.  This made them bigger competitions to each other, but from a point of view.  They had different styles of music, which made them have different types of fans.  Every girl wanted to be with the Beatles and the Stones, and every boy would want to be them.

            In conclusion, it is a difficult choice to pick which is the better band because of how totally different they are.  You would never guess that the Beatles and the Stones were in a direct competition, because they weren’t.  They were in an indirect competition. They never would say that they were better than the other, even though they were itching to, they didn’t.  It was all about the music and popularity back then, and still is today.  The feud between the Beatles fans and the Stones fans would probably never end.  They were both very talented bands that changed music.  But the overall vote would have to go the Beatles.  They made it as far as the eye can see, especially coming from where they were.  The Stones would have to come in second on this one.  Even though they are still around today, they made less of an impact than the Beatles did, even when the Beatles were around for about eight years, the Stones were around for over forty. But it would never really matter, some people don’t care, some people do.  The Beatles and the Stones will always stay in the music history, long after they are gone, which is a good-enough way to have it.             

Beatles vs. Stones Part 1

We all have heard about the Beatles and the Rolling Stones sometime in our life.  But what do we really know behind both of them?  To most, the Stones are considered as the “bad boys,” while the Beatles are known for being the “good, clean-cut boys,” the kind of boys that you could take home to mum.  They both had different ideas of music, which makes it a difficult choice to compare.  Overall, based on opinion and fact, the Beatles had a greater impact on the music history of the sixties than the Stones had. But the Stones had a wider range of musical options that gave them the opportunity to reach out to a wider range of audience.   

            The Beatles came from the little city of Liverpool, England as working-class boys.  They have shown great dedication for their music because of that.  Even though the Beatles didn’t have the money to spend on expensive guitars, drums and other instruments, they had a very high devotion to what they loved: music.  The Stones, on the other hand, were from London, England as middle-classed boys.  They had more money to buy better instruments and to spread their music more widely than the Beatles.  As of the fact that they had a fair amount of money, it made it harder for audiences to take them into better consideration; people tended not to take their music as the higher choice because they had money and were thought to have struggled less to obtain a successful music career. 

            The Stones were the boys that were “good in bed” and had a stronger sex appeal to the female fans of the sixties (until today), than the Beatles.  They made most of their fans by obtaining the “bad boy” persona, and wearing outfits that didn’t match on stage (which was different at the time).  Opposing the Stones, the Beatles had a low sex appeal and were considered by most as the cute, innocent band.  Most of the parents thought the Stones to be too obscene and inappropriate to have children and teenagers idolize them.  The Beatles were the sweet, young lads that were accepted by all because of how clean their music and appearance were.  This way, the Beatles obtained more fans by having a “family-oriented,” yet exceptional reputation to all ages.

            The Beatles’ music and the Stones’ music were two opposite ideas.  The Stones had leaned more toward the old-time, rock and roll style of music and were influenced mostly by Chicago Blues. Their music was “heavier” than the music of the Beatles.  The Beatles had the bubblegum pop and R&B style of music.  They also focused on melody and harmony.  This made their music more suited to the audience.  But, both the Beatles and the Stones were both greatly influenced by the African American style of music back in the fifties and early sixties.  They took the African American style of music and personalized it to fit their musical choices, until they found their individual, signature styles of music in the future. 

            The Stones’ music wasn’t as popular as the Beatles’ music was at the time. Yet, they were very close.  The Beatles had many number one singles, while the Stones had record sales. The Beatles sang of love, while the Stones sang of sex and drugs.  It is not entirely true that the Beatles didn’t write songs that had the hint of either sex or drugs, but it was very indirect.  The Beatles were held back by their “good boy” look, which had to be kept in the range of “acceptable” music: no bad words, no obscenity.  The Stones, on the other hand, were not held back at all by their style of music and reputation.  They were already known as the “bad boys,” so they had nothing to lose of they wrote whatever they wanted to. 

Facebook

        Facebook: one word, eight letters, my life story. I've never really been interested in the internet until the 9th grade. I've always been this little nature child who walked barefooted outside with barely any clothes on, talked to animals, and climbed trees. But since I moved to SIS, I've become more.. how do you say: civilized? Yes, more civilized, indeed. 

        Now, all I do is go to school, use the internet, eat, and sleep. I occasionally do other things, but it's not so common. I think Facebook is a huge reason for my distraction at school. I'm serious about this; every time I get online, I must go in Facebook. If I don't, I'll feel like something's missing, and that I just can't do anything else until I've seen my notifications. This prevents me from getting any work done for my classes.

        Facebook is like a disease. It's a disease to the mind. I swear to trees, (because I'm an atheist) Facebook is a disease. It's contagious, too. Many people who already have a Facebook encourage others with none to create one. The reason for this is because people with Facebooks want to have more friends and they want the care-free knowledge that they have a friend that they can reach at any time of day. 

        So, this whole thing started when I went to Peru in 2009. Every one of my friends had a Facebook, and I wanted one as well (just because I felt so left out just using Myspace). I created one, and I added every friend that I could find at the moment. You see, the thing about Facebook is that when you don't have one, you wonder to yourself: "why are these people so obsessed with Facebook? I mean, there's nothing special about it." When you actually get a Facebook you think: "eh, there's nothing exciting about this..." and you can go weeks without checking it. But after a while, you'll get used to the whole Facebook thing and start going all-out. You'll go coo coo for Facebook! You'll become some obsessed person who can think of nothing but: "do I have a notification?!" 

        The worst part is when you know you have notifications, but you just can't check them because of complications (bad internet connection, family-day-out, or just being in the car). You're always gonna be eager to find out whether you'll get a notification or not, or if you have a new friend request or what type of drama is going on on your news feed.

        I kind of regret getting a Facebook sometimes, only because I think that if I've never created one, I would actually have a life. A life where I'd have less worries. You don't know how much of a burden Facebook is to me. It's super addicting, which why it's so hard to let go. You can't just forget about Facebook wholly, one you've had one.