Friday, September 2, 2011

Gummy what?

One day, as I was happily chewing on a gummy bear, a thought suddenly appeared in my mind. What are gummy bears made of? With this in mind, I decided to do some research on google later that afternoon.

I discover that the traditional Gummi Bear is made from sugar, glucose syrup, starch, flavouring, food coloring, citric acid, and gelatin.

Gummi bears made with either cow or pig gelatine are not suitable for vegetarians and do not conform to kashrut or halal dietary laws. This gelatin is produced by boiling down pig or cow bones

Large sour bears are larger and flatter than Gummi Bears, have a softer texture, and include fumaric acid or other acid ingredients to produce a sour flavor. Some manufacturers produce sour bears with a different texture, based on starch instead of gelatin. Typically, starch produces a shorter (cleaner bite, less chewy) texture than gelatin.

After I did this research I realised that one of my most fravourite food was actually made with such a creepy process. I don't think i will be eating gummy bears for the next... 3 days?

The different colours of light.

Once again as I was learning about reflection, I realised that when white light hit a coloured surface all other colours would be absorbed and only the light which is the same colour as the surface would be able be reflected. So i decided to do some simple research on this topic. I found out that it was really through and if light is shined through a gummy bear, the light would become the same colour as said gummy bear.

gummy bears.jpg

I also found out that light could be split into many different colours and through the use of a prism. And that rainbows were also formed this was. Since a water droplet was roughly the same shape as a prism, it could also split white light into different colours. I decided to test this theory. I took the water hose in my house and sprayed it a ray of the setting sun. Through enough, a rainbow did appear in the water spray.

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Improvement in LSS

At the start of the year I was not doing so well in my science tests I only managed to obtain 25 marks in a 40 mark test. At first I thought this was ok since it was only the first test of the year. Later in term 2, I did even worse scoring a mere 22 marks in a 40 mark test. At that point in time, I immediately attributed this the fact that I taking part in my wushu competition at that time. I thought that since i was in a competition, I had not enough time to study and thus I had done badly. However, around week 3 of this term, I suddenly realised that all the poor grades I had been obtaining was all due to the lac of effort I had put into my studies. At that point I resolved to work hard for the upcoming test and due to that I eventually did well. With the knowledge that i can do well in my mind, I resolve to start studying now to prepare for the EOYs.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Science lab lesson

In our first visit to the science lab in term 3, we learnt about light a were instructed to do a very simple experiment on light. The experiment was actually more simple than it seemed. It was simply a test to find out the true nature of reflection and also to clear the more simple doubts we had in our mind about reflection. All we were required to do was to shine a ray of light from the light box which we were provided in a certain angle and then measure the reflected angle. Then suddenly, disaster struck! For reasons totally unknown to me and my partner, half of the reflected ray of light was "missing"! Try as we might, we were still unable to solve our problem. Finally, we consulted Ms Nada as the problem was easily solved. After this experiment all the misconceptions in my mind about reflection was cleared.