4th Grade Science Experiments

4th Grade Science Experiments Great 4th-grade science fair projects involve answering a question, solving a problem, or testing a hypothesis. Usually, a teacher or parent helps work out the hypothesis and design the project. Fourth graders have a good understanding of scientific concepts, but they may need help with the scientific method and organizing a poster or presentation. The key to developing a successful project is finding an idea that is interesting to a 4th grader. Experiment Ideas The best experiments usually begin with a question to which you dont know the answer. Once youve formulated a question, you can design a simple experiment to help figure out the answer: Do cockroaches have a preference for direction? Catch and release cockroaches. Which way do they go? Is there a common trend or not? You can try this project with ants or other crawling insects as well.Do colored ice cubes melt at the same rate as clear ice cubes? Add food coloring to an ice cube tray and compare how long the colored cubes take to melt compared to the regular ones.Does magnetism travel through all materials? Put different materials between a magnet and metal. Do they affect how strongly the magnet is attracted to the metal? If so, do they all affect the magnetic field to the same degree?Do all crayon colors last the same? Draw a really long line with one color, then draw the same length of line with another color. Are both crayons the same length?What is the effect of microwaving seeds on their germination rate? Test seeds that sprout quickly, like radish seeds, and different microwave times, such as 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute. Use a control (no mi crowave) treatment for comparison. Will seeds germinate if you soak them in a liquid other than water? You can try milk, juice, vinegar, and other common household liquids. Alternatively, you could see if plants will grow if they are watered with liquids other than water.Make a simple homemade windmill. What is the best number of blades for the windmill?How much salt (or sugar) can a plant tolerate? Water plants with a different solution of salt or sugar. How high of a concentration can the plant tolerate? A related question would be to see if plants can survive if they are watered with soapy water such as leftover dishwater.Do birds have a preference for birdhouse material? In other words, do they seem to care if the birdhouse is made of wood or plastic or metal?Do worms react when they are exposed to light? Do they react differently when they are exposed to different colors of light?Do ants prefer different types of sugar? Test using table sugar, honey, maple syrup, and molasses.Can you taste the difference between foods that contain fat and fat-free versions of the same product? Compare the water filtration rate of different brands of coffee filters. Take one cup of liquid and time how long it takes to pass through the filter. Do the different filters affect the flavor of the coffee?Do white candles and colored candles burn at the same rate?Write messages using different types of invisible ink. Which was the most invisible? Which method produced a message that was easy to read after it was revealed?

Robert Hooke Biography (1635 - 1703)

Robert Hooke Biography (1635 - 1703) Robert Hooke was an important 17th century English scientist, perhaps best known for Hookes Law, the invention of the compound microscope, and his cell theory. He was born July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England, and died on March 3, 1703 in London, England at age 67. Heres a brief biography: Robert Hookes Claim to Fame Hooke has been called the English Da Vinci. He is credited with numerous inventions and design improvements of scientific instrumentation. He was a natural philosopher who valued observation and experimentation.   He formulated Hookes Law, a relation that says the force pulling back on a spring is inversely proportional to the distance pulled from rest.Assisted Robert Boyle by constructing his air pump.Hooke designed, improved or invented many scientific instruments used in the Seventeenth Century. Hooke was the first to replace pendulums in clocks with springs.He invented the compound microscope and Gregorian compound telescope. He is credited with the invention of the wheel barometer, hydrometer, and anemometer.He coined the term  cells for biology.In his studies of paleontology, Hooke believed fossils were living remains that soaked up minerals, leading to petrification. He believed fossils held clues to the nature of the past on Earth and that some fossils were of extinct organisms. At the time, the concept of extinction was not accepted.He worked with Christopher Wren after the London Fire of 1666 as a surveyor and architect. Few of Hookes buildings survive to the present day.Hooke serv ed as The Royal Societys Curator of Experiments where he was required to perform several demonstrations at each weekly meeting. He held this position for forty years. Notable Awards Fellow of Royal Society.The Hooke Medal is presented in his honor from the British Society of Cell Biologists. Robert Hookes Cell Theory In 1665, Hooke used his primitive compound microscope to examine the structure in a slice of cork. He was able to see the honeycomb structure of cell walls from the plant matter, which was the only remaining tissue since the cells were dead. He coined the word cell to describe the tiny compartments he saw. This was a significant discovery because prior to this, no one knew organisms consisted of cells. Hookes microscope offered a magnification of about 50x. The compound microscope opened up a whole new world to scientists and marked the beginning of the study of cell biology. In 1670, Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch biologist, first examined living cells using a compound microscope adapted from Hookes design. Newton - Hooke Controversy Hooke and Isaac Newton were involved in a dispute over the idea of the force of gravity following an inverse square relationship to define the elliptical orbits of planets. Hooke and Newton discussed their ideas in letters to each other. When Newton published his Principia, he did not credit anything to Hooke. When Hooke disputed Newtons claims, Newton denied any wrong. The resulting feud between the leading English scientists of the time would continue until Hookes death. Newton became President of the Royal Society that same year and many of Hookes collections and instruments went missing as well as the only known portrait of the man. As President, Newton was responsible for the items entrusted to the Society, but it was never shown he had any involvement in the loss of these items. Interesting Trivia Craters on the Moon and Mars bear his name.Hooke proposed a mechanistic model of human memory, based on the belief memory was a physical process that occurred in the brain.British historian Allan Chapman refers to Hooke as Englands Leonardo, in reference to his similarity to Leonardo da Vinci as a polymath.There is no authenticated portrait of Robert Hooke. Contemporaries have described him as a lean man of average height, with gray eyes, brown hair.Hooke never married or had children. Sources Chapman, Alan (1996). Englands Leonardo: Robert Hooke (1635–1703) and the art of experiment in Restoration England. Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 67: 239–275.Drake, Ellen Tan (1996).  Restless Genius: Robert Hooke and His Earthly Thoughts. Oxford University Press.Robert Hooke. Micrographia. Full text at Project Gutenberg.Robert Hooke (1705). The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke. Richard Waller, London.

THE GOVERNING OF THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS BY ORTHODOX LAW PRINCIPLES Essay

THE GOVERNING OF THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS BY ORTHODOX LAW PRINCIPLES - Essay Example The importance of sham self-employment is to disguise a person that he or she is self-employed while in essence they are actually not. This could be the case for a number of reasons which could be known to the employee and the company or the employee could be uncharacteristically oblivious of the on goings. The employers could at times stand to gain and so would the employees from time to time. Plans are underway to engage workers as independent contractors wherever the parties intend to create working relationships with adaptations that do not reflect their genuine intentions. It is common knowledge that disguising the employment status is possible through various ways. This could also happen under written contracts to both the employee and the employer as well as when an employee is hired on an informal basis to offer labour and is at times told that they are a contractor just like any other. Some businesses often do not register their workers as employees since it is a benefit to the business and the employees because they are treated as self-employed in regard to insurance remittals and income tax. This is a tricky situation in which the employees would find themselves in since there is no basis for protection of rights. Most of the companies will be of the view that their employees are not contracted for employment but rather for provision of services and consultancy. These, quite simply put, define sham contracts. Such contracts are mostly entered into by immigrant workers who are in desperate need for jobs and also lack the necessary immigration papers. Thus it is easier for them to try and avoid the authorities. Diplock LJ in Snook v London and West Riding Investments Ltd (1967) gives adequate consideration of what would be considered a ‘sham’. In his judgment, he said: "As regards the contention of the plaintiff that the transactions between himself, A uto Finance and the defendants were a ‘sham’, it is, I think, necessary to consider what, if any, legal concept is involved in the use of this popular and pejorative word. I apprehend that, if it has any meaning in law, it means acts done or documents executed by the parties to the ‘sham’ which are intended by them to give to third parties or to the court the appearance of creating between the parties legal rights and obligations different from the actual legal rights and obligations (if any) which the parties intend to create. The one thing, I think, is clear in legal principle, morality and the authorities (see Yorkshire Railway Wagon Co v Maclure and Stoneleigh Finance Ltd v Phillips), is that for acts or documents to be a ‘sham’, with whatever legal consequences follow from this, all the parties thereto must have a common intention that the acts or documents are not to create the legal rights and obligations which they give the appearance o f creating. No unexpressed intentions of a ‘

Has no topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Has no topic - Essay Example ntrastingly, people who depend on employment have no choice but to work as the job regulations demand and since they do not have other alternatives to earn a living. People having immense wealth can get easy access to the lawmakers through their efforts of campaigning and thus protecting their assets. Alexis argues that America has been an egalitarian society. Egalitarian society is one that takes into consideration little power, status, wealth and prestige differences among individuals. According to Alexis (Brueggemann, 2010), there has not been prevention of individuals amassing resources to extreme extents thus ensuring fair resource distribution. In contrast to this view, Gabriel Kolko argues that, despite year-to-year fluctuations since 1910, there has been unequal income distribution. Gabriel asserts that America has a characteristic concentration of wealth that is wealth is on the hands of only a few individuals in the society. The top 1% of the American rich own 33 percent of wealth in the United States. There are also another top 10% of the people possessing 69 percent of the assets. This means that the remaining 90% majority of the people only own about 31% of the assets. From Table 7.2, we note that 27 percent of the wealth falls to the percentiles 50 to 90% and the bottom about half of the total population possess only around 3 percent of the assets. Thus, it is evident from Table 7.2 that there is a large margin of inequality since the bottom 90 percent of the population is far poor compared to 1% of the population. Figure 7.1 gives the trend of wealth owned by the richest 1% of the population right from 1774 to the year 2005. It shows the share to have hit the highest percentage in 1830s reaching 44 percent. The period between 1774 and 1860 saw wealth concentration rising with 1820s and the late 1840s experiencing steep increases (Brueggemann, 2010). This trend conforms to Kuznets hypothesis. Figure 7.2 shows the top bracket (groupings for taxation

Over the Hedge Essay Example for Free

Over the Hedge Essay Over the Hedge is an animated film about the difficulties little harmless animals experience when man encroaches on their habitat (Fry, 2006). The film starts with the end of winter and the animals in the forest are coming out of hibernation. A hyperactive and mischievous raccoon named RJ forages on the junk food of the bear; he escapes alive with the promise of returning all of the bear’s food within a week. On the other side, a family of cute little animals awakens with a green wall in the middle of their forest and suddenly fears what lies beyond the hedge. Verve the turtle ventures over the hedge to find out what was on the other side; however he was subjected to the ferocious human machines like the lawn mower, grass sprinkler, bikes and etc. He returns to the forest and warns that no one should ever venture over the hedge as it is dangerous. The group of animals however had another problem, they had no food. Then here comes, the rascal raccoon RJ and convinces the group that humans throw out their food every time and all they needed to do was go out there and gather it. Verve disagreed and warned them against the idea, but as food became scarce Verve finally agreed with RJ. RJ on the other hand was really thinking of how the group could help him gather the food he owed the bear and here the conflict started. The rest of the film tells about friendship, trust, honesty and love of family. The film does this effectively within the context of man’s environmental responsibility to be stewards of Mother Nature. The plot of the story was actually very simple however, since the characters were cute, furry, funny and adorable animals, the film held much interest. The visuals were very good; it was clear, crisp and very alive. Although one would notice that it was not created in the traditional way, in fact the movie’s animation were all computer generated, from the drawing to the filming. The sound was in the standard Dolby format, and it was clear and loud, however some of the characters dialogues were tweaked to resemble that of the animal, sometimes the dialogue got lost in the way it was pronounced but one could still understand the gist of the sentence. I especially liked the three baby possums because they were really cute, and they were very funny. They had this way of saying things in chorus and then either refuting or supporting each other and their thoughts resembled the candidness of children. The vividness of the colors and images really fed my interest in the film, however I was lost in the burping of the squirrel and the farting of the skunk, maybe the director thought it would add to the comedic element of the film, but it did not feel that way to me. The film talks about the importance of living well with our animal friends, and it shows a very real example of how man react to animals when they start invading our homes and community. The film however had the ability to make us realize that man had been the first to invade the animals’ home and since they get their food from their ecosystem, man’s invasion of their habitat also affects their existence (Peabody, 2006). The film is far from serious and boring, it is funny, entertaining and honest, and brutally honest I must say. The film actually appealed to my sense of justice and equality knowing that man and beast should live together in the best possible way. Although, the film was targeted for children of all ages, some of the dialogues were brazen and crude, thus the film landed in the PG rating, but all the same it contains the essential elements of a good story, interesting characters, excellent animation and great actors and this held my interest in the film until its end.

Physics of the Moon :: physics science space

Gravitational Force of Bodies All bodies with mass exert a gravitational pull on the bodies around them, even you and me. The larger the radius and mass of the body the larger the force. Most people know that the force of gravity on earth is much greater than on the moon, but how much larger is it, and how is gravity calculated? German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1576-1630) spent years observing the motion of planets and developed a set of laws for planetary motion. Years after his death Physicist Isaac Newton (1642-1727) used these laws to help him develop his law of universal gravitation. The law of Universal Gravitation states that: "every particle in the Universe attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them" (Serway 424). This essential means that the force of gravity increases the larger the masses are and decreases the farther away the masses are. The formula to determine the the magnitude of the gravitational force is: Fg = G (M1M2)/R^2 G is the Universal Gravitational Constant, M1 and M2 is the mass of the two objects and R is the distance between them. On Earth the force of gravity causes all objects to accelerate at 9.8m/s^2. For example, say you have a mass of 1kg on the surface of the earth. The force of gravity between the two objects is given by: Fg= (6.673x10^-11)(5.9736x10^24)(1) (6.3781x10^6)^2 Fg = 9.8 m/s^2 6.672x10^-11 is the value of the universal gravitational constant (G), 5.9736x10^24 is the mass of the Earth (M1) in kg, 1 is the mass of our object on the earth's surface (M2) in kg, and 6.3781x10^6 is the distance between the center of the Earth and the Earth's surface (R) in meters. 9.8 m/s^2 is the acceleration force between objects and the earth On the moon this value is much less because the moon has a smaller mass and radius. If the same 1kg object is on the surface of the moon, the force of gravity on it is given by: Fg = (6.673x10^-11)(7.349x10^22)(1) (1.7381x10^6)^2 Fg = 1.6 m/s^2 7.349x10^22 is the mass of the moon in kg and 1.7381x10^6 is the radius of the moon in meters. On the moon objects experience roughly 1/6 the gravitational force they would on Earth. Two astronuats are playing catch on the moon. They throw and catch the ball at a height of 1.

Greece Crisis: Analysis, Learnings and Takeaways Essay

Greek Crisis: Background Through this write up, we are trying to explain the circumstances which led to the sovereign debt crisis in Greece. European Union was established in the year 1992 through the Maastricht treaty. The purpose of formation was to create something powerful on the lines of the USA, The United States of Europe. Also, the idea was to establish and maintain peace in the turbulent regions. In the year 1999, Euro zone was formed and a common currency, Euro, came into being. Countries set aside the currencies they each were using previously and instead dealt themselves Euros. Greece undertook the same operation. It relinquished its drachmas and received an equivalent amount of Euros. Henceforth Greek firms and Greek citizens could buy goods and services anywhere in the Euro zone with their Euros. Greece has always been an overspending economy. It’s a leisure driven economy where the government always tends to spend more than its means. This trend went to a new level when the Greek government got access to cheap and easier financing. Due to the introduction of the common currency, they could borrow as easily as a strongly backed Germany. The government previously used to monetise its deficit by printing currency. Since the choice of printing currency was no longer available due to the introduction of the monetary union, the government now resorted to borrowing lavishly to meet its deficit. The debt to GDP ratio also increased during the period. During 2004-2009, output in the Greek economy increased in nominal terms by 40%, while central government primary expenditures increased by 87% against an increase of only 31% in tax revenues. Public sector wages rose by over 50% between 1999 and 2007. Greece lived under the helm of a welfare state, with excessive spending on wages and early retirement benefits. Greek Crisis: Consequences of sub-prime Tourism and shipping are the two biggest revenue generators for the Greek economy. Both the sectors were badly hit when the sub-prime crisis wrecked global economy. There was a significant drop in the government revenue due to the shrinking of earnings from these sectors. Also, tax evasion, which was always an area of concern for the country, took full shape during this period. This led to high fiscal deficit and even higher levels of debt. In October 2009, Fitch downgraded the sovereign debt of Greece to BBB+. This lead to widening of bond yield spreads and CDS spreads. In April 2010, Greek debt was further downgraded to junk status, which effectively closed the availability of capital market financing to the country. This all was a part of a large vicious cycle. Poor ratings and excessive debt led to higher yields. Tax revenues fall due to tax evasion and GDP shrinkage. This led to higher deficit which warranted borrowing more to finance the deficit, which led to even higher cost of debt. Greek Crisis: Troika steps in The European Commission, The European Central Bank and IMF are called the troika, the three pillars on which the Greek and Euro zone hopes are resting. Amidst concerns that Greece will default on its payments and might exit the Euro zone, the troika steeped in to bail out the country. Phases of bailouts were given, based on the following measures: Austerity measures to restore fiscal balance Privatisation of government assets worth â‚ ¬50bn by the end of 2015 Structural reforms to improve growth prospects Also, debt restructuring was carried out in Greece as part of the second bailout plan. Under this, private creditors holding Greek govt. bonds were to accept lower interest rates and a 53.5% face value loss. This led to a fall in the forecasted Debt t o GDP ratio of 198% in 2012 to around 160% in the same period. The aim is to reduce the ratio to 120% by 2020. From 2012-14, troika is to cover all Greek financial needs through restructuring and bailout packages. From 2015-20, financial needs are to be met partly by capital markets and partly by privatization of govt. Assets. In May 2012, a 2 year extension was demanded till 2017 to return to self financed situation. 2 key bills were passed in the Greek Parliament pertaining to this in the last week – ‘Labour market reform’ and ‘Midterm fiscal plan 2013-16’. Should Greece leave the Euro Area? Is a fiscally-challenged country likely to want to leave the Euro Area? The brief answer is no – quite the contrary: a fiscally weak country is better off in the Euro Area than outside it. The only argument for leaving the Euro Area is that the introduction of a new national currency (New Drachma, say) would lead to an immediate sharp nominal and real depreciation of the new currency and a gain in competitiveness, which would be most welcome. It also would not last. The key rigidities in small open economies like Greece are real rigidities, not persistent Keynesian nominal rigidities, which are necessary for a depreciation or devaluation of the nominal exchange rate to have a material and durable impact on real competitiveness. Unless the balance of economic and political power is changed fundamentally, a depreciation of the nominal exchange rate would soon lead to adjustments of domestic costs and prices that would restore the old uncompetitive real equilibrium. All other arg uments either favour staying in for a fiscally weak country or are neutral. As regards the existing stock of sovereign debt, in or out makes no difference. Re-denominating the old euro-denominated debt in New Drachma would be an act of default. A country might as well stay in the Euro Area and default on the euro-denominated debt. As regards new government borrowing, issuing New Drachma denominated debt would be more costly (because an exchange risk premium would be added to the sovereign risk premium) than new borrowing using euro-denominated debt as part of the Euro Area. There would be massive balance sheet disruption for banks, other financial institutions and other corporate with large balance sheets, as the existing stock of assets and liabilities would remain euro denominated but there would no longer be a euro lender of last resort. It may be possible for contract and securities internal to Greece, that is entered into or issued under Greek jurisdiction alone, to be redenominated in New Drachma, but cross-border contracts and securities issued in other jurisdictions could not be redenominated that way without this constituting a n act of default. There would be no fiscal-financial support from other Euro Area member states should a country leave the Euro Area. Leaving the Euro Area means leaving the EU. There is no such thing as a former Euro Area member that continues as an EU member. A current EA member wishing to leave the EA but continue as an EU member would have to leave both the Euro Area and the EU and then re-apply for EU membership. Under the Lisbon Treaty, there now is a procedure for leaving the EU. A country cannot be expelled from the Euro Area, or from the EU. The only real threat of the Euro Area breaking up comes from the possibility that one or more of the fiscally strongest and more competitive members (Germany) could decide to leave the Euro Area (and the EU), because of a fear of becoming the bailer-out of first resort for all would-be fiscally-insolvent Euro Area member states. The changing of the generations in Germany from Kohl to Schrà ¶der and then to Merkel has weakened the traditional umbilical link of Germany, and especially Germany’s political class, to the EU and the Euro Area, but not (yet) to the point that one can reasonably envisage Germany leaving the Euro Area and the EU. Alternatives * Wage increase, higher inflation in Germany Wage increase in Germany would fuel inflation in Germany that will lead to increase in cost of goods sold in the economy. This would accelerate industry expansion to other territories especially like Greece, Spain. Since Greece’s main economy driver has been the tourism industry and that is also seasonal. * Common Eurobonds Instead of having separate government bonds, common Euro bonds should be issued. This would never lead to the chain reaction that was led by the Greek government bonds. * Greece or other weaker nations leaving Euro zone Greece and other weaker nations should leave Euro Zone and back to their respective currencies. This would help adjust their monetary policy with their fiscal policy. * Fiscal Integration One of the major development areas is increased European integration giving a central body increased control over the budgets of member states Key Learnings * LESSON 1: Financial markets are prone to exaggerations, which amplify further the pro-cyclicality inherent in asset valuations In times of recession, when the degree of risk aversion increases and GDP growth contracts, asset prices tend to decline and risk spreads rise. Also during this period, the standard pattern of pro-cyclicality may be amplified by market exaggerations: investors tend to over-price certain types of risk and thus under-price the respective financial assets. Exaggerated pro-cyclicality of this type has hit the sovereign bond market during the crisis. Furthermore, in particular through the use of sovereign bonds as collateral, it has exerted adverse effects on other segments of financial markets, such as the funding markets for financial institutions. There are many ways to mitigate this pro-cyclicality of government bond markets. One way is to reduce the reliance of the financial, regulatory and supervisory framework on credit ratings * LESSON 2: Fiscal Policy Union along with Monetary Policy Union is important in order to keep countries with common currency on the same page Since Euro was a common currency, Euro Currency Board took charge of the common monetary policy for the nations, but the fiscal policies differed in each country, leading to a widening gap between each country’s financial statuses. One way to curb this problem is to facilitate fiscal integration of the organizations. This would ensure that no country is not overspending and will have limited budget to workout. * LESSON 3: Welfare of the masses is not in Transfer Payments but in Investment and employment creation in the country Austerity measures would only help in curtailing the massive expenditures done on Social welfare schemes such unemployment allowances. Nations should focus on increasing the investment in the nation and looking for opportunities, where it can generate employment for its masses. This would lead to long-term economic stability in the nation. Takeaways for India * While the Indian economy needs fund flows from different sources, it should exercise special caution while depending on the overseas debt India must not allow its public debt to increase any further, especially from the external sources which may play havoc with the country’s debt situation amidst increasing volatility rupee’s foreign exchange rate * India must focus on curtailing its fiscal deficit and should be very cautious in opening up its market and allowing foreigners to invest in government securities Per capita public debt is higher than the growth in per capita income, implying that the population borrowings are increasing at a much faster pace than their earnings. Hence population is being burdened with higher amounts of public debt. Per capita income and per capita debt both have increased over the years. While per-capita income increased from Rs. 26,015 in 2005-06 to Rs. 38,005 in 2011-12 the per capita debt increased from Rs. 13,276.87 in 2005-06 to Rs. 27,044.22 in 2011-12 * Interest Payments are absorbing about one-third of Central Government’s revenue, leading to increase in non-plan expenditure. Interest payments is the fact that not only are interest payment a large contributor to the non-plan expenditure but a large part of the total revenue receipts of the Central Government are also being used to finance them and raising funds from overseas as debt at present times poses several risks, the main problem being extra burden on redemption because of lowering of the rupee value.