Waves are all around us: End of Unit reflectoin

Here is my bubbl.us web that I made representing what I have learned this unit. 

(This is a brief replica, I have learned a whole bunch more)

End of the unit Question: How does the use and study of waves affect societal well-being?

During our first section of this unit we learned about what waves are. This is important to know because it gives us a better understanding of our world. Waves are all around us, they are continuously bouncing everywhere influencing our lives. Without the knowledge of waves we would not know about a lot of things in this world. Without our general knowledge of waves we would not know about electromagnetic waves, light waves, water waves or sound waves.

Water Waves:

Water waves influence our lives every day. From a cruise ship to drastic tsunamis, water waves affect our lives both positively and negatively. The waves that create these monstrous disasters are called seismic waves. Seismic waves are a buildup of stress in a rock, and when that rock breaks or changes shape it sends our energy which move throughout the earth. With the combination of P waves and S wave’s surface waves are created and earthquakes and tsunamis occur. When scientists study and analyze these seismic waves we learn about how to prevent earthquakes and tsunamis, we learn how to protect ourselves from the disasters. The earthquake in Japan would have damaged the country even more if we did not have the knowledge of seismic waves. When we study and analyze our world’s waves we can protect ourselves from disasters.

Sound waves:

During this unit we learn about how sound can affect the world around us. This unit is how we produce sound and how we hear sound. We learn many different things such as the Doppler and how we hear. This is important to learn about because we figure out how important sound is in our lives. In recent years technology had progressed it has had a negative effect on our hearing abilities. Sound pollution has been disrupted our world, including animals and plants living inside of it. Because of the recent outbreak of sound pollution we have been learning to take precautions when in a sound polluted area. Ever since the I-pod has come out many people have been losing their hearing at a younger age- do to noise pollution and listening to their music to loud.

Surprisingly sound waves have improved aviation and aircrafts. This has helped scientists create airplanes that can go faster than the speed of sound. The airplane pushes a wave of air molecules ahead of it as it travels forward, just as boat moves the water to the side. The plane goes faster and faster the compressions travel outward from the plane as a wave of pressure, and this is what creates a sonic boom. Scientists study and analyze planes that travel faster than the speed of sound more improvements can be added to make a plane that goes even faster.

Electromagnetic Waves:

In this section of the unit we learned about the electromagnetic spectrum. The spectrum is made up of radio waves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays. This is all ranging from the longest frequency to the shortest frequency. The electromagnetic spectrum is used in our lives every day, most of the time we don’t even know it!

 Radio waves are used in Radar and in Microwaves and in MRI. Infrared Rays are used in heat lamps, they are also used to make toast. Visible light is all the light that you see and each wavelength of light has a different color. Ultraviolet rays are rays to the sun, they are so powerful that they can cause skin cancer, but they also have some benefits they are the only source that gives us vitamin D. X-rays are used (hence the name) in doctor’s offices to help determine whether the patient has a broken bone. X-rays are also used in outer space; they are used to take pictures of far away planets. Gamma rays are the shortest on the electromagnetic spectrum. The ray produces the greatest amount of energy out of all the electromagnetic waves.

 Radioactive materials produce gamma rays; this can cause cancer or a very serious illness. On the other hand, when in a controlled situation gamma rays can also be used to fight off cancer. As you can see electromagnetic waves are all around us, they are in our house, in our school in our country. As scientists continue to study these rays it improves the technology, health, and well-being in our world.

What did I like about this unit?

Before this unit I didn’t have much knowledge about waves, I knew about tsunamis and earthquakes but I didn’t know what caused them. I thought this was a unit that very informational, I really liked how we started off with the basics of waves and then we got deeper into the subject. As we moved further into the waves unit, I could use my previous knowledge about waves to help me really understand different types of waves in a deeper concept. I also liked the labs that we created, especially the lab that we created alone. The lab allowed us to learn more about the subject with our own special twist. I also liked that the projects and labs were spread out. One section of the unit we did labs and the other sections we did projects, this created variety in the units. The blog posts were also very interesting; I 

like how we can put up things like news articles even though it wasn’t assigned.

What did I learn?

            I think that this unit was one of the units where I accumulated so much knowledge that I can’t even write it down. What I can tell you, is what I liked learning. I really liked learning about seismic waves; I thought it was very interesting subject because I didn’t really know about it before. It was very ironic that we were learning about earthquakes and tsunamis when all the natural disasters were happening in Japan and New Zealand. I think it was a good time for us to learn how to protect ourselves from earthquakes. I also liked learning about x-rays, since my mom was a doctor it was very motivating to learn even more about x-rays. I loved going to the clinic and looking around. I was so 

interested that I even got videos of other non-x-rays such as the CT and the ultrasound room.

What I would change for next year’s 7^th grade students.

I think that next year when introducing the electromagnetic spectrum spending more time on the subject. In my opinion it is a very complicated subject and spending more time of the basics of the electromagnetic spectrum will help the next year’s students understand the subject even more.