Manhattan College Mechanical Engineering Annual Summer Institute

Manhattan College Engineering Summer Institute Application

This summer the Mechanical Engineering Department at Manhattan College is sponsoring its 14th Annual Summer Institute for high school students. It consists of an intensive, four-day program intended for high school sophomores and juniors interested in exploring the field of engineering. The session will be held July 25-28.

Follow the link above for the original letter and an application which must be submitted with a letter of recommendation from your guidance counselor or a math/science teacher by April 29, 2011.

Manhattan College Engineering Summer Institute

Core Earth Science Crater Lab

Boiling Water Nuclear Reactor

The following video examines how the reactors like the ones damaged by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan function.

Forensic Students Study Hair and Fiber Standards

          In the Forensic Science class, the students are currently studying examples of trace evidence, in this case hairs and fibers. To do this the students are using our digital microscopes to exam "standards" known samples of different types of hairs and fabrics. They will then use these knowns as a basis of comparison to identify an unknown sample of trace evidence by indicating its source.

          In this unit the students learned the characteristics used to distinguish the hairs from different animals, humans, and the three races of humans. Structural differences between these hairs allow their identification. The students learned to identfy different cuticle patterns and medullary patterns which are used to classify hair from different animals and humans.

          The hair samples used were from cats, dogs, rats, human dyed hair, human blonde hair, human natural gray hair, human brown hair, and human red hair. In addition to these samples, prepared slides contained sheep, wooly mammoth, mouse, deer, rabbit, mink, musk rat, seal and horse hairs.



K. Abiko and A. King are measuring the diameters of the hairs they have already captured digitally.



N. Janney and M. Warnken have catalogued all their various hairs.

I. Markota, K. Bisconti, J. O'Neill, K.Stack and J. Burns compare notes and images collected.

Honors Core Chemistry Class Probe Phase Change/Energy Relationship

In Ms. Meyer's Honors Core Chemistry class, the ninth graders use temperature probes, graphing calculators and laptops to determine the change in temperture that occurs in a phase change (solid to liquid/liquid to solid).  Graphing this data, they should be able to visualize the relationships that exist between temperature, heat and energy by observing the trend/pattern shown in the graph.  They can then calculate the actual amount of energy absorbed (during melting) and released (during freezing). This initial investigation introduces the students to thermochemistry. Further investigations will involve determining the specific heat of a metal and determining the Calorie content in a cheese doodle!!!

Sixth Grade Moon Phase Model Project

Mr. Viggiani's sixth grade classes were given a group project to creatively build a model to represent the phases of the moon.

The "Ace of Cakes" better beware, this group of Bronxville Sixth Graders are prepared to give you some tough competition!

Had Harold Arlen seen this representation of the phases of the moon, would he and his collaborators had written "Its Only an Oreo Moon" instead of  "Its Only a Paper Moon"??

This model that looks good enough to eat!

This creative model of  moon phases resurrected the Hula Hoop. Will the Pet Rock be next?

Grade 8 Science Classes "Sludge" Test

          The curriculum in the Eighth Grade of Bronxville Middle School is primarily one that studies the nature of matter, Chemistry. In the pursuit of this study the students discuss and observe the various physical properties of matter. They observe, develop protocols, and carry out inquiries into these physical properties. They then learn different techniques that are based on these properties and can be used to separate different phases/forms of matter from a mixture.  One major performance assessment is the sludge test, in which the students are given a sample of sludge and asked to use what they have learned to separate it into its component substances.

Google....sludge.......Sludge refers to the residual, semi-solid material left from industrial wastewater, or sewage treatment processes. It can also refer to the settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment,^[1] and numerous other industrial processes. The term is also sometimes used as a generic term for solids separated from suspension in a liquid; this 'soupy' material usually contains significant quantities of 'interstitial' water (between the solid particles).

(Apologies to the Monotones) "I wonder, wonder, what's in my tube of sludge!"

Let's see if we can find it in here........muck.....mud.....ooze......ah...here it is SLUDGE!

Science Olympiad Team Places Fifth at Olympiad Regional

Coach Windels and Mr. Viggiani accompanied the Middle School Science Olympiad team to Scarsdale Middle School where the team competed at the regionals on Saturday, March 12th and placed 5th out of 27 teams.  This qualified the team for the state competition which will be held at Ulster Community College on April 8th and 9th.  The team consists of 19 students in grades 6 - 9.

   

Norfolk Botanical Gardens Eagle Nest Cam

Follow this link Eagle Cam

It leads to a public TV web page in Virgina. The page contains a 24 hour streaming web camera trained on a bald eagle nest. It also contains a blog area on the right side of the page, in which there is an ongoing discussion about the eagles and their nesting habits. Also the bottom of the page contains slide show compiled of parts of the camera's streams from previous days/weeks. A very interesting site!

AP Environmental Science Wind Turbine Lab

Picture of Canadian Wind Farm from www.dropyourenergybill.com

         
          The AP Environmental Science course covers a variety of topics, including the examination of alternative energy sources. One of these is the conversion of the wind's kinetic energy  into mechanical energy which can generate usable power to do work.

          Traditionally this energy would be captured by the blades of a windmill. The wind passing over the blades causes them to rotate. The mechanical energy of this rotation was then harnessed to drive mill stones for grinding grains or mechanical pumps to draw water from wells or drive irrigation systems. In their more modern iterations, these simple machines' rotational mechanical energy is used to generate electrical energy. Such machines are the modern wind turbines that are currently being deployed in wind farms to generate electrical energy.

          Blade material, shape, and size have a major effect on the power a wind turbine can generate. Other variables in blade design, such as blade length, pitch, and weight can be manipulated to maximize efficiency. In this exercise the students manipulate these variables and try to design a blade that will generate the most electrical energy as measured by current produced in their simple circuits.

Aine, Michaela, Kathleen etal. decided to go with a three bladed turbine, whose blades were relatively long, broad and tear shaped. Their pitch looks moderate.

Gibbs, Kevin, Brendan etal. went with a turbine with five relatively short blades with what look like a rather severe pitch.

The blades on Greg, Billy, Matt and Jack's turbine seemed more "squared" off and of moderate length. From this angle the blades appear to have almost no pitch. 

Kevin, Karly etal. chose to go with a three bladed turbine. The body of their blades were square with a triangular distal end. The pitch of the blades in this picture looks to be less than 45 degrees.

Nina, Jan and Niki chose to design their turbine with three large "bullet" shaped blades with minimal pitch.

Sam, Nick, Angus etal. designed a six bladed turbine with the "tapered square" shape. The pitch of the blade appears to be minimal.

AP Biology Students' Organ System Presentations

The Third Quarter Project I

Must be a well-made PowerPoint, Summary Handout and Class Presentation of the Organ System you volunteered to present to the class!  You have been chosen a group to work with and your group has elected to examine a particular human organ system.  It is the job of your group to present the relevant information about that system to the class on the date that posted on the Ed-line Calendar.  You will have time in class to work on your presentation and it is expected that you work outside of class on it as well.  In addition to the presentation, you will compile a summary sheet of information for the class about your system. 

Animal Organ Systems

Evolution of the Organ System

Include a description of how the organ system evolved in relation to the phylogeny of the animal kingdom. Your presentation should summarize the organs and functions of the systems in the major animal phyla. The usual phyla and representative organisms are as follows: Cnidaria-jellyfish, Platyhelminthes-Planaria, Nematoda-Ascaris, Annelida-Earthworm, Arthropoda-Grasshopper

Human Organ System and Function

What are the major organs?  What is the system’s function?  How is the system involved in the maintenance of homeostasis?  What is the functional unit of the system and how does it work within the system?

Functional Unit/Functioning of the System

List the organs and their roles. Include pictures to indicate how the structure is related to the function of the organ. Explain functional unit and how it works. Describe how this system interacts with the other systems in the body?

Malfunctions of the Organ System

Identify and describe any of the major malfunctions that alter the normal function of the organ system.

E-mail Presentation

You must E-mail me a copy of your presentation and summary handout well before its due date so that I can run off copies of a handout of your presentation for your classmates to take notes during your presentation.

B. Davies, L. Florek, S. Monaco - Sensory and Motor Systems


Davies Florek Monaco Sensory and Motor Mechanisms Project

C. Grealy - Sensory and Motor Systems

Grealy Sensory_and_Motor_system FINAL

Colvin, Faselt, Torres - Nervous System

Rwf Apbio Nervous System Project

Pennoyer - Nervous System 

Pennoyer APBIOLOGYNERVOUSSYSTEMfinal[2]

T.Tao - Endocrine System

Hormones and the Endocrine System on Prezi

Amboss, Gray - Endocrine System

Gray Amboss Endocrine Presentation

Carpenter - Animal Reproduction

Carpenter Animal Reproduction Carpenter Animal Reproduction

Bothwell, Cody, Detwiler - Animal Reproduction 

Cody Bothwell Detwiler Reproductive system E

R. Grunseich - Osmoregularity

Grunseich Osmoregulation and Excretion

K. Bianco, K. Bopp, B. Mattes - Osmoregularity (Excretory System)

Mattes Etal Osmoregulation

G. Sargent - Immune System 

Sargent Immune System

K. Noonan, S. Blessing, C. Louka - Immune System 

Noonan Blessing Louka The Immune System-FINAL

E.Delaney - Circulatory and Respiratory Systems

Delaney CircResp Project

S. Braumuler, P. Gordon , M. Pascale - Circulatory and Respiratory Systems

Braumuller Circ Resp