Thursday, June 17, 2010

done. forever.

okay so everything is done! All my photos are up and everything and this blog has finally come to an end. I don't think i'll ever look at a blog the same way. They will forever look boring and tiring to keep up with.
So for the last time i say,

Until next time...
Lara.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

5th week.

Box in the dark.



Box in the shade.



Box in the sun.

4th week.

Box in the dark.



Box in the shade.



Box in the sun.

3rd week.

Box in the dark.



Box in the shade.




Box in the sun.

2nd week.

Box in the dark.



Box in the shade.



Box in the sun

here come the photos.

1ST WEEK


Box in the dark


Box in the shade



Box in the sun

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

aaw yea.

Woo! So, when i went to check up on the mushrooms on the 13th of June, i was actually checking up on mushrooms!! So i found some and i've done some observations. They aren't the same size, one box has more than the others, soil seems grey now from the mould and drier. So i'm halfway through the stupid report and i think i might be able to finish it today! Yay! I just have to upload pictures of results tomorrow and do my graphs and all that stuff. Oh and referencing, better not forget that.

Until next time...
Thank god it's nearly over.

Monday, June 14, 2010

woot.

Okay so i'm extremely happy that on the 6th of June when i yet again went to do a detailed check up on my mushrooms, i found mould and white spots i think might be mushrooms starting to grow! So i didn't fail my experiment which is fabulous:) And i probably will have results to work with for the results and the discussion so that's awesome. I'm more confident for the report now that i may have mushrooms before the report is due.

Until next time...
Bond. James Bond.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

oh my deary dear.

On Sunday 30th of May, i made the same trek as every Sunday and went to check up on my beloved mushroom boxes, only to be disappointed yet again. Not totally though, i am being a bit wishful now and this Sunday i discovered the light green or white mould that was supposed to appear 3 weeks ago (this is my fourth week) has only started to appear now and i'm worried if my experiment will work because i only have two more Sundays left, it was going to be only one Sunday left but i think i might need the extra week. The most mould has appeared in the box i put in the garage and not even that box had very much mould. The corner was filled with the mould and a bit of the other corner. The box under the stairs had only a few spots of mould and the box on the balcony had none, the fertilizer in it just looked moist. So, hopefully, next week we might be on to some mushrooms in the box in the garage.

Until next time...
Jeffrey.

oh dear.

Okay so, i never got to update the observations i made for when i checked my experiment on the 23rd of May, my dad really likes to annoy me by taking the computer away, anyway, on the 23rd i was disappointed yet again. No changes had appeared and i was still mushroomless and mouldless, which is an even bigger problem. The cultivation kit i bought said that after 7 days a light green or white mould should appear over the moss and that would be the first sign my mushrooms are growing, 3 weeks later and still no mould or mushrooms. The fertiliser looked the same as when i first put it in the box so hopefully next sunday, i will have some mould at least.

Until next time...
Mischief managed.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

third week.

So it's the third week and i've just gone to check up on the mushrooms. There still hasn't been any changes i can point out in any of the boxes of mushrooms. I did take pictures today though so i can show you what it looked like before they start to grow and i'll probably post them in a day or two as my mum has taken the camera and gone somewhere :S

Until next time...
Like a boss.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

gargh.

sorry it's late Ms. Zhang but my dad took the computer away to get Windows 7 and he only just got back D: Sorry! But yeah, here's the method and materials!

Materials
• Mushroom Cultivation kit
• Garbage bags
• 3 equally sized cardboard boxes
• Water mister

Method
1. Three boxes of equal size were obtained.
2. Three garbage bags of equal size were put into each of the garbage boxes so that the boxes were totally covered.
3. The mushroom compost from the mushroom cultivation kit was weighed and equally divided into each box.
4. The peat moss from the mushroom cultivation kit was weighed and equally divided into each box.
5. The boxes were all sprayed with the same water mister 5 times each, in all the corners and in the middle.
6. One box was put in a place with a constant shade.
7. One box was placed where the sun could reach it during daytime..
8. One box was placed in the garage, with another cardboard box over it to keep it totally dark.
9. Step 5 was repeated every day.
10. Results and observations were recorded.
11. A photograph was taken of each of the boxes.
12. Steps 9-11 were repeated for another 4 weeks.

Okay, well that was that:)
Until next time...
AVADA KEDAVRA.
Mwahahaha, now there is no next time.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

whuuaat?

So a week passed since i started my experiment, and on the 9th of May, i came back to observe the mushroom compost i had set up a week before and nothing seemed to have dramatically changed or grown. There was a slight change, where there seems to be less moss, but other than that, it looks the same.

Until the major blog is due...
Snivellus.


P.S. I liked your Harry-Potter-Essay example in science today. We could use with one of those essays rather than one on Pride and Prejudice...ew.

just sayin.

Okay so i started my experiment on Sunday, May 2nd and i equally divided the mushroom compost and the peat moss into equal sized boxes just to keep the variables totally controlled and i put a garbage bag in the box so when i spray it won’t make the cardboard box soggy and wet. I put the compost and moss into 3 boxes and placed one in the garage with a box around and on top of it to keep it dark, i live in a unit so i put another one under the stairs and the last one under the barbeque on the balcony. I sprayed them with water 5 times (using the same sprayer) each because the instructions told me to spray it. So i was planning on leaving it for 35 days because the kit said that the mushrooms should be ready by then, depending on where i put it, we’ll see in what environment mushrooms would grow the quickest in. Ill be checking them every 7 days so ill see the progress 5 times and on the 35th day, ill probably just throw them away, or sell them to a grocery store.

Until the 9th of May...
the Half Blood Princess.

Friday, April 23, 2010

the climate graph.


So this is just a post on the Climate Graph on Sydney's Weather in 2009 that we had to do. I wasn't sure if to do the average temperature or both the maximum and minimum temperature of Sydney because some climate graphs have just the average, some show both the max. and min. temperatures of a city, so yeah, Ms Zhang, a question for you, do we show both maximum and minimum temperatures?

Until next time...
Roonil Wazlib.

:)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

the explanation.

Okay, so, last blog was really just about the ideas i was having about the SRP and i was planning on doing the 'liver' idea i had, but that isn't allowed, so the mushroom one was next in line.

My aim would be 'To observe i what environment mushrooms can survive'.
I will be starting in the next few days and i will record results every 7 days.
Also, after some research i found, saying that 'mushrooms release millions of spores into the environment for further propagation of the species', so i would need partially large empty space, just for the mushrooms to grow on, to avoid them growing on belongings or things other than the ground. The site also wrote that there are kits that mushroom growers can buy, so i would need to look into this too and make sure i don't leave anything out when buying the necessary equipment from Bunnings Warehouse. There are different kits to buy as well, such as a sawdust/wood chip, straw and log cultivation kits. This would have to be another variable i need to control.

The site i got my research from is: http://www.mycosource.com/homecult.htm

My controlled variables would be:
- Location
- Amount/size of mushrooms
- What cultivation kit is used
- Temperature of locations

My independent variables would be:
- Speed it grows at
- How much it multiplies

This will be a 5 week experiment (i think) maybe longer if you want Ms Zhang:)
Hoped this installment gave you a bigger idea of what i've done and what i will be doing.

Until next time,
Lara!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

*DING* idea!!

Okay, so I’ve been thinking of ideas for the SRP and I think I may have come to a decision as to what experiment I will do. These are the ideas I’ve thought up of:

1. How beer is made from when it starts as a plant (malted barley, flavouring such as hope and brewer’s yeast) and to observe how the alcohol in it is increased. My aunt has a special apparatus that measures the amount of alcohol in a beverage and I would be able to measure it with that.

2. Another idea was observing the conditions in which mushrooms can live in. For example, I would keep some under the sink, some in the pantry, some on the balcony and some in the garage. I could get the mushrooms from Bunning’s Warehouse. The variables needed to be controlled are the amount of mushrooms I would have in one place and the size I get.

3. Another idea was to measure the amount of time cabbage took to create certain bacteria that would spread on the cabbage and then how long it would take for the bacteria to die and so I would observe how the cabbage goes from sweet to sour. I would use around 5 cabbages to create an average on the time, of how long it takes to create the bacteria and for it to die. I would also have to control the place where I keep it and that the temperature of the place where I keep it remains as constant as possible.

4. My last and final idea was:

To demonstrate how different edible liquids react to the body and to show that drinks with additives, preservatives and conservatives are unhealthy for the liver (beef or chicken, human is hard to attain) and how it might make it rot quicker and the drink would digest slower. I would also observe any other effects it had on the liver.

Drinks I would use:

· Coca cola

· Orange juice

· Natural orange juice

· Water

· Mineral water

· Beer

Variables needed to be controlled:

· Temperature

· Size of liver

· Amount of liquid


Please leave comments giving advice and also if the one i've chosen is in fact the best. I think the others are either hard or too simple. Thanks, Lara.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

idea.

I've been thinking of possible ideas for the experiment and i wanted something original but then again, it's hard to think of something like that. I've been thinking of maybe doing something including lots of people, for example, different reactions to something, but it would be hard to get at least 30 people to do something in a short amount of time. One idea i've had was to measure how quickly different amounts of sugar dissolve in different soft drinks, but that idea was crushed when i saw a poster of a similar idea in the library and so that means someone had already done it. So, i'm still thinking.

Friday, February 5, 2010