Under the Microscope...

Here is a video of microorganisms in a dirty science mixture. There are a couple microorganisms in the mixture: Parmecium and Rotifers.

 

Paramecium move with the assistance of small hairs called cilia. Cilia projects from all sides of their bodies. The single-celled organisms use these hairs like oars, beating them against the water to move around in pursuit of food and to avoid predators. A paramecium cell ranges from about 50 to 350 µm in length.

 

Rotifers move around by spinning their cilia in a wheel motion and swimming through the ocean.  Rotifers are 0.1–0.5 mm long (although their size can range from 50 μm to over 2 millimeters).  

Causes of Water Related Diseases.

 

In my last blogpost I wrote facts about dirty water and how it kills people, how it causes disease, etc. basically, how it affects the everyday life). Now I will tell about what the cause of water related disease's are.

There are many water-related diseases. For example there is cholera, typhiod, malaria, polio, hepatitis, etc. Waterborne disease's have been contaminated by human, animal, or chemical wastes. People are introduced to these microorganisms through contaminated drinking water, water drops, aerosols, and washing/ bathing. Some water-borne diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms that most commonly are transmitted in contaminated water. Mainly children in developing countries get a water-borne disease.

 

Cholera:

- Cholera is an acute, diarrhoeal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

- A person may get cholera by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium.

- Cholera can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treament of sewage and drinking water.

- The cholera bacterium may also live in the environment in brackish rivers and coastal waters.

 

Malaria:

- Malaria is the world's most important parasitic disease transmitted from one person to another thourhg the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes.

- Anopheles mosquitoes breed in fresh or occasionally brackish water.

 

Typhiod: - Typhoid is acute, generalized infections caused by Salmonella typhi.

- The main sources of infection are contaminated water or milk.

- Especially in urban communities, food handlers who are carriers.

The water gets dirty from pollution and human and animal waste. Chemicals are coming into the water which people take from. People shower/bathe, get water, wash hands, use the tiolet, etc. in the water. I don't blame the people for having a shower in the water, because they have nowhere else to have a shower. This is what poverty does to the less fortunate people. When you are poor and you don't have enough money to pay for good sanitation and water you have to use anything that you can find. Hopefully we will find a way to fix this big water crisis, fast!

Water Crisis

 

Around the world people have a lack of clean water. This causes many disease's like Cholera, Hepatitis A, Malaria, Diarrhea, Typhoid, and Dengue.

 

Here are 10 facts about the water crisis:

 

1. An American taking a five minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.

 

2. Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness.

3. 800 million people have no access to safe drinking water.

4. The world's poor often pay more for their water than people in Britain or the U.S.

5. Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water.

6. 780 million people – 1 in every 9 – don’t have access to clean water.

7. Dirty water kills 3.4 million people every year.

8. Less than one percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater available for human consumption.

9. The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to 5 gallons of water the average African family uses each day.

10. Worldwide, approximately 425 million children under 18 do not have safe water.

 

Here is a picture of the microbes of Cholera.

 

 

Here are some really good websites that I used for some of my facts:

http://www.waterinfo.org/resources/water-facts
http://www.compassion.com/poverty/water.htm

 

Water Bill

My family's average monthly water consumption for the past six months is about 35.9 cubic meters per month. We live in a condo in an apartment, and the national average for apartments in Singapore is 17.2 cubic meters per month. That means my family is 18.7 cubic meters over the average, which computes to 108.7% higher than the average apartment uses.

There are five people living in my house: my dad, mom, sister, helper, and myself. After I worked out the calculations, I found that each member of my apartment uses about 231.6 liters of water daily. Again, this is much higher than the national average. The average Singaporean who lives in a similar type house as me and has a family of 5, uses about 110.96 liters of water per day. My 231.6 liters is only what I use at home. I also use water at school and when I'm out of my apartment in other places in and out of Singapore.

I think that I definitely need to look at ways to reduce my consumption and not use up so much water. If I could convince my family to help me, I think we could reduce our water use by at least 20% each month. This would put us at 28.7 cubic meters.



My ultimate goal is to reduce our usage by 10% the first month, an additional 10% the second month and another 5% in the third month. If my family and I could reach these goals we would use 32.3 cubic meters on the first month. We would use 28.7 cubic meters on the second month. We would use 26.9 cubic meters on the third month.





The graph below shows my family's water usage for the past six months (the first six months), the average (the colum before my targets, but after the first six months), and my targets for the next three months (the three months after the average).

Here are five ways that my family and I are going to conserve water to reach our targets:

1. Don't run water while brushing teeth, shaving, washing dishes, etc.
2. Take shorter showers.
3. Only do full loads of laundry.
4. Don't water my outdoor plants during a rainy day.
5. Turn the shower off while putting on shampoo or soap.

For other ways to save water, go to these websites:

http://www.pub.gov.sg/conserve/Households/Pages/defualt.aspx

http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips/
 

Germ Theory Project

Here is my germ theory project. I hope you enjoy!
(If yo're able to edit my popplet, please don't!)

Turtle in Paradise Mood Reflection

In our book clubs were are reading historical fiction books, the book that I'm reading is Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. This book is about a girl named Turtle. Turtle and her mom are going through a tough time in the 1935's. Her mom is a housekeeper, and everyone hates the housekeeper's daughter, so that's why Turtle has to go and live with her auntie, who she barely knows. Turtle's mom assures Turtle that one day they will live in their own house, just not now. Before Turtle leaves, her mom promise's Turtle that Key West Florida is paradise. But Turtle disagrees from what she see's. Turtle gets drove to her aunty's house by Mr. Lyle Edgit. Turtle reaches her auties' house and Aunt Minnie gets very surprised. She didn't know that Turtle was coming to live with her, and too make things worse Aunt Minnie already has too much on her hands with so many kids. One cousin that really stands out, in my opinion, is Beans.

I think that the reason why Turtle's mom said that Key West Florida is paradise is because everyone knows and loves Turtle's mom. So maybe she did something amazing, or she was a really good and popular kid back in the day. To prove my statement, where ever Turtle goes everyone is like: " Aren't you Sadiebelle's girl? Nice to meet you, you really do look like your mother." Miss Bea said this Turtle, when she met her in Miss Philomena's house, ( page 78). Because of this I think that Turtle is going to start to like Key West Florida, since everyone is so nice to her.

I think that the mood is moving on, which is part of life. Turtle has to get used to a new environment, Aunt Minnie's tiny house compared to the comfort of a big house with her mom. On page 21 it says: 'A house that's tiny and dark and smells like sour milk... a wicker couch that's got a broken leg propped up with a bunch of rags and a worn braided wool rug that looks like something bad got spilled on it.'
Turtle has to live without her mother, who she has lived with her whole life. And to make things even more lonely she has to live with people she barely knows. For example when Beans and met Turtle on page 17 and started introducing themselves it was very akward: ' "I'm Turtle," I say... " I'm Beans...' Turtle and Beans only got to know that they were related when Aunt Minnie came, too see who Beans was talking to on page 17.

I think that the music video that I found shows how hard moving on can be. The lady in the video looks very sad and depressed. Also it shows how she is always looking back at her past, like how Turtle is always thinking about her mom. 

Cells...

Why is a cell called a cell? Why not something else?

The cell was named a cell by a scientist named Robert Hooke. Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (another scientist) had been sending letters about his findings to Robert Hooke, a colleague of his. Robert Hooke liked all aspects all science and learned a little bit about each category. One day as Robert Hooke was looking at a piece of cork under his microscope he saw little chambers. The little chambers that he saw reminded him of cells, or the rooms monks slept in their monastries. So that's how cells were named cells!