https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8 en-us 2016-09-28 13:14:56 UTC 2017-05-19 18:11:19 UTC hello@padlet.com http://clipart-library.com/data_images/158352.jpg marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/126945148 The movie October Sky is about Homer Hickam, a teenager desperate to get a scholarship to get out of his small town and escape his fate of being a coal miner.   When Homer sees Sputnik flying across the night sky, he is fascinated, and recruits his friends to help him build their own model rockets.  It's just a hobby until their teacher tells them of a science fair that gives out scholarships.  Then, their excitement is renewed to build the best rocket to win a scholarship.  
I think this movie will have the typical happy ending. Maybe the father will die, but Homer will end up with a science scholarship to some fancy school far away. ]]> 2016-09-28 13:16:33 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/126945148 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/138080920 This movie has a lot of science in it that makes sense in theory but I do not think it work work in real life. For example, when Watney used a plastic tarp and duct tape to create an airtight seal and re-pressurize the HAB.  Cool concept, pretty risky.  I would not have taken my suit off, regardless of how stable the computer claims the room to be.  
Another interesting science bit is the use of centripetal force stop create artificial gravity inside the Hermes. I (mostly) understand the science behind it and why it works, but the idea of it still amazes me.  I also realized in watching this film that the idea of space travel at all amazes me.  Science is cool.  ]]> 2016-11-16 14:35:51 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/138080920 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/141899771 Something that was covered in this video that we also discussed in class is the placement of Earth relevant to the sun.  If we were any further the planet would be too cold to support life, any closer and it would be too hot. The placement is just right, which is why the video referred to Earth as "The Goldilocks Planet".  Another topic covered is the possibility of life on other planets and the Drake Equation. Based off of what the video covered, the theory that other life in the universe is "too alien" for us to communicate with seems eve more probably to me. Maybe there is life somewhere very far off that can survive very high or very low temperatures, or extreme pressures. Perhaps this life isn't even carbon-based. The explanation of the lack of life on each planted in our solar system was very interesting to me. ]]> 2016-12-05 22:35:14 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/141899771 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/144541049 So far, what I think Interstellar is about is a world that seems to be almost post-apocalyptic, but instead of a nuclear holocaust or some other over-used plot device, the people ran out of food. Now, many people are farmers, but the crops are failing. The main character is called Cooper, and he used to be a pilot at NASA. Now, NASA is underground and secret, and they ask him for help to find a new planet for all the humans to live on because Earth isn't capable of sustaining human life anymore.  That's where we left off.

I think the movie is going to have a happy ending. To me a happy ending is Plan A- everyone on Earth is moved to the new planet. I don't know how that will happen but I think (and hope) it does. I really like the character Murph so I hope she gets to live happily on this new planet with her dad. ]]> 2016-12-21 00:58:41 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/144541049 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/144673321 This movie is really interesting.   Although it doesn't seem long to Cooper, it's been at least 20 years on earth.  The only people of the crew left are Cooper and Dr. Brand, and they only have part of the Endurance left. Cooper drops himself in to the black hole, Gargantua, so that Dr.Brand will loose enough mass to escape the gravity, and either go to Edmund's planet or return to Earth. At the point we stopped, Cooper and TARS were inside the singularity, and Coops can see out through the walls into Murph's old bedroom, and he can interact with her by moving books around.  He was Murph's ghost.  

I honestly have no idea what to even think about how the ending of the movie is opening to go. I want there to be as good ending, I want Cooper to see his kids again, I want everyone on Earth to be able to go to another plant or find some other way to survive, but I wane absolutely no idea how Cooper is going to pull that off. ]]> 2016-12-22 12:39:27 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/144673321 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/146247156 There may be stars in the universe made entirely out of quarks.  Quarks are the subatomic particles that make up hadrons, the most stable of which being protons and neutrons. 
Neutron stars are created during the collapse of massive stars after fusion can no longer occur.  During the collapse, electrons and protons are pushed together to form neutrons.  The matter continues to cave in on itself until the neutrons reach their absolute limit of density.  The rest of the mass explodes outward, creating a supernova, and leaving just the neutron star.
Ordinary neutron stars are consists of a thin iron crust atop a very dense fluid that is almost entirely composed of neutrons. This fluid is called neutronium. Neutronium is a degenerate matter, which means the particles within are so compressed that they cannot get any closer without overlapping each other, which had been deemed impossible by quantum physics.
However, within the core of neutron stars, the particles within the neutronium begin to overlap each other. This is hypothesized to cause neutrons to dissolve into quarks.  In their highly pressurized state, the quarks form a superfluid which is even denser than neutronium.  A neutron star with such a core is known as a quark star. 
Due to the nature of up and down quarks,  the high pressure is the only thing keeping the core of these stars stable.  That makes it unlikely that an entire star could consist entirely of quarks.  Unless the star was composed of up, down, and strange quarks.  It could be possible that during the compression of the core into the dense superfluid state, half of the down quarks are transformed into strange quarks.  The result is strange matter, which has three quark types instead of two, meaning more particles can occupy the lowest quantum energy states.  The low energy state makes strange matter possibly the most stable matter in the universe.  This means a star made entirely of strange matter would be completely stable, so if they exist, they could exist forever.  These stars are called strange stars.  
Another theory for the core of neutron stars is that they have an electroweak core. This would be an apple sized core with the mass of two Earths. The quarks inside burn, and the energy released is composed of neutrinos. ]]> 2017-01-10 14:11:09 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/146247156 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/149713328 What's happened so far: Nothing very interesting. This movie so far is very cliche and boring. Ellie, a small-town girl with a tragic backstory, lives near San Juan near a large satellite dish used to study listen to radio waves coming from space.  Ellie's purpose for using the dish is to attempt to find extra-terrestrial life.  She meets a guy, Palmer, who is kinda of a jerk, and sleeps with him within a few days of meeting.  After this, the National Science Foundation cuts her funding, booting her out of the program and leaving her homeless.  Ellie and a few other scientists who have been cut off from funding decide to travel to New Mexico to do it themselves.  

What I predict: I'm not sure what's going to happen, as we didn't really see enough of the film to be able to judge where it may be going with any accuracy. The title is a spoiler, however, so I know Ellie or one of her rouge scientists will likely find extra-terrestrial life while in New Mexico. Ellie will probably end up with Palmer, because Hollywood will never tire of forced heterosexual romance. ]]> 2017-01-26 18:40:06 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/149713328 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/150227552 What happened: Dr. Alloway and her team discovered odd signals coming from a star (or a star system, I can't quite remember) called Vega. At first, there were radio signals that pulsed at the intervals of prime numbers. Then they received a returned signal of the opening of the 1936 olympic games. Everyone is freaking out about it and Drumlin takes all of the credit for the discovery.  

What I predict: I'm not sure how the end will be. I'm hoping they find (friendly) life and Ellie and her team can get the credit they deserve. ]]> 2017-01-30 14:13:13 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/150227552 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/150546058 What Happened: They built a wormhole generating machine, which was blown up by a terrorist. Ellie is next in line to go, with a new machine, kept secret from the public. When she goes through the machine, she travels to the star Vegan via what seems to be an intergalactic highway system.  She spends 18 hours on this other planet, and speaks to an alien who has chose to present themselves as her deceased father, hoping it will make her feel more comfortable.  
When she returns to Earth, she learns that according to Earth time she simply passed through the machine and landed in the water below.  Therefore, no one believes that she actually went anywhere, and thinks she was dreaming or hallucinating after hitting her head as the capsule was falling.  Ellie still stands by what she saw, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary.  Einstien's laws of special relativity state that a long amount of time on Earth would feel very short to someone travelling and very very nearly almost the speed of light, but if Ellie's story us correct, then the opposite is true.  Ellie stands by what she saw for spitiual and emotional reasons rather than logical ones.  Whether this is showing character development or ignorance and hypocrisy, I do not know. ]]> 2017-01-31 14:59:24 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/150546058 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/156737692 Most scientists do not have any theory as to what existed before the Big Bang.  Some theories exist but none can be proved for obvious reasons.  
One theory is that time only began at the big bang.  The answer to what there was before is simple; nothing.  It is likely, according to this theory, that the universe will expand forever.
Another theory is the big crunch. This says that the universe expands to a point before contracting again, being reduced to a singularity,. This produces another big bang. Even if this theory is true, it doesn't truly answer the question; what existed before the FIRST big bang? ]]> 2017-02-28 14:56:19 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/156737692 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/157103178 So far, we have heard of the tragic background of Dr.Banks, who's teenage daughter dies of cancer.  Dr. Banks is a linguist who is called to Montana when one of a dozen space crafts lands there.  No one know where the space crafts are from or how to figure that out.  They call in Dr. Banks hoping she can begin to translate  what the aliens are saying.  We had to cut off the movie before she actually met with them.  
My only prediction is Dr.Banks find a relationship, which happens in every movie ever. Probably with the physicist that was brought in with her. I have no idea whether the aliens are benevolent or not, but I'm relatively sure that Dr. Banks will be eventually find a way to understand their language. ]]> 2017-03-01 17:30:51 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/157103178 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/157374551 In the second part of the film, Dr. Banks and the rest of the team make many communication advancements with the aliens. They find out the aliens have names. With no way to truly translate their names into english, or any other Earth language, they decide on calling them Abbott and Costello. After a message from Abbott is translated to "Offer weapons", the military freaks out. Dr. Banks insists they not make any decisions until clearing up the conversation and clarifying exactly what Abbott meant.  She and Ian go back into the spacecraft to do just that, but a few rogue soldiers have planted a bomb within Abbott and Costello's ship.  They use some sort of power they have to push Ian and Louise out of the ship, saving their lives.  They then fly the ship up higher, hovering in the air, making it much more difficult for any humans to enter.  Everyone is concerned about retaliation from both the Montana ship and others around the world, but Dr. Banks is more concerned with being able to apologize to Abbott and Costello for what happened.  She wants them to know that it was not she and Ian who did this.
I do not know how the aliens are going to react, but if I were in such a situation I would side more with Dr. Banks than the government.  The ceptapods have done nothing to harm us so far, and it is likely that the translation is either a mistake on behalf of the translators or a misunderstanding on either side. ]]> 2017-03-02 16:01:04 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/157374551 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/162164338 Evolution is the only reason we are alive the way we are today. Gene mutations passed down through generations are how natural selection creates the best possible selection of traits. Artificial selection happens with domesticated animals, like dogs and cats. Life is resilient on Earth, and perhaps even on other planets, where the conditions are so harsh in our eyes. Other forms of life could require a different substance in favor of water, or a different gas to breathe in favor of oxygen, or prefer a different climate, such as the extreme heat or extreme cold. ]]> 2017-03-23 15:17:22 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/162164338 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/163121369 Captain Chuck Yeager was the first man to fly at supersonic speeds,effectively defeating "the demon in the sky". After such amazing advancements in technology, along with Russia's launch of Sputnik, US government pushes for a movement to launch a human into outer space. At the point we stopped in the film, Yeager and other pilot, both military and civilian, are being given medical tests in hopes that they will be chosen as America's first astronauts. There is much doubt in such a dangerous mission, but many younger Air Force pilots only care for the glory, and no the concerns. This remind me of the term "jolly volly", used by career/paid firefighter to make fun of the volunteers for being too peppy and excited at scenes. ]]> 2017-03-28 13:38:06 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/163121369 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/163441582 In this section of the movie, we saw many of the tests that were carried out in order to select qualified people to be America's first astronauts.  Captain Yeager was discluded from these tests because he lacks a college degree.  
Alan Sheppard ends up being the first American to reach outer space.  Gus Grissom goes on a similar mission, but when the pod returns to Earth the escape hatch blows prematurely and the capsule fills with water and sinks.  Though Grissom claims the hatch 'just blew', he is under fire from higher-ups who believe he panicked and blew the hatch prematurely.  Currently, they are planning another mission, hoping to be bigger and better than Russia.  ]]> 2017-03-29 14:42:26 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/163441582 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/164010467 The conclusion of this film seemed uneventful and anti-climatic. I wish the end had a point to it, it feels like the movie had no real plot. I understand that some films are shown in small segments like this, but it was done poorly in this case. ]]> 2017-03-31 16:02:01 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/164010467 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441818 Lovell reminds me a lot of some firefighters at my department. His attitude toward getting to the moon is vert similar to how "jolly vollies" act when given the chance at a real fire, or the possibility of making a grab. I hope he ends up with a better attitude. 
Most of this science is pretty spot on, but whatt do I know. I'm not NASA. ]]> 2017-05-02 14:48:09 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441818 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441885 Lovell's attitude ended up exactly where it should be! He didn't make it to the moon but he made it back to Earth, and he finally realized that the Earth part is more important.
I'm still upset that Mattingly did not get to fly, especially considering he didn't even end up getting sick. That;s unfair. ]]> 2017-05-02 14:48:25 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441885 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441944 Our planet is dying.  The government refuses to believe so.  This movie is a great way to show kids what the world could look like if we don't take care of it, while also being really cool and taking place in space.]]> 2017-05-02 14:48:34 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169441944 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169442037 Wall-E is my favorite movie of all time. The second part of the film shows Wall-E flying himself back towards the ship with a fire extinguisher. Based on what we learned in class, the physics shown in this scene aren't entirely accurate, but they're also not terrible. Theoretically, Wall-E would not have to charge the extinguisher
more than once in the right direction in order to make it back to the ship, because there is no friction to slow him down in space. ]]> 2017-05-02 14:48:50 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169442037 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169956095 I'm never going into outer space, ever.  The chances of things like this happening seems to likely within the huge span of space, even just considering the space between Earth and the moon. This entire story is terrifying. I can't write much more on this part of the movie because I missed most of class for a lesson. ]]> 2017-05-04 14:51:38 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/169956095 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/171245098 This movie is awful.  Barely anything about it was accurate, and the main character was stupid and annoying. How did she earn the title 'doctor'? How did NASA choose her to go into space. The ending was anti-climatic and disappointing.  Physics is hard. I'm angry. ]]> 2017-05-11 13:22:07 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/171245098 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172865394 This episode talked about a lot of astronomers.  Hooke, who sucks because he ruined Newton's life by taking credit for someone else's work.  The only thing he actually did was Hooke's law of elasticity.  Newton came up with laws of motion and how gravity works, along with why. Halley did comet stuff and also convinced Newton to publish his book and bring his knowledge to the world. The last astronomer is Oort, who helped Halley with the comet thing by figuring out there's a huge cloud (Oort cloud) that is full of comets. ]]> 2017-05-19 18:02:48 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172865394 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172865460 Light takes time to travel to Earth.   One light-year is how far light can travel in one year.  We can't see stars that are very far away or very young because the light has not reached Earth yet.  When we see starts we are actually seeing what they looked like in the past.  Black holes are dead stars that have a lot of gravity.  So much so that light cannot escape.  

]]> 2017-05-19 18:03:10 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172865460 marykathryn_sweeney https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172866147 2017-05-19 18:07:11 UTC https://padlet.com/marykathryn_sweeney/2b0pz0zz99t8/wish/172866147