Science (ICAS) 2013 Competition

ICAS in Science is a is a skills based  Science Literacy assessment that is completed by over a million students from over 6,300 schools in Australia and New Zealand annually.  Why should you enter?

• Fun and challenging competition
• Great for CV
• Gives you an indication of skill on a national level
• HVHS students have traditionally preformed very well. 
• All students can participate - Y9 to Y13

Students sit the assessment on the 5th June, however if you want to enter you need to hand in permission slip with $8.50 to the resource centre by Friday 3rd May

Find out more here

What is DNA? - YouTube

What is DNA? - YouTube: ""

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Carl Sagan - COSMOS - Evolution - YouTube

Carl Sagan - COSMOS - Evolution - YouTube: ""

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Carbon Compounds as Fuels

This week we will be attempting our first internal assessment. It is in two parts; first there is the practical activity which will be completed in rooms A2 and A3. The second part of the assessment is the written questions and essay which will be done in class by Friday. Don't forget that you can use the information in your soft covered exercise book to help you with the essay questions.

In order to prepare for your assessment make sure you have completed research tasks one and two and review the key task practical activities.

Good Luck with your assessment!

Working out energy content in fuels

During the last couple of weeks we have been doing a lot of practical activities based around the energy content of fuels. It is a simple process involving heating water with a flame produced by either burning wax, natural gas or ethanol.

Scientists have found that it takes 4.2 Joules of energy to heat 1ml of water by 1 degree C. So as long as we know how many mls of water we are heating and how long it takes and by how much the temperature increases we can calculate the amount of energy produced per unit of time. If we know also how much fuel was consumed (burnt) for example by weighing the fuel before and after heating the water we can calculate how much energy is produced per gram of fuel. This can be used to compare the energy content of our fuels.

Energy content in ethanol

Carbon compounds as fuels

Right now you should  be completing the two research tasks as you prepare for the internal assessment. If you have any questions about the assessment please make sure you ask your teachers for help.

Calculating the energy from the sun

The sun's energy on earth - Wonders of the Solar System - BBC - YouTube: ""

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