Apologia General Science, Module 12, Energy and Life

►Videos and Resources for M12

Energy comes from the sun! ☼
I find that interesting, because Spiritual "energy" comes from the Son.  =)

When you eat a green plant, you're eating something that got its energy from the sun.
When you eat meat, you're eating something that indirectly got its energy from the sun.
When you read your Bible, you are getting your "energy" from the Son.
When you listen to preaching, you are indirectly getting your "energy" from the Son!  =)
Oh, I'm just thinking of all kinds of comparisons now!  Keep these thoughts in mind as you read this post.  =)


Plants are producers.  They make their own food.
I make chicken and broccoli, but that isn't really making my own food.  I'm just cooking food that is already "made."  =)
Plants produce food for many organisms.
Since I eat the food produced by plants, or eat meat that once ate plants, etc, I am a consumer.
If you are not a producer, you are a consumer.  (Unless you're an inanimate object, hehe.)
Even members of kingdom Fungi (such as mushrooms, yeast, or mold) are consumers.
But they do something special -- they do not eat, but decompose their food before ingesting it, so they are classified as decomposers.
We don't like mold to get on our food, but some molds grow out in nature, like slime molds.  Mushrooms feed on dead organisms, such as the leaves that fall.  If not, they would just pile up until you could no longer take walks through the woods!

2 pretty omnivores!  =)

Consumers can be further classified as:

• herbivores (eat only producers)
• carnivores (eat only other consumers)
• omnivores (eat both producers and consumers).  

All food chains begin with a green plant, so even though it is indirectly, almost all energy used by living organisms comes from the sun!  =)
The exceptions are some exotic bacteria that get energy from chemical reactions.  But that happens at the bottom of the ocean, so I'm not going to talk about them.


We get our energy from food through a process that is somewhat like combustion.  No, we will not burst into flame; our cells convert food to energy through a very slow combustion-like process.
In Experiment 12.1, What Combustion Needs, we learned that combustion needs oxygen.
That is why it can be very dangerous to open a window during a fire.  The flames will leap toward the window because oxygen "feeds" the fire.
When vinegar mixes with baking soda, it creates carbon dioxide, which does the opposite to fire than what oxygen does.
Watch this clip.



Our bodies need oxygen to help the process of converting food to energy.
In Biology we learn a lot more about this, and the process is called Cellular Respiration (takes place in the cell).  In General Science, this process is compared to combustion, but I went ahead and taught my students a bit about Cellular Respiration.
Here is a visual image of what is needed and what is produced by Cellular Respiration.

We take in food and oxygen, and produce water, carbon dioxide, and energy.
Since we don't need the carbon dioxide, it is called a waste product, or a by-product, and it is used by another organism - plants.

Plants take in energy from the sun, carbon dioxide, and water, and make food and oxygen.
This is called Photosynthesis.
The food they make is for themselves, but humans and animals eat it too.  The oxygen is not something the plant needs, so it is a by-product - and one from which we benefit.

Do you see the comparison between Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis?  
The processes are opposite one another!
See this image:

God certainly knew what he was doing when He created everything!  And just think!  He didn't need to try several times to get it right.  He made it all from the beginning, perfectly.
Sadly, because of sin, things didn't stay perfect, but He also made a way of Salvation!  Isn't He wonderful!!!


We also did Experiment 12.2, The Products of Combustion.
We needed a balloon, and the kids got a little silly drawing faces on them.  I caught this shot of my daughter Bethany and Courtney.  Courtney looks like she needs a little oxygen!  =)

The balloon is on the 2-liter bottle for a reason.  The experiment said to mix baking soda and vinegar in the bottle, and quickly put the balloon on, making a good seal.  (not this kind)
Remember what vinegar and baking soda make?  Carbon dioxide.
As the vinegar and baking soda bubbled and foamed, the balloon filled with the CO2.



I had previously boiled some red cabbage (that is purple) and made cabbage juice.  The liquid is an indicator for many things, and one of those is carbon dioxide.
The kids held a straw in a glass of cabbage juice and pinched the balloon on the straw, letting the CO2 bubble into the liquid.  After enough  CO2 had gotten into the cabbage juice, it was supposed to turn slightly pink.
← Like this.

I tend to divide the kids up into teams of 2 since it's more fun to do things with a partner, and since 3 or more on a team results in one person doing the work while the others socialize.  ;)
Having teams turned out to be a good thing because one of the experiments turned out like this.  →
This was the one Bethany and Courtney did.  And this was not the one they blew into with the straw (they did do that later), so I know it wasn't because of contaminated breath or anything (haha).
I emailed Apologia about this and sent pictures, and their reply was, "It's very hard to tell...  It could be any number of things."
Well... it was pretty, though!  =)

Then the kids had to blow out some CO2 to get the cabbage juice to turn pink.
Well, soon they began to have too much fun, so I had to video!
They wanted to see who could blow the longest.  =)


Winner by a mile:  JohnDavid!  
Teenagers are so fun!  =)


We learned a lot more in this chapter, so I will just mention a few things.
We learned about the macronutrients (not micro, but macro, because you need to eat a lot of these in order to live).
The macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
Carbohydrates are monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides.  "Saccharides" are sugars, and mono-, di-, and poly- tell how many.
Macronutrients are burned by the body in the order I listed above:  first carbs, then fats, then proteins.
Only when all the carbs are used up will fats be burned.  That is why some people use a low-carb diet to lose weight.  You do need some carbs, however.
We learned about the 20 amino acids that are in protein, and that your body only has a certain number of these naturally, and you must eat protein in order to get the rest of them!  These are called the 8 essential amino acids.
All 8 of these amino acids are found in meat, so if you are a vegetarian, you will need to eat a wide variety of plants and seeds that contain different kinds of protein.  Since our bodies cannot produce these amino acids themselves, we must ingest them in order for the cells to be able to copy them.  If you do not get enough amino acids, it could result in brain damage, and you might not be able to read my next post!
Please eat enough amino acids.  Thank you.  ;)


We learned that we are endothermic (our body warmth comes from inside), and that certain animals like lizards, are ectothermic (they are warmed from the outside by the sun).
We get our warmth from the food we eat.  If we are in a cold environment, we will feel cold because we are warm-blooded.  Just like if you put one hand in hot water for a few minutes, then put both hands in cold water, the hand that was in hot water will feel colder than your other hand.
Cold-blooded animals do not feel this; they just get sluggish and do not move around much.  Their body temperatures will lower, and they are fine as long as it doesn't get too cold.

We learned the difference between basal metabolic rate (the minimum energy a person's body needs every day just to survive) and metabolic rate (the sum of your BMR and your activity level on a particular day).
Endothermic organisms have a higher BMR than ectothermic organisms, because endothermic  organisms need to stay warm!  So they need more food.

Do you think smaller animals or larger animals have a higher metabolic rate (not basal metabolic rate)?
Which needs to expend more energy to keep their internal body temperature the same?
Since smaller animals have a larger percentage of their body exposed to air, they lose heat more quickly than do larger animals.  So smaller animals have a higher metabolic rate than large animals.


Every time I study science, I get amazed over and over at all the complexity!  And this is just a scratch on the surface!  I am so awed by how intricately the Creator made it all, and wonder how can anyone believe in evolution.  It is so sad!  I usually do not read comments on youtube, but occasionally if Safety Mode is off, I do see them while scrolling to search for more videos on a topic.  If there is any mention of Creation in a video, there are sure to be dozens of comments with name-calling and insults.  There is nothing one can write to these people that will get them to change their minds.  They are set in their ways, and the fact that they are commenting shows they are argumentative, and I think some of them just like to argue!
The best thing is to pray for them, and that they'll meet someone they will respect, and begin to listen with their heart.
If you're reading this post, and have doubts, I'll be glad to email with you.


sMiLeS,

♪♫ My Girls!

My niece Abigail (16), and my girls Bethany (almost 15) and Rebekah (17)

My niece and my girls singing with another trio at a Foundation for Family conference.



Made me cry.
And it was a great conference, too!  Really helped me a lot.

sMiLeS,

100 years ago today...

100 years ago today, the Titanic had yet to sink.  That wouldn't happen for another month.
But in a mountain community up in Virginia, a tragedy was about to take place.

March 14, 1912, is a day still remembered and talked about by many who grew up in or near Hillsville, Virginia, or around North Carolina.
Thanks to my husband's great-grandpa's wisdom back then, or I might not have the husband and kids I have today!
My husband's Grandpa John, age 19 and not yet married, had wanted to go to the Carroll County courthouse the day Floyd Allen was on trial.  His father said he shouldn't go because he felt like there would be trouble.  I'm so glad that Grandpa John listened to his father!

The following abbreviated history is based on multiple eye-witnesses, and accounts of their stories.  

Even with many similarities, there will always be conflictions and differences of opinion as to which was correct.

Floyd Allen

The Allens were a clannish family, and there was considerable feuding.  Floyd Allen seemed to be the roughest of them all, having "the scars of 13 bullets wounds, 5 of them inflicted in quarrels with his own family." [Wikipedia]

Others inadvertently played a part in leading up to the tragic day in 1912.  Some months earlier, Wesley Edwards, nephew of Floyd Allen, had kissed another young man's girl at a corn shucking.  It was said that if you shucked a red ear of corn, you got to kiss the girl of your choice.
This led to Wesley and his brother Sidna Edwards (not to be confused with Sidna Allen, uncle to the Edwards young men, and brother to Floyd and Jack Allen) getting into a fight with the other young man and his friends.  Wesley and Sidna claimed to be in self-defense, but upon facing several charges (including assault with a deadly weapon), fled to Mt. Airy, NC, to evade arrest for a little while longer.
Although appearing to be innocent in the initiation of this fight (the charges did seem damaging), according to a documentary I watched, these young men were the muscle that ensured that the accounts of their Uncle Sidna Allen's store were never long in being paid in full.
Later, upon being taken back to Virginia, their Uncle Floyd saw them and got into an argument with the two arresting deputies over how his nephews were tied up.  This resulted in a fight in which Floyd beat one of the deputies with the deputy's own pistol.  Some accounts say he was beaten unconscious.  The other deputy, after grappling with Wesley, had fled, firing a shot at Floyd while the two young men escaped.
Floyd afterward said that he had not meant to free the brothers, but simply didn't like that the deputies had tied his nephews.
A few days later, Floyd did turn the Edwards brothers in to face their charges, but he also faced serious charges himself for the assault of the deputy.

When Floyd's case came to trial nearly a year later, there were many witnesses and conflicting accusations.
On March 13, a ruling was not reached, and the proceedings were continued the next morning.
The day of the verdict was March 14, 1912.  There had been much rumbling as to potential trouble at the courthouse since Floyd was determined not to go to jail.  This was no casual defiance in light of many thwarted attempts at jailing or penalizing Floyd Allen in the past.  And indeed, not only were the officials armed (having received death threats), but the Allens themselves came into the courthouse bearing pistols and shotguns.  In addition to Floyd's presence, there were Floyd's sons Victor and Claude; one of his brothers, Sidna Allen; Jack Allen's son, Friel; Sidna and Wesley Edwards, and several more relatives.
At the sentencing of one year's imprisonment, Floyd Allen arose slowly, then announced, "Gentlemen, I ain't a-goin'."
A shot was fired, and immediately the courtroom became filled with shots and screams as bullets whizzed and people tried to evade them in the chaos.  The shooting wasn't limited to the courtroom, but continued outside as spectators, court officials, and the Allens either shot at each other or fled, leaving a judge, prosecutor, sheriff, and a juror dead, and a witness that died the next day, and seven more wounded.

Sidna Allen and his nephew, Wesley
Edwards, handcuffed after their arrest

Much has been speculated as to who actually fired the first shot.  Newspaper articles and reports contained many eye-witness accounts, and that is all we have to go on today.
Many of the Allens involved in the shooting headed for the hills, but all were captured within a month except Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards who fled the state.  Floyd Allen was wounded too badly to escape and holed up in a nearby hotel where he was arrested the next day.  After an extensive, 6-month manhunt by Baldwin-Felts detectives, Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards were apprehended.
Floyd and Claude Allen had received the death sentence, for both had been accused of firing the first shots, although the Allens claimed it was the deputy clerk Dexter Goad because of politics.  Both Sinda Allen and Wesley were convicted of murdering the same three men but neither were given the death penalty.  Some believe that these two received less severe sentences since the hot anger had died down somewhat by the time they were captured.  Others also confessed to some of the same murders, but with all the bullets flying, one would be hard pressed, even with today's forensics, to say which bullet actually did the killing.  I suppose if one didn't, the next would.  =(

It's dismaying to think of so many deaths over Floyd Allen's refusal to serve a year in prison...

Then I wonder how many people may go to hell because of my refusal to share the gospel?


I'm sure some of the people attending court that day never thought it would turn out the way it did.  I'm not sure if any of the wounded suffered long-lasting damage.  I don't know if any lives changed for the better after their close brush with death.
I do know I'm thankful that I know where I'm going when I die.  I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was just 10 years old.  When I think of those who are without Christ in their lives, who live day-to-day without being able to cry to Him when they need Someone, who don't know that there is hope, that they can have joy and peace in knowing they will go to Heaven when they die... it just breaks my heart.

I want anyone reading this to know that it is possible to know for certain that you will go to heaven when you die.  ANYone can get salvation.  And it's free!
Some may think they are too good to go to hell, but the truth is, no one is good enough to go to Heaven!

--Romans 3:10  "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one."
--Romans 3:23  "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
The penalty for sin is death.
--Romans 6:23  "For the wages of sin is death..."
So if we're not good enough to go to Heaven, and the penalty for sin is death, how can we get there?
About 2,000 years ago, Jesus paid our way!
--Romans 5:8  "... God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

--The rest of Romans 6:23 says, "..but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

It is a gift!  And it is free; all you have to do is accept it.

--Romans 10:13  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

--John 1:12  "But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

--Acts 16:31  "...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..."

All you need to do is pray and ask the Lord to give you salvation from your sins.  It's that simple.  Receiving a gift is pretty simple isn't it?

If you are a new Christian, one important thing to know is that the good feeling you have now may change sometimes.  Being a Christian doesn't make me perfect.  I still get angry and sin.  Sometimes I feel far from the Lord.  This usually happens if I haven't been reading my Bible daily and praying.  There have been a few times when I doubted that I had been saved!  Then I know I need to get back to reading every day, and as I read, I grow so much closer to the Lord.

If you are still reading and haven't made the decision yet to accept Christ, but would like to know more about salvation, please read God's Simple Plan of Salvation.
Please don't put it off until too late.

In Christ,

Sources:
-The Roanoker (a little more objective)
-Wikipedia (many things written here, I have also read elsewhere)
-Hillsville 1912: A Shooting in the Court (a documentary)
--Two reviews of the documentary (written by descendants)
-I have also read The Courthouse Tragedy, Hillsville, VA, written by Rufus Gardener.  The Roanoker article implies that the author was sympathetic to the Allens.  It has been some time since I read it, but much of it sounds sound pretty close to what I've read and heard elsewhere, although it did seem slightly less intense in some accounts.

I would liked to have gone to the play that is being performed several weekends this month, but failed to get tickets in time.  Thunder in the Hills, researched and produced by Frank Levering, is being performed 11 times this month in the Hillsville courthouse.  Two additional performances were added to the original 9, and sold out in 5 hours.

ETA: I saw a short segment of a practice that someone had posted online.  One man used language we would never use, so I'm glad I wasn't able to go.  I failed to consider the fact that most of those men likely had foul mouths, and that it would be included in the play.  🙁

Apologia General Science, Module 11, The Human Body: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

►Videos and resources for M11

The structure of the human body is made up of three basic units:
the skeleton, the muscles, and the skin.

My favorite thing about this module, is that we got to make THIS!

Veggie Skeleton!  =)

I knew the skeletal system was coming up, and I had found a veggie skeleton on Pinterest, and he was just soooo cute, that I just had to have one for our science class, too.
He was delicious!
We had him at the end of class, but I just had to put him first on here.  =)

In bleach for a week

Do you know what makes your bones strong?  and flexible so they're not brittle?
Minerals in bones make your bones strong and hard.
Collegen in bones makes them flexible.  What?  You think your bones aren't flexible?
They are to some extent.  Without the calcium in them, they would be veerrry flexible.

Experiment 11.1, Minerals in Bone called for a clean, dried-overnight chicken bone to be placed in vinegar for a week.  I also found an experiment online that said to put a bone in bleach.
So we did one of each.

In vinegar for a week

The kids had to include in their lab reports their Procedure (what they did), their Observations (what the bones looked and felt like), and their Conclusion (what it all meant), explaining the importance of both collegen and minerals in bones.

It's pretty obvious which bone was left with minerals but no collegen, and therefore was brittle; and which had collegen, but little or no minerals, and is too flexible to be of any use for humans or animals.










We also learned more about the composition of bones, such as compact bone and spongy bone.
Spongy bone is just as hard as compact bone!  Spongy bone just has spaces in it (like a sponge).  These spaces are filled with bone marrow.  I bet you probably knew your bones are alive, but did you know that the bone marrow makes red blood cells?


Do you know the difference between tendons and ligaments?
Tendons are what connects your muscles to the bones.  When you exercise, the 

tendon pulls on the bone, making it grow stronger.
Ligaments are strips of tissue that hold bones together in a joint.  Your upper arm bone, the humerous, is held in the elbow joint by ligaments.
Your elbows and knees have hinge joints, which is pretty easy to understand.  A hinge joint has limited mobility compared to some other joints, but it is more stable that way.
A ball-and-socket joint, such as the shoulder or hip, has a lot of mobility, but is not as stable as a hinge joint.
The more mobility, the less stability.  The more stable, the less mobile.
Cartilage is between the bones so that they don't rub together.
Most joints are surrounded by a "bag" that holds synovial fluid.  It is slippery, like egg white, and keeps joints lubricated for ease of movement.


Skeletal muscles are voluntary and make the skeleton move; smooth muscles are involuntary and make up the muscles of your organs; and the cardiac muscle is also involuntary and is the muscle of your heart.

Other organisms don't all have muscles.  For example, plants don't have muscles.  (Betcha didn't know that! haha.)
But plants can move by tropisms.  I'm sure you've had a plant in a sunny window, and after a day or two, you may have had to turn it to keep the plant looking "balanced."
This is because plants want to grow toward light.  Growing toward light is called phototropism.
If a plant isn't growing toward the light, but turning like sunflowers that track the sun across the sky, this is called heliotropism.
Roots growing toward water is hydrotropism.
Here is a picture of a bean plant that the older kids were experimenting with last year in Biology.
If I remember correctly, it only took a few hours for this plant to go from straight out to curved over the rim and back towards the window!

Heliotropism - movement toward the sun

We learned about the layers of our skin: epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis, and a few things about each layer.
Our hair and nails are also a part of this organ.
Our hair, nails, and the outer layer of skin are formed by keratinization, which is a process that kills the cell, but leaves it quite sturdy and hard to destroy.
Your outer layer of skin, the epidermis, is made up of dead skin cells and living cells. These living cells move upwards toward the outer layer and eventually fall off and are replaced with new keratinized cells.
The hair follicles  on your head are active for months at a time and have short periods of "rest" and can grow very long, unlike eyelashes or eyebrows.
Each hair is connected to a small, smooth (involuntary) muscle in the dermis.  When you get cold or nervous, this muscle contracts, pulling the hair straight up.  This is how you get goose bumps and your hair "stands on end."  This increases the amount of warm air trapped next to the body.

There are good bacteria living on our skin, and perspiration feeds this bacteria!  This beneficial bacteria produce lactic acid which is a good defense against many types of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria and fungi.
►When two or more different organisms benefit from each other, this is called symbiosis.
The older kids learned a lot about it last year in Biology, and this happens in many instances in Creation!  I just don't see how, with all the marvelous things that work together (every time), that anyone can believe it happened by chance!


sMiLeS,

My Girls!

Bethany 14½, Rebekah 17, and my niece Abigail 16

sMiLeS,