Can a Playground be too Safe?

Changes in playgrounds have been made to increase safety, but is it really beneficial for American children? Parents, and manufacturers, are concerned about the safety of children at the playground, and many new additions have been made to enforce this. These changes include shorter slides, enclosed platforms, and rubber or woodchip replacements for the pavements. Although it seems like fewer injuries are occurring, the children could be becoming damaged physiologically. The playground used to be a place to learn and encounter and conquer fears, but without those exciting heights, those fears may come back during later life. Even though children may fail and injure themselves, the fear is over because the worse case scenario has already happened. Also, studies have been proven to show that children, who fall and injure themselves at an early age, have a lesser chance of developing a fear of heights in their later teenage years. According to Dr. Sandester, children use the same progressive techniques developed by therapists to help adults confront their phobias. Adults fear small injuries, and take precautions to prevent their kids from getting hurt. However, not being exposed to these harmless injuries can cause children to be more fearful. Manufacturers as well are concerned about playground safety, but because of a fear of lawsuits. However, the safety precautions made are capable of causing more wounds. For example, the new soft surfaces increased the risk of long fractures in the arm, as noted by Dr. David Ball (a professor and Middlesex University in London). Another damaging change is the reduced height of playground equipment. Although this addition is beneficial for toddlers, it has a different affect for children the age of 10. Without the exciting heights, older children are not motivated to partake in healthy exercise outside, or may resort to exploring dangerous places. More changes in playground equipment in New York include removal of seesaws, merry-go-rounds, tire swings, and ropes that led from one platform to another. Although these familiar structures have been removed, they are being replaced by more creative gear like climbing walls with artificial rocks. Whatever fears adults may have, the dangerous situations are overshadowed by the accomplishment of conquering fears and developing a sense of mastery.

“It’s fun,” she said. “I’d like to see it in our playground. Why not? It’s kind of dangerous, I know, but if you just think about danger you’re never going to get ahead in life.”- Nayelis Serrano, 10-year-old from the South Bronx

Article: Can a Playground be too Safe?  

Unit 3: Section B Summary: 1-10

1.    Petroleum is called “buried sunshine” because the energy it contains originated from the sun.

2.    Types of Energy:

a.    Potential energy is energy that is stored up and ready for use; it is also referred to energy of position. Example: a car at the top of a hill.

b.    Kinetic energy is energy associated with the motion of an object. Example: a bouncing ball.

3.    During a chemical reaction, bonds are either destroyed or formed.

4.    Butane has more potential energy because it has more atoms, therefore more energy to give off.

5.     Kinetic or potential:    

a.    Potential

b.    Potential

c.    Kinetic

d.    Potential

e.    Kinetic

6.    Energy is required because it takes force to pull apart the bonds, or to remove the electrons.

7.    Endothermic or Exothermic:

a.    Exothermic

b.    Endothermic

c.    Exothermic

8.    There is more energy in the gases and heat given off, then the energy needed to break the bonds within the candlewick.

9.    On paper

10. Energy is neither created nor destroyed in any mechanical, physical, or chemical process. 

Unit 3: Section A Summary: 1-38

1.    A hydrocarbon is a molecular compound that only contains atoms of hydrogen and carbon.

2.    Skip

3.    Petroleum is combustible, so it can be used for burning for fuel and its raw state can be created into an array of useful products.

4.    Skip

5.    Crude oil means it still contains impurities, and must be refined for use.

6.    U.S. Petroleum Use:

a.    3 million

b.    16 million

7.    From crude petroleum we get natural gas, kerosene, diesel, petrochemicals, and refined oils.

8.    Petroleum products:

a.    Clothing, carpeting, CDs, and sports equipment.

b.    I don’t know.

9.    Skip

10. World Petroleum use:

a.    Eastern Europe

b.    Central Asia, Far East, and Oceania

11. World Petroleum Consumption:

a.    Everywhere except Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

b.    Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

12. If the liquids were insoluble in one another.

13. Acetone and water because they have very different boiling points.

14. Skip

15. On paper

16. Unlike regular distillation, fractional distillation is a continuous process and produces several distinct mixtures.

17. Light: kerosene, refined oils, and motor gasoline; Intermediate: gas oil, diesel fuel oil, and heavy furnace oil; Heavy: petroleum jelly, lubricating oil and grease, and road asphalt.

18. In a fractional distillation tower the highest temperature would be at the bottom because crude oil is heated up first and when it reaches the tower it cools off as it rises.

19. Filtering or doing a simpler distillation method.

20. Hexane, methane, octane, and pentane. The stronger the intermolecular forces, the higher the boiling point is.

21. A covalent bond is the sharing of two or more valence electrons between two atoms to fill their outer shells.

22. Atoms with filled outer shells do not need to form covalent bonds because they contain all the electrons necessary, making them un-reactive.

23. The two dogs oppose each other, but are attracted because of the sock, which is like the way atoms bond through electrons.

24. Skip

25. Skip

26. Structural formulas:

a.    A structural formula tells us what shape a molecular formula is in.

b.    It is inadequate because it does not represent the electrons correctly.

27. On paper

28. Because only the valence electrons are represented.

29. Molecular formulas:

a.    C9H20

b.    C16H34

c.    C10H22

d.    C18H38

30. Molar mass:

a.    128 g

b.    226 g

c.    142 g

d.    254 g

31.

a.    Propane, C3H8

b.    Pentane, C5H12

32. It implies that it is an alkane molecule.

33. Yes they are, because they contain the same atoms but are just formed in different structures.

34. On paper

35. ?

36. They are both correct because more than 3 carboned hydrocarbons can create many different structures.

37.

a.    On paper

b.    The branched molecule has a lower boiling point because it bonds are as strong.

38.

a.    A long chain, because the short chain would have tighter bonds.

b.    A long branched chain, because the shorter one will have stronger intermolecular bonds.

c.    A short branched chain, because straight chains have stickier bonds.

Final Blog Topic: What I got out of Summer Chem

For me, it was really important learning about the seriousness of water shortages and pollution on Earth. I live in a house where water is constantly available for me, even for silly things like filling up a water gun. I was aware of how poorer countries did not always recieve enough water, but I never fully realized how serious their conditions were. They have to walk miles to reach a water source, and even then the water is most likely not pure and contain harmful substances. Although people are providing clean water to them, they are charging them money they don't even have. Learning about this, and documenting how much water my household uses daily makes me feel selfish. I use water to wash my dog, that is purer than the water they drink. Summer chem helped me discover all of this, and more, and I will always remember the concepts that apply to my everyday life.

Unit 4: Section B Summary: 14-20

                  

14. CO2 and water vapor in the atmosphere help maintain the earth’s surface temperature in a few ways.  During the day, when the sun’s rays beam down, the gas molecules block and adsorb a majority of the radiation, preventing the temperature on Earth from reaching high levels. During the night, the heat adsorbed by the gases in the morning is released; keeping the temperature up and not letting it get too cold.

15. Natural processes and human activity:

a.    Natural: the carbon cycle. Human: burning waste.

b.    Natural: cow matter. Human: raising livestock and refining fossil fuels.

16. Composition of atmosphere:

a.    A lower concentration of greenhouse gases would cause the earth’s temperature to increase.

b.    An increase of gas molecules would decrease the temperature of Earth because fewer radiation rays would reach the surface.

17.  A greenhouse would be warmer than a structure with opaque wooden walls because the radiation waves that enter the greenhouse cannot escape, but the ones inside the wooden walls can.

18. Greenhouse effect:

a.     A greenhouse: 

  

b.    The global greenhouse:

19. Chemical reservoirs of carbon include carbon dioxide, limestone, solid calcium carbonate, and methane.

20. Carbon atoms follow the carbon cycle, which takes them through all parts of the Earth. When carbon is released as carbon dioxide it enter the atmosphere. After being received by plants for respiration, it is now in the form of glucose and enters the hydrosphere in that form, or as carbon dioxide. The oxygen that is released by plants is inhaled by humans and exhaled as carbon dioxide (making it a part of the biosphere). It is eventually inhaled by underwater plants, or formed into limestone, which eventually decays and returns to the lithosphere.