2nd June 2012 Meeting Is On and Ideas

Hey, people, thanks for reading this.
This Monday, on the 2nd of July 2012, there will be a meeting at the Biology Lab in Block D. Wear your PJ clothes - unless you don't mind getting dirty.
Okay, so last week, we made Shrinky Dinks; which are shrunken and hardened plastic accessories. It was kind of cool, I guess. Anyway, six of our Eco members went on an Eco trip to Sarawak to represent the club. See? If you're committed enough, teacher will pick you out for cool stuff like this. But if you don't come and you're absent often, you're probably not going to be listed.
Anyway, last week, a lot of the members were excited in making Shrinky Dinks. It was obvius by the looks on your faces. Usually, you folks look like this;

Yeah, a dead zombie. But last week, most of you were like this;

Which, to put mildly, is a good improvement. If you guys want to keep looking like the cute sponge instead of a half-resurrected human, just post in your ideas on what the club can do during meetings. Honestly, everyone's different - and I might think that cleaning and weeding out the Herbs Garden is the world's best job. But on the other hand, you might not.
So don't hesitate to give in your ideas, people. Until next time, then. ~

25th June 2012 Meeting On

Hey, people, there's going to be a meeting this Monday, on the 25th of June 2012.
We're going to make Shrinky Dinks; hardened and shrunk plastic accessories. Everyone needs to bring the following items :-

a) Plastic container with the number '6' recycling symbol.

See that picture up there? That's called a 'recycling symbol'. Recycling symbols have numbers inside the recycling arrows; which shows the identity of the plastic molecules and what type of plastic it is made out of. These containers can be found for bread, sushi, etc. Make sure it's number six if you don't want to lose a limb or something. Just kidding. Probably.

b) Coloured pens and markers

We're going to use these coloured pens and markers to decorate the plastic. If you don't want coloured, than it's okay. But remember, whatever you draw/write will shrink when the plastic shrinks.

c) Thread, string and puncher
If you punch a hole into the plastic, you can thread a piece of string through it to make it into a keychain... or something.

Okay, that's it. For people who missed the last meet, we did flower perfumes. It had an awesome smell - that sort of attracted a bee. But the bee stayed outside. Thank God. Okay, until next time, then.

18/6/2012 Meeting is On and Flower Perfumes

Yo, members, there’s going to be a meeting tomorrow, which is on the 18th of June 2012.Okay, so everyone, group 1 AND group 2, gather in the Biology Lab in Block D at2:30 pm sharp. We’re going to do something new to the club tomorrow.
Yeah, we’re going to make environmental-friendly flowerperfumes.
To make an ENVIRONMENTAL-FLOWER PERFUME, you have to bring these materials:
-        Distilled water in a container, NOT plasticbottle. We’re eco-friendly, remember?
-        Any type of flower that you want to smell like

And that’s about it. Easy things to bring, huh? We’re going to simmer the flowers in distilled water by using the beakers and Bunsen burners in the Biology Lab. The tripod stands will help, too. So, everyone, bring these materials tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll have some fun. But keep in mind that this is a new thing to the club; and we’re going to try our hands at in together.
So success is not guaranteed.
But hey, at least we tried. If anyone has any brilliant ideas they’ve come across that can help save the environment, don’t hesitate to inform us about it. So see all of you tomorrow. Until next time.

Reusing Oil : Oil Candles

REUSING OIL : OIL CANDLES

Materials :

-          Used oil/ Leftover oil

-          Hardening agent

-          Aromatic oils

-          Aluminium paper/ aluminium tins

-          Candle wicks

-          Crayons

-          Beaker

-          Bunsen burner

-          Tripod stand

Procedure:

1.       Heat up the oil in a beaker on a tripod stand using a Bunsen burner. Once there are bubbles formed in the oil, remove the tripod stand with the beaker on it; and switch off the Bunsen burner. Make sure the flame of the Bunsen burner is blue in colour.

2.       Then, put in some hardening agent and mix it well while it is still hot, to make sure the hardening agent dissolves in the oil properly.

3.       Put in the aromatic oil.

4.       Cut/shave the crayons, before putting the shavings and cuttings into the oil.

5.       Once the beaker with the oil is cooled, put it into an aluminium tin and mix it again. You will see that the crayon’s colour is added to the mixture. Once it is semi-hardened, pop in a wick.

6.       Put the aluminium tin filled with the coloured oil into a refrigerator so that it will harden faster.

SHRINKY DINKS : REUSING PLASTIC

SHRINKY DINKS : A WAY TO REUSE PLASTIC

Materials:

-         Coloured pens/permanent markers

-         Sandpaper

-         Scissors

-         Puncher

-         String

-         Oven

-         Petri dish

-         Oven

-         Oven gloves/ oven mitts ( to protect your hands when using the oven)

-         Clear plastic container

Procedure:

1.     Cut the clear plastic containers into the shapes desired. Then, sand one side of it lightly with sand paper. A bigger piece of plastic will shrink into a bigger piece when heated in an oven. When a piece of plastic is too small, it might sometimes shrink to such a small size that it will not produce the wanted effect.

2.     Punch a hole in the piece of plastic that is cut out. Remember; leave some space for pictures and words you might want to draw or write on it. This hole will also shrink to a small size when the plastic is heated.

3.     Draw on the piece of plastic that is cut out of the container with coloured pens or permanent markers. Leave the plastic for a few minutes to make sure the ink on it is dry. You can draw a picture, or even write words. But keep in mind when the plastic is heated; the picture and words will shrink along to a smaller size.

4.     Next, put the piece of plastic onto a petri dish and pop it into the oven to be heated for up to 3 minutes; give or take a little. Don’t get distracted; it takes a couple of minutes, but when the plastic shrinks; it happens quickly. If it is left for too long, the plastic will melt instead, so be careful. The new hardened and shrunken accessory-like product is called the ‘shrinky dink’.

5.     Take out the petri dish containing the shrink dink, and leave it outside to cool down. Once it has cooled down, you can pop a piece of string if you want to.

Why do plastic shrink?

Plastis are made of long chain-like molecules called polymers. Polymer chains are very long, so they can be manipulated to create a wide-range of properties, in this case for #6 plastic, polystyrene. Polystyrene is a thermosplastic, meaning the long polymer chains are heated and stretched, then cooled to form the plastic sheet when sanded using the sandpaper. The polystyrene remains in this stretched out state, unless something causes it to change. The cool thing about thermoplastics is that upon reheating plastic, it reverts to its original state. In other words; it shrinks. This is the same process used to ‘shrink wrap’ items like food containers or other products that have protective plastic wraps.

               Examples of shrinky dinks; but on opaque pieces of plastic.

Yo, people, as you know; meeting is cancelled tomorrow (11/6/2012).
The meetings has been cancelled a lot lately, but don't worry; we'll get back on track soon. Honestly, I didn't think anyone would read this; just blogwalkers who pass by... and other creatures. But someone posted in that chatbox thing as >_< , that they wanted eco fcts and stuff to lighten things up.
So here I go. These are animal facts because they're sort of cool, i guess.

 - Snails can sleep up to 3 years.
 - Cats have 32 muscles in each ear.
 - Elephants are animals with the longest period of pregnancy at a whopping 22 months.
 - Snakes excrete in the form of red powder.
 - When an octopus bites its prey, it will secrete a poison that will paralyze said prey. But the poison is not strong enough to hurt a human, so you probably don't have to worry.
 - A Piraiba Catfish can growl as angry as a rabid dog when caught.
 - The Candiru Catfish in the Amazon River is small enough to enter your urethra and stay there.
 - The Cookie Cutter Shark is named that way because of the way it eats - It will latch on to its target with sharp teeth; twist its body around and get a chunk off.
 - Cheese is not good for mice, as it disturbs their digestive system. A smart mouse might not fall for the cheese in the moustrap trick.

That's all I know, thanks to Animal Planet and Discover Channel. Here are some links about saving the planet. It's seriously cool, so you should seriously take a look at it. Real sweet.

The Animals Save the Planet - Supermarket Bags 
tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBZdUA8zxJ0

I don't know if the link worked or not, but check it out. It's a bunch of shows under 'The Animals Save the Planet'. If animals can do it, we can do it too. Okay, gotta rush - Later.

Meeting cancelled 11/6/2012

Members, there won't be a meeting tomorrow, which is the 11th of June 2012, since nearly everyone will be busy and tied up with their sports house practice. All the best for Sports Day.