ASA 2021 ONLINE STEAM EXPO

PROJECT SUMMARY

For science class, we did a personal periodic table to honor the Periodic Table of Elements by choosing our own theme, and I chose snakes in general. My projects shows the different families of snakes, Elapidae, Viperidae, Crotalinae, Naja (technically from the Elapidae, but there are so many of them), and Hydrophiidae and are sorted from their toxicity, from most to least toxic venom from each family.

WHY?

Since a young age, I found passion and interest for snakes, I was also trying to learn more about their classifications and how each family is different from each other. Most people consider snakes all venomous and dangerous, so I was trying to solve this problem by sorting some of the most venomous and dangerous snakes known to mankind in a simple format for better understanding.

HOW?

I started researching some of the most venomous snakes and took my pick out of the lot. I also found out more about their speed, toxin type, and how much is lethal to a average adult human being (in a close estimate), along with their scientific names, sorting them according to their family and toxicity levels.

WHAT?

I found out that some of the most venomous snakes actually are not as aggressive so they are not considered dangerous nearly as dangerous as actually less toxic more aggressive snakes, which most bites and deaths are cause by, an example of such being the Fer-de-Lance, which is not nearly as toxic as some of the deadliest snakes but cause a lot of deaths because of its aggressiveness.

SO WHAT?

After studying and successfully sorting each snake according to it's toxicity, I found out that snakes from their distinctive families possess different traits that snakes from other families. I also learned how to recognize a poisonous snake from a none poisonous snake just by looking at it's jawline, head shape, pupils, and head width, meaning that there is a specific pattern easily found, such as poisonous snakes have a wider head because of the venom glands or a more squared mouth/jaw because of their fangs, or that vipers (which are all venomous) have slit like eyes along with that arrowhead snakes are all venomous as well. This information was important cause it can help people know more about snakes and can be more appreciative and less frightful towards them.

WHAT'S NEXT?

I could've gone into more detail such as the MG instead of the drops since its not truly specific over the MG amount being a lot more helpful since it gives an exact amount and the measurement cannot differ according to size. I also could've a more specific example of the toxins and their side effects out of the table, in a key or something.

REFERENCES/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Most of my information came from Wikipedia and I used images from Wikipedia as well as Pinterest. I also had the support of my father and his help for organizing and taking estimates for the drops since it was not exact, along with Mr. Lipperer's help and project idea for class.

JUDGES FEEDBACK

Woww! What a collection of snakes in your periodic table.I am glad you were able to do research on a topic that you enjoy. The design of te periodic table looks very creative. Thanks to you, besides learning the elements, students can also learn about snakes,

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