Systems

Staff Writer, Debi Teferi

In 4th grade science, we are studying systems and the parts of a system. You have probably seen a bicycle wheel before, but have you ever thought about why a wheel is the way it is? It’s the structure of the wheel. The way the wheel is built and shaped makes it a wheel. A wheel is round and has thin, long spokes crossing in the middle. The spokes help the wheel from bending out of shape.

  Why is the structure of the wheel important? Its structure has to do with its function, what it does or what it is used for. The function of a wheel is to roll so that the bicycle can move forward or backward. A wheel is not the only part of a bike. Each part of a bicycle has a function and a structure that helps the part perform its job well. The seat holds up the person who is riding their bike, and the handlebars steer the bike. There are many functions on a bike, and you may not even know it.

  A house is also a system. It has parts, such as a roof, door, windows, floors, sinks, and toilets. These parts all have different functions: the roof keeps rain and snow from coming in; the windows let in light but keep out cold air; the sinks bring in water for drinking and washing. All of these parts work together to make a place that is safe and comfortable to live in. 

  A system can be made of smaller systems. For example, one part of a bicycle is a wheel. The wheel is a part of the bike, but it’s also a system itself. The wheel is a system because it is made of parts: a tire, an inner tube filled with air inside the tire, a round rim, spokes, and more. These parts have functions and work together to be a wheel. 

  Scientists and engineers think about systems a lot. Why is it useful to think about something as a system? Why think of a bike as a system and not just as a bike? Engineers think about systems because it helps them fix systems that are broken and figure out how to design systems that work better. If you want to fix a failure in the electrical system, you need to understand what all the different parts of the system are and how they all work together. Scientists think about systems because it helps them understand the structure and function of each part. Thinking about a system helps scientists understand how the parts work together. Scientists study many kinds of systems: body systems, the solar system , ecosystems, and much more.

 Look around. What systems do you see?         

Did you know that life wouldn’t be possible without energy? In fourth-grade science class we have been investigating the different forms of energy (electrical, motion, sound, thermal, light, and chemical energy) and how energy was used long ago in ancient Egypt, ancient Jerusalem, ancient Rome, ancient Mexico, ancient Japan, and ancient India.

  Energy can be used for many things, for example electrical energy is used to power anything that is plugged into a wall for example T.V.s, lamps, an oven and a fridge use electrical energy Moving things have motion energy just because they're moving for example a moving truck is a form of motion energy. Sound energy is anything that you hear, while thermal energy is anything that produces heat. Stars, light bulbs, lasers and anything that produces light is a form of light energy. One of the least recognized forms of energy is chemical energy. An example of chemical energy is the food we eat and most cars use the chemical energy in gasoline. 

Anything you can plug in uses electrical energy. A bolt of lightning comes from electrical energy, but unlike lightning the electrical energy that we use every day is easy to control. Electrical energy that is generated in one place can easily be transferred to another place far away. Like lightning, the electrical energy that we use to power tvs’, lamps, ovens, ect. can be very dangerous if not used properly. Electrical energy helps us in many ways, this makes electrical energy one of the most important forms of energy used in everyday life.

Moving things have motion energy just because they are moving. The slower something is, the less motion energy it has. Moving things that are heavier have more motion energy than things that weigh less.

All sounds are a form of sound energy, no matter what they sound like, or how they are made. The beep of a car horn to the howl of a wolf are all forms of sound energy. The louder something is, the more sound energy it has. This means that the sound of a person screaming has more sound energy than a person whispering, but still they are the same form of energy.

The thermal energy depends on how hot or cold something is. For example a cup of hot chocolate has more thermal energy 

Have you ever wondered what energy was like in ancient times? Today we have electrical devices to do alot of our daily work and help us out.

Today we have many ways to cool down. We can use electrical powered fans and air conditioners, but back in ancient Egypt, servants waved feathers on the monarchs to cool them down, while the servants stayed as hot as an oven.

Have you ever stayed up late doing your homework? If you have, you've probably used an electrical lamp or a light to be able to see even when it’s dark. Well in ancient Jerusalem to light up the night people filled small clay lamps with olive oil. Burning the olive oil in a lamp converted the stored energy into light energy, plus some thermal energy.

A nice bath after a long day of school really does feel good, doesn't it? Well today your water for a nice warm bath is heated through the use of wires that transfer electrical energy to the water heater in your house. It worked differently in ancient Rome. In ancient Rome a fire would start under a tank of water, then the water would go into a big pool where the Romans would take a bath.

If you ever need to get somewhere across town you could take a bus or a car, but in ancient Mexico waterways connected to the city. So to get across the city people would paddle canoes. Motion energy was transferred from the paddler’s arm to the paddle, pushing the canoe through the water.

In our wonderful school we take fire drills  to be ready and safe if a real fire ever happens in our school. The fire alarm converts the electrical energy to sound energy, which then alerts people of a possible fire. In ancient Japan fires were a big problem because most of the buildings were made of wood. So to prevent some of the major fires, firefighters would take turns watching for smoke from the top of towers. If a firefighter saw smoke he would sound the alarm by hitting a bell with a mallet. The mallet transferred motion energy to the bell. The bell converted motion energy into sound energy, making a loud noise that everybody could hear.

We live off of food. Food gives us energy for the whole day. We cook most of our food in an oven, microwave or stove. A microwave oven is connected to wires that transfer electrical energy from a power plant to the microwave. The oven converts that electrical energy into a type of light energy called microwaves. The microwaves transfer energy directly to the food, where it is converted to thermal energy. In ancient India, people cooked meat and bread in an oven with tall sides called a tandoor. At the bottom of the tandoor people burned fuel such as wood or charcoal. As the wood or charcoal warmed the air in the tandoor, heating the bread and meat with thermal energy.

As we've seen in the examples throughout history, energy can be used for many things, and sometimes new discoveries of using energy can be traced to simpler methods used in earlier times, because as the ancient proverb first states, and has been repeated throughout history, "everything old can be new again." Stay tuned next month as we explore this topic further.

Through perseverance and prayer, anyone can come up with great ideas and help create great inventions. Just take the example of American patriot and inventor Benjamin Franklin.

Mathilde, Olivia and Eamon are pictured above presenting their study on the biosphere. Bio is a Greek root that means life. The biosphere is all the living things on the earth. The portion of the earth needs the other spheres. Living things need water from the hydrosphere, chemicals from the atmosphere, and nutrients from the biosphere.

All the four spheres interact. For example, ocean currents affect air temperature. The Gulf Stream is a very powerful water current. Its warm water moderates the temperatures on the east coast of the United States. Also, erosion happens in the desert when wind shapes the sand in the geosphere. Water can also shape land as well like in the formation of the Grand Canyon.

My classmates and I can use the knowledge we’ve learned about the Earth’s four spheres as a reference for future science studies. We enjoyed learning about the Earth's four spheres, and I hope you did, too, by reading our series of articles!

 Did you know that St. Peter's has an Earthworks Weather Center?

Saint Peter School's new state-of-the-art commercial scale Earth Networks weather center was installed with the new roof that was put in last year!  According to SPS Admission Director Mrs. Burns, “The weather center comes with a website.  Students can download real time meteorological data and access current and historical data from the numerous global Earth Networks weather stations to analyze developing weather events and probe historical weather data for clear evidence of climate change.” The SPS weather station was a generous gift to St. Peter School from our room mom Mrs. P.

What exactly is weather? Weather is defined as the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind speed, direction, and barometric pressure. Weather is a mysterious thing. There's hail, storms, thunder, lightning, and rain. The extreme weather can kill you if you are not careful. For example, it may be 75° degrees and sunny or it could be 20° degrees with heavy snow. That's the weather. Climate is the average of that weather. For example, you can expect snow in the Northeast in January or for it to be hot and humid in the Southeast in July.

We recently had a snow day on February 13, 2024. There was a weather alert, and my dad and I even went out to get gas for the snowblower. But guess what? We barely had any snow. I was so mad but happy at the same time because we had a snow day, and all schools were closed. I played video games with my sister all day, drank hot cocoa, and watched movies. It was fun.