What is a fossil?

A fossil is the preserved remains of any living thing. These remains can be carbonized, petrified, cast and mold, etc. It can be any type of remain from a living thing such as poop, hair, tracks, and much more.

Our 50/50 recipe consisted of 40 mL of sand, 40 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. The 75% sand/ 25% plaster consisted of 60 mL of sand, 20 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. Lastly, our 75% plaster/ 25% sand consisted of 60 mL of plaster, 20 mL of sand, and 20 mL of water.

Before we started, we predicted that the 75% plaster/ 25% sand mixture would produce the best fossil. After seeing the mixtures, we predict that the 50/50 mixture will produce the best fossil. We also think that we would have had better results if we had done our water to plaster and sand ratio differently. Hindsight, we would have done our 50/50 mixture as 20 mL of sand, 20 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. We felt as though more water to our mixture would have produced better results.

The 75% sand mixture was our least successful of the three trails. The mixture was extremely grainy and fell apart without out much work. There was no mold present in the hardened mixture. 

The 75% plaster mixture took a little bit more work to get the fossil out. It took about two minutes to extract with hammer and a chisel. There was a mold left in the hardened mixture. 

The 50% mixture was fairly easy to extracted the shell. It took about a minute with the chisel and hammer before the shells came loose. The shells left a pretty good mold. 

Hindsight, we would have not put the shells more in the middle of the liquid mixture. We also would have made sure the shells were the right way to leave a cool mold. 

What is Science?

What is the definition of science? If you had asked me this question two days ago, I would have given you any text book definition such as "the observation and exploration of all natural things" because that is what has consistently repeated to me through grade school. After being challenged to think deeper on the actual definition of what science is, I realized I knew a lot more about the definition and concept of what science is.

I believe that an accurate definition of science must encompass three aspects; "how to science", "what to use", and "what you'll find." By "how to science," I mean one way to very accurately define science is how you go about doing it. You must go about science in a methodical and structured way. You must experiment and keep an opened mind to all ideas. You must you scientific methods and reasoning to form an accurate and educated conclusion. What you use in science is also an accurate depiction of science. The tools you use for science are very accurate and precise, such as scales measuring down to the thousandth of a pound or microscopes that can show moving blood vessels in a fish tale. Without the tools used in science, science wouldn't be known for what it is today. Lastly, another aspect of science that can be used to define what science actually is, is what you will find in science. You can open up an entirely knew would, yet just scratch the surface with just an intro chemistry course. There is so much to be learned about elements, and what they're made of, and how many electrons are in its outer shell. In science, we can learn about the most complex of dinosaurs that we've never personally seen, and we can date how long ago it was that they roamed this earth, We have so much to learn from the vast amount of information we discover from science daily.

The only accurate way to truly define science is to define the components within it. Science can be defined by how you approach doing science, what tools you use to aid in your discoveries, and what it is that you find in this research.