Dissection of a worm.

Top Tuesdays is once again postponed... So it can be a Top Thursday! (Perhaps.... I don't know, I might skip it this week since I am most likely going to something tomorrow which would be blog worthy.)

Today in science class we dissected a worm. And it was really fun.
Now, this is not my first dissection ever....
Meet Jackie:

 

When we first got Jackie we thought that she was a he and his name was Jack. When Jack laid an egg, however, we knew we had made a mistake. So we re-named our pet Jackie and lived a happy enough life with us. Until the fateful day when an egg she was trying to lay, got stuck, and she died.
Then, because Mom and I are curious homeschoolers, we dissected Jackie and saw her brain. It was all very interesting.

Anyway, today's dissection of an earth worm was very, very different from dissecting one's Parakeet. For one, I actually knew what I was doing - I wasn't just watching Mom hack away at the bird, trying to get it open. Two, I knew what I was looking for. In our lab books we had to draw a picture of what we saw and label all the internal structures we saw.
Did you know that worms acutally have a head and a tail? The head is closest to the clitellum, which is the discolored rise in the worm (the clitellum aids in reproduction).

 

Also, worms don't eat dirt. They take in dirt and then eat the tiny particles of leaves and stuff that they find in the dirt.

We started the dissection by gathering supplies. (Disection kit... the worm... the thing you put the worm on.... The gloves are really for the mad scientist look since I didn't actually end up using them.)

 

Then we had to feel the worm's anterior and posterior sides for setae (aka, we had to feel the front and back ends for little hairs which aid in locomotion).

 

Next step: Pin the worm to the blue tub thing and cut it open (sorry the picture is sideways... Don't know how to fix it).

 

 

Next, pry the the worm open and pin the sides down.

 

The segments of the worm continue on the inside.
My friend accidentally opened the wrong end... But I'm glad she did! Because you can see the dirt that is about to be pooped out.

The front end of the worm (with all the organs) looks like this:

 

How interesting, right? Starting at the left of the picture... At the very front, is the pharynx which then leads to the aortic arches (the little black things). Then there's some seminal vesicles which store the sperm, and some seminal receptacles which contains eggs. Then there's a crop and gizzard, which help in the food-eating process. And then the looooooooooooooooooonng intestine which stretches to the back of the worm. The little black line on the intestine is the dorsal nerve chord. There's another nerve chord underneath the intestine.

It is so interesting to learn about something and study the pictures, and then see the actual thing with your own eyes!

Live long and prosper.

Life goes on.

Contrary to popular belief, life still goes on during National Novel Writing Month. At least for me it does. I've been very busy with school.... Lots of music - about 12 hours a week.

Here is a Beethoven song on piano:

I have also been practicing essays and paragraphs to be put into essays.... Here is a paragraph I'm particularly proud of (except for the fact I used the word 'essay' a million times):

Ignorance of proper technique breeds improper essays. Treating an essay like a close friend leads to first and second person writing and words such as, "me, you, they, I, their, and your." Such words are inappropriate for essays as the point of the essay is to convince. Personification makes arguments weaker. Essays also need to pop with creative sentences and colorful descriptions. Too many words, however, may clutter the point and confuse the reader. Succinct sentences that prove points without personification take practice but pave the way to proper papers.

I have also been doing science.... We did an experiment with an egg which was very interesting. It went this way....
Take an egg and soak it in white vinegar for 24 hours (I did 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 apple cider vinegar).

The shell disolved off the egg and it was very squishy. The egg also swelled from 5 1/2 inches to 6 inches because of osmosis.
After rinsing off the egg, we put it in some syrup for 24 hours. In the morning we were pleasantly suprised with a deflated egg that measure 4 1/2 inches!

 

 

After 24 hours we rinsed the egg again and put it in a glass of distilled water for another 24 hours.
What a surprise we had!! The egg swelled to 6 1/2 inches around the middle!! It was huge!

And it bounced like a ball.

I've also been drawing.... I got the idea from Doctor Who when he said, "The doctor is in!" It made me think of The Peanuts gang.

And then.... Well.... My imagination took off.

I spy with my little eye.....
The Doctor (wibbly wobbly timey wimey! And his sonic screwdriver!)

A Cyberman with a serious problem....

Snoopy, K-9, and a Dalek.....

And of course Woodstock is nearby. (You wouldn't believe how hard he was to draw!)

 

And the TARDIS.

 

 

Oh yeah, and a banana. Bananas are good.

 

 

 

I've also been reading.... I just finished Larklight by Philip Reeve which was really good! I wasn't planning on doing a review unless someone wants me to.

And oh oh oh! I FINALLY finished the Two Towers chapter I have been reading for the past two months!

 

NaNoWriMo is also going well.... I'm at 28,375 words. Here is a little snippet for you:

 

“Are you going to stand there and collect water or are you going to come aboard?” a friendly all-American voice called from the top of the stairwell leading into the plane. Daniel and Varina exchanged a glance and then hurried up the stairs. Two towels were waiting for them at the top.
“This is an airplane, not a lake,” explained the man. He was handsome with brown hair, swoon-worthy bright blue eyes and a broad smile filled with perfect, shining teeth.
“Thanks for the towels,” Varina was saying when suddenly her face flooded with recognition and she moaned, “Oh no….”
“I take it you know who I am,” said the man, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth and a smile playing around his lips.
“No no no,” said Varina. “I refuse to go anywhere with you as our pilot! Let me off this plane right now!”
Varina turned around and tried to push her way past Daniel but, thin as he was, he blocked the door.
“Hold on Webb, who is this man? Why can’t we fly with him?” Daniel asked.
“You don’t know who he is?” Varina asked incredulously.
Daniel shrugged. “I’ve never seen him in my life.”
“He’s Tony Leslie!” Varina spouted, as if by name alone Daniel would be able to decipher who their pilot was.
“Who is Tony Leslie?” Daniel asked, his face blank.
“You haven’t heard of me in the UK?” Tony Leslie said to Daniel, his face assuming a crushed look.
“I don’t know… Maybe we have,” Daniel shrugged. “I wouldn’t know because no one will tell me who you are!”
“He’s a stunt pilot!” Varina said.
“Not just a stunt pilot, but the best stunt pilot in the United States. No, in the world! Dare I say; the universe!” Tony Leslie smiled gallantly.
“I’ve seen his stunts on TV,” Varina said. “He purposefully puts his life in danger and does these outlandish tricks… I won’t fly with a stunt pilot!”

 

Don't get too attached to Tony Leslie (who looks like Captain Jack Harkness and is named after Tony Curtis who played the character The Great Leslie is one of my favorite movies). Just sayin'.