Mind Over Matter ⚛️
Keystone 1
For keystone one, we learned what atoms were and how they make up everything. We learned about what happens to different stages of matter when affected by heat or coldness using an app where you can experiment with atoms and temperatures. The point of the first keystone was to get us to know atoms and how they work. In my opinion, this first keystone was really helpful to me because I had pretty much forgotten everything I had learned about atoms in elementary school and so without this keystone, future keystones would be really confusing.
Keystone 2
In keystone two we diffused gummy bears in water for 24 hours. Like in our first keystone where we learned about how different conditions affect atoms through an app, we did it in real life. We started by making a hypothesis and prediction:
After we put the gummy bears in salt water and normal water for comparison, we waited 24 hours and then checked the results. We noticed that the sour patch kids didn’t diffuse much at all but the gummy bears diffused a lot into a slimy, large, gooey version of what they were before. It was really cool seeing how little time it takes for such a big change. Here are the after results:
p.s. don’t eat them they taste horrible…
Keystone 3 + Finish Line
Our final keystone was to make a video game script for our finish line where we would make the keystone. The idea for my video game was where you are a helium atom rising up to the sky while trying to dodge ice blocks. Your goal is to set a high score and. To die to the evil ice blocks.
To make the game we all used scratch, a coding program that I didn’t really know how to use. I started by drawing the atom itself and giving it movement mechanics to go left and right using the arrows on your keyboard. Next, I made the background which was originally a pipe, but later I changed it to a snowy tundra because it was more fitting. Next, I coded in a timer and the ice blocks. I struggled with making the ice blocks kill the player so I got James to help and he was so helpful and knew the program so well (thanks James). Lastly, I added a “Game Over” screen for when you die, and a reset system.
Final Product:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/842233662/editor/
Conclusion
Overall, using scratch was a great opportunity to learn the basics of coding. Making my game was a fun. Challenge but when it was done, it felt amazing. My whole life, I’ve always liked gaming, so being able to play a game I made was a really cool experience. Thank you for reading my blog post!