Sunny Youth Journal

Have you heard of Graphene? It was discovered in 2004, and has been hailed as the most important breakthroughs since the plastics revolution that was more than a century ago. It is a material that is made of one layer of carbon atoms, yet it is very strong. 200 times thinner than a human hair, yet 200 times stronger than steel. When it was first discovered, people thought it would make technologies straight out of a sci-fi movie. But here we are, a decade and a half later, still without those technologies. You might think that the process of discovering Graphene was really complicated, but it really isn’t. In fact, it’s so simple, that you can do it in your home. It was discovered by scientists by repeatedly sticking a piece of tape onto a piece of graphite and taking it off until they got exactly one layer of carbon. Graphene is very useful, from strengthening concrete, buildings, and even bicycle helmets, to making batteries faster charging. It is extremely useful, and be used for many purposes. It is very conductive, and so far, the only problem is that it is hard and expensive to produce. The current methods of producing graphene are very expensive, and can only produce very little amounts of Graphene at a time. Graphene can be used for many things, but the current problem is that it can not yet be mass produced. If we were to build big things with Graphene right now using (our) primitive methods, it would take a LOT of sticky tape.

What good is a teacher if the teacher can not teach

What good is a student if a student does not learn

The teacher and a student, a bad educator and a bad education

But how will we change this educator and education?

Enter Miss. Awful, a grumpy old waffle

She gives too much homework and expects even more work

A witch, a villain, planning and stirring “chaos” and hatred for her dear students

The students start to realize, this teacher is for real,

She won’t let them lay down or let them play around

The students start to work, work really hard they did

They started learning how to spell and soon were pretty swell

And after Miss. Awful was about to leave, the students made her proud

Now look at that class, a swell education it is

It shows a example how spoil, will lead to turmoil

but with discipline and work, we could change a couple brats

To learn how to learn and let them get off well!

Now look at that class, what have they accomplished?

From laying down to working hard, they learned quite a lot

Now this is a good educator, and a better education.

I’m going to be writing about Miss Awful. So, Roger, the student, didn’t want to do his homework and wanted to go to the park, because he was going to have a substitute and he thought the substitutes didn’t care about his homework, so he went to the park and played. His original teacher was Miss Wilson, but she wouldn’t be here that next Monday. Miss Orville, or as the students called her, Miss Awful, would be there. So, as the students went into class, expecting a care-free week, Miss Awful comes out and tells them to form into straight lines and basically sounds like a drill sergeant from the boot camps. She orders people around to do everything. She seemed like a mean teacher. She said that she had taught students for forty-six years. And, she cares about the homework assignment that Roger didn’t think he would. As she comes around to his desk, he drops his book bag, and inside is a spool of string, baseball cards, and a water gun. Then she scolds him about bringing in toys to school. Her mother seemed worried that his son had changed from a playful boy, to a nervous person. Then, after that, Miss Awful ashamed the students in front of their parents. Then he tells Roger’s mother that he sucks at spelling and demonstrates by telling him to spell flower and castle. And he spelled them like flor and kazl. Then at the end of the week, all the children leave instantly the bell rings, except Roger. Miss Awful gives him the toys she had confiscated from him earlier in the week, and Roger practiced spelling flower and castle and spelled them correctly to her.

Although graphene has been discovered for several decades, there are not many products that include graphene in them. Graphene is like graphite, which is used for writing, but it is only one atom thick, making it 2D. The reason it is not produced a lot is that people have not been able to implement ways to use it in many products that are drastically better than the original. For example, when the first products that had graphene in them did technically include this element, but it did not change much about the merchandise. Nevertheless, I believe that we should still put more effort into using graphene in goods since it has a lot of potentials. 

As technology becomes stronger, scientists will find more ways to create this element for use in the future. However, as of right now, experiments have been tested on graphene to see how it can be made in bigger bulks. One way that was discovered is by burning plastic to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this may seem extremely difficult, I think people will be able to find ways to do it as technology is becoming better by the second. In addition, it is also getting rid of plastic. 

If people are going to spend their effort creating a machine that can go to that temperature, there needs to be a reason they are doing that. To start, there have been tests that have proven that graphene is almost ten times stronger than steel when it comes to 3D printing. Since 3D printing can be used for many things, having something this much stronger will definitely come in handy. It has also been shown that graphene can be used for touch-screens. If graphene is used for this in the future, plastic can be used with it, avoiding many phone cracks. Even though this tiny element may seem like nothing, it can be used in many different ways to make our world better. 

A few years ago, there was this hype about a new material called graphene. Graphene is basically graphite, but 2D and in a honeycomb shape. People had a bunch of crazy ideas about what we could make with it. People believed that we could almost immediately be able to create machines from sci-fi movies. But so far, we have made barely any progress. Some people are still overhyping graphene, while others think it is a massive disappointment. We have already create a few things with graphene and are getting ideas for more. Because these new ideas sound so promising, I think we should keep looking into graphene.

With graphene, we might be able to make something that can filter salt water. This could help many people who live in places with no fresh water close by. Because it might help so many people, it is worth looking into. Also, graphene can be made from waste materials like plastic and rubber. Plastic does not break down and rubber leaches hazardous chemicals into the environment when it breaks down, so this would be a great way to get rid of these harmful things into make something useful. These would be very useful inventions, so I believe that we should keep looking into graphene, even if it is a little pricey.

In the year 2004, Professor Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov of the University of Manchester discovered and isolated a single atomic layer of carbon for the first time. This is called graphene. The pair received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 in recognition of their breakthrough. However, why was the discovery of Graphene so important?

How was Graphene Discovered

Graphene is a fullerene consisting of bonded carbon atoms in sheet form one atom thick. Graphene was discovered using the ‘Scotch Tape method’. The ‘Scotch tape method’ used at Manchester was so simple and effective that this area of science grew extremely quickly, and now hundreds of laboratories around the world deal with different aspects of graphene research. Also known as the micromechanical cleavage technique, the Scotch tape method does not require large investments or complicated equipment, which has helped to broaden the geography of graphene science considerably.

Pros of Graphene

• It  is  the  thinnest  material  known  and  with  that  also  the strongest.
• It  consists   of  a  single  layer  of  carbon  atoms  and  is  both  pliable  and transparent.
• It is a superb conductor of both heat and electricity.
• It  is  used  in  the  production  of  high  speed  electronic  devices  responsible  for  fast  technological  changes.
• Chemical sensors effective at detecting explosives.
• Membranes for more efficient separation of gases. These  membranes  are  made  from  sheets  from  which  Nano scale  pores  have  been created.
• Transistors  that  operate  at  higher  frequency  as  compared  to  others.
• It  has  led  to  the  production  of  lower  costs  of  display  screens  in  mobile  devices  by  replacing  indium-based  electrodes  in  organic  light  emitting  diodes(OLED)  which  also  lower  power  consumption.
• Used in the production of lithium-ion batteries that recharge faster. These batteries use graphene on the anode surface.
• Storing Hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars.
• Low  cost  water  desalination  by  using  graphene-with  holes  the  size  of  a  nanometer  to  remove  ions  from  water.

Cons of Graphene

• Being  a  great  conductor  of  electricity, although it  doesn’t  have  a  band  gap (can’t  be  switched  off). Scientists are working on rectifying this.
• The  main  disadvantage  of  graphene  as  a  catalyst  is  its  susceptibility  to  oxidative  environments.
• Research has proven that graphene exhibits some toxic qualities. Scientists  discovered  that  graphene  features  jagged  edges  that  can  easily  pierce  cell  membranes,  allowing  it  to  enter  into  the  cell  and  disrupt  normal  functions.
• It is a long process to make Graphene based products
• Costly

Graphene based Products

• Ultra-fast charging of batteries.
• Collection of radioactive waste for easier clean-up.
• Faster flash memory.
• Stronger and better-balanced tools and sporting equipment, such as tennis racquets.
• Ultra-thin touchscreens that can be pasted onto a non-breakable material.
• Graphene-based e-paper that can update with new information.
• Quick and efficient biosensor devices 200, to measure blood glucose, cholesterol, and possibly your DNA
• Headphones with phenomenal frequency response.
• Supercapacitors that essentially make batteries obsolete.
• Novel waterproof coatings.
• Bendable batteries.
• Stronger and lighter aircraft and armor.
• Aiding tissue regeneration.
• Purifying salt water into drinking water.
• Bionic devices that can connect directly to your body’s neurons

Conclusion

Graphene is an incredible element that can change a lot of things. Consisting of the Marketing Industry, Technoogy Industry, Health Industry, and much more. Although there cons to Graphene there are many pros too. Technology is evolving and our knowledge is expanding. In conclusion, Graphene is an important element that can lead too many important and extraordinary products.

(Poem)

From characters engraved on stone

To alphabetical letters of ink

Writing has history, lots and lots

So much you can’t think

But if you believe that writing

Is just a list of meaningless letters

Your wrong, will you listen

Madam or monsieur

Writing is not simply

Some symbols on a sheet

It is the art of beliefs and opinions

It is the music of words; the beat

It is the mother of fascination

Discovery and creativity

It is the base, the root

Of learning and education abilities

It is the practice of language

Culture and stories

It is the perfection of reading

And the record of history

Writing is not only

Many letters, symbols, and signs

It has much more meaning

Not just ridiculous, nonsensical lines

Have you ever taken a reading test at school? The ones that test how fast you read? Well, turns out that reading slowly is actually more helpful than reading quickly. In the Ted Talk “What Reading Slowly Taught me About Writing” by Jacqueline Woodson, my perspective on reading actually took a turn.

Reading slowly can not only allow you to enhance and deepen your understanding and connection to the story, but also helps to diminish your stress level. When you read slower, you can concentrate harder on each word and not think about anything else. And when focus more on the story, you tend to ponder more about it and catch unobtrusive details that may reveal a lot about the plot, or the theme. This also leads to a decrease in stress levels. This happens because once all your focus is on one specific thing, you’ll be absorbed by the book and forget about the things that are stressing you out.

You might be wondering why reading quickly is bad. However, there are always two sides of the problem. Reading quickly may cause you to rush, and whenever you’re in a rush, there are ominous results. For one thing, rushing causes you to panic, which also causes stress. This is one of the biggest lose-lose situations of reading quickly. It takes away the purpose of reading, which could be to calm down, or lower stress levels. One of the good things of reading quickly is being able to read and extensive amount of books in a short period. Allowing you to find books that could be more interesting or finding a genre of books that you find mundane.

However, this does not apply to everyone, since everyone’s brain works a different way. Some people may find that reading quickly allows them to absorb more books, and when they find a book they enjoy throughly, they can take time to slow down and reread it. On the other hand, there are people who like to take things slower and just spend more time on each book than speeding through them. Whichever way you prefer, if you want to understand a book deeply, it requires rereading, mulling, reflecting, and you being able to fathom every part of it.

In the story, Miss Awful, Rodger loves school only because His teacher is nice and plays with his classmates during school time. Later, Rodger’s class have a substitute teacher, Mrs. Orville. Mrs. Orville is really strict and seems mean towards the students, resulting in the students calling her Miss Awful. On her last day of being the substitute teacher, Rodger’s class decides to get revenge on Mrs. Orville by tearing up her plant. Instead of getting angry at the students, Mrs. Orville does not do much other than stating the reasons why coming to school is a lucky thing to be able to do. I think that actually being grateful for the things, whether one likes it or not, is really important because one will understand and acknowledge that how one is quite lucky.

Reading and writing in life is a very good life skill to have. In this TED TALK Jacqueline Woodson talked on how reading led her into writing. After all of her hard work, she has made amazing books and amazing poems. This inspired me to become a better writer and reader.

When Jacqueline Woodson was little she was born to read she would read a lot every day very slowly. Her siblings were different readers from them though. Jacqueline Woodson would read by dragging her finger across the page. But her siblings would read much faster than her. Her reading would always take up most of her time in the day.

Soon after a while Jacqueline Woodson would ready so much she would get shall i say “addicted” to reading. If the fire alarm was on she wouldn’t know because  she was so into the book. If someone was mowing the lawn she would also not get distracted. Soon later she got much better and faster at reading books, but not just books, she also read bibles.

After years and years she had thought about writing about her feelings in the book. She had always thought about this yard as my yard and the angry monster can not come into it. Later when she thought deeply about it she started to write about it and soon started to write amazing books. When she started writing she was also thinking about how thankful she was to be able to have a pencil or pen in her hand. This is because her mom and dad and grandparents weren’t able to get education they weren’t able to learn. 

So when you get an opportunity then use the opportunity to do the best of what you have in yourself. Jacqueline Woodson was a really good Author. She made plenty of books and got a nobel prize. So when she really got to think deeply in her reading, she eventually got to become a very amazing and inspiring author.