• What is your element? Name and atomic number

My element is Lithium and the atomic number is three.

• Tell the reader about your element, history, function/use and so on.

Lithium’s weight is the lightest solid element and the lightest metal. It conducts electricity functions and heat very well. Johann August Arfvedson is the founder of the element Lithium and found it in 1817.

• How did you get the idea for the imagery you chose?

I got the idea from its conduction of electricity so my print was a battery.

• What process did you go through to make this print?

I brainstormed of an idea, drew it, traced on paper which got put on a styrofoam paper. Then I put paint on the styrofoam and then pushed into it on a paper which created a print.

• What would you do differently if you did this print a second time?

Nothing, I felt I did pretty good with everything.

• What part of the project did you enjoy the most? Describe the step and what you liked so much about it.

I like brainstorming because it allowed me to express my creativity.

In my last two you and the world blog posts, I wrote about the affects the crumb rubber has on the human body and why the topic interests and connects to me. I stated its importance to me in the world and in the sports industry. The last post included  the negative perspectives on the crumb rubber in astroturf. In my most recent post, I wrote about how my perspectives about crumb rubber has changed and the benefits of it. To make this issue public, I have presented a slideshow composed of information informing my school community and others of the issue and how to make a change.

The negative effects crumb rubber has on the human body is extremely hard to change quickly which is why I chose to spread awareness and pass information to people so that the problems the human body have with the turf can be solved. Through all of my deep research, I found out that with a lot of care, crumb rubber can be cleaned well which gets rid of some of the chemicals in the old tires. I also found out about many inside astro turf facilities which allow the crumb rubber to not be absorbed by the sun’s heat.  

For my agent of change final project, I decided the best way to inform others of this information is by creating a slideshow presentation including what crumb rubber is, the problem with it, and how it can be treated. I decided to spread awareness for this topic because it is a problem in the United States that many people are not aware of and by presenting this topic to them they can learn about it and inform others of the problems and benefits of astroturf fields so they can make educated decisions about whether or not it is harmful to them. My experience presenting this issue felt good because when teaching my peers on a problem that they were not aware of teaches them something new. This made it effective for me to make a change because now that these people are informed of this issue, they can inform others and it will keep passing down.

I felt appreciated while doing this project because I did ambitious work to understand this topic and put it into a presentation to teach others about this overseen topic. I learned that there a vast amount of problems on this earth, some big and some small and if we inform each other about these problems we can become a more educated and informed society.  While doing this project I learned how easy it was to teach others about a issue and how effortless it is to pass on the problem and how to fix it. When I presented my project, I was in front of about twenty people which is a fair number of people but the word would spread faster if I presented multiple times for different people or brought more people to my presentation. Even though I have presented this issue, it is not done. To make this complete change, we need to inform others of this issue spread the word to people who work with crumb rubber. If we convince the ones who put crumb rubber into fields how we can do it so it is not harmful then our job is done.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit

In my last you and the world blog post, I wrote about the affects the crumb rubber has on the human body and why the topic interests and connects to me. I stated it's important to me in the world and in the sports industry. The last post included  the negative perspectives on the crumb rubber in astroturf. I interviewed Ms. Samantha from Star Finder to find out her perspective on the crumb rubbers on astroturf and her own personal experiences with it.

From my own perspective, crumb rubber in astroturf is a extremely hazardous and bad idea but for some people and places, the crumb rubber in astroturf is a smart and productive idea. The positives for having crumb rubber in astroturf are; it saves water, it can reduce some injuries because of mud and uneven grass spots, increases playability and allows more sports to be able to play on the field, lower maintenance costs, and it is way easier to maintain then grass.  All astroturf fields are the same size as a soccer field or bigger which allows more sports and activities to be held on the fields.

From my original research, I learned the benefits of having astroturf and the crumb rubber. Rubber is extremely hard to get rid of and different people and organizations have tried to find different ways of getting rid of these tires. The crumb rubber can be less harmful if it is cleaned well and in the places where people have got diseases from these tires, the tires were not cleaned well. When astro turf is in a inside place, it traps the heat from hitting the turf which makes the astroturf stay room temperature. When the astroturf and crumb rubber is outside, it captures heat which makes the whole field extremely hot which makes it more likely for an injury to occur.

My opinion on crumb rubber has changed in a small way. I believe that putting crumb rubber in the astroturf helps our environment by reducing these tires that are not biodegradable. The tires have to be cleaned extremely carefully so they are clean. I still believe that crumb rubber is dangerous though and when it is outside, it absorbs heat which makes it hotter which puts people's health in danger. When it is too hot, people can get dehydrated and are more likely to get injured. I wonder what other solutions could substitute crumb rubber and what will fields look like in the future.

For my agent of change, I am thinking about spreading awareness about the concerns of crumb rubber and try to find a solution to the problem.

Here is a picture of the organization Ms. Samantha works for

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit

Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

Picture of person running on astroturf field and crumb

rubber jumping out of the grass. Click here for the image source.

When I play baseball and when I used to play at soccer camps, I noticed these fields made up of artificial grass and crumb rubber. I noticed while playing and watching that every time somebody stepped, slide, kick, or made some kind of frictions with this grass, little black rubber pellets would spray up from the ground to the air and fall back down. My first time playing on astroturf it was in the middle of the summer and I was in Maryland for a baseball tournament. I remember sliding into second base and feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I looked down and my arms was red and starting to bleed. That was not the only problem, It felt like it was two- hundred degrees. According to my own experience, the  little black rubber crumbs absorb heat and can make the whole field one-hundred degrees hotter then what the temperature is. I want to learn about all of the problems with this crumb rubber, find all of the solutions and substitutes to each problem because I know their needs to be something done.

This topic matters to me because crumb rubber in astroturf is a little substance that is always overlooked and not thought of. When humans play on these crumb rubbers, it is risking their body and health. Over thousands of kids play on astroturf fields with crumb rubbers in them every day and many of these people are not aware of the risks of playing on these fields.

Zoomed in picture of the many crumb rubbers in the artificial grass.Click here for the image source.

The majority of fields consist of natural dirt and grass which take many hours to maintain. This job is extremely hard, having to watch over it, make sure not to many

people are using it, cutting the grass at a constant rate, making sure the dirt is clean and even, and so on. Many field owners are either giving up on these natural fields, limiting a place for kids and other people to have fun being outside, or trying to find a substitute to the fields. Even though astro turf costs a ton of money, after many years it becomes equal to all of the hours spent fixing the field and buying different materials to maintain the field with. I want kids to have the opportunity to go outside and play on these beautiful clean fields. If all of the fields are in good conditions, it is a great site to see but when people when people stop maintaining and caring about these fields, it is a waste of space and a waste of an opportunity for people to be having fun. I want for everybody to be aware of the possible risks of these crumb rubbers in astroturf and try for a change.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit

Tech Presentation Script.

I started out with the two sports that I play and love, baseball and basketball. These sports take a huge amount of time out of my schedule. I have been playing these sports since I was younger and a lot smaller. I play these sports for travel teams and school. Pretty much every day after school I am playing and practicing one of the two sports or both in the same day. In the summer I am mainly focusing on baseball. I have a lot of tournaments and season games. For basketball I have one or two tournaments. Through the winter I am practicing baseball indoors because it is too cold to practice outside. I am playing constant basketball games throughout the week and weekends. I chose to add these two visual images because these are the two most important sports to my that I love a lot and keep me out of bad situations.

The car represents traveling and my love for traveling. Even though I live in the city and walk pretty much everywhere, sometimes I take the car to go to a location that is not walking distance. When in the car, we are always making jokes together and making the most out of the car ride. The time I spend in the car with my family and friends are good fun times, we talk, play games and listening to music. This leads to my last visual image, Music. Music is a big part of who I am. It sets the mood in different situations and makes me happy. Music is a big topic that gets brought up in a lot of my conversations.

​From the critique of my slide I learned different suggestions about my work that helped me create a better and more thought out slide. I learned from my critiques to not stretch the images out, to create a clearer contrast in the letters and highlight, and to create a more neater and symmetrical slide. All of the criticism I got on my work helped me create a better slide for my upgraded slide.

I chose to change many of things on my new slide to make it better and cleaner. When creating the second draft of my slide, I researched and listened to my peers on ways to create a better laid out slide. I researched about contrasting colors and chose to add white letters the contrasted with a darker brown color. The images I picked out on my first slide I stretched out which made them more pixelated which I got ride of a shrunk them to their normal sizes. I made sure all of the images were symmetrical to each other and that they corresponded in a way to the highlighted color of the text.

Throughout the process, I learned that it is easier to follow a slide when it is simpler and more symmetric. I used my classmates and teachers to help me create a better slide. They gave me constructive criticism and different ideas to help me create a new better slide.

My local area network is connected by underground wires which is safe and seems to create less destruction above ground. I have fiber octaves which provides a faster internet connection. I learned the right way to break rules which has to be done first be learning about them. People need to know if they have an ethernet cord or something else.