The Chronicles of Weibel
Fred E. Weibel Elementary
Why Do We Get A Flu Shot Every Year?
by Aarav Gulrajani
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Me: “Ugh, I hate the flu shot. And when I say hate, I mean uppercase H-A-T-E.”
My Mom: “Oh, Aarav. Don’t worry.”
Me: “Why do we have to get the flu shot anyways?”
My Mom: “Good question. That’s not something I know. How about you ask your doctor, Aarav?”
Me: “Humph.”
We reached the hospital, and walked through the hallways, which turned quite often. Finally, we arrived at the doctor’s office. When we went inside, we came face-to-face with the doctor.
Doctor: “Hi! Let’s get to the flu-”
Me: “Hold it. Why do we even need the flu shot?”
Doctor: “Good question. The flu is basically a disease caused by influenza, a virus. When you get the flu, you will get something like a cold and cough or fever. The flu comes every winter, so we doctors give flu shots to people and protect them against it.”
Me: “How will the flu even get into my body?”
Doctor: “Influenza is a virus that tries to affect the lungs. Hence, the virus will go through your nose. It then jumps into the respiratory tract (the pipe that connects your lungs to your nose), and goes into the lungs. Once there, it sticks to the surface of cells. Cells are the smallest and basic building blocks of our body. The virus multiplies, and it's copies take over the cell. The copies of the virus move to the inside part of the cell until the cell finally dies and releases the virus and it's copies out into the body, where they go on to infect other cells. This is how the flu is caused.”
Me: “Wow. How does the flu shot help though?”
Doctor: “The flu shot is a vaccine. It plants a weakened version of the influenza virus into you. Since the influenza is weakened you won’t get sick, but you may get a little bit of fever or a sore arm. But you will be fine in a few days time because your body kills the influenza virus.
Allergies
by Rohil Manwani
Have you ever wondered why people have allergies? How the human body reacts to allergies? Allergies happen when your immune system reacts to a foreign substance. Some common allergies are pollen and peanuts. Once a certain food enters your body your immune system tries to identify if it is an allergen to it or not. If it is, your immune system reacts and causes all sorts of problems. If the immune system does not see it as an allergen it will let the food digest. Sometimes allergies wear off as you grow older. Some allergic reactions can be life threatening. But, food is not the only source of allergies. Some people are allergic to insects! Insect bites and stings can cause anaphylaxis which can trigger a life threatening. You can’t prevent allergens from going inside your body, but you can prevent them from affecting you. For example, if you’re allergic to pollen try to stay indoors when the pollen in your backyard is a lot.
Airplanes
By Rohil Manwani
Have you ever ridden an airplane before? Have you ever wondered how airplanes work?
Airplanes fly when the movement of air across their wings creates an upward force on the wings that is greater than the force of gravity pulling the plane toward the earth. The main role is wind. Without wind the plane would fly downwards. The engine is also a very important part of the plane. The blades spin at high speed and compress or squeeze the air. The compressed air is then sprayed with fuel and an electric spark lights the mixture. The burning gases expand and blast out through the nozzle, at the back of the engine. As the jets of gas shoot backward, the engine and the aircraft are thrust forward.
The funny thing is the plane can work without an engine! It can glide in the air. Fuel starts flowing and an igniter similar to a spark plug ignites the fuel, then fuel flow is increased to spin the engine up to its operating speed. If you have ever been at the airport and watched a big jet engine start up, you know that the blades start rotating slowly. The electric starter motor does that. Airplane engines can remain working for about 5,000 hours.
Drones
by Aarav Gulrajani
Drones. This is probably one of your favorite toys to play with. You can fly them around and take pictures of the world below it. Ok, but that does NOT mean that you should spy on your neighbors. Anyway, how does a drone even work?
Drones can be used for many different purposes. They come in very handy for the military. Drones can silently soar the skies in search of human targets. The public sees surveillance drones as creepy reminders that someone, somewhere is watching every little thing they do. Drones are much more than that though. Although "drone" is the most common term used by us, these flying machines’ scientific name is UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The government and military were the first to explore drones for their war capabilities, but drones are now given to kids, teenagers, RC plane hobbyists, photographers, videographers, farmers and just about anyone who wants to see things from the sky. As you can see, drones can also be used for fun.
There are three types of drones: Tactical drones, mini drones, and strategic drones. Mini drones are small and mostly used for short-range surveillance. They can be used to guard a building. Tactical drones can fly for several hours and can fly as far as 200 miles. They are used to learn about enemies. Strategic drones can fly for days and carry weapons.
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