The Plague Doctor

One would visualize an image of a Plague Doctor when The Plague is mentioned. Their suits and especially the worn mask is affiliated with such, however, what else did the doctors wear as protection? It should be mention as well that, what they wore were not as effective as they have thought, as most, many of them have then passed away from the disease as well. One of the main reasons for them to contract that disease is by the well-known mask that they used, unfortunately, it wasn't very effective, it was effective in some aspects but mostly was not. Indeed the germs that are the plague would travel by air, however, the aroma would simply not prevent this; it is also worth to mention that the mask had nostril holes that were not filtered in any form. The suit, gloves, boots were indeed effective, yet the only problem is that they were not washed/cleaned; this meant that fluids that soaked in the cloth would stay in the garden. Which when worn again would pose problems as it is then infected.
Moving on from the effects of what they wore we come back to looking at the items they brought and used. (In these posters)

 This is the poster that I have made:

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After finishing the poster a further task has been set for us, which is not making a story of how it would be if you were a plague doctor. What would you see, how would you describe your surroundings what you felt? It is based on what we have learned so far, about the medieval people as well as of course the disease. Below is my short story:

A further day has passed. Thus continuing the path that thyself has chosen, indeed the stench is unbearable; even with such mask and herbs to wander the mind of the smell of death. Many of “doctors”, as the naive and mindless call us, have the mind that of a narcissist. To an extent that I know not of, their beliefs of a suit to protect their bodies from “death’’? That thought is far more fatuous than that of whom receive our “treatment”. We know nothing of this field, furthermore, know nothing of such disease, gruesome and dire, it’s unknown; from our deepest fear, it comes after, trying to cover and replace that fear with hope? Such ludicrous! Fear-one of our oldest emotions-with that, the oldest, most daunting type of fear is the of fear the unknown. It is only pointless that we cover this, with believing that we “know” it. That we do not… An individual has suppressed the disease, a patient of mine. It is very unclear to how it happened, what peculiar set of events occurred for this to be accomplished, that I do not know. But what I do know is that none of what I have “recommended” is not what has prevented the reaper to take his soul. The advice that I give is what I would think of on fictitious stories that have been spread as a myth. Mere ‘cures’ that I have only heard of from fellow “doctors”; I could not careless from those whom are ill, even lesser for those whom succumbed. One may call such as malevolent, which I shall take, along with the salary from the “higher-ups” as well as the payment from victims who would fall for such play with words. None will escape death, not even me.

Causes and Cure of The Black Death

Look at the minds of the Medieval People have fascinated me, through their "hygienic" practices to their common beliefs. These thoughts, of course, has spread as well into the causes and cures of the Great Plague. Most beliefs and practices have not helped or had lessened the risk of obtaining the disease; as most have are what I think of when a fantasy world is mentioned. As most did not all make any sense whatsoever in this era, though I have to respect their thoughts as I envy their mental creativity if it can be called as such. We have far, far, far beyond those beliefs, well at least the majority, which is a joy as it prevents the further decline of our populations and pain. We have continued to learn and will continue to learn further; in which case the future generation may think of our ideas just as well as how we thought of the Medieval people's ideas.  Ironic. Here a compilation of what they have thought of the disease, where it came from, the cause, the cure, how to fight and avoid it.

"Symptoms of The Black Death" - Last Days

Once you've caught the disease [The Bubonic Plague] it usually meant death; it was more than likely to be inevitable. However to understand the situation of the victims who caught such a terrible illness; one must have the knowledge of what they went through. The symptoms of The Bubonic Plague, yet it may pass our minds but, there weren't only one type of plagues that spread through the 14th Century, not two, but three. The most common and revolting at least externally, the Bubonic Plague; once the Bubonic has reached the lungs, we then transfer onto the next type. That being the Pneumonic Plague, infecting the respiratory system; then the third, the Septicaemic Plague, which infects the circulatory system, the blood. How gruesome as it may be seen, the Bubonic Plague was the weakest of the three, as both the Pneumonic and Septicaemic Plague has a mortality rate of almost 100%.

Now looking at the last days of the millions of people that lived in Europe, for most, after the being the victim of the disease, most often, they would last 5 days. Here is what the symptoms they faced at the time.

https://create.piktochart.com/output/46189032-my-visual

The Spread of The Great Plague

The Black Death has spread a lot in Europe, so much so that it took around 50 million people, reducing the population of Europe by more than fifty per cent. It made a drastic change in the world at the time and the years, decades and centuries after. In these tasks, we were asked to complete and examine the map and colour in the first cities to be infected with this disease. The years, as well as the colour, differentiate from each other to be able to see the pattern on where and how rapid it began to spread.

Once you have completed the map, answer these questions:

1. What date and in what city did the plague start in Europe? It started at around 1349 a year after it has spread around Italy and France.

2. Referencing the colours, in what year did the plague spread the most? The Plague has spread the most in the year 1348.

3. What patterns do you see in the map? The Black Death began spreading around cities near the coast, which I would comprehend them to be trade locations, trade routes for goods around the continent.

4. List some reasons why you think it took a whole year for the plague to get from Paris to London and Liege? Some of my ideas on why this was the case is because, the people of France and Italy might've only then begun to feel ill, which naturally at whom is where you would stay. Another idea is travellers for reasons unknown have not been travelling to London and Liege then. The final thought that has come up in my mind is that people were simply dead then, the population is less than what it used to be; resulting in fewer people travelling, ill, dying or dead.

 The following is a comic strip that simplifies how the disease has spread from Asia to Europe. The sequence of events is of the following:

1. Traders in the Crimea have been besieged for three years by Tartar hordes from Central Asia.
2. The Black Death breaks out among the Tartars.
3. The Tartars used their sieged machines to fling their dead inside the walls of the fort.
4. The disease spreads to the people inside the fort.
5. The Tartars flee.
6. The survivors inside the fort set sail for Europe bringing the disease with them.

Medieval Era: Hygiene

What was the hygiene like in the Medieval Era? We have touched on that matter in a previous blog post but we have yet to really fully understand and learn the extent of their terrible hygiene. As mentioned in the previous post, bathing was extremely rare, imagining the work that they went through and what they used to do, farming crops, raising herds, manual labour; it is a bit repulsive to how they managed the smell, dirt, faeces, etc.  Note taken, if only they did have good hygiene and have learned about hygiene then, it could've more than likely lessen the risk and lessen the spread of the plague. 

Below are some tasks that I have completed in connection with the spread of the disease, how it got to other cities, countries, etc. As well as the hygiene/belief of the people then.

Rats, Fleas and Humans

Following on the Black Plague, we begin to dig deeper into how it spread, what are the factors that made the plague spread. The main reasons for these are the vessels that carried the disease, mainly the rats and the fleas. The rats which carried the fleas were very capable creatures, they feast upon human environments. Not only that but they breed a lot and they produce a lot, they live in groups which make it so that the fleas which carry the plague spread onto the other rats. Once also a flea has spread onto a person, it makes it more than likely to spread further as fleas, having the abilities to jump high and reproduce at an alarming rate. Below is a simple diagram of how it spreads and some information that I have found out about rats and fleas.

Hurumanu 3 - Chaos: The Black Death

Following on after looking at several disasters that have occurred in history. We are then to focus on one of the most devastating disasters and pandemic that have surrounded the world; wiped 30% to 60% of Europe at the time, killing more than 50 million people. The outbreak is what I would say, in place, appropriate to what is happening to the world in this current time. Better know that we can examine and identify how it can spread and be able to [with or technology] spread what is happening and what we can do to prevent it. In this activity, we shall look at the timeline taht I have made in which puts in place some of the major and important events in our history. Containing 'The Black Death', wars, religious fights, discoveries and many parts of our past after the antiquity.
This will be an insight and will be the beginning of learning about the 'Great Plague'

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

Hurumanu 3: Chaos - Mount Vesuvious

With this week the individual tasks that we are set with continues; however by this time, the activity that we have chosen is the eruption of "Mount Vesuvius". The disaster in Pompeii that occurred almost 2 thousand years ago; an eruption and a disaster which killed thousands of people as well, that were not only in Pompeii but in other neighbouring cities. Covering much of what the city was, destroying many constructions on the city; however, after its discovery, the history of Pompeii has been preserved. Making it known what the stories of this disaster have to tell. The rich culture in which the people possessed before the disaster.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cohzm-AYKY8bJcroBZfzxTgC4se2FwDFyW8vgLoBDts/edit#


courtesy: https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/hiking-mount-vesuvius

Hurumanu 3: Chromatography

Day 1 Experiment

Aim: To separate the colours by pigments.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that the pigments that are used, secondary colours such as violet, purple, green will contain and will have the separated primary colours that are mixed to create the secondary, thirdly colours,

Discussion: The first experimented colour that we used was purple and pink, the purple pigment as hypothesized being that it is a secondary colour it contained red and blue.  The pink, simultaneously done with purple showed some resemblance to orange as well as red. Explaining that the darker colours the more pigment needed making it have a more variety of colours rather than a primary colour

Chemmicals and Chaos: Evaporation experiment

Evaporation Experiment

Aim: Our aim is to separate a mixture using evaporation copper sulfate.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis is that after boiling the copper sulfate we should be left with solids in which will technically be the solute of the mixture. The soluble solids in the mixture will be separated from the solvent after the evaporation process has been completed.

Equipment: Copper sulfate solution, 250mL Beaker, heatproof mat, evaporating basin, element. 

Method: 

• Set up element
• Add 50mL of hot water to the beaker and place on the element.
• Add copper sulfate to the evaporating basin until it is quarter full.
• Carefully, place the evaporating basin on top of the beaker. 
• Turn on the element to 8
• Heat the solution until most of the solvent has been evaporated and crystals of solute are forming. 
• Turn off the element- careful not to touch as will be hot for a long time.

Observations: 

Before: The water in the beaker is steady and is near the room temperature, the same can be said for the mixture.

During: During the process of evaporation,  the temperature has risen significantly. The began to boil and the mixture on the basin began to simmer. The gas released by the mixture has a smell that can be compared or described as burning plastic. The amount of liquid is slowly but surely beginning to lessen. 

After: Crystal can be seen left behind form the solution; the crystals otherwise known as the solute are formed. The smell of the evaporating gas has weakened, or have either gone; the warmer is slowly cooling as the heat is taken out.

Discussion:

As hypothesized above, the solution [copper sulfate] has separated and evaporated. The solvent of the mixture has evaporated and left behind the solute. The solute is the crystals that again, were left in the result of having been heated and evaporated. When the temperature of the mixture, in the beaker as well as in the basin. The particles in both the water and the solution, have greatly moved faster as the temperature rose. It then steadily kept the high temperature up until the mixture has fully evaporated.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the hypothesis of having the solution evaporated and the solute staying in the basin is correct. As we have experimented, many mixtures can be separated by using the same method. This not only occurs inside a laboratory, like what has taken place in this experimentation. But occurs natural environment as well, evaporation constantly reoccurs every second, the sun, ray of heat and energy hits the face of our oceans. That causes the water to evaporate, condense and later then precipitate and all over again. Evaporation is all around us, we just need to "stop and smell the roses" is what it takes to see. 

Chemicals and Chaos- Chaos: Tsunami

There have been many tsunamis that have hit the surface of this planet, the size of the tsunamis that we have experience vary in size. The Alaskan Tsunami, which occurred on Lituya Bay, Alaska, July 9, 1958. Is the biggest ever recorded by far; millions and millions of trees that were near the shore of the bay were wiped and were pulled out from their roots. The tsunami is considered as a mega-tsunami, 30 million cubic metres of rock fell and cause the disaster that we have recorded in history today.  From city near the bay--Yakutat--  a water tower collapsed, cabin destroyed which is then beyond repair. Two fishermen died in the disaster after they have been caught in the gigantic wave. In this activity, we began to scale and be able to compare the size of the mega-tsunami to be able to understand the impact that it gave.

Chemicals and Chaos: Chaos-9/11 Disaster

Moving on after the 'Zombie Apocalypse' disaster, fictional, we then moved on to a disastrous true event that occurred on the 11th of September, 2001. A very sorrowful disaster that changed the process of how the world is now, taking the lives of many, many innocent civilians not aware of what was about to happen to them. Unreplaceable lives were taken, for a sole reason of terrorism; rage, sorrow, unacceptance, what we people all around the world felt on that day, and many many years after. This tasks required us to from the timeline of what happened, before, during and after the disaster took place. A series of mixed emotions were felt in writing and completing this task, truly, truly such miserable and malevolent act that we cannot turn back the time to stop.

Eperiments- Dissolving: Hurrumanu 4

Template for a scientific report 

In Science, whenever we do an experiment we will blog it. The way that we blog an experiment is in the form of a scientific report.

Aim: To find out and see if salt or baking soda dissolve more.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that baking soda will dissolve less and will saturate the water much quicker as it is more finely that the salt, therefore, the salt will dissolve more on a faster rate.

Equipment: The equipment that we will be using for this experiment are: 250ml beaker,  100ml measuring cylinder, salt, baking soda, a stirring road, a teaspoon and a ruler.

Method: The following steps are what we will take for this experiment to work:

1. We fill our beaker with 100ml of tap water.
2. After the beaker has been filled, we then add a level teaspoon of our baking soda. A level teaspoon can be achieved by taking a teaspoon of the baking soda and a ruler is then run across its edge.
3. The solution that we have mixed is then stirred, keep the rotation going until all of the baking soda has vanished and dissolved.
4. Steps 2 and 3 are then repeated, it is only after that our solution has saturated and no more baking soda can be added.
5. The number of teaspoons of baking soda is then recorded.
6. The process that we have taken is then repeated for the salt as well.

Results: What did you observe? Either a picture or table of data.

Solute:	Salt	Baking Soda
Number of scoops (science spatula) till saturated:	20	11

Discussion: What do your results mean? Explain your results.

The number of scoops that we incorporated with our water and our solutes; saturating the water with salt was our first experiment and the first observation. The following was the Baking soda which dissolved less and saturated our liquid much slower. The number of scoops of salt that we were able to dissolve in our liquid was 20 scoops--science spatula--instead of a teaspoon; the number of scoops again with the same spatula was much less--11. In the experiment, we have observed that salt was much less fine than the baking soda; which is more chalky and more of a powder texture. It caused the water molecules to be filled up at a much faster rate, and that is why it requires less baking soda for the water to be saturated rather than the salt.

Conclusion: Did your experiment work? Was your hypothesis correct?

In conclusion, salt which somehow dissolves at a faster rate has a better or is better at solubility, it dissolves better than baking soda. We observed and conclude from this experiment that salt dissolves better than baking soda, making our hypothesis correct. Which stated that baking soda will dissolve less.

Conclusion:

I thought it would be a black crystal but it was bright blue and needed a couple of days to form but a very successful experiment!