Climate Change

A) The greenhouse effect is when heat from the sun gets trapped in the Earth's atmosphere. This happens for several reasons. For starters, more sun gets let into the atmosphere now than before due to the holes in the O-zone layer, caused by an increase in CFC's and other carbons being burned or released into the air. Heat from the sun's rays is usually greatly dissipated by the O-zone layer, but in thinner spots, more UV rays are reaching Earth's surface. From there, the heat would usually reflect off things such as rocks and water on Earth's surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_green_house_effect.svg

However, things in the air can hold on to heat. Gases such as CO2, oxygen, water vapor, and methane all hold onto heat very well. As these gases rise, they deflect the sun's rays back towards the Earth, rather than back out of the atmosphere. This obviously greatly increases the temperature of the Earth, which is the largest factor in determining climate of an area. Heat-trapping mechanisms are natural on Earth, and should be here in order to maintain temperatures on different parts of the Earth. Some do a better job of retaining heart than others. Water vapor is the highest heat-retainer, it contributes about 36-72% of greenhouse effects. Soon after it is carbon dioxide, which contributes about 9-26% (1). It probably isn't a coincidence that these are two things that humans produce through respiration. Carbon dioxide is a large problem due to the large amounts of carbon emissions since the industrial revolution (2).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Global_Carbon_Emission_by_Type_to_Y2004.png

Items such as the ones listed on the graph above greatly increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, which as said before, holds onto heat extremely well. Another large contributer to global warming, although not the first thing that comes to mind, is cows. Cows release very large amounts of methane, which are also good at retaining heat. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't as many cows as there are in the world, but as they are raised for consumers, they must be in large quantities, which unfortunately, greatly raises the methane levels in the air. However, things are being done to reduce these elements in the air. New green energy plans include using methane as a power source. Another plan is plants, which bring in carbon dioxide and sun's rays in order to use cellular respiration.

B) Natural mechanisms can also play a large role the climate. Large volcanic eruptions release large amounts of CO2 and they also create extremely vast dust clouds that cover large areas, preventing the sun's rays from reaching the plants and animals that are under the giant cloud. Temperatures drop in these places, and only some species can survive the switch from warmth to cold in such a short period of time.

http://www.esa.int/images/greenhouse_L.jpg

A large theory about how the dinosaurs became extinct and the last ice age started is that a very large meteorite hit the Earth, which put a lot of sulfur and CO2 in the air, and forming a cloud over a majority of the Earth that prevented light from reaching plants and animals. Soon enough the plants died out due to no sun. This had a large effect on the other animals in several ways. For one, plants produce a majority of the oxygen that other organisms breathe. If all the plants were gone, then there would be hardly any oxygen, so the dinosaurs would have instead been breathing in CO2, which kills animals. The other problem would have been that primary consumers would have had nothing more to eat, and the food chain would have been ended because of that. Once all the energy had left the system, organisms would have been extinct, but their bodies leaving behind all forms of elements in order to make way for primary succession later on.

Bibliography

(1) Kiehl, J. T.; Kevin E. Trenberth (February 1997). "Earth’s Annual Global Mean Energy Budget" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78 (2): 197–208. doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<0197:eagmeb>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 2009-11-23.

(2)"Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis: figure 6-6". Retrieved 2009-11-23

Biogeochemical Cycles

A) Carbon is how biologists determine if something is organic or not, as all organic organisms contain carbon. It is one of the few universally common things about life. Carbon helps and hurts with many things. It reacts with almost every other element. This is because it only has 4 valence electrons, which means it covalently bonds with other elements very easily(1).

http://www.ccs.k12.in.us/chsBS/kons/kons/images/carbon.gif

Carbon can take on many forms due to this as well. It can be the three forms of elements (solid, liquid, gas) all at the same temperature. As a solid, we carbon in places such as limestone, graphite, lead, and even diamonds. As a liquid, carbon can be in our drinks, in the form of carbonic acid. As a gas, carbon can be in many forms, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Carbon can move through all these stages fairly quickly. A fairly good example of a carbon cycle would be a limestone rock being eroded by water, where carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2. This CO2, if in high enough concentrations, can join into clouds and rain down as a form of acid rain. A fair amount of times, this rain lands in a body of water, which is then consumed by organisms. These organisms eventually die and their carcass slowly forms into a carbon deposit in the earth. Over hundreds of years, this turns into stone, bringing the cycle back to its origin. Society is benefited by carbon in many ways. Many structures would not have been build without carbon, as most compounds include carbon. Diamonds, lead vests, pencils, and many other items we know today would not exist if not for carbon. However, carbon also is a large contributer to global warming, as it creates holes in the ozone layer and also holds onto heat in the atmosphere.

http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/companion/gifs/carbon_cycle.gif

B) The nitrogen cycle is a very large part of Earth's life systems. Nitrogen is included in the four most common elements on Earth, along with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen(2). The cycle moves much-needed nitrogen into different parts of ecosystems in different forms. Many organisms use nitrogen to sustain themselves. Nitrogen is cycled through by all kinds of plants, animals, and fungi. Each one doing something such as nitrifying bacteria or other matter in each step of the cycle.

http://fig.cox.miami.edu/faculty/dana/nitrogencycle.gif

C) All elements in nature can be dangerous to living organisms. This works great with the idea of having things in moderation. Even water, something that we are always told we never get enough of, is dangerous in large quantities. A lot of this has to do with the pH of substances. Small amounts of an acid aren't too harmful, such as tomato juice. However, if you were to eat enough tomatoes, you would probably start to get acid reflux, which is your body telling you when you've had enough. Many different elements can be used as an example. Medicines are a prime example. We take things such as aspirin to help ourselves, but having too much aspirin has been linked to deterioration of the intestinal lining.

Bibliography

(1,2)Campbell, N. A. (Ed.). (2008). Biology eighth edition. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.

5 Things from the Nightsky

1. Moon
2. Big Dipper
3. North Star
4. Little Dipper
5. Part of Draco

Nature Trail Blog #2

5 differences
1. Trails clean
2. Fewer pricker plants
3. More Land
4. Leaves had fallen
5. Signs cleaned and painted

5 things the school can do
1. Have clean up days
2. Donate some money to keeping clean
3. Field Trips
4. Create educational structures
5. Hold fundraisers

5 things the community can do
1. Help clean up
2. Have special "Kids Day"s
3. Volunteer time to build educational structures
4. Donate money
5. Set up charity runs or walks along the path

Nature Trail Blog

1. Box elder Bugs- Primary Consumers
2. Lady Bugs- Primary Consumers
3. Mosquitoes- Parasitic Consumers
4. Capped Mushrooms- Decomposers
5. Oak Trees- Producers
6. Sparrows- Secondary Consumers
7. Starlings- Secondary Consumers
8. Pricker Plants- Producers
9. Poison Ivy- Producers
10. Moss- Producers
11. Tree Fungi- Decomposer
12. Lichens- Consumers
13. Certain species of budding flowers- Producers
14. Maple Trees- Producers
15. Duckweed- Producers

The nature trail is a representative of our community because it contains the organisms that make up the rest of our community. It is also supported and generated by people's volunteering and donations. Many of the organisms on the trail can be found pretty much anywhere in the area. The species range from very small to very large, different colours, and different ages.

My NASA page

The internet was going really slow and I couldn't bookmark most of the things I tried bookmarking. I tried adding some more pictures than the one that is on there right now, but I couldn't do that either for some reason. I did read about some interesting things though, such as black holes and Michael Phelps special swim suit.

http://mynasa.nasa.gov/portal/site/mynasa/index.jsp

Bottle Biology update week 3

The results are kind of odd. I think the first collection of data was skewed because there was a 400 point difference between the conductivity of the first week and this week. the pH changed as I suspected though. The control is staying fairly the same, while the experiment is lowering its pH.

NASA blog

1. Light Curves- a. Astronomers use light being emitted from an object to measure things like a planet's mass and size.
b. Quiz grade: 100%
c.http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/
2. Dark Matter- a. Dark matter is the blackness we see in space. It is made up of W.I.M.P.s (Weakly Interactive Massive Particles). They absorb a lot of light so that we can't actually see the matter.
b. Quiz grade: 100%
c. http://cdms.berkeley.edu/Education/DMpages/index.shtml
3. Black Holes- a. Black holes are up to 50 times more massive than our sun. They are possibly powerful enough to slow time in it's vortex and is definitely strong enough to suck in light.
b. Was no quiz, but I feel as though I would have aced it anyway.
c. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagineWiki/ResourcesAg#BH
4. X-ray telescopes- a. X-ray telescopes can measure energy coming from stars and high-energy emitting objects in space.
b. 100%
c. http://constellation.gsfc.nasa.gov/

bottle biology

In my bottle, I will test the effect that rainwater has on a battery and magnesium in both the soil and water. I will record the clarity of the water everyday. I will also look at the pH of the water before the experiment and see how it changes by the end of the experiment. If I can find a way to do it, then I would also like to record the pH everyday. I would like to do this as it pertains to my recycling project. I can see the affects in a small, controlled environment.

climate blog

Blizzards- Blizzards are like severe storms in very cold temperatures. They are caused by different atmospheric pressures and freezing temperatures. They generally only occur in colder climates and can have devestating effects in the area it covers. Blizzards usually have high winds and are obviously below freezing temperature, which is why they cover the ground in snow and ice.

Hurricanes- Hurricanes are large masses of air mixed with different ocean water currents to create a vortex storm that can often hit land and destroy homes of both humans and animals. The warmer the water, the more intense the storm is. This is very relevant because of the waters in the Caribbean warming due to global warming. Recently, hurricanes have been larger and more destructive and occur more often. The most logical explanation is global warming because it explains the warmer temperatures of the water that fuels the hurricane vortex.

Project Progress

So far, I haven't gotten very far into the project. There are a few more things that can be done for research, such as researching places to take the electronics and how it can be profitable for the schools to recycle. I also need to start making some posters to be able to present.

Mythbusters Summary

Electronic devices have changed not only how we live, but how nature reacts to humans. Thunderstorms have always been dangerous to humans, but with the installation of electronics and electronic wires, they are now even more dangerous. Lightning strikes those electric devices and travels through them as they are the shortest path to the ground. Sometimes however, humans are part of that path and can be seriousl injured. Sometimes building over the environment is very dangerous.

Equinox

The equinox is an event that happens twice a year due to the 22 degree angle of the Earth and its revolution pattern. The equator gets 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night every day because it is always facing the sun directly. Only two days of the year though, the rest of the Earth gets the same amount of light. Rotation of the Earth also has a certain amount to do with it, that being the day and night part. During the equinox, the Earth's tilt is facing lateral compared to the sun, which ultimately causes this change in amount of light.

Success Story Summaries

Holland Students Tackle Energy Use: Students at Holland middle school looked at their school's energy consumption and realized that it could be decreased. They decided to implement "dark days", where lights and other electronics were used at a minimum. Doing this for just one day saved them $206. They got their message out through many mediums, such as powerpoint presentations and announcements.


Food Waste in the Lunchroom at Ellis Elementary School: Students at Ellis Elementary School basically started with the scientific method as they asked a question and followed with a survey. First, they wanted to know what students thought the biggest problem in their school was. Most students said food waste in the cafeteria, so they decided to test what they could do to eliminate food waste. What they came up with was to have recess before lunch. This was because students felt rushed to go out to recess and wouldn't finish their lunches. They did a trial run, and if the trial run works then they plan on permanently implementing the new schedule.

Green Wish

My green wish is that Eaton Rapids schools use more of the natural, renewable resources surrounding us. One of the main ones that could be used would be rainwater. Rainwater could be collected and used for many things, one such thing would be watering the greenhouse. This brings me to another idea, the greenhouse could be used to grow food products as well; fresh, garden-picked vegetables are never a bad thing at lunch time, not to mention that crop rotation inside the greenhouse can cut down on fertilizer costs.