Final Exam posts

Resources and Human Impacts on Earth Systems:


3: a) There are two different types of energy sources for humans: renewable, and non-renewable. Renewable energy sources are sources that have energy which can be "recycled", for example; solar power, wind power, and biomass. Non-renewable energy sources are energy sources which CANNOT be "recycled", such as fossil fuels. When it comes to the environment, renewable energy sources are viewed as the least beneficial, as they create many more pollutants, and waste more resources that the earth cannot reproduce.
b) Human activities impact the environment in a variety of ways, from the mundane to the spectacular. For example, recycling is a great way to benefit the environment, as it does not result in great waste of the earth's resources. People recycle pop cans, because it is a way to reuse the aluminum that is used to make the pop cans; they can be used to create more cans, instead of throwing away the used cans, and wasting resources. A more prominent way in which humans impact the earth's spheres (in this case, the Biosphere), is by actions such as deforestation. Deforestation is the cutting down of forests, whether it be to use the land for commercial use, or to use the trees to make paper, or other things made out of wood, such as pencils, beds, and tables. Cutting down these forests takes away the habitats of many animals, and leaves them without a way to get food, forcing them to starve to death, and therefore greatly decreasing their populations. Many human actions impact the environment, and in some cases, it is NOT for the better.
c) As many people know, the everyday things that we use go through a life cycle; for example, paper is made when trees are cut down, pulp is made, and workers form the paper into notebooks, books, or other paper products, such as cups. The product goes through a life cycle, just as people, animals, and plants do. The resources are first gathered, and then those things are used to make the item. The item is then sold/shipped/etc., and people buy, use and throw out/recycle them. If they are recycled, the life cycle starts all over again. If they are thrown out, however, they can be, and are, disposed of in many different ways. Some idiots burn their trash, sending toxic pollutants into the air, and cause air pollution. Other people simply throw out their waste, and send it off to go to a landfill. These landfills can not only take over the habitats of living things, but they can also cause air pollution, is the toxins from the items get into the air.








Works Cited (for above)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/energy_resources/energy_rev1.shtml
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 08 June 2015.



Works Cited (for below)
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/05conveyor1.html
"Currents." Thermohaline Circulation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2015.
Oceans and Climate:
7:a) Currents are the flow of water in oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies. The currents are influenced/causes by a variety of different factors in that particular marine environment. One of the largest influences on currents is the wind. The wind, as many would suspect, pushes the water in the ocean, making waves, as well as tides, and determining the flow of the current.
 Another factor is the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect is the effect on anything that is caused by the rotation of the earth on it's axis. Therefore, the rotation of the earth is another primary factor that effects the oceans currents. The unequal heating of the earth also contributes, as the temperature differences cause the water currents to flow, based on the trajectory of the sun's rays; water near the equator has different tide patterns than water that is farther away from the equator. For example; water in Antarctica has different tide patterns than water near Brazil and Ecuador, because these two South American countries are much nearer to the equator than Antarctica. There is yet another factor that influences the currents, and that is changes in the water temperature. Changes in the water temperature affect the tides for much of the same reasons that the sun's rays do. Because of this, the countries mentioned above have the same results for the unequal heating of the earth, as they do for being nearer/farther away from the equator. Basin shape is another factor that affects the tides, because the way that the ocean is shaped determines how the water is able to move.
b)Interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere influence global and regional climate, because the ocean holds large quantities of moisture (obviously), and this moisture effects the severity of many tropical storms. The ocean currents transfer heat through their everyday water circulation, bringing heats from the tropics towards the North and South Poles, and this heat circulation continues on through the vast majority of whatever ocean it happens to be on.
Another way oceans affect the climate, is by thermohaline circulation. Thermohaline circulation is the term used to refer to the influence that the temperature and salinity have on the deep-ocean currents. Thermohaline circulation affects the climate, because it begins in the earth's polar regions, and moves through the water, but when the water becomes too cold, and the water on the surface is driven lower by the formation of ice on the top of the water. This interaction is part of the reason that the polar climates are "polar", and it helps cause them to be the cold temperature that we commonly associate with polar regions. Boundary currents, evaporation, precipitation and climatic zones also influence the regional and global climate, due to many different reasons.
c) The dynamics of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affect continental climates, because El Nino interacts with the SST area, most specifically the warm pool areas in the Western Pacific, and this helps to create monsoons. This also aids in the increasing of the amount of rainfall in some areas. The most notable areas where rainfall is particularly increased, would be in the area along the equator, and then leading all the way to the Central and Eastern areas of the Pacific ocean. In some tropical areas, rain becomes rare during the duration of El Nino, but the effects of ENSO vary based upon the precise geographical area, and it is not that same, anywhere, or at anytime. The rain levels also alternate with the high and low pressure systems of different areas.

Quick Frozen Critters game instructions

How to play quick frozen critters:


Materials needed:
1. Five hoola-hoops


Instructions:
1. Place hoola hoops out in a rectangular play area, make sure that it is large enough for approx. 30 kids to play in.
2. Have 5 kids to be the predators or freezers.
3. The hoola hoops are safe zones for 30 seconds.
4. Predators tag the prey, they are out, and must go sit out.
5. The last five prey left are the predators for the next game


Follow up:
They can get a class pet, and feed it live food, to see the predator/prey interaction

Carbon Footprint and Lockwood.

1. URL: http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/
2. My carbon footprint, according to the quiz, is below the nation average, at 17 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
3. In order to reduce my own carbon footprint, I can eat more organic foods. I can also convince my parents to buy more organic food. At school, I can reduce my carbon footprint by asking my teachers to turn off/turn down the heat/air conditioning in the classroom.
4. The two best things about working with the Lockwood kids, were that I was able to show them how to do something that they are going to forget in three days, and that I could do something with them that they would enjoy/learn from.  If we ever work with the kids again, I would change how to explained things, and make it more relatable/comprehensive for the small children, because they probably didn't understand a work me or Adrian said to them. I would also like to do it on a nicer day, when it's warmer out, so no one is freezing their noses off.

Noon Shadows Results

The sundial works when the earth moves around the sun, and casts a shadow as it does so. It takes the earth one year to move around the sun. At it's different positions around the change, the season's change with it. During the summer, the Earth is closer to the sun, while in the winter it is farther away. In December, you would have to face south instead of north, because the Earth is facing the Sun in a different position. If you were to do a sundial on the equator, it would be different, because the Sun's rays hit the equator directly, whereas here in Michigan, they do not. This all has to do with the Sun's direct rays on the Earth. In Sydney, Australia, the sundial would be different, because they have another position on the Earth, therefore, the rays would be different.

Red Planet

1. I saw, in the movie, that people had decided to leave for Mars once Earth became too polluted. What confuses me, is why they would decide to move to Mars. The movie was very futuristic, and, although it was made in 2000, it makes very little sense. The movie is in fact pure fiction, because there is no way that anyone can know for sure if life can be sustained on Mars, or on any other planet, for that matter.
2. I thought the movie was incredibly dull, boring and made me want to fall asleep. It was much too boring for something that should have been incredibly fast-paced, and should have had much better developed characters. Also, some scientific facts never seemed to make a difference to those creating the movie. For example; How could Gallagher have stood up?, How are they all able to breathe oxygen?
3. Dr. Platt says that the science in the movie was  inaccurate scientific wise, but there were some redeeming qualities that the movie had.

Vernal Equinox

1. The length of the sun's midday shadow changes, because the earth is rotating around the sun in different positions throughout the day. The sundial reflects this in it's shadows.
2. On the equinox, the sun's apparent position is directly above the equator.
3. The shadow would be at it's shortest at noon on the Vernal Equinox.
4. The angle of the shadow could be measured by using the equation tan.
5. On the equinox, the angle of the sun's shadow, at midday, would be 90 degrees.

What I would like to learn in Global Science

I don't know what I would like to learn. It would be nice to learn something of value, though.