Exam 2 Earthquakes & Volcanoes link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y4R-grBehN3MGcu7eS_32q6ahPrw7NaGLfXcig9vI3Q/edit?hl=en&authkey=COGytbcC

Exam 1 Plate Tectonics Link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1udFR5tMqyZejZidJ5SQlOjBTGCwU0Sw33yVUfpEi0sc/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJ_2mvkF

Connection of 2 Green Book Climate Labs

In Activity One we learned about heat absorption in water, light soil, and dark soil. Dark soil heated up the quickest and gradually dropped temp. Water took longest to heat up but kept its heat the most. Light soil was in between both during heating up and cooling down. I knew the dark soil would heat up the fastest but i was clueless on how the water would react at all.

Activity Four, was on how the climate heated up with the Dark soil A, Dark Soil with Clouds B, Light Soil C, Light Soil with Clouds D, Water E, water with clouds F. The results where close to Activity 1 except the ones with clouds had an increase in temp. I got the data i excpected since i knew prior to this about the basics because of Activity 1.

The Small scale labs where a very good example of how Earth's climate works. It helped me understand how in different parts of the world would have a certain type of climate based on their soil and if they had clouds. The climate with light soil and no clouds would resemble drought the most. It has heat but not too much and during the night it gets really cold because there isn't any moisture or clouds in the air to keep the warm in.

Space Object Powerpoint Link

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AX-47DhenpMmZGNndGZ3ZmhfMjk4cHR6NjhmNQ&hl=en&authkey=CLa23fAH

Bad Atronomy Blog

Two fact that I had are:
1. People use telescopes to see stars in space.
2. The sun would increase the temperature of the comet that is exposed to it.
I was right about these things because I have witnessed seeing stars through a telescope. Also the first temp of a comet that was measured was 700 farenheit. This was hot and it was caused by the sun and the reflectivity of the comet itself.

Two things i found that were wrong were:
1. The astronuat whose face was burned would get burned worse.
2. The Comet wouldn't make sound
I was wrong in the 1st one because in Bad Astronomy, the said that it wouldn't have been as bad. In the 2nd one I was right because sound needs a medium to travel through and there isn't air in space to make the sounds.

What if the Sun Turned into a Black Hole
What I think Before: I think that the solar system (trom mercury to pluto) will be sucked into it and turn into nothingness.
I learned: that the gravity on Earth wouldn't change. i also learned that until you get to about 700000 km the gravity would be the same, but after that it would the tides of the oceans on the Earth could rip you apart.

Climate Change

Climate change is a change in the world's climate over a long period of time. These changes can be from a variable or from humans. Climate change is caused by an accumulation of gasses in the lower atmosphere. The Concentration of carbon in the atmosphere has increased by 30% since preindustrial times. The future climate is determined by experiments like the general circulation experiments. The greenhouse effect is a result of climate change. Climate change is a long-term alteration in global weather patterns such as increase in temperature and increase in storm activity. Some important faces in Climate Change are Thomas Stocker(IPCC working group1), Renate Christ (secretary of IPCC), Al Gore, Peter Garett, David Suzki, and many more. I feel it is important to learn about climate change.

Bibliography

• Climate Change, R Sari Kovats, www.answers.com/topic/climate-change, 2010

• Climate Change, Encarta World Dictionary, http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_701705058/climate_change.html, 2009

• Past Events, International Panel of Climate Change, http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/news_and_events.htm, 2010

• Climate Change Quotes, Interesting Quotes and Sayings By Famous People, http://www.quotemonk.com/quotes/famous-c/climate-change.htm, 2010

Sewer Treatment

I learned a lot about the sewer treatment plant in our town by going on a tour of it last week. I learned that our water gets clean by going through many steps of sanitation. The first part of this process is where the water enters that plant. It first goes through a big grinder that grinds up solid waste, toys, fish, and any other things that people flush down their toilets. I also learned that about 99.9% of the water that goes to the plant is clean. The next step is where the water is put into a big tank that pumps oxygen into it. This allows for the healthy microorganisms to eat the dirty parts of the water. Then the water goes into another tank which allows the solids to settle to the bottom and be taken out. This is the final step before the water leaves the plant into the Grand River. The water that leaves the plant is very clean.
I saw the recycling center for the first time last week. It was pretty cool. There were bins for plastic, glass, aluminum, and cooking grease. I will recycle a lot more knowing how easy it is to sort and recycle everything. It was very easy to understand how everything worked. I enjoyed recycling and will help my family to get more involved with it.

City Discussion

Ms Byerly came to talk to our Global Science class about our city. When Eaton Rapids founded, the settlers built sawmills, looked for mineral Water, and liked the island. In 2006, the project to improve the storm er system Was started. The storm Water system cleans and purifies the Water from oil, grease, letter, and sewage. The city had two storm outlets get put in to replace the ten old ones. These intercepts rain Water and takes out debris. They 'Collect & Separate' impurities from our Water before it goes in the grand river. The city of Eaton Rapids Wants to take the attention back to the river! They also Want to do this by increase White Water rafting, canoeing, and kayaking. Eaton Rapids is located in the Upper Grand Watershed Which i thought s intersting because it related to that Worksheet that did.
The storm Water Will improve our BOD test by increasing the oxygen in the Water to help support life. My biobottle is doing really good. The sunfloWers are groWing a lot. The only doWn oul be that it tipped over and i dont knoW the outcome from that yet. We aren't that far on the lexus project yet. I feel that it's coming together a lot in my head. We just need to get started on physically doing it and it Will come together nicely.

Water Testing Connection

Whittney and I chose the topic of Composts.
Our action plan will be based mainly on composts. We will be drawing up a plan to have the school start a compost. There will be compost bins at lunch were kids can put leftover food in. After school we could bring the bins outside to a universal compost bin where the lunch bins will be dumped. After the compost turns to dirt we will use it to plant beautiful flowers and gardens around the school.
In our bio bottle we will be testing the new compostable Sunchip bag. We will be using the bag as the dependant variable in the bottle and nothing but a normal bio bottle as the other. Over a long period of time we will see if the bag really does composts or not.
The river test and our action plan are related in a couple of ways. The river test we will do is called BOD (biological oxygen demand). This shows how healthy the water is by the amount that micro-organism take in over a period of 5 days. This is related to our action plan to determine if the compost is healthy to sustain life and be unharmful to it as well.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid+20080915101132AAnGVQ7

Eaton Rapids Water Treatment

There are many things that go on in the Water Treatment Plant in Eaton Rapids. The workers have control of over 38 miles of water lines underground. In Eaton Rapids, we get our water from 3 rock wells and 3 other wells. They use Chlorine, phosphate, and fluoride to clean the water and to prevent damage to the pipes. There is over 1 million gallons of water over our heads in the water towers in Eaton Rapids. The water goes out to all the houses in Eaton Rapids and there is a graph in the plant that shows the amount of water being used. The water pressure comes from the water pushing down in the water towers. There are 3 men that are currently working in the Water Treatment Plant. There is a lab were they do water tests to check for PH levels, Escherichia Coli, and other bacteria and viruses. These are some of the things that happen in the Water Treatment Plant in Eaton Rapids.

Lexus Link

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AX-47DhenpMmZGNndGZ3ZmhfMGdtZ21iN2Yz&hl=en

H20 Treatment Blog

1. What happens to H2O to make it drinkable?
Firstly, drinkable water is defined as being rid of harmful bacteria and other pathegens, also other chemicals must be below drinking-water standards. So to make water drinkable it must go through several steps of cleaning. The first step to purify water is Intake Screens. This doesnt allow plants, logs, and other large particles to enter the process. Next, water is sent to a Rapid Mixing Unit which removes color, sediments, and bacteria. The use of Aluminum Sulfate helps this process. Thirdly, the Aluminum Sulfate in the last step is formed into Floc, this is called Floculation. Then the water is sent to sedimentation where Floc settles to the bottom of the tank to be removed. Then water goes through Clearwell's where more chemicals are added to help the water to become pure. Chloramines are added to kill bacteria and viruses. Lime is added to adjust the Ph Level. Chlorine is finally added as a primary disinfectent. Orthophosphate is added to prevent the corrosion of pipes. Now the water is good to drink.
2. What happens to water that is "Flushed"? How is it treated?
Water that is leaving a home goes to a septic tank or goes to a sewage-treatment plant. There the water gets cleaned by chemicals and is reused. After it is cleaned it is sent into rivers or reused for other purposes.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qahome.html
http://www.charlestonwater.com/water_process_large.htm

Carbon Footprint

A Carbon Footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases are emitted into the environment by a person, household, organization, country, etc.

1. http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
Above is a URL to a site to help calculate your CARBON FOOTPRINT.

2. This site was very useful and accurate for me to use. It helped me find out which 'station' of GHG's helped or hurt the environment we live in. This is a site where most kids would have no trouble using. The site is clearly labeled and is easy to understand.

3. My Carbon Footprint as a household of five people the results were: 91 tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent to 1 year. This is lower than the U.S. National Average.

4. Their are three easy ways I can reduce my Carbon Footprint.
A) I can reduce my Carbon Footprint myself in a few simple ways. I can take shorter showers each day. I also could carpool or provide a carpool to people in my area to school every day. I could reduce the amount of meat I eat each day and try to stick to more organic foods. These are only a couple of ways I could reduce my Footprint.
B) My school could reduce its Carbon Footprint as well. My schools cafeteria could serve more organic foods. It could cut back on transportation by having one day a month be a no bus day and kids could learn about carpooling this way. Also the school could have more LIGHTS OFF days to reduce the amount of electricity it uses. These are some ways my school could reduce its Carbon Footprint.
C) The community could reduce its carbon footprint in a few easy ways. There could be a community compost center in which people could bring their compost materials there. There could also be a COMMUNITY CLEAN UP weekend where there would be environment awareness programs and a major clean up of highways, roads, parks, and other important pieces of land here. That would be like a 'Earth Day' except it would be more frequent, like a couple of weekends throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

5. Our community leaves a big Carbon Footprint on our watershed. Eaton Rapids is part of 2 major watersheds: Grand River, and Great Lakes watershed. There is a lot we can to improve the watershed here. Since "knowledge is power" I think it's important to have accurate analysis of our city's water in which data should be collected often. The way we use our environment reflects in our watershed. So far our community has done a lot to reduce the amount of pollutants going into the watershed. One thing that the city has done is put in a new sewer system to prevent from leakage into the Grand River and homes when it floods. A clean watershed provides many good things to the habitat surroundings. It helps animals from being poisoned and plants from being destroyed. It provides clean water to houses and communities. It's important to reduce the Carbon Footprint in our watershed to protect our community's and our environment's future.