CLIMATE CHANGE



The Earth can undergo climate change in a variety of ways. One major way is by the means of “greenhouse gases”. In Earth’s atmosphere, certain gases (under label of greenhouse gas) trap the solar energy “reradiated” from the earth. This contributes to the warmer temperatures of the climate, and the habitability of the Earth. However, since the late 19^th century, when the age of industry and fossil fuels really took off, global temperatures have been slowly increasing. From the late 1800s to today, the increase has been about 1 degree Fahrenheit (1). This is blamed on the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases being emitted by humans. To verify, we need to investigate the various types of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere.



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http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/greenhouse.htm

The “greenhouse effect” is natural in nature. Without it, the Earth would 33 degrees Celsius cooler than it is now (3). That would kill majority of life on Earth, humans included.  The way the greenhouse effect works is similar to a blanket. The Sun sends solar radiation down to Earth. Some of it passes through the atmosphere. This radiation then proceeds to warm the Earth. After warming, radiation is reradiated back towards space. Most of this radiation then escapes Earth, but not all of it. The rest is trapped by the greenhouse gases, adding to the overall global temperature (3). Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas. Think about the Earth, roughly 70% of it is covered with water. A lot of this water gets into the atmosphere and serves as a greenhouse gas. However, water vapor is versatile “gas”. In the atmosphere, it goes through loops. Water vapor blocks the sun’s radiation, turns into clouds, and then cools the atmosphere. It is difficult for scientists to measure accurately. (2) Carbon dioxide makes up the semi-majority of greenhouse gases and second most abundant. It is released into the atmosphere by humans exhaling, burning of fossil fuels, and even deforestation. Methane is another natural greenhouse gas, perhaps more potent. It is released into the atmosphere primarily by cows (passing gas) and the process of plant decay.  It only stays in the atmosphere for 10 years, “but traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide (3)”. Nitrous oxide is another gas that is released by human/animal waste. This gas can stay in the atmosphere up to 100 years. Ozone is a natural greenhouse gas by means of absorbing UV light from the sun. Ozone particles in the stratosphere absorb excess amounts of UV-B radiation from the sun. Upon absorbing, said radiation, they produce heat, similar to how a greenhouse gas traps heat (4). Fluorocarbons are more human responsible greenhouse gas. HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), the substitute for the ozone-killing CFCs, are greenhouse gas material. Instead of killing the ozone layer, they heat up the Earth’s atmosphere (4).



Not all of climate change can be blamed on humans as most people would think. Volcanoes can be a big player in the “climate change picture”. When a volcano erupts, most people would think that just lava comes out. Lava is just a part that comes out, large amounts of gases and dust particles are also thrown into the atmosphere. Dust particles can stay in the air for days to months, depending on where they are in the atmosphere. During this time, these particles can block the sun and produce “cooling effects”. Following the eruption of the volcano “Tambora” in 1815, a severe cooling effect with cold temperatures caused crop failure in North America and Europe (5). Volcanoes that eject sulfur oxide/dioxide can affect the climate even more greatly. This sulfur oxide/dioxide reacts with water in the stratosphere to form droplets of sulfuric acid. Surprisingly, these droplets reflect a great amount of sunlight, producing an even greater cooling effect (5). A volcano can also contribute to global warming by ejecting mass amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (5).



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Works Cited

1.       Global Warming FAQ. NOAA, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

2.       Greenhouse Gases. NOAA, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

3.      3.   Hopwood, Nick, and Jordan Cohen. Greenhouse Gases and Society. University of Michigan. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

4.    Science: Ozone Basics. NOAA, 20 Mar. 2008. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

5.  Volcanoes & Climate. Wheeling Jesuit University, 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

RESOURCES AND HUMAN IMPACTS ON EARTH SYSTEMS

Energy is fundamental to human industry and technological development. We use energy from the earth to run our cars, power our buildings, and make our goods. More and more each day, humans are starting to realize the benefits of non-renewable energy. As or January 21st, 2009, around 13% of America’s energy comes from renewable-energy sources (7), the rest is non-renewable. Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil) are a non-renewable energy sources that we depend heavily on as a society. “The world consumes over 85 million barrels of oil every day (over 30 billion barrels per year). The USA alone consumes over 20 million barrels per day (over 7 billion barrels per year).” (6). All this oil goes to produce things like plastic, and to power things like our cars. To understand why this outlook is bad, we need to investigate the “pros and cons” of each energy source, renewable and non-renewable.

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Non-renewable energy sources are what have made America great, but are not the ideal energy source for future generations. These energy sources are cheap, powerful, and have already been ingrained into society. Where these energies fail is in the environmental impact. Fossil fuel is a major non-renewable resource that runs the world. It is a cheap energy source to gather, all that is required is for an oil drilling company to drill into an “oil reservoir” and “pump out” all the oil. To drill an oil well in Arizona in 2003 could cost anywhere between $400,000 and $1,000,000 (3). It is also very powerful and convenient, giving off high amounts of energy in a little package which can be transported anywhere easily. However, fossil fuels are a “dirty energy”. When fossil fuels are consumed, the by product is often a mixture of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. These “greenhouse gases” trap heat in the atmosphere from the sun, too much of these gases heats up our planet and ruins the natural balance of the atmosphere (2). A simple look at Venus’ “hellish atmosphere”, with huge quantities of greenhouse gases, should show us this is a bad thing.

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Renewable energies are what governments today are striving to achieve (7). Hydropower, solar power, and wind power are three of the main types of renewable energy sources. Hydropower uses water to spin turbines to produce electricity. Solar power uses the energy from the sun to produce power by means of producing steam, or by means of photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight to electricity (8). Wind power uses wind on earth to turn turbines, which produce electricity in return. All these sources of energy have the benefit of being totally renewable by getting their energy from things like the sun (which will never run out in our lifetime, hopefully). They are also clean burning with no harmful byproducts, like carbon dioxide. The drawback to renewable-energy is the cost. Great hydropower plants like Hoover Dam, cost $49,000,000 to build (5).

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Human pollution through our energy sources is not the only thing impacting our environment. Deforestation is a huge problem in today’s society which impacts the four Earth systems (biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere). The definition of deforestation is the removal of trees on a massive scale on land. The first impact is on the biosphere. Many living organisms live in trees. When a whole area of trees is removed, these organisms lose their home and shelter. “Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests...” (1). The second impact is on the geosphere and hydrosphere. With trees removed, there is a limited way of returning water vapor to the atmosphere above lush forest lands. With little to no water vapor, these lands can become barren deserts (1). The third impact is the atmosphere. Trees are natural carbon dioxide filters. Like plants, they consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. When trees are cut down, they release all the carbon dioxide they have captured, back into the atmosphere. This results in more greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      Deforestation. National Geographic. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

2.      Earth's Solar Greenhouse. 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://www.green-planet-solar-energy.com/index.html>.

3.      Editorial. Arizona Geology Spring 2003: 1-4. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

4.      Fossil Fuels or Solar Future? 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://www.green-planet-solar-energy.com/index.html>.

5.      Hoover Dam FAQ's. Sunsetcities.com. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://www.sunsetcities.com/hoover-dam/faqs-00.html>.

6.      Journey to Energy Independence. Ron Bengtson. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

7.      Loftin, Lacey. "Infrastructure and Renewable Energy Policy Highlighted." Energy: Renewable Sources. 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

8.      Renewable:Solar. U.S. Energy Information Administration. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

SPACE POWERPOINT LINK: GRAVITY

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ab13KnkWykt5ZGM4N3BydzJfMThnZGhwemZkcg&hl=en&authkey=CImp3McI

DEEP IMPACT: BAD ASTRONOMY

1. One fact I thought would be true was the appearance of the asteroid in the night sky. This was true, that the asteroid headed for Earth would have been visible, but very, very, very faint. Leo would not have been able to see it like he did the stars.
2. Another factual fact I got from the movie was that astronauts would be our only protection from an  asteroid. This is true in a sense because the space program would be the only organization capable of protecting us from asteroids. But astronauts are not really needed for the missles arnament. Sure, they could be there in case anything went wrong, but nuclear missles could be used with hard tip points to go into the asteroid and blow it up.

1. A fact which I thought was false in the movie was that the asteroid would have no gravity. This is not totally true, but the gravity portrayed in the movie was way heavier than what it would be in real-life.
2. A fact which I thought was false was that the people could watch the comet hit the Earth, safely. This is totally false. The comet would be moving so fast and be so bright, that it blind and kill you within hundreds of kilometers. No one could watch it safely.

Are the lunar landings faked? This is a tough subject to discuss since there is no real, proof. Sure, there is the tv and audio recordings. But are those faked? My reasoning is that it is not faked. Why would we as a country lie about something so great and pretend we did it? Are we that sad? I believe not.
From the website, I only retrived controversial information and back-and-forth opinions. This is still a highly controversial issue and no answers have been found or proved to convince EVERYONE.

CONNECTION:CLIMATE LABS

For Activity 1, we had to measure the "heat absorbed" by 3 different materials in pie pans. The materials were water, dirt, and sand. Our results were normal and as expected. The water rose and fell in temperature the slowest. Dirt and sand were about equal, both absorbing heat and cooling off fairly quickly. No material behaved out of the normal.

For Activity 4, we had to measure the heat inside 3 different "atmospheres". These "atmospheres" were bottles with different environmental qualities to them. The different materials played as different roles. The bottle played as the atmosphere, the paint played as clouds, and the water played as itself, or if you will an ocean/lake. The results were really suprising. Our bottle had all 3 of these qualities mentioned, and the temperature barely fluctuated at all. The temperature inside rose in the beggining at a steady pace upwards, but after roughly halfway through, it stopped. There was no change at all. I figured the temperature would rise inside because it was being baked by the light, or "heat source". The "clouds" must have done a good job reflecting the light.

These climate activities do show Earth's climate on a small scale fairly well. The big picture, however, is still way different in the actual breakdown of climate effects. Overall, small variables, small results. My climate topic is lightning. This would be a VERY hard topic, impossible really, to develop in "the lab". The only experiment you could do would be to test on particles in clouds getting charges on them, both positive and negative (recipe for lightning). No one could make a lightning cloud in the lab.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change brings numerous questions with it. What will happen when the Earth is warmer? How will the ecosystem change if there is rapid warming? If the ecosystem changes, how will agriculture be impacted? If agriculture is impacted, what will happen the supply of food? How will climate change ultimately change human society?

"Frequent Questions." US Environmental Protection Agency, 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2010.

 

Rising global temperatures is a factor of climate change. The current scientific models availiable predict an increase of "3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100". With increased temperatures, there is drawbacks. Ice in the polar regions of the world will melt faster, and thus increasing the sea level. With increased sea level, many islands and low-lying regions of the world will flood. Hurricanes will also be stronger due to the would be increase of the sea temperature.

 

Ellis, Jessica. "What Are Some Predictions for Future Climate Change?" Wisegeek.com. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2010.

SEWER TREATMENT

The sewer treatment plant was a unique trip for me. The real shocker was that the smell wasn't really that bad. You would assume that  with almost all of the sewage in the Eaton Rapids area going through the plant, the smell would be atrocious. At the plant, I learned that the water goes through multiple steps throughout the plant. Some of these steps catch plastics and other things people shouldn't flush down the toilet. Most of the other processes let the heavy articles in the water either sink to the bottom, or float to the top. At these locations they are collected and dealt with appropriately. Another suprising thing to me was the amount of work microrganisms do to the water to clean it. This really shows how much we depend on mother nature in our everyday lives.

I didn't know a recycling plant for 1 and 2 plastics existed at that facility. My family goes through a lot of plastic bottles, especially at home. I might be able to get them to put it into a special container to deposit at the facility. My only complaint was that it could be more organized.