Energy In Earth Systems

(A) Solar energy is used for various things. Solar energy comes from the sun. Once a system is in place to convert the useful sun energy, the fuel is free and will never be subject to the ups and downs of energy markets. It represents a clean alternative to the fossil fuels that currently pollute our air and water, threaten our public health, and contribute to global warming. This resource is poised to play a prominent role on our energy future. Solar energy supports all life on Earth and is the basis for almost every form of energy we use. The amount of energy from the sun that falls on Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas is matched by the energy from just 20 days of sunshine. The sun's energy contains about 1,300 watts per square meter. About 1/3 of light is reflected back into space, and some is absorbed by the atmosphere. (1) Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun. Wind flow patterns are modified by the Earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegitation. Humans use this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks, or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity.(2)  Hydropower is the renewable energy source that produces the most electricty in the United States. It accounted for 7% of total U.S electricty generation and 35% of generation from renewables in 2009. Hydropower relies on the water cycle. The amount of available energy in moving water is determined by its flow or fall. Fast flowing water in a big river, carries a great deal of energy in its flow. Water descending rapidly from a very high point, also has lots of energy in its flow.(3) Biomass is plant and animal waste. This is the oldest source of renewable energy. The most common way to capture the energy from biomass was to burn it to make heat. It can be converted into liquid fuels to produce combustible gases, which reduces various kinds of emissions from biomass combustion.(4) Fossil Fuels are bad for the environment. The Fossil fuels are a big concern contributing to global warming. These foreign ways of producing energy are hurting our environment.
(B)Energy changes form in many ways. Energy from the sun comes into the Earth's atmosphere. It mostley gets absorbed by the ground. People are making solar panals to catch the sun's power. The power from the sun gets absorbed by the solar panels and is made into electricity. For example, at my house we use a electric fencer for cattle that is powered by a solar panel.
(C) Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy between neighboring molecules in a substance due to a temperature gradient. Heat transfer always goes from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature, and acts to equalize the temperature differences. Convection is the movement of molecules within fluids and "rheids". It cannot take place in solids, since neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion can take place in solids. Radiation  describes a process in which energetic particles or waves travel through a medium or space. (5)

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(1) How Solar Energy Works, Clean Energy, http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-solar-energy-works.html , December 16, 2009
(2)How Wind Turbines Work, Water Power Program, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html , September 9, 2010
(3) Hydropower Basics, Energy Kids, http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=hydropower_home-basics , 2010
(4) Converting Biomass to Biopower, Clean Energy, http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-biomass-energy-works.html#converting_biomass , October 29, 2010
(5) Convection, Conduction, Radiation, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation , November 23, 2010
(6) http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/files/2009/01/solar_panel.jpg
(7) http://apps.carleton.edu/reason_package/reason_4.0/www/images/60759.jpg?cb=1155925043
(8)http://www.solarenergyonline.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/biomass.jpg

Water Cycle (Final Exam)

(A)The sun drives the water cycle. It heats water in oceans and seas. The water evaporates as water vapor into the air. Ice and snow can go directly into water vapor. Air currents take vapor up into the atmosphere where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move water vapor around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation. Precipitation may fall as snow or hail, and can accumilate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Most water falls back into the oceans or into land as rain, where the water flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Groundwater is stored as fresh water in lakes. Not all runoff flows into rivers, much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration. Transpiration is the release of water vapor from plants and soil into the air. Water vapor cannot be seen.(1)

(B) All land masses feed into a body of water. Water cannot travel uphill, all watersheds are determined by topography. Watersheds very greatly in size, depending on the highest points surrounding it. A watershed can be thousands of square miles, or can be a few acres draining into a pond. A watershed is more than just a piece of land that collects the rainwater and dumps it into the river. Anything that ends up in a watershed ends up in a body of water. (2)

(C) A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. A flood is defined as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water of land not normally covered by water. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake. These overflow or break levees with the result of water going outside the perimeter that it's normally within.  Rill erosion is the development of small "ephemeral" concentrated flow paths, which funtion as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes. Where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Fluids such as wind and water, as well as sediment flowing via gravity, transport previously eroded sediment which loses enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of sediment. All of these are sometimes interuppted by construction. For example the Sycamore Creek in Holt Michigan, was moved by people to put in the new highway U.S 127.(3)

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(1) Discription, Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle , November 21, 2010

(2) How Watersheds Work, How Stuff Works, http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/watershed.htm , Tiffany Connors, 1999-2010

(3)Deposition (geology), Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposition_(sediment) , November 5, 2010
(4)http://www.all-water.org/H2O_Images/Water_cycle.png
(5)http://pasc.met.psu.edu/PA_Climatologist/extreme/Floods/flood%20house%20pic.jpg
(6)http://whyfiles.org/091beach/images/erosiondia1.gif

Bad Astronomy

1. I believed that Mizar and Alcor were real stars.
2. This is true, Mizar is a very bright star in the kink of the big dipper handle
3. I thought that comets really were that color.
4. Comets are one of the darkest objects in the solor system
5. I didnt think that the one astronaut that got blinded by the sun would be that bad.
6. It wouldnt have been that bad if he was only exposed for a few seconds.
7. The comets wouldnt look like that being that close to impact
8. The comets would have been very bright and you couldnt see the other stars in the sky

• I beleived that we didnt actually go to the moon.
• We actually did go to the moon. Everybody thinks that it was a hoax but we actually did.
• I have always thought that stars are white because they look white so i just think they are white.
• Stars actually emit all colors of a rainbow
• I thought that if a sun falls into a blackhole that we wouldnt have light on earth anymore,
• If the sun collapsed into a blackhole we as an Earth would feel no difference gravity wise.

Climate Inquiry

title, organization, web address, date last updated
 http://www.easybib.com/cite/form/website
1.
Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmoshere will increase during the next century unless greenhouse gas emissions decrease substantially from present levels. Increased greenhouse gas concentrations are very likely to raise the Earth's average temperature, influence precipitation and some storm patterns as well as raise sea levels. The magnitude of these change's however, is uncertain.
Future Climate Change , http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futurecc.html , Thursday, August 19, 2010
2.
Most climate change scenarios project that greenhouse gas concentration will increase through 2100 with continued increase in average global temperatures. How much and how quickly the Earth's temperature will increase reaminsinknown given the uncertainty of future greenhouse gas, aerosol emissions and the Earth's response to changing conditions. Natural influences, such as changes in the sun and volcanic activity, may affect future temperature, although the extent is unknown because the timing and intensity be predicted.
Future Temperature Change , http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futurecc.html , Thursday, August 19, 2010

Carbon Footprint

1. http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
2. I didnt really like it because it was very specific and i would not suggest it for younger children.
3. My footprint is 9.09 metric tons of CO2
4. a. I will not use as much electricity in the household.
    b. We could not use as many lights and not turn the heat on until needed.
    c. The community could work together and not use the street lights when its light out.
5. My project is finding new bus choices. By buying new buses that are better on gas or even electric would help the environment. School buses give off a lot of carbon dioxide. This is not helping the environment at all. People could help this by walking to school. They could also ride their bike to school. The other problem is that the children on the bus are the ones inhailing most of the carbon dioxide. Overall we need new buses that are better for the environment.

Sewer Plant and Recycling

I learned a lot at the sewer plant. I learned that before the sewage goes anywhere it goes through 2 different  grinders. One is for grinding toys and things people throw down the toilet. The other is for grinding stones and rocks out of it also. Then the people in the lab test  the water for multiple organisms that might be in the sewage. Then it goes to a tub looking thing that has turbines in it to take the oxygen out of the water, there are NO bubbles in it. Then it goes to the littler tubs and they have faster turbines in them tho put the oxygen back into the water. The next step we skipped. Then they go into these huge tub looking things and they spin the sewage around really fast hitting the walls. The next step is the last step before it goes to the Grand River. This steps is like a mushroom at a water park. Its takes the sewage and pushes it over the edges and it kind of filters it. Then it gets to the top and all of the solids sink to the bottom. The water finally gets to the very top and goes over the edge and it looks like good clean water.

Recycling

Recycling was fun. It was interesting to see actually how much Eaton Rapids is recycling. I may recycle again... it depends.

I learned a lot when mrs byerly was there. I learned that main street will be open today. Everyone is very excited about this. People are
so excited that it is opening and they are having a "thank god it's done party that wil be on November 6th. I learned that they are putting in 2 rain water run off
pipes. They have deleted 10 water run offs and
put 2 new ones in. They are one of the first in the area to put in a special water filter for the city that they have to clean out once
a year. This will help so we don't litter the river so much. They are trying to
make it so we have more activities on the river like canoeing and stuff like that.