Question #2 Final Exam

THE WATER CYCLE

There is an important thing that living organisms need. They all need water. Water travels through the Earth in a cycle. There are eight parts to the cycle. These eight parts are evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, groundwater, and absorption.
Evaporation is the process of water becoming a vapor. Water does this over the oceans the most because that is where there is nothing but water, but evaporation happens in fresh water also.
Transpiration is the passage of water through a plant from the roots through the vascular system to the atmosphere (3). This helps the atmosphere and the water cycle because plants discharge oxygen and that is formed with hydrogen in the air to make,H20, water (4).
Condensation is water vapor becoming a liquid or a solid (2). This happens in a cold atmosphere, usually over mountains, or in clouds.
Precipitation is the process of water, in many different forms, that come from the clouds that have formed in the sky. Water has many forms of precipitation; these many forms are rain, sleet, hail, and snow. Rain is just water as a liquid from the sky. Sleet is freezing rain, or ice droplets. Hail is ice balls with rain. Some of these balls can be the size of a pea to the size of baseballs, even softballs. Snow is a form of water that is frozen into flakes instead of droplets.
Infiltration is the process of water entering Earth's ground through dirt, rocks, and cracks in the surface.
Surface runoff is water that runs along the soil and goes into lakes and rivers (2).
Groundwater is water under the ground that supplies wells and springs (2).
Absorption is happens when the ground, plants, and living organisms use and absorb the water in the water cycle. All living organisms need water to survive and strive.


There are several types of rivers and streams. They are classified by their size and what type of water flows throught the river or stream. All rivers and streams have common features such as starting at a high point and flowing towards the low point. Another common feature is each river or steam has a source such as precipation that formed into ice or just rain. Usually, as the stream is flowing downstream, it is connected to other streams or rivers, which make the river or stream larger (6).


















SOURCES
(1) http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~jeffery/course/c_energy/energyl/lec004/water_cycle_001.png
(2) http://www.tawwa.org/story_of_water/html/hydrocycle.htm
(3) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Transpiration
(4) http://www.answers.com/water
(5) http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleinfiltration.html
(6) http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep7j.htm

Question #1 Final Exam

EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES

EARTHQUAKES:

Earthquakes are caused by the collision of Tectonic Plates. When these Plates bump into each other the give off an energy known as Seismic Waves. These waves can be measured by using a Seismograph. Earthquakes are categorized by how powerful they are. The common earthquakes are around a level three, but there have been cases where they have been up to 7.
Earthquakes happen four different ways. The Tectonic plates can skim each other, drop under another tectonic plate, go above one, and move away from another tectonic plate.
Lots of Earthquakes happen around where there is volcanic activity. They happen there because of the moving magma and shifting tectonic plates. The plates, which are floating on the magma, are shifting and bumping into each other causing earthquakes.
Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis. They do this by shifting up, down, side to side, at the bottom of the Ocean. When it does this it sends a giant wave of energy and water towards the shore.

VOLCANOES:

Volcanoes are mountains that have boiling hot magma underneath. The magma is active and volcanoes can erupt. volcanoes change the atmosphere by giving off large amounts of chemicals. These things that volcanoes give off are nitrogen, oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Volcanoes can change the hydrosphere by making acid rain and raining in the oceans and lakes. The acid rain can kill organisms and slow down the environment. Volcanoes are not just bad, they have benefits. some of these benefits are mineral deposits, fertile soil, and build new land.
Most Volcanoes are connected somehow. When volcanoes are close to each other, sometimes when one erupts, there is a chain reaction to the others around.
Volcanoes are classified three different ways. The three ways are active, dormant, and extinct. Active means the volcano erupts regularly, dormant means the volcano has erupted in history but is quiet now, and extinct means it has not erupted in historical time.


Sources

http://learner.org/interactives/volcanoes/
http://nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/interactive/index.html
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake

Nature Trail

5 Changes in the nature trail:
1. The trails were clean and open
2. The signs were clean and easy to see.
3. Plants were not over growing over the path.
4. There was no litter and trash laing around.
5. The newly painted signs stuck out and were easily seen.


5 School uses would be:
1. Kids and students could take walks and explore nautre.
2. Learn about the 5 different kinds of habitats that the nature trail goes through.
3. Good area to read at or to study.
4. Test the environment.
5. Become closer with nature and wildlife.


5 community uses are:
1. Good sight seeing place.
2. Good area to see wild life in its own habitat.
3. Go for quite time or to be alone.
4. Good for going on walks with the family.
5. Community service hours for helping clean up the trail.

X-Ray Telescopes

Read about: X-rays were first used to view what cannot be seen with the naked eye. X-rays at the perpendicular on any material are largely absorbed rather than reflected. It is important to focus x-rays because there are sometimes faint rays that cannot be seen at a first glance.

Take the Quiz: I scored a 75% on the quiz.

Try this: I could not find the Try This activity for this topic.

Origin and Destiny of the Universe

Read about: Galaxies and clusters of galaxies formed from tiny fluctuations in the early Universe. The hole universe is expanding. The density of the Universe determines its geometry or shape.

Take the quiz: There is no quiz to take for this topic.

Try This: There is no activity to try.

Black Holes

Read About: Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape from the inside. Because nothing can travel faster then light, nothing can ecaspe the grasp of a black hole. Black Holes form after a supernova explosions.

Take the Quiz: I scored 67% on the quiz over black holes.

TRY This: I had to take a quiz and i had to identify what a black hole, earth, white dwarf, the sun, and a neutron star's gravitional pull looks like.

Light Curves, Spectra, and Images

Read about: light that a planet or star gives off can help in understanding them. The energy of light can be measured coming from a source. The amount of light coming from the source can be measured, and an image can be made.

Take the Quiz: i scored 100% on the first quiz, and

TRY This: cut a slit in a piece of cardboard, hold a CD upside-down and at a 30 degree angle, see the reflected rainbow

Compost pile

It is hard to tell how close we are to finishing. There is some activity happening because there is a grey web-like substance forming. There is no change in the Styrofoam plate or the biodegradable plate. The estimated finishing time would be a month to two months. It would take this long because the process has just started and need time to break down.

Decomposing Biobottle

The decomposing biobottle that i am doing is doing excellent. The grass i planted is about 5 inches tall after the 6th day. I have a thermometer inside the decomposing pile. The temperature went down, but it has rose in the last couple days.

Nature Trail Importance

The nature trail should be nice and clean because it is a way of giving back to the environment. The importance of the nature trail is to balance the world by having natural attractions and their self-correcting ways. It is very easy to become disconnected with nature because of other priorities. To reconnect with nature enables us view natural attractions and to reunite us with nature. We should use the nature trail to reconnect us with the true beauty of nature.

15 things in the nature trail

1. red pines - producer
2. white pines - producer
3. oak trees - producer
4. maple trees - producer
5. white mushrooms - decomposer
6. tree fungus - drcomposer
7. orange/pink tree frog - consumer
8. chipkmonk - comsumer
9. misquitoes - consumer
10. poison ivy - producer
11. flowers - producer
12. lady bugs - consumer
13. finches - consumer
14. sparrows - consumer
15. box elders - consmer

Climate about the Ozone

The Ozone Layer is located in the stratosphere part of the atmosphere. The Ozone plays an important role in human life by shielding Earth from harmful ultraviolet light from the Sun. Humans have made chemicals, such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) that are released into the atmosphere that are slowly eating away at the Ozone. The Ozone is also a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and plays a role on Earth and its climate.

Climate about CO2

There is a carbon dioxide cycle that happens in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide, some natural, but lots of the carbon dioxide comes from human activity. Carbon dioxide, and other gases known as the greenhouse affect, absorb radiation and traps heat inside the atmosphere which is warming Earth.

reflect project

I did my project on biodegradable products. The purpose behind this is to help the recycling out but not using Styrofoam materials. All the students have to do is put there plates, silverware, and food scraps in a trash can. Once all the food scraps are recovered, we can make a compost pile and the food will decompose and break down. With the compost, we can make fertilizer for the plants and help to make the soil rich.

Equinox

The Equinox this year happens September 22nd. An equinox is when there is an equal amount of day as there is night (12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark). There are two equinoxes every year. One of them happens in March, and the other one, obviously, in September. The reason it is equal is because the tilt of Earth is not a factor in this situation.

My Second Green Wish

My second green wish is to recycle solid wastes and products, like batteries, cell phones, and mercury, that can destroy our environment. Recycling products, like televions, can help because it contains lead and plastic that is not natural in our environment.

Gilpin Students Tackle Graffiti Summary

The students of Gilpin Middle School went to work on their graffiti problem around the school. Graffitti is against the law, but the law was not being followed. The students educated people of the community about the graffiti problem and how to prevent it. The students made posters and an interactive game.

GREEN WISH:
My green wish is to recycle plastics and cardboard to help save Planet Earth. I also wish the school would have a green roof because it is very efficient for the environment.

Students Win Staples Earth Force Award Summary

This award recognizes the youth working to make a difference in their community by serving as active environmental citizens. The students met with local community members, explained the importance of recycling and provided people with recycling containers, compact fluorescent bulbs and educated them on the rights and wrongs of recycling.