Carbon Cycle

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We were working on this:

What’s up with carbon?

Visit Carbon Cycle and read through the information. Answer the following questions

List six places where carbon is found on Earth

oceans	air	rocks
soil	plants	animals

Based on the reading, why is carbon important?

Carbon is important because it traps in heat to stop our world becoming frozen.

Based on the reading, why is carbon sometimes hazardous/dangerous?

Carbon is dangerous because it is causing global warming and keeping the world too warm.

You are now going to play an interactive game where you are playing the role of carbon atoms as you travel through the carbon cycle. As you play, write down in your notebook where you’ve been, how you traveled from place to place and any information you deem important about the effects of carbon in the different Earth system spheres. You will use this information to write a story (at least three paragraphs) about your journey through the carbon cycle.

Type your story in the box below. Remember to include where you went, how you traveled from place to place and the effects you (a carbon molecule) have on the different spheres within the earth’s system

My Carbon Cycle Story

I am a carbon molecule. I was just set free out of the underground prison I was in for decades. The humans are pumping out fossil fuels and I am finally set free. I immediately flew into the atmosphere to begin my journey as a carbon atom. There, I was stuck in the middle of two oxygen atoms. Together we became a carbon dioxide atom. After we became a carbon dioxide atom, we left for the surface of the ocean. We got there from diffusing from the atmosphere. It was an exciting journey. After the surface of the ocean, we went to the marine life. This was more exciting! We went through photosynthesis of a phytoplankton. After that, the phytoplankton were eaten by other larger marine life. All of the marine animals depend on the phytoplankton and the carbon dioxide to live. Next, after that, the fish we were in died. We were now out of the phytoplankton and the fish. We were in the deep ocean. We were quite bored for the next hundred or so years, for when carbon dioxide gets to the deep, deep ocean, it stays there for quite a long time. After a little while, we were evaporated back into the atmosphere. But we were far from the end of our journey. We soon left the atmosphere and entered the land plants. Plants also go through photosynthesis, so we entered the plants through there. Sadly, a few days later, the flower we were in died. The flower began to decompose, and we found ourselves in the soil. We stayed there for a while, and after that, we made our way back to the atmosphere for a rest. It was a long, tiring journey, and it will soon begin again.

Bonus reflection questions. If you are finished with your story, use the “extra time” to answer the following questions in complete paragraphs:

1. How do you think the carbon cycle is affected by deforestation?

All of the carbon atoms in the trees are entering the carbon cycle.

2. How will the carbon cycle be affected by reduced automobile and/or fossil fuel use?

There is carbon is fossil fuels, so it will enter the atmosphere.

3. As we burn more fossil fuels, the carbon cycle gets out of balance; more and more carbon is added to our atmosphere as carbon dioxide. What are some things that you could do to keep the carbon cycle more balanced, so that less carbon dioxide is added to our atmosphere?

We could carpool, ride bikes, stop chopping down trees, and recycle paper.

Then we had to write a summary on the Greenhouse Effect:

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

The Earth’s atmosphere is made up of many different gases. When the sun’s radiation warms the Earth, some gases called Greenhouse gases trap in the warmth, only letting a small amount of warmth rebound back into space. The natural process between the sun, the atmosphere, and the Earth is called the Greenhouse Effect. These phenomenon are called the Greenhouse Effects because greenhouse gases act the same way that a  greenhouse window would, trapping in the heat so that the plants can grow. The atmosphere has a number of different gases which trap in heat for the Earth. To maintain a safe balance of heat, the balance between the gases must not be upset, or the world will become hotter. The greenhouse gases are usually water vapour, carbon dioxide (Co2), methane (which comes from rotting trash), nitrus oxide (formed from dying or dead plants), and ozone. Some of man’s deeds have also caused greenhouse gases, which is starting to be unhealthy for the Earth. This is Global warming. If there is too much of a greenhouse gas in the air, it begins to make the world hotter and hotter. This act is global warming. If we continue this, the world could become to hot to live in. Imagine that!

Weather 3/17/17

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This week we were studying weather. We had many things to study.

Humidity

Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. The two kinds of humidity are absolute humidity and relative humidity. The difference between absolute humidity and relative humidity is absolute humidity is the exact amount of water vapor in the air and relative humidity is how much water in the air compared with how much COULD be in the air. The most common way to measure humidity is relative humidity. `


Temperature

Temperature measures the hot or coldness of the air. There are 3 scales:  Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit.  The units are degrees.

Convert 55oF to Celsius	55oF converted to oC is  12oC
Convert 25 oC to Fahrenheit	25 oC converted to oF is  77oF
Calculate the Wind Chill Factor if the temperature is 35oF and the wind speed is 10 MPH.	If the temperature is 35oF and the wind speed is 10 MPH, the Wind Chill Factor is 27oF and -3 oC

Wind speed and direction

Complete the following chart using a wind speed of 22 MPH. ADD THE CORRECT UNITS

mph (miles per hour)	22 mph
knots	19.1 knots
m/s (meters per second)	9.8 m/s
ft/s (feet per second)	32.3 ft/s
km/h (kilometers per hour)	35.4 km/h

Air Pressure

Air pressure makes the wind fast and slow. That is its role. Air molecules invisibly floating in space give wind its mass. The three elements that affect air pressure are 1) The height above sea level, 2) Temperature 3) Amount of water vapor in the air.

The Coriollis Effect

The Coriollis effect is a phenomenon that causes water and air to spin as they travel across the Earth.

Precipitation

Five main forms of precipitation:  rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain and hail.  The following website outlines the atmospheric conditions that allow each type of precipitation to form.  Precipitation can be measured with a rain gauge.  

Sleet, snow and freezing rain will impact our area because our city isn’t used to having snow, sleet, and freezing rain.

Tornados

Below are two exciting tornado facts: 

A Tornado can occur at any time, but most often between 3pm and 9pm.

Tornadoes have been reported in every state in the US and also in every season.

Hurricanes

These are the things needed for a hurricane:

Low wind shear

2. Very moist humidity

3. Sea temperature 26.5 degrees C

4. 5-30 degrees North (latitude)

The last “key ingredient” that we need for a hurricane is a tropical disturbance, like an earthquake or a tidal wave.

Drought

The difference is between March 15, 2016 and March 14, 2017.

Move the slider left and right to see how the conditions have changed. Click on Legend to help you understand what the colors mean. How have the drought conditions changed in the last year?

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Floods

My family would use this information to stay safe and know what to do in a time of flood. 

Tsunami

List 2 facts about a tsunami.

“Approximately every 15 years a destructive, ocean-wide tsunami occurs.” Tsunamis are usually caused my underwater earthquake or volcanic expolosion.

Conclusion

Write down 3 things that you think is important information.

I think that the most important thing to know is how to be safe in extreme weather conditions. The floodwatch told me what to do if San Jose ever flooded and how to be safe. That would be important because if you knew what to do, you would stay alive with maybe a few damages to your house and be alive. But if you didn’t know what to do, than you drown, get sucked into a twister, drown again from a tsunami, or be swept out to sea by a hurricane. Then your house would be worthless. So keep up to date with the weather and stay safe. :)

I think that the second most important thing is knowing all about extreme weather conditions so you know when they may end or what to do in a situation. Like knowing what happens during a hurricane can really help you know what you and your family has to do to be safe. You can know what to bring with you and you can know what to find, like higher ground. Also, you might have looked up what to do in a tornado and maybe you dug a basement. So hide there! :)

I think that the third most important thing is having knowledge and being prepared for any type of extreme weather. You can be safe during something that may cause harm to you and your family. That would be good, so that you can be prepared for anything. If you see any strange weather patterns, get inside, or be prepared for anything. It is good to know what weather does and what types to watch out for. :)

Project Blog 3/6/17

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Mackenzie, Annie, Nic

What problem we worked on

The problem we worked on was that Mrs. Garcia goes to Starbucks and asks for the hottest coffee and by the time she gets to her car, the drink has lost about 10 degrees (celsius). Now by the time she gets to school, the temperature of the cup has dropped about half the original temperature. Our cup is designed to keep 250 ml of water hot for a half hour.

The items we used were plastic, styrofoam, fleece, tinfoil and duct tape. All of these items are good materials because we needed insulators on the outside to stop heat from passing through the outside and we chose and conductor for the inside because the conductor on the inside so that the tin foil can warm the drink from the inside.

• Plastic makes a good insulator because it does not have free electrons within their structure. Free electrons are electrons that are unbound within the atomic or molecular matrix.
• Styrofoam is a good insulator because the plastic foam contains billions of trapped gas  because bubbles. Gases hinder heat conduction because their molecules are very far apart, make it difficult for the molecules to collide.

• Duct tape is a good insulator because it is made of rubber and the rubber is a good thermal insulator because it prevents electrons from coming through.

• Aluminum foil is a good thermal conductor because it radiates away all of the heat so rapidly that it cools off much faster than anything else.

• Fleece is a good thermal insulator because its fibers trap air inside it, making it difficult for heat to get in.

As you can see, all of these materials are extremely good materials. This is why we decided to use them.

How heat energy transferred worked in all our designs

We are using convection because the cup provides little insulation so a plastic lid helps reduce convection cooling of the coffee. Below is a diagram of our cup

   

Below are our pictures of our cup.                                                            

How our ideas changed:

Our original idea was to have a cup with styrofoam on the inside and duct tape holding it together. But that might drip, so we decided against it. Then we decided that we wanted something that would keep the coffee as warm as possible. Duct tape and styrofoam might not do the trick. So we decided to have nothing inside of the plastic cup and to put a styrofoam circle duct-taped to the outside. Then, we looked up which types of fabric insulates heat the best and we decided to create a wool sleeve. But after some research, we discovered that wool tends to “break” when wet. So we decided against wool. Our final sleeve is made of fleece. Fleece is made like wool and insulates heat well, but it is lighter and doesn’t sag or rip when wet. Fleece is better about being wet than wool. Originally, we wanted to hot-glue the sleeve to the cup, but then we decided when Ms. Garcia was washing it, she might want to wash the sleeve separately. So we made it reversible; one side solid purple, the other pineapple print. Then Nic said that maybe instead of just using insulators, maybe we could use a conductor! So Mackenzie added tin foil to the inside so that it would conduct more heat inside. But then we realized: How was Ms. Garcia to wash it? The tinfoil would get in the way, so we removed it.

Prototype Data Table

	Prototype	Styrofoam cup	Plastic cup
Original Temp.
Temp. After 10 min
Temp. After 20 min
Temp. After 30 min

Final Test Data Table

	Final cup
Original Temp.
Temp. After 10 min
Temp. After 20 min
Temp. After 30 min

Backward looking: In what ways have you gotten better at this kind of work?
I have gotten a lot better at working with a group over last and this year

Outward looking: Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

I looked at another group's work. They used a bottle instead of a cup, but we both put tin foil inside to keep the coffee hot. 

Inward looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I liked that we had to collaborate ideas with our team. 

Forward looking: What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?

I want to focus more on the research first.