Biogeochemical Cycles: Project Blog 1/27/18

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We have finished our biogeochemical cycles project. I learned all about the nitrogen cycle, but also about the other cycles of the kids in my group. We had the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the sulfur cycle, and the phosphorus cycle.

Ms. Garcia quizzed us on the different cycles to see what we learned, and she gave us a question to think about.

The Water Cycle

The water cycle is probably the most well-known cycle. When we started this project, the only cycle I knew existed was the water cycle. As most people know, the water cycle begins with evaporation. The sun or some other method of heat makes the water change its state of matter. The water, which at first was a liquid, is now a water vapor, which evaporates up into the atmosphere. Then, condensation happens, and the vapor condenses into clouds. Then, its precipitation, where the water takes the shape of rain, snow, or hail and falls to the earth. We also have runoff, where the water runs off of mountains and things like that and gathers in lakes. Lastly, we have transpiration where the plants will take in water.

The Carbon Cycle

As said before, I have never ever heard of the carbon cycle before this project, but I have a pretty decent understanding of it. My cycle was nitrogen, so I know the most about that, but I understand all of the cycles. The carbon cycle begins with photosynthesis. Plants take in the carbon through photosynthesis. The humans and/or animals eat the plants, and they get the carbon that they need through the plants. The humans/animals exhale, and the carbon is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Also, if an animals/human dies, he carbon will come out of their decaying body and will return the the atmosphere. Another way the carbon is released is through fossil fuels and factory emissions.

The Nitrogen Cycle

As you probably know from a previous blog post, plants take in nitrogen through ammonia. They use the ammonia to grow bigger, and then humans/animals eat the plants and get the nitrogen that they need through assimilation. Then the bacteria changes the ammonia into nitrates, which break down into nitrites during denitrification. When the nitrites break down, they turn into ammonia and nitrogen gas.

The Phosphorus Cycle

If I were looking at a periodic table, and I had to guess which element had a cycle, I would not choose phosphorus. It was very surprising to me that it was actually a thing. But it is, and the cycle is pretty straightforward. Plants absorb phosphorus from the soil, and then animals eat the plans, and then the animals  die, and the soil absorbs the phosphorus from their bodies. The phosphorus is leached into the water supply. Another beginning to it is where wind and rain erode down the phosphate-rich rocks. Rivers then carry the gravel and silt with the phosphorus in it to bodies of water. Runoff from phosphates in farming also goes into the rivers. In the river, the silt becomes sediment, then a new rock. And then, geological uplift pushes the new rock to the surface.

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The Sulfur Cycle

The sulfur cycle is pretty easy. It begins with the rain weathering down rocks, releasing any stored sulfur. Sulfur is found in rocks. When the sulfur meets the air, it transforms  into sulfate. The sulfate goes into plants, and then animals eat the plants. Animals then die, and the sulfur goes out of them and into the soil and rocks.

Backward Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started?

I only knew about the water cycle before we began this project. I didn’t know that any other cycle existed, and I really understood how the water cycle worked. I hadn’t really learned about any of the other cycles, but I learned a lot about them from this project. I had a lot of fun doing this and learning from it.

Inward Looking: What did/do you find frustrating about it?

What I found frustration was that I had a lot of boxes for the comic strip, and I had to research my cycle, draw out 25 squares, color 25 squares, cut out 25 squares, and glue 25 squares onto paper backing in a week and a half. In the end I was rushing slightly, so some of the squares are not my best work, but I really found my timing a bit frustrating.  I could’ve done it, but I set myself too much to do and that was a minor setback for me.

Outward Looking: What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?

I want people to notice how hard I worked on my comic when they look at it. I have a lot of information and a lot of squares that I think are carefully drawn and colored and all I want people to notice is the amount of effort  put into my project.

Forward Looking: What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?

I think that i could’ve had a better, more informative ending to my comic, so I would have fixed that. I would really have put more thought into how the comic ended instead of just scribbling out the first thing that came to mind. It would have made me more satisfied and would have added more information to the piece.

Ms. Garcia asked us what we thought the most important cycle is and why.

I think that all of the cycles are equally important because they are all mandatory for life. Carbon, water, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen go into plants to help them grow, and we need plants to live and survive. We also need water to drink to live.

Biogeochemical Cycles 1/21/18

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This week in class, we began our project on biogeochemical cycles. (Bio-geo-chemical). These cycles take CNWPS all around the earth, carbon, nitrogen, water, phosphorus, and sulfur. For the project, we have chosen one cycle. We must create a comic strip that informs the reader about our cycle. We have to have some key words in the strip. My chosen cycle is the nitrogen cycle, so I’ll include information on that. There is a video in there if you would like to know more about the other cycles.

What are the cycles like?

A cycle is meant to take something around in a circular sort of motion, like the picture above. You can start with  one thing, say precipitation, and then the water moves through runoff, groundwater, evaporation, condensation/transpiration, and then precipitation again. No matter where you start in a cycle, you’ll always end up back where you started.

The Nitrogen cycle

Before the cycle begins, nitrogen is just a gas, N2, that makes up 78% of our atmosphere. Then the cycle goes around to these little stops: nitrogen fixation, ammonia, fertilizers, assimilation, ammonification, nitrification, nitrates, eutrophication, denitrification, and nitrites. To make it less complicated, I’ll describe them one by one, but if that’s still a bit confusing, you can watch the full video.

Nitrogen fixation/Ammonification

Nitrogen fixation is when bacteria in the soil and roots of plants are taking in the nitrogen from the atmosphere. They then convert the nitrogen into usable ammonia. Ammonification is the same thing, where it helpfully converts the nitrogen into ammonia.

Plants need mineral nutrients, such as nitrogen in order to grow, but plain old nitrogen from the atmosphere cannot be used. In order for the plants to get the nitrogen they need, the bacteria in the soil and roots converts the unusable nitrogen into ammonia, a form of nitrogen that plants and other organisms can use.

Ammonia & Fertilizers

As said before, ammonia is the usable source of nitrogen for plants and other organisms. Ammonia can also be used as a fertilizer for plants since it helps them grow so well. Nitrogen is needed for organisms to survive, and ammonia is the way they can get it. Most fertilizers are made of animal waste, which is also surprisingly good for plants, but ammonia is another good way to supply a plant with nitrogen.

Assimilation

Assimilation is quite important for us humans. We need nitrogen too, and one way we can get it is by eating plants. Say we have a carrot plant. The bacteria in the carrot’s roots transform the nitrogen into ammonia fertilizers, letting the carrot grow. Then, a human would come and eat the carrot, receiving the amount of nitrogen they need from the carrot.

Nitrification

Nitrification is the process when ammonia found in the soil is converted to nitrates, which are inorganic form of nitrogen.

Nitrates

Nitrates can be leached, meaning that they leave the soil in drainage water. Then the nitrates move into a water supply, causing an algal bloom.

Eutrophication

Eutrophication is when the nitrates move into the water supply, causing a lot of algae to grow. Algal blooms are bad for the environment because when the algae dies, bacteria have to break it down, using lots of oxygen that humans need.

Denitrification & Nitrites

Denitrification is when the nitrates are reduced into nitrites. The nitrites are then reduced into more ammonia and nitrogen gas, thus starting the whole cycle over again.

S&EP: SP8: Communicating Information

Part of our big project this week is learning about our cycle, but also communicating our knowledge into a comic strip. It’s very important to have your facts straight before you begin the strip, because then you could have it all wrong, or mixed up the words and the people reading your strip won’t understand or will have the wrong information in their minds.

XCC: Cause and Effect

If plants could just use plain nitrogen instead of needing ammonia, then the whole cycle wouldn’t be needed. We need the nitrogen cycle because the plants can’t use the plain nitrogen. They need ammonia instead of nitrogen, so the whole cycle is there so that the plants can have ammonia.

    

Weekly Science Blog

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This week we began studying photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is an endothermic process by which 

plants and other organisms (since some animals perform photosynthesis) make glucose sugar so that 

they can survive and grow. They take energy from the sun and store it.

Photosynthesis basics

To perform photosynthesis, you need to have sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. For products, you 

get glucose sugar and oxygen.

As said before, photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction. This is because the plants trap energy from the sun and store it. The equation above is photosynthesis, the balanced version. You need 6 carbon 

dioxide molecules and 6 water molecules to yield 6 oxygen molecules and 1 glucose molecule.

Cellular respiration is the opposite of photosynthesis. It is and exothermic reaction, since endo and 

exo are opposites. As you can guess…

... cellular respiration is the same equation as photosynthesis, just backwards.

Photosynthesis is the introduction to our new unit, how organisms depend on each other for survival.

Where do trees get their mass?

Some people wonder where trees get their mass from. Many take wild guesses. Can you see if you 

know?

• Soil
  
  
• Stardust
  
  
• Magic
  
  
• God
  
  
• Rain
  
  
• Sunlight
  
  
• Oxygen
  
  
• Carbon dioxide
  
  

The truth is, trees are mostly made of carbon dioxide, meaning that when you climb a tree to sit in it, you’re sitting on air.

Biotic and Abiotic factors

A biotic factor is a part of an ecosystem that is living. Plants and animals are biotic factors. Abiotic 

factors are parts of the ecosystems that are non-living or dead. Ecosystems have both living and 

non-living factors.

Biotic factors	Abiotic factors
Trees	Rotting log
Insects	Rocks
Fish/animals	Dirt
Plankton	Sunlight/heat
Grass	Water
Fungi	Air/oxygen
Bacteria	Plastic
Plants	Animal waste

Biotic and abiotic factors affect each other. Water is abiotic, but if there is no water, than the biotic 

factors of the ecosystem will struggle to survive. And if biotic factors didn’t die, they wouldn’t be 

decomposed and their bodies wouldn’t help the soil. So, whether the ecosystem is dead or alive, we 

need everything that is in it.

Food chain

The food chain is also has things that depend on each other.

Another way to write it shows how much energy each level has and proves which is the most energy efficient diet, plants, meat, or omnivore.  

Primary consumers are the most energy efficient diet.

Photosynthesis: Planta gain energy through photosynthesis.

Cellular respiration: Plants lose energy through cellular respiration.

Abiotic: Non- living parts of an ecosystem.

Biotic: Living parts of an ecosystem.

S&EP:

SP1 Asking questions

This week I asked lots of questions to myself which I got answered as the lessons went on. Like what is a tree made up of? A tree is mostly air. Asking questions is always smart so that you can get answers that help you understand science more.

XCC

Cause and effect.

Cause and effect is shown here in these lessons. If one factor of an ecosystem vanishes or dies, the 

rest of the entire ecosystem will be thrown off of balance. If leopards in a rainforest went extinct, what

they eat will be overpopulated, and what they eat will be underpopulated. We need every part of an 

ecosystem for it to work.