Exam: Resources and human impacts on earth systems

a.) There are many renewable energy, such as biomass, wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal heat. All of the aforementioned energy sources can be used to power many things. Some examples are, solar energy is used to create electricity for homes, hydro power is used is dams to create electricity, and wind is used to create electricity to power environmentally concscious cities such as holland michigan(1). Non-renewable energy is energy, taken from "finite resources that will eventually dwindle, such as fossil fuels(coal, petroleum, and natural gas), nuclear energy, and propane gas(1). Examples of use are, coal is burn to produce electricity, petroleum is refined to make gas which powers vehicles, natural gas is used to heat houses, ect(2). Renewable energy produces little, if any greenhouse gasses which makes them extremely environmentally friendly. Nonrenewable resourses unspeakable amounts of green house gasses, which do harm to the environment. As far as cost goes the initial cost is quite steep to buy things such a solar panels, and wind turbines but money is saved in the long run. The cost of fossil fuels are cheap but there are there many negative effects with continued use.
b.) Air pollution effects the atmosphere by causing smog and acid rain(3). The effect of air pollution on the biosphere is that inhaling pollutants can harm humans and animals and kills plants. Air pollutions effect on the hydrosphere is that it pollutes water and air pollution causes global warming which melts polar ice caps. Air pollutions effect on the lithosphere is that after a long period of pollution in an area, the plants with die and the area will turn into solid rock.
c.) "Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds"(3). Coal is mined from the coal beds using heavy machinery and explosives. Coal is either packaged in bags to be used as charcoal or transported by train car to its destination. Coal is disposed of by burning it, which is usually to produce electricity. When coal is burned is releases greenhouse gasses into the air. It also creates acid rain, contaminates water, and produces ash(3).
















1.)http://www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/32.html, Renewable Energy, Environmental Literacy Council, (November 24, 2009)
2.)http://www.cotf.edu/ete/ESS/ESSmain.html, Earth system science, Wheeling Jesuit University, (November 24, 2009)
3.)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal, Coal, Wikipedia.com, (November 24, 2009)
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/01/pvt-solar-panels-generate-heat-and-electricity-at-the-same-time/

Exam:energy in earth systems

a.) Non-renewable energy is energy, "taken from finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve"(1). Nonrenewable energy sources come out of the ground as liquids, gases, and solids. Crude oil (petroleum) is the only commercial nonrenewable fuel that is naturally in liquid form. Natural gas and propane are normally gases, and coal is a solid. The four most common nonrenewable resources are oil and petroleum products, natural gas, coal, and uranium. "Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat,which are naturally replenished".(2) the most common renewable resources are solar, wind, geothermal, water, and biomass(wood,ethanol,bio diesel). Renewable resources are far less commonly used because they are generally more expensive to produce than fossil fuels.(1)
b.) Energy in earth systems exist in forms such as thermal energy is stored as heat, chemical energy is stored as fossil fuels, and mechanical energy as stored by tides. Thermal energy is transferred through earth systems via radiation, convection, and conduction. Fossil fuels originate from plants and animals of the past, they turn into usable fuel by decomposing. Nuclear energy is changes through radioactive decay and humans manipulating it to fit our needs. resource such as wind don't change form. But over all the movement to matter through earths systems is driven by gravity, radioactive decay, and the sun.
c.) The three main way that heat transfers occur on earth are through convection, conduction, and radiation. Convection is the transfer of heat from one molecule to another within a substance. An Example of conduction occurring in nature is a coyote laying down on a warm rock.Convection is the transfer of heat through the movement of a fluid, such as water or air. An natural example of convection is getting hot by laying out in the sun. A natural example of radiation is when you are standing on the sun, the sunlight is absorbed by your face and warms it.
"The energy from the sun that is absorbed by your face is called radiant energy or radiation"(3).








1.) http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=renewable_home, Renewable energy, Eai.gov,(November 23,2009)(2)
2.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-renewable, Nonrenewable energy, Wikipedia, (November 23,2009)(1)
3.) http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/earths_atmosphere/heat_transfer.html, Heat Transfer, University of Illinois, (November 24,2009)(3)
http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~aalopez/aos101/wk5.html

Night Observations

1. I found the big dipper in the sky.
2. I saw a couple shooting stars in the sky, but not a meteor shower that was promised.
3. While I was outside I spotted Orion's Belt.
4. The moon is still waiting so it's still just shy of a half moon.
5. The sky was pretty clear so I was able to spot stars and constellations.

Nature Trail Blog 2

Differrences:

1. Cleared prickers away fom most of the trails.
2. Brush has been cleared off the trail so you can actually tell its a trail.
3. Weatherproofed the signs and benches.
4. Repainted signs that had faded.
5. Trees that were overlapping or blocking trails were cut down.

Things the school can do:

1. Continue to have the global science classes clean up the trails once every couple weeks.
2. Teachers at northwestern could make a point to take their classes through the nature trail.
3. The schools could clean up the trail on earth day.
4. School fund raisers could support the nature trail.
5. Students could get extra credit for donating things to clean up the nature trail.

Things The Community Can Do:

1. The flashes could do an article on the nature trail so people know about it.
2. Families could go for walks on the nature trail.
3. a pinic area could be set up to draw people into use the nature trails.
4. The Community could arrange a fund raiser to raise funds to make the trails even nicer.
5. On Arbor day a bunch of trees can be planted at the nature center.

NASA Page

Heres the url: http://mynasa.nasa.gov/portal/site/mynasa/index.jsp

NASA Blog

Light Curves, Spectra, and Images
1.Light spectrums give us information about an object's composition, mass, and motion.Light curve analyze short-term or long-term changes in the brightness of a source so we can make an image of the source.
2.100%
3.http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/try_l1/lightcurves.html

Black Holes
1.Black holes are objects so dense that not even light can escape their gravity, and since nothing can travel faster than light, nothing can escape from inside a black hole.On the other hand, a black hole exerts the same force on something far away from it as any other object of the same mass would.
2.no guiz
3.https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagineWiki/ResourcesAg#BH

Dark Matter
1.Dark matter is the blackness we see in space. It is made up of W.I.M.P.s (Weakly Interactive Massive Particles). They absorb a lot of light so that we can't actually see the matter.
2.100%
3.http://cdms.berkeley.edu/Education/DMpages/index.shtml
X-ray telescopes
1.X-ray telescopes can measure energy coming from stars and high-energy emitting objects in space.
2.100%
3.http://constellation.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Nature Walk

1. spruce - producer
2. white pines - producer
3. oak trees - producer
4. maple trees - producer
5. white mushrooms - decomposer
6. tree fungus - drcomposer
7. bull frog - consumer
8. squirrel - comsumer
9. mosquitoes - consumer
10. poison ivy - producer
11. flowers - producer
12. lady bugs - consumer
13. Wasps - consumer
14. robbin - consumer
15. box elders - consmer

The nature trail at northwestern is important because it exposes children to nature and is a good tool to teach kids about producers and consumers. Another reason that the nature trail is important is now that alot of people actually know it's there it will be a nice place to go walk at.