Final Exam: The Earth in Space

The Earth in Space

 A) "As to our distance from the center of the galaxy, the best guess is that we are 26,000 to 28,000 light years from the center. The estimates vary due to uncertainty in the exact size of the galaxy and the time it takes the solar system to complete one orbit of our galaxy." The Milky Way has an equator called an equatorial symmetry plane, and it looks like a very big circle, which is where we are located and where our planets orbit. (1) “The Universe - 10²⁷cm: There may not be a "size" to the Universe; it may be infinite. But, a crude estimate of the scale of the Universe can be made from looking back to the "beginning". Astronomers believe that the Universe began with the Big Bang, some 10 - 20 billion years ago. So, the most distant objects that we can see are about 10 - 20 billion light-years (= 10²⁷ cm) away.” (2) The structure of the universe can be thought of as a giant ball. Being on the surface, you don’t realize that you are actually on a curved surface. But Einstein's theory of general relativity proved it to be true. (3)

(1) http://www.astrodigital.org/astronomy/solarsystemgalaxy.html

(2) http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/scale.html

(3) http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/cosmo2.html

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/236084main_MilkyWay-full-annotated.jpg/220px-236084main_MilkyWay-full-annotated.jpg

B) The Big Bang Theory made the universe 15 billion years ago. This explosion created all existing matter and energy at one time. No one knows what existed before the Big Bang or if anything ever did. (4) The Big Bang could be recognized as a explosion within itself since nothing else was there before. It sent all parts of the universe away from each other and set the path for an ever-changing universe. (5)

(4) http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm

(5) http://ssscott.tripod.com/BigBang.html

 

Picture: http://ssscott.tripod.com/bang.jpg

 

C) Cosmic Microwave Background has been able to say that the universe is 13.73 billion years old to within 1%. (6) The Cosmic Microwave Background is the cool remains of the echo caused by the Big bang, scientists use antennas to see the temperature of the CMB and can tell how far away it is, and when it happened. (7)

(6) http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/

 

(7) http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/scott/cmb_intro.html

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/WMAP_2010.png/300px-WMAP_2010.png

Bibliography

1: Astronomical Adventures

Copyright ©1999-2007

Astrodigital

http://www.astrodigital.org/

2: Last updated: 16 April 1999

Prof. H. E. (Gene) Smith

University of California, San Diego Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences

Gene Smith's Astronomy Tutorial

3: What is spacetime geometry?

http://superstringtheory.com/index.html

Patricia Schwarz

The Official String Theory Web Site

4: Chris LaRocco and Blair Rothsteinhttp://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm

THE BIG BANG

University of Michigan

5: Chown, Marcus, Birth of the Universe, New Scientist, February 26, 1994, v141, n1914, pA1(4).

http://ssscott.tripod.com/BigBang.html

Creation of a Cosmology: Big Bang Theory

Last Updated: 1997

6: Page Updated: Monday, 10-24-2011

Webmaster: Britt Griswold

NASA Official: Dr. Edward J. Wollack

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

7: Douglas Scott & Martin Whitedscott@.ubc.ca

Last revised: 10th February 2000

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Final Exam: The Water Cycle

The Water Cycle

A)

The Water Cycle: water vapor is sent into the atmosphere by evaporation, then the vapor condenses into clouds by condensation, once it’s too heavy, it falls back to land in the form of precipitation, then the water either is soaked into the ground by infiltration, or it runs along the surface and is called runoff. If it’s infiltrated it then is taken into plant roots by absorption, later it will then evaporate out of plant leafs in transpiration to be sent back to the atmosphere to condense and continue the cycle. (1) Groundwater is when water travels deep into aquifers in soil and stays for years, and is then released back into the cycle. (2)

(1) http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/info/water_cycle/hydrology.cgi

(2) http://www.groundwater.org/kc/gwwatercycle.html

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Water_cycle.png/320px-Water_cycle.png

B) Watersheds and groundwatersheds are based on gravity and start small. Both watersheds and groundwatersheds are similar because they both depend on gravity. Watersheds start with streams, go to bigger rivers and lakes, and then eventually the ocean. Terrain effects where a watershed will go, ex: mountains. Wetlands serve as a storage area for extra water. (3) Groundwatersheds take more time, but do the same thing. Gravity takes the water deeper into the ground, years later, depending on the shape of the water table, the water will be released into the ocean to continue the water cycle. (4)

(3) www.naugawatshed.org/What%20is%20a%20watershed.htm

(4) http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclegwdischarge.html

Picture: http://www.yarmouth.org/magazine/pollution_in_the_tusket/brochure_1/watershed.jpg

C) Rivers and streams are usually shallow and have low banks. When it floods, water goes over the banks and onto surrounding land, where it sits until the flood subsides. People can make floods worse by trying to raise a river or streams water capacity. (5) Erosion can cause pollution in the water by degrading soil on banks of rivers and streams and letting in soil that hasn’t been exposed before. People can cause this by construction, deforestation, or agricultural uses. (6) Deposition is when water vapor turns directly into ice, snow, or frost. It reaches freezing point while skipping over condensation. People can have an effect on this by polluting the climate and raising temperatures which make snow, frost, or ice impossible. (7)

(5) http://www.fenhydro.co.uk/Flooding_rivers.htm

(6) http://www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes/wincycle/glwinhum_soi.html

(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_vapor

Picture: http://prism.texarkanacollege.edu/bbvirtual/bluecreek/flashflood.jpg

1: NOAA

Hydrologic Cycle

Provided by Corps of Engineers - Portland District

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

2: The Groundwater Foundation © 2011

The Groundwater Foundation.

http://www.groundwater.org/kc/gwwatercycle.html

Groundwater and the Water Cycle

3: What is a watershed?

http://www.naugawatshed.org/What%20is%20a%20watershed.htm

Naugatuck River

2011

4:

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclegwdischarge.html
Howard Perlman
Last Modified: 08-Feb-2011

5: Fenland Hydrotech

http://www.fenhydro.co.uk/flooding_intro.htm
Consulting Engineers

7 Chancery Lane, Thrapston, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN14 4JL, United Kingdom

6: Great Lakes Communities and Ecosystems

http://www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes/wincycle/glwinhum_soi.html

© 2003 Union of Concerned Scientists

Powered by: Convio

7: Wikipedia: The free Encyclopedia

Water Vapor

last modified on 8 November 2011

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

 

Saturn Project!

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ae6kq6TynocaZGdodzlramZfMTNneGJqd2t3Nw&hl=en_US&pli=1

MSU Field Trip

Five things I learned at the Planetarium were:

1. One of the things I learned in the Planetarium is that people that live in the city can't see the Milky Way in the sky.

2. I also learned all the different Zodiac Symbols that you can find in the sky.

3. The North Star never moves when the world spins.

4.  I learned what my Zodiac symbol (Gemini) looked like in the sky.

5. Space ice cream is AMAZING!

3 things I learned about the Cyclotron were:

1. That it smashes atoms into other things to break them into new compounds.

2. In 2017 at the earliest, the MSU Cyclotron will be number 1 in the world.

3. They use helium to slow down the atoms that are moving very fast.


The two favorite things were:

1. Lunch! I got Pizza Villa, and it was my first time having it. It was very good, i loved it. And the time gave us time to talk about our day so far and what we liked.

2. The Dairy Store, We got ice cream and got to watch people make chocolate cheese and chocolate ice cream. The gave out chocolate cheese samples, but i didnt take one because i was very full.

Things i would change about the trip:

I would change the amout of time we spent there, i think that our lunch should have been longer, because we didnt have enough time to eat i dont think. I also think that we shold have stayed there later so we could do more things. I also think we should go during a different time of year, so its not as cold  and the butterflies are still alive! But all in all it was by far my favorite thing that we've done this year in global science (:

Climate Research: Lake Effect.

The climate research that i'm doing is on the lake effect weather. Where im focusing on it in Michigan, we're a great example because our state is surrounded by water, which greatly affects the weather that we have.

Lake effect weather happens because the lake influences the weather that we get. Variables for this would be the sky, for example in the winter with clouds over the lake region it wouldn't be as cold as it would be with a clear sky. The average temperatures for us are not as cold unless we have an arctic air mass or heat loss because of clear skies. Air masses are influenced by the lake as well, like warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, and cold and dry air from the Arctic.



Because of the lake effect weather, in the fall and winter the lake temperature is warmer than the air, there is more moisture in the air, and at night there wont be a significant cool down. because of this, the western part of the state will have warmer than average low temperatures for this time of year. During the spring and summer you have the opposite, the lake is cooler and the land temperature is warmer. But with wind coming across the cold lake it keeps the air temperatures below the average high.

The impact that this has on people is that the weather that we get closer to the lake is unpredictable, because weather forecasts cant always see the lake effect weather coming across the lake, in turn making it hard to say how much snow or how severe a storm will be exactly for example.

 Warnings for these are issued when weather people see a storm growing bigger over the lake as it comes across to the state. That is the only time when lake effect warmings are issued.

Technology is used to predict this climate topic by weather people looking at the radar to see if the grow when over lake or not, they use radars to predict the amount of snow for example the western towns of michigan will get.

bibliography

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/125/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_effect_snow_warning
 http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/1e/97/1e97f72042ae6997dfc9bd29a67722b4.jpg
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grr/education/lakeEffectSnow/map1.png

The great lakes in the regional context

I learned on the river that there are many factors that are happening in the water, like temperature, nitrogen, phosphate, turbidity, BOD, and many other things. My project for the river was the nitrate levels, and they were at 70, which is average. I expected this because I have never thought that the river was very healthy or at normal levels, because of all the runoff and contaminates going into the river everyday. Our action project can help make the river healthy by if people decide to use fertilizers in their gardens, and if they use them in healthy amounts for the environment.

The biggest lake in terms of volume is lake superior, being 2,934 cubic miles. the smallest is lake erie, being 116 cubic miles.

The most urban lake is lake erie, being at 9.2% the most rural is lake superior being at 0.1%

The lake with the longest shoreline is lake huron, being at 3,181 miles

We can best manage the ecosystem by controlling how we get rid of our wastes, and recycling more. instead of putting trash in the ground and rivers, lakes, ect. we can find new uses for them and help keep the quality of our lakes at their best.

Two pollutants in our action project are fertilizers, and greenhouse gases.

Preliminary questions:
The water that you use in your house goes into a water treatment plant, to be cleaned and used again.
Runoff water is water from areas like parking lots, shingles, anywhere water can runoff into a larger area of water. It goes into bigger bodies of water like rivers or lakes.

No it doesnt, and i think that it should because runoff water collects many pollutants while getting to a water source, thereby making the bigger body of water dirty and full of dirt and chemicals. so it should go through the same cleaning processes as sewer water does so it can all get cleaned and by healthy!

Parking lots, rooftops, farms, over-fertilized gardens & fields, & chemicals from cars on the roads.

Point source pollution is from a localized place, like a factory or store that contaminates the water. Non-point source pollution is from a variety of places, and may not always be identifiable like many parking lots that have dripping oil from cars on them.

A watershed is a small place where water flows into a different place, like inland water flowing into the great lakes.

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