We have begun Unit 4 in our text - The Air We Breathe. Last day we examined the layers of the atmosphere, and today we want to explore Hot Topics & Phenomenon that relate to our study. The "health" of the atmosphere is important to our survival as a species, as well as the health of our planet.
Today we chose our hot topic - and began our Summaries. These are due at 8am on Monday. You must post them as a comment to this post, or send me a link to a word doc that I can copy and paste. If you miss the deadline, you are responsible for photocopying and cutting the pages up yourself. Use your text as a guide, and please be sure to summarize the info in a brief and concise manner. 2 minute max - speech - be ready on Monday.
Here is the handout that outlines the criteria.
Today we chose our hot topic - and began our Summaries. These are due at 8am on Monday. You must post them as a comment to this post, or send me a link to a word doc that I can copy and paste. If you miss the deadline, you are responsible for photocopying and cutting the pages up yourself. Use your text as a guide, and please be sure to summarize the info in a brief and concise manner. 2 minute max - speech - be ready on Monday.
Here is the handout that outlines the criteria.
Ray and Linden
ReplyDeleteTORNADOES
- tornadoes (or twisters or cyclones) are powerful, rotating columns of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground.
- tornadoes are formed when a rotating column of air in a thunderstorm becomes vertical, touches down, and is raised up by rising hot air
- damage can include roofs being torn off, housing structures destroyed, "missiles" de-barked trees and people and livestock thrown in the air.
- the "classic hook" is a weather pattern identified by meteorologists that can identify tornadoes. issuing of tornado warnings are common in "tornado alley" in the USA
- FUN FACT: most tornadoes in the US come from the southwest
Daniela and Mallory
ReplyDeleteTopic: Acid Rain
-Acid rain is an acidic form of precipitation due to industrial pollution and elevated levels of hydrogen and sulphur in the atmosphere
-Effects include acidification and increased PH levels in lakes and precipitation, which therefore damages tree growth and animals' ecosystems (death due to high PH levels)and outdoor statues that are beginning to erode and car finishes that are rusting due to the high acidity in precipitation
-Causes include power plants and factories burning coal, oil, gas that exhausts from cars, trucks, ect, house fires giving off smoke, and natural disasters like volcanoes and swamps emitting sulphur dioxide. It is because of the chemicals (nitrogen and sulphur oxides)and human activity.
-Possible solutions include conserving energy by turning off computers, televisions, ect., buying Energy Star labels for washing machines, dishwashers, use your car less by carpooling, Buses, walking or biking.
-Fun fact: 210 070 asthma symptom days in the US and Canada/year
Mat and Faraz presenting...
ReplyDeleteSMOG
1. Smog is the combination of gases that makes a brownish yellow fog over urban areas.
2. Pollutants (gas) from industrial emissions mix with sunlight and form a layer of ozone which is close to the ground and harmful if inhaled.
3. Long term exposure to smog increases your risk of lung cancer.
4. You can help by learning and practicing sustainable living habits such as walking, biking, and using alternative energy sources.
5. To a certain degree, smog helps beautify sunsets.
SUNNY & SABINE
ReplyDeleteWhat are Tropical Cyclones?
•Intense storms that come from the warm ocean in areas close to the Equator
Fun Facts
1.Known as “hurricanes” in the Atlantic and east Pacific
2. "Typhoons” in the northwest Pacific
3.“Cyclones” in the southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean
4.“Willy-willies” in Australia
How it's made
1.Warm air evaporates into the atmosphere and creates a low pressure system
2.Clouds form and release rain
3.Warm air moves in and starts spinning, creating tropical depression
4.It rotates faster and faster, increasing surface speed and decreasing air pressure
5.When winds are above 65km/h, it's called a tropical storm, when they exceed 120 km/h, it's called a hurricane.
Effects of the Tropical Cyclones
•As it makes contact with islands and brushes coastal areas/ encounter other atmospheric systems, it goes through several changes depending on the intensity
Possible Solutions- To prevent damage from the storms
•For people: moving to lower area during a hurricane disaster, evacuation of the place if required, gather information and educate yourself through television or other mass media communication system about the storms, supply adequate water for drinking, cooking and sanitary purpose, store extra canned goods and non-perishable foods
•For surrounding/ housing: use products like plywood, hurricane straps, garage door braces, hurricane glass (strong, durable glass), reinforcing entry doors in buildings, place any loose outside objects such as garbage cans, yard tools, toys and patio furniture indoors
Gangmin & Kelly
ReplyDeleteDefinition
Thunder is the sound that is produced after a flash of lightning.
Causes
Thunders are closely related with lightning. When a lightning is produced, there is a rapid increase in both pressure and temperature in the surrounding atmosphere. The sudden air expansion creates a sonic shock wave which is the source of thunder.
Effects
Thunders produce sounds that range from a short loud crack to a long low rumble. In addition to possible hearing discomfort, the lightning which accompanies thunder could kill an individual.
Fun facts
To judge how close lightning is, count the seconds between the flash and the thunderclap. Each second represents about 300m.
Gangmin & Kelly
ReplyDeleteThunder
Definition
Thunder is the sound that is produced after a flash of lightning.
Causes
Thunders are closely related with lightning. When a lightning is produced, there is a rapid increase in both pressure and temperature in the surrounding atmosphere. The sudden air expansion creates a sonic shock wave which is the source of thunder.
Effects
Thunders produce sounds that range from a short loud crack to a long low rumble. In addition to possible hearing discomfort, the lightning which accompanies thunder could kill an individual.
Fun facts
To judge how close lightning is, count the seconds between the flash and the thunderclap. Each second represents about 300m.
Gangmin & Kelly
ReplyDeleteThunder
Definition
Thunder is the sound that is produced after a flash of lightning.
Causes
Thunders are closely related with lightning. When a lightning is produced, there is a rapid increase in both pressure and temperature in the surrounding atmosphere. The sudden air expansion creates a sonic shock wave which is the source of thunder.
Effects
Thunders produce sounds that range from a short loud crack to a long low rumble. In addition to possible hearing discomfort, the lightning which accompanies thunder could kill an individual.
Fun facts
To judge how close lightning is, count the seconds between the flash and the thunderclap. Each second represents about 300m.
Kelly and Gangmin
ReplyDeleteTHUNDER
- Thunder is the sound that is produced after a flash of lightning.
- Thunder is closely related with lightning. When a lightning is produced, there is a rapid increase in both pressure and temperature in the surrounding atmosphere. The sudden air expansion creates a sonic shock wave which is the source of thunder.
- Thunder produces sounds that range from a short loud crack to a long low rumble. In addition to possible hearing discomfort, the lightning which accompanies thunder could kill an individual.
- There are no possible solutions to thunder, it is a natural occurence which follows a crack of lightning.
FUN FACT: To judge how close lightning is, count the seconds between the flash and the thunderclap. Each second represents about 300m
Vikram Sangha
ReplyDeleteAntarctica
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on the whole of Earth. The lowest temperature on earth was recorded here at -89.2 celsius. As well as being the coldest place on earth it is also on average the windiest.
Antarctica gets about 166mm of precipitation a year in the area that gets the most precipitation and about 50mm. Any area that receives less than 250mm of precipitation a year is considered a desert making it a desert.
Antarctica is almost fully covered by an ice sheet that is at least 1.6 km thick. Antarctica contains 90% of the world’s ice as well as 70% of the world’s fresh water. If Antarctica melted the sea level would rise over 60m.
Fun Fact :Ironically Antarctica’s hasn’t warmed much in the last century in fact it has actually cool since the 1960’s.
Kevin & Sabrina
ReplyDeleteLenticular Clouds:
What Do they look like?
-Lenticular clouds are lens-shaped clouds.
-They are also called Altoculumar Standing Lenticularis.
Where are they located?
-Lenticular clouds are generally formed around hills and mountains.
How are they created?
-When a current of moist air is forced upward by the side of a mountain or hill, it condenses and creates a cloud above the mountain.
-Although a lenticular cloud looks stationary, it is actually a continous cycle of moist air turning into clouds on the windward side(side the wind hits first) as the water evaporates on the leeward side.
Flying Advantage/Disadvantage
-Power pilots tend to avoid Lenticular clouds because of the turbulence they cause.
-Glider pilots use Lenticular clouds to their advantage because they cause a huge upward lift causing them to soar higher. World Records have been made using lenticular cloud.
Fun Fact
-Lenticular clouds are often mistaken as UFO's.
Nicole and Josh
ReplyDeleteJet streams!
- are a rapid surge of narrow air currents
- mainly located at the transition between the troposhere and the stratosphere (called the tropopause)
- stronger, more powerful jets called polar jets. located closer to sea level
- weaker and higher up jets called subtropical jets
- flow as westerly winds (from west to east)
Fun Fact: Not only Earth has these jet streams, Jupiter has been known to have them. They create the banded appearance.
Nabeela & Eni
ReplyDeleteWhat are "the bends?"
AKA: decompression sickness/caisson disease
The bends are a disorder where nitrogen bubbles build up in the bloodstream and in tissue
Cause:
1) Deep sea dives (that's why divers don't dive/ascend more than 10 m/minute)
2) Ascending to high altitudes at a rapid rate
(that's why planes are pressurized)
Effects:
There are lots of effects from decompression sickness if it isn't treated chronic joint pain, neurological changes (dizziness, personality changes, amnesia, etc.), numbness, overall weakness, coughing, loss of bowl and/or bladder functions.
Treatment:
The main treatment for "the bends" is though time spent in a hyperbaric chamber (it gradually adjusts the surrounding pressure), or for minor cases oral medication.
Fun Facts:
If one's decompression sickness isn't treated, they could permantently have sexual dysfunctions.
Deanna & Jasmine
ReplyDeletePollution in Linfen,China
Causes:
• Over population
• surrounded by coal mines, and vivid example of vast power of china’s coal industry
Effects:
• Dangerous just to walk out side of the house
• Headlights of cars, and lights outside of restaurants, must be on at all times
• Developing lung diseases
Solutions:
• Closing 160 of 196 iron foundries and 57 of the 153 coal producing plants.
• Replacing older smaller plants with better regulated cleaner bigger ones
• Using natural gas instead of coal for central heating and cooking
Fun facts:
• By 2007 Linfen gained 15 more days per year of clean breathable air.
• China contains 16 of the worlds top 20 most polluted cities in the world
• Children have never seen stars in their life because of haze
• 91 percent of city mayors fear the environment clean up measure will harm the economic progress
5 Things You Must Know About Linfen,China Is......
• Its major causes of the heavy pollution is the coal industries surrounding the city
• The government of china say cleaning up after the pollutions would put pressure of the economic measures, but have received 15 more days a year of clear air to breath
• Discovering a lung disease would seem common in Linfen, China
• 16 out of the 20 world’s most polluted cities are in China
• One of the solutions to reduce the use of coal around the city was, using neutral gases for heating and cooking