Class Response: Mining for Oil

This class assignment required good tracing skills and ability to identify different colors. I learned that to obtain oil, you need to find a reservoir. To have a reservoir, you need a source, trap, and a container. Ms. Nightsky (not sure about spelling) worked in an area where she needed to find oil reservoirs for her intern. She collected three sheets of information; one sheet for the source, one for containers, and one for traps. A reservoir for oil can only be formed if all three components for a reservoir are present in the same location. To find this, I traced all three sheets, each with another color, to find a sweetspot. These sweetspots were the places where oil can be most likely found. Then we were faced with a real life representation. We were given a budget and we had to dig for oil considering the sweetspots and the expenses. We found the coordinates of the sweetspots and "dug for oil''. My group was only successful in finding oil 2 out of 4 times. This class amused me because it showed me the difficulty in finding oil.

Class Response: Water Cycle

This class period was riveting, entertaining, and at the same time, educational. Our assignment was to follow the directions given on our designated index card. My index card told me that I was a spoon (evaporation) providing water to clouds. The reservoir I was evaporating from was the ocean. All the other students also had roles. After about ten minutes, everyone was forced to stop whatever they were doing. Then, we compared the amount of water in the reservoirs in the starting to how much the reservoirs contained after ten minutes. The reservoirs had only a minute difference. Next, we added artificial reservoirs that were human made. This made the previously balanced water cycle into a haywire cycle. Finally, we added food coloring to the artificial reservoir of industry. The food coloring represented pollution which quickly spread throughout all of the reservoirs. This represented the affect that humans have on the water cycle. All in all, this class of science was one to remember.

One Advancement That has Made the Greatest Impact on Society

I believe that the invention of computers has had the greatest impact on society. Practically everyone uses the computer for the Internet and it has become a way of communication. The computer has basically all of one's resources on it. There are billions of pieces of information on the web. The computer is a necessity in the current generation and it is expected of you to have a computer. When Ms. McCann assigned this blog homework that I am, at the moment, working on, she expected us to own a computer. Without a computer, this homework assignment would have been impossible. Without the computer, we wouldn't be able to email, blog, find basic information, or play games online. The computer also made society lazier since it serves as a substitute for encyclopedias, thesauri, and dictionaries. As you can see, the computer was the advancement that had the most influence on society today.

Popping Fun: Class Response

In class, I had a great time "Popping Fun". The objective of the assignment was to make the cork hit the window. We had to combine baking soda and vinegar in a test tube, then close it using a cork. Our group was doing very well and we even hit the window twice in a row. If we had just hit the window one more time, we would have received ten extra credit points. I was the motivational speaker for our group and I believe I did a great job. What I learned in this experiment was that the high pressure and little volume inside the test tube caused the cork to pop out. Some keys to hitting the window were trigectory of test tube, correct amount of baking soda and vinegar (Which I found to be 16 mL of baking soda and 10 mL of vinegar), and motivational support!

Current Events: FDA OKs Meat, Milk From Most Cloned Animals

On January 11, FDA allowed meat and milk to be produced from cloned animals and distributed to consumers all over the country. However, the media strongly believes that cloned food products won't be a major product since a cloned cow costs about 20,000 dollars. The FDA has allowed meat and milk from most cloned animals because it poses no risk in comparison to naturally derived animal's meat and milk. The purpose of using cloned animals is to improve the overall value of a given herd by creating genetic copies of donor animals, resulting in a herd that produces higher-quality milk and meat. At this point, in the USA, there are only 600 cloned animals. Experts believe that it will be years before companies start selling cloned animal's meat and milk. Many citizens insist that the FDA has rushed into this decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/15/fda.cloning/index.html

Current Events Blog: First CO2-free coal power plant announced

For many years now, we have been trying to reduce amount of carbon dioxide emissions from coal power plants going into the atmosphere. This is to prevent the coming problem known as global warming. The FutureGen Alliance (a coalition of private power companies and the U.S. Department of Energy) think they have found an effective way to help the world "Go Green".Technology now allows them to absorb the carbon dioxide that is being produced in the coal power plants and send it directly to underground reservoirs. The FutureGen power plant is unique in another way. Instead of just burning the coal, it gasifies it by exposing powdered coal to oxygen in a high-pressure heated chamber. This gasification is easier than capturing CO2 from a regular power plant because it produces less exhaust and it easily traps other major pollutants from coal. The FutureGen Alliance has announced this on Wednesday, December 19. This step can significantly reduce carbon dioxide pollution and help keep global warming at bay. I feel that this is one huge step in the world to save the environment for future generations.



http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/19/future.coal.plant/index.html

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