Question #5 (Universe)

Bib:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way(universe), Wikimedia, Milky Way, June 6, 2008.
2.http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm, Chris LaRocco and Blair Rothstein, The Big Bang, 1994?

Our solar system is located in on e of the "minor" arms of the Milky Way galaxy, known as the Orion arm. The milky way is a SBbc A.K.A. barred spiral galaxy, similar to many other spiral galaxies in the universe. The approximate size and age of the known universe is still somewhat shrouded in mystery but from what scientists have come up with we can get a pretty good idea. The age is about 13.73 billion years old, give or take a million years. The size is about 93 billion light years across. The age was determined by NASA's WMAP Project which studied the location of the first acoustic peak of the cosmic Microwave background Radiation power spectrum to find the size of the decoupling surface (size of universe at the time of recombination). Which in turn gave us a relative age of the universe.

The big bang theory states that the universe was once just a ball of matter (which the size is unknown) which later exploded, causing the expansion of the universe (similar to a super massive supernova). after billions of years matter bean to collapse into the various objects in the universe
Our solar system was formed by a nebular mass or molecular clout, of which parts began to collapse into denser pieces. Most of the mass began to clump into the center forming the sun, the other formed the "protoplanetary disk." This in turn also collapsed to create the other objects in the solar system.

A star's gravity is one of the major parts that keep its massive amounts of energy together in space. During it's early stages, its gravity pulls in more and more matter, making it denser and larger. Fusion reactions, happening at millions per minuet, constantly make a star's stellar core more and more unstable. At a particular time, the core can collapse turning it into a neutron star. If the mass is high enough the star could completely collapse into a black hole.

Once again, some may argue against this due to religion or fanaticism. The scientific community worldwide will always be looking into this topic until we find the definite answer. If I get into a scientific career i will definitely use this information to it's fullest.

Question #1 (major Earth systems)

Bib:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_science, Wikimedia, Earth Science, June 5, 2008.
2. http://www.cotf.edu/ete/ESS/ESSmain.html, November 10, 2004

The Earth's Major systems all interact with one another. The hydrosphere requires the atmospheres assistance in storing and moving water through it's cycle. The biosphere then requires this water for sustaining a healthy ecology for the planet. The geosphere pumps greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through volcanic activity which then can alter the behavior of the hydrosphere's water cycle. The geosphere also helps in the runoff of water, the discharge of water into the sea, and can also have an effect on weather patterns. Without a stable interaction between these 4 systems, each can be effected. For example, if the hydrosphere is greatly altered by any means, drought and hunger can ravage the biospheres sustainability, and many numbers could die or migrate.
Human activity also has an effect on every Earth system. Pollution is already generating a problem for life, since it is contaminating ecosystems making very difficult for some species to live. Deforestation and many other activities are speeding up a shift in the hydrosphere, which in turn can alter the normal climate.

All related information is relevant to our understanding of both our impact and how we can lessen it, and the spirit of exploration. Some of our religouse or finatical organizations may disagree, however this cannot change anything. Some dissagreeing theorists have stated that this is normal behavior for the Earth's environment. Most of the scientific community agrees with the fact that our impact is going to be greatly felt.

Activity 5

Befor this activity I thought that the ocean currents only moved from north to south and them back again. I was wrong. I knew that the earths rotation (what we call the coriolis effect), and the moons gravitational pull generate the currents but I had no idea how complex these systems are. It appears as if the Atlantic currents are moving in a circular patturn in opposit directions in the north and south. The northern currents are moving in a clockwise direction while the southern currents are moving counter-clockwise(the Trade and Westerly Wind Belts. source: the map on our work sheet 'figure2'). Our continental boundaries deflect the flow, giving it its circular flow. The coriolis effect does not only reffer to our planet but any object that rotates and, has a fluid on it's surface that cannot keep up with this spinning. This does connect to my topic, since greenhouse gases are also moving along with the fluids on the serface of the planet.

Activity 4

After reviewing our data it became clear that overcast or dense cloud cover can prevent a surface from heating at a high or average rate. After 20 minutes the temperature of the soil went from 22 to 22.5 degrees (that is only 1/2 of a degree). At any rate, if our expiriment didn't have cloud cover it mey have risen alot faster (this is evident since other groups had better results).

April Fools?

At the moment it seems that nature is playing April fools. The jet stream appears to be moving south along California and Nevada, than moving west along the center of the U.S., slightly north towards the great lakes. Ocean currents on the west coast are moving south, while on the east coast they are moving toward the U.S.. In the northern region of the east coast they are following the coast north. In other terms we are getting heavy snow in northern Michigan while we are expected to get drizzle today.

Activity c

While working on activity c it became clear that dew point is a big part of the water cycle. Dew point is the amount of water vapor in the air, and at times this dew condenses into clouds that then produce precipitation after becoming dense enough. Areas with the most atmospheric moisture include places like Mexico and its warm waters (the Gulf of Mexico has a high surface temperature). When rising air begins to cool it can become saturated. very humid air requires little cooling to become saturated which increases the chance of precipitation. It is evident that greenhouse gas emissions can alter the way dew point effects weather patturnes and average temperatures. At a certain level i belive this can have an effect on a global scale.

Activity 1

At the start of the activity i thought the snow and water would heat faster than the soil. However to my suprise the soil had the most temperature changes, which leads me to belive that land has the tendancy to heat faster than water. Land absorbes and reflects the sun's energy just like water, however i think the amount of greenhouse gases emited every day is causing this energy to be trapped in our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emitions are the leading cause of this phoniminon which will one day resault in a climate shift, similar to the one that happened over 10,000 years ago. In our expiriment the artificial light reprisented the sun's rays. When the greenhouse effect takes place you need to multiply this energy.