AP Environmental Science

October 28, 2021

Populations Mods 23-24

First of all a flow diagram:

Click for full-size image

Note that this is for a country, not the planet, since people (so far) are not leaving the planet...or arriving from elsewhere.

National version as a formula:

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 10.17.26 AM.png

If you look at the planet as a whole (sans aliens or Elon Musk):

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 10.17.55 AM.png

so, there is a neat shorthand formula for this:

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 10.17.34 AM.png

Which is an estimate, the real number is 69.3 (why? look below if you want to know)

Here is an example:

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 10.17.39 AM.png

Note that as the growth rate increases, the doubling time decreases.

Look for this on the AP as multiples/fractions of 70: 14, 28, 35, and so on...

You can also see this by using our previous formula: Nt = Noe^rt

Set N to 100, try with a 7% growth rate (0.07 is r) and set time to be 10 years (70/10)

Calculate Nt

Here's what this might look like:

Click for full-size image

When calculating growth rates, always use the CHANGE in population divided by the base population, e.g. 7/100 is 7% growth rate, so this population would go from 100 to 107, like in the chart above.

Now, to babies: TFR is the total number of babies a woman will have in her lifetime.

Replacement level fertility (RLF) is just above 2.0, (usually 2.1, as some babies don't reproduce or make it to reproductive age).

What does this mean in Japan, where young people are not having babies?

RLF depends on developed/developing nations as well (clean water, medical care, access to food, war)

Life expectancy: depends on these as well...

Infant mortality: under age 1 (reason for big Hawaiian one year birthdays)

child mortality: under 5

Look up life expectancy in 1900...

Look up the average family size and how many made it to age of 5 in 1900

What portion of the US population was farmers then?

Age structure diagrams/population pyramids-check these out: UAE, Japan, Sudan, Iraq/Iran, Russia----WHY?

Mods 14-17 Biodiversity

Sunday Earthquakes 4.3 and 6.2

https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/earthquakes

P and S waves:

Northern Lights over Scotland: space weather.com

CME event: coronal mass ejection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection

------------------------------

Mod 14: Biodiversity: (see also chapter 7 in Froggie book)

Click for full-size image

Species diversity:

richness vs. evenness:

richness = number of species,

evenness = balanced proportions

Click for full-size image

Mod 15: Evolution

Three conditions must be met:

1. genetic variation (mutation)

2. some stress that favors this variation (adaptation)

3. survivors procreate, pass on the variation (reproduction)

Genotype: set of genes (dominant and recessive)

Phenotype: traits expressed in a living creature

Genetic drift-pretty much what it sounds like

Bottleneck effect-VERY important: when a species is almost extinct, there is little variation in the gene pool of the survivors, even if their population rebounds (e.g. whales hunted almost to extinction, the entire gene pool is limited to the diversity of the sole survivors)

Founder effect: random selection of survivors, creating a new gene pool (birds, gilligan)

Questions:

1. If the early atmosphere of our planet was thinner and less developed, it might have allowed more cosmic radiation to reach the surface. How would this impact the natural mutation/evolution rate?

2. what would be the impact on an ecosystem of rampant mutation rates?

Mod 16: speciation

Geographic isolation (e.g. Galapagos) also found where we disturb natural habitats with roads

This causes Allo (other) Patric (father) speciation

Eventually reproductive isolation will result: different breeds will not be able to procreate

There is another more rare form of speciation: Sympatric ("same father"), from polyploidy, ("many chromosomes")

GMO: see roundup ready corn and wheat, freeze proof tomatoes and others.

Not to be confused with Dwarf Wheat and Norman Borlaug (see population chapters for more on this).

Dwarf wheat was a simple hybrid, not a GMO.

Look up "gene guns" and CRISPR

Mod 17: niches and species distribution

Check this out:

Screen Shot 2017-09-30 at 3.44.57 PM.png

You'll see another like this in population distributions...

Range of tolerance-where it can survive

Fundamental niche-happy place

Realized niche-de facto place

Distribution-areas where they live (we'll see more of this in the chapter on population distributions: random, scattered, patterned)

Global Biodiversity:

Note biodiversity increases closer to the equator:

Biodiversity Hot spots:

Global warming and biodiversity:

Alternates to low biodiversity food sources (e.g. monoculture):

Biodiversity benefits:

Screen Shot 2021-10-11 at 4.32.10 PM.png

Major extinctions leading to the 6th anthropocene (man caused) exctinction:

Past human impact:

Invasive species:

We can calculate biodiversity:

Click for full-size image

Lab: Calculating Shannon's index, using baked goldfish (the cheddar kind, not the ones that stink)

wash your hands
pour out a random number of different colored goldfish on your plate (your "pond")
determine the number of distinct populations by color, using chopsticks
determine the proportion for each population (e.g. 5 red ones out of 20 total would be 5/20 or 0.25)
calculate Shannon's index (H) for this "pond"
repeat the experiment with a very low biodiversity, calculate H
repeat with a very high biodiversity, calculate H
eat the contents of your "pond", representing a catastrophic event

Questions:

what is the value of biodiversity in any community?
what are the benefits and drawbacks of a low biodiversity?
how does this play into competition (next chapter)
why is it important to determine the number of "distinct populations"?
what is the impact of this on a human population, e.g. the census?

Check-in review:

Unit 2 from Cliff notes 2011:

Unit 2 practice exam p. 190

-----NEXT: Population ecology-----------

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October 6, 2021

by admin

Frog book ch.6 biomes

Frog book: biomes

elephants and biodiversity

carrying capacity-new term

biome: climate and plant/animal life

errors in ch.6-where?

Fig 6.3

Click for full-size image

NPP: biomass after respiration

(rate which primary producers convert energy to biomass)

tropical rain forest-canopy (layers)--------

poor soil nutrient levels (all in trees)

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 8.37.30 AM.png

shallow roots, big leaves, lots of rain

pitcher plants-eat animals

epiphytes-grow on other plants (e.g. orchids)

air roots

specialized animals

tropical dry forest——

deciduous forest: warm, but variable rain (e.g. monsoon)

autumn leaves-loss to protect plant, changes in photosynthesis

waxy leaves (e.g. pine needles) if over winter plants

estivation: hibernation

migration: birds (why birds and not other animals?)

savanna——

very dry, few trees, seasonal grasses, fires

porous soils (like Kona), often coffee locations (s. america)

waxy leaves, deep roots

desert——

under 25 cm (250 mm) of water per year (10 inches)

dry dry dry, so dramatic temp variations (opposite of ocean biomes)

few plants, low nutrient levels in soil

nocturnal animals (e.g. rats, snakes)

succulents: store water (e.g. cacti)

large, shallow roots, also taproots (160 ft. deep)

temperate rain forest——

not too warm, not too cold, just right

rainy, warm, mossy, foresty (e.g. washington, oregon, BC)

coniferous-have pine cones, conifers: oily needles (don’t freeze)

lumber

temperate forest——

eastern US: oak etc. seasonal loss of leaves

hibernating animals

temperate (mild) grassland——

prairie, steppe (russia)

moderate rain, but not enough for trees. grass only.

grass grows from below, so can be eaten by cattle and still live

roots capture moisture, hold soil together (kikuyu grass)

chaparral——

California, mediterranean (middle of the earth, contrast with chinese translation of the word “china”: middle earth kingdom)

dry, seasonal rain, drought (like now)

Boreal (north) forest———

taiga

acidic soils (from conifers/pine needles as competition)

very cold

conifer shape sheds snow, preserves branches (christmas trees)

when ground freezes, no water for roots, all water stored as sap in trees (oily compound, very sticky, makes retsina in Greece)

tundra——

russia, alaska, canada

very cold-study the climatograph (-220 °C!) right….

permafrost-permanently frozen ground, so only shallow roots

polar ice—

not really a biome, but stuff lives there (aquatic mammals, fish, very small rocks, churches, mud, but no ducks)

Notothenioids-antifreeze fish

blubbery mammals

mountains—

another non-biome, but look at this!

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 8.58.17 AM.png

how cool is that?

aquatic ecosystems—

salinity, depth, standing or flowing water

salt water = 30-50 ppt (parts per thousand)

ppt, ppm, ppb

fresh water = 0.5 ppt

in between 0.5-30 ppt = brackish (anchialine ponds in Kona)

study the fishies in the pictures

DEPTH!!!!

determines amount of light, tf. photosynthesis

photic zone=light

aphotic=no light

benthic=really no light, never, ever ever. don’t even think about it.

aquatic mammals must surface for air

fishies don’t-gills

DO dissolved oxygen (very important) depends on plants (so depth) and temp (cooler water can hold more O2)

warm water has low O2 generally.

best place to fish: cool water after a waterfall (why?)

flowing water: rivers

standing water: ponds

lakes can become inland seas

littoral=shore, limentic=away from shore benthic=botttom

wetlands:

marshes, swamps, bogs and fens

marshes marshes marshes!-tall grasses

swamps-some trees

bogs-acidic, poor decomposition, floating stuff

fens-spring underneath, less acidic, better nutrients

bogs decay slowly-ancient cheese story, peat moss

rivers-oxbow lake and meander

source, tributary (continuity concept), mouth (delta)

slope exponential as distance from source

deposition rates (rapids vs. plains)

silt carrying capacity, turbidity

estuaries-like deltas

tidal estuary: hudson river: deeper than the body it serves

oceans——

200 ft. of salt if all oceans evaporated

oceans were red (iron) then ppt out (iron range in WI, MI)

salinity, wind and temperature determine flow

upwelling (recall Peruvian fisherpersons)

also downwelling

photic zones-

intertidal zone-makes sense, between tides

neritic zone-close to shore, less than 200 ft. deep (not in Hawaii, we have no continental shelf-boo hoo)

open ocean (pelagic) zone

kelp forests-e.g. california coast

coral reefs-away from fresh water, coastal, photic

open ocean-scary stuff

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October 6, 2021

by admin

Mod 13 Aquatic Biomes

Recall terrestrial biomes are defined by temperature and precipitation (rain)

Aquatic biomes are by definition underwater, so they are defined by

Depth: how deep is the deepest part, how much photosynthesis is possible
Distance from shore: shallow water has more life, more things to attach to, more biodiversity

We separate aquatic biomes into freshwater (lakes, rivers, streams) and saltwater (oceans, estuaries)

Freshwater biomes:

Riparian=river

Limnotic=lakes

Lakes:

Shallow shore area=littoral (means shallow), see the "littoral Navy", photosynthesis here (shallow, light shines through)

Open water area=limnetic zone, no rooted plants (too deep), phytoplankton here, only as deep as sunlight can penetrate

Deep water=profundal ("profound") or deep zone: no light penetrates, bacterial decomposition.

Bottom=benthic zone: mud, dark, cloudy

Click for full-size image

Productivity: note usually related to photosynthesis (plants)

Oligo (few) trophic=low productivity

Meso (middle) trophic=medium

Eutrophic (eu=good trephien=food)=lots of productivity (sometimes too much, like in "Poisoned Waters")

Freshwater wetlands-submerged most of the time (swamps, marshes, bogs) this is the history of all coal and oil we now use

Salt marsh: usually connected to the sea, act as a coastal buffer for Hurricanes, very productive, many nutrients, lots of organic material

Mangrove swamp: special version of this in Tropical areas (e.g. Florida)

Intertidal zone: area between high and low tide or seasonal variations

Ocean zones:

Coral reefs-see coral bleaching, pH, temperature and salinity sensitive (see Hamakua coast vs. Puako)

Intertidal zone: between high and low tide

Photic (light) zone-shallow, photosynthesis, kelp, others

Aphotic (dark) zone-too dark for photosynthesis

Chemosythesis/thermosynthesis: deepwater steam vents, based on Sulfur instead of Oxygen, bacteria generate energy with methane (CH4) and H2S (instead of H20)

Benthic=deep ocean

Pelagic=open ocean (think of big sailing ships, whales, stuff like that)

Hadal zones: like Hades: deepest, darkest zones. Weird fish, no light...

Click for full-size image

Biodiversity next:

http://physics.hpa.edu/groups/apenvironmentalscience/weblog/542a8/Biodiversity_and_Extinction_Ch_5_Mods_1417.html

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October 5, 2021

by admin

Mod 12 Terrestrial Biomes

Look:

Here's what we learned so far:

Now look at this map, and compare with your trusty globe:

See the pattern?

Pay close attention to cause and effect:

onshore moist air from the Pacific ocean hits the mountains near Seattle=rainy there
onshore moist air from the lower Atlantic ocean hits the amazon basin=rainy there
dry air moving down from the Mediterranean moves over the Sahara Desert=dry there

There are about 9 Biomes, usually defined by precipitation (rain, fog, others) and temperature.

Big Island has 8 of the 9 biomes, or in the 12 biome model, we have 11/12, or 9 of 13, or 10 of 14 in another model. Many models...

https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/hawaii-has-10-worlds-14-climate-zones-explorers-guide-each-them

Traveling up a mountain is like crossing biomes. Check this out:

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 4.55.05 PM.png

Imagine driving from Hamakua or Hilo up to the summit of Mauna Kea: tropical rain forest to temperate (mild) rain forest to boreal (north) forest to tundra. There is even a glacier up on Mauna Kea. Cool.

This would be like starting in the upper right corner of the diagram and moving diagonally down and to the left.

Now check out the planet again:

Click for full-size image

Notice the horizontal bands. If you've read "Guns Germs and Steel" you know that humans migrated horizontally, so their crops and livestock would thrive in similar biomes. See? Migrating north to south is tough.

How is this changing?

https://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/climate-time-machine

Now look at this:

Click for full-size image

These diagrams are how climatologists describe biomes without a cool map.

The blue line is the amount of rainfall, with units on the RIGHT side of the graph.

The red line is the temperature, with units on the LEFT side of the graph.

The shaded region in the months below (jfmamjjasond) is the growing season when temperatures are above freezing.

When the precipitation line is above the temperature line, growth is limited by temperature (e.g. freezing).

When the blue line is below the red line, growth is limited by precipitation (e.g. the desert).

Start with the north: Tundra is what you'd see in Alaska.

Permafrost is soon to be in the news. It is made of permanently frozen ground a few feet below the surface.

Even roots cannot penetrate it, so some trees grow in a stunted fashion.

It is also composed of frozen organic matter, which when it melts will decompose, releasing CO2 and CH4 (methane), which is 20x as powerful as CO2 as a greenhouse gas.

Tundra:

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.07.25 PM.png

Note the cool temp, so growth is determined by temp, not rainfall. Lots of snow here, and little liquid water for plants, so yeah, mainly snow and glaciers.

Contrast that with the boreal (north) forest:

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.08.21 PM.png

Note the short growing season. Any plants that survive usually have an oily sap (pine trees, evergreens) that does not freeze. Also note the serious cold in the winter-animals have to adapt to these (fur, hibernation, etc.)

Temperate (mild) forests are nicer, longer growing season, and rarely freeze. They are usually near the ocean, so they do not freeze (ocean is a huge heat sink). The often have lots of rain (think of Seattle). You may recall these are places where the surface parts of Ferrell and Polar cells converge, bringing in clouds and as these clouds rise into the atmosphere, they release their water as precipitation.

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.10.11 PM.png

Temperate (mild) seasonal forest actually has seasons:

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.12.07 PM.png

Deciduous trees can live here, like maple and oak. It gets close to freezing, but no real dry season.

Woodland/shrubland is like much of southern California, or the Mediterranean. Wine can grow here. It is also known as the mediterranean (medi=middle, terra=earth) biome.

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.14.09 PM.png

Note it never really freezes, but growth is determined by precipitation (blue line is below the red line). This is also known as "chaparral" or the "fynbos" or "nice forest" in Afrikaans (South Africa). Look up the main wine regions of the world, they will fit this biome. Also consider how many Italians could start vineyards in northern California...

Temperate grassland/cold desert is a dry, grassy area, like Oklahoma, although it does get very cold there, so think more of Texas, or the Gobi desert. Again, growth is rain limited: (you may recall these are near Hadley/Ferrel cell subsidence, so dry air from space falls here). These areas tend to be far from large bodies of water, so they have more extreme temperatures than similar latitudes near water (e.g. Italy, France, California)

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.16.59 PM.png

Tropical rainforest is the rainiest of them all, and much of our island has this near the shore. Warm temperatures, and paradoxically poor soil nutrition (all of the nutrients are in the plants). On Mt. Waialeale on Kauai, the rainfall is 480 INCHES per year, 2.5 times as high as the high point on the chart below:

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.20.21 PM.png

Africa and Brazil hold the next biome: Savanna or tropical seasonal forest. Think of Madagascar (the film): not many large trees, room for animals to roam, lots of grass, happy lions, maybe a bossy penguin or two...

Growth dependent on rainfall: (blue line below red one)

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.22.47 PM.png

Finally, the subtropical desert biome, like what you'd see in the Sahara desert (another film), or most of Australia, the Atacama in Chile, the Mojave desert in California, and some of Mexico. Note the Gobi desert is not on this list-too cold. Again, note these areas are where dry air subsides (falls) from the Hadley and Ferrell cells.

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 5.24.43 PM.png

Biome Game:

Clues:

Click for full-size image

Find these places in the first three climatographs:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

San Diego, California

Belem, Brazil

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.53.45 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.53.54 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.54.01 AM.png

Find these biomes below:

tropical rain forest

tropical savanna

desert

temperate grasslands

temperate deciduous forest

temperate rain forest

boreal forest

tundra

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.54.56 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.10 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.23 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.30 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.40 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.49 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.55.55 AM.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 11.56.06 AM.png

Find these biomes:

Tropical Savanna

Temperate Grassland

Chaparral

Desert

Tundra

Taiga

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Tropical Rain Forest

Click for full-size image

LAB: Gambling with biomes

Gambling with biomes

Below is a list of locations around the world. Roll the dice and using your vast knowledge of biomes and the high tech globes on your desk, determine the biome and type of life you might find there.
In the next round reverse the process with the biome list below, determining the locations around the globe.

Locations:

Chile
Zambia
Philippines
Oklahoma
San Luis Obispo
Germany
Seattle
Greenland
Ontario Canada
Tunisia
North Pole
Kamuela

Biomes:

tundra
boreal forest
temperate rain forest
temperate seasonal forest
woodlands
temperate grassland
tropical rain forest
savannah
desert
cold desert
taiga
tropical seasonal forest

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September 27, 2021

by admin

APES notes: atmosphere, weather

APES notes atmosphere, weather

see also frog book 15.1 and 6.1

Three ways heat energy moves:

Radiation: no medium needed, e.g. light

Conduction: contact

Convection: matter in motion

Summary:

Solar radiation passes through the atmosphere

Radiation hits the earth surface, conducts to air

Hot air rises, (convection) cooler air comes in to take its place

Tilt of the earth: Basis for seasons : tilt away=winter

equinox=equal night, solstice=extremes

Equator is hottest, so greatest convection there

Three cells based on convection, cause winds

Hadley, Ferrel, Polar

Ocean currents follow the winds, clockwise in N hemisphere

Cells converge at rainy spots, diverge at deserts

Why? Clouds lift at convection spots, cooling them = rain

Dry air dropping from space = warm, dry air (deserts)

Layers: spheres bottom to top

tropo: at the surface, where all weather happens, conduction to air from surface, convection to other layers, albedo is how much energy it reflects (albus=white)

strato: higher, drier air, cooler, air travel is here, also ozone layer (stops UV)

meso: middle

thermo: hot, charged particles, also ionosphere, bounces radio waves

exo: outer

magneto; even further, deflects solar wind, protects surface (none on Mars)

Air stuff:

compress air and it heats

uncompress air (e.g. altitude) it cools

warmer air holds more water

cooler air holds less water

humidity measures how much water in how much air

relative humidity: compared to how much it can hold at that temp

absolute humidity: total amount of water

dew point: temp where water condenses

rising air condenses (rain) “adiabatic cooling” rain carries the heat away

falling air heats (deserts) “adiabatic heating” absorbs energy from the surroudings

rain shadows=dry areas after mountains

saturated 100% RH air is fog, then rain or snow

Cells:

ITCZ: at the equator, inter-tropical-convergence-zone

Hadley cell: equator to 30°N or 30°S

Ferrel cell: 30-60°

Polar cell: 60-90°

since earth is spinning, as air flows south, it also falls a bit west=tradewinds

if air flows north, it also flows a bit east=westerlies (weather describes wind from source direction)

this change of direction creates the coriolis effect

Hurricanes are low pressure systems, rising air creates a counter-clockwise flow (L on the weather maps)

High pressure systems create clockwise flow (H on the weather map)

Oceans:

winds carry surface water along, so N hemisphere has clockwise currents (cool water off CA coast)

a special current from Greenland melt flows to Hawaii, called the thermo (heat) haline (salt) current.

ENSO is a big deal: normally winds carry water off-shore of chile, bringing up food from the deep ocean (happy fisherpeeps).

El Niño reverses this, so sad fisherpeeps

La nada is no flow at all

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September 27, 2021

by admin

Modules 9, 10, 11 circulation

Circulation modules:

Module 9: Heating of the earth
Module 10: Air circulation
Module 11: Ocean circulation

Module 9 heating of the earth

Tropo (top) sphere-heated by contact with earth, where most weather occurs
Strato (high) sphere-cooler, where commercial aircraft travel, more radiation there
Meso (middle) sphere-higher, but does not contain charged particles
Thermo (hot) sphere-also known as the ionosphere, charged particles from interaction with the solar wind (charged protons and others), "hot" because of these particles slowing down, but so little atmosphere it would freeze you if you were there. Three layers: D, E and F, with F being the highest, all three reflect radio waves, but only the lower ones conduct/reflect in sunlight
Exo (outer) sphere-where space begins, freezing cold about one hydrogen molecule per square meter
Ozone: between the troposphere and stratosphere, this absorbs UV radiation
Magnetosphere: way out there, deflects solar wind, particles then spiral into the north and south poles creating the auroras.
If no magnetosphere, we'd cook like in a microwave oven (Film: The Core), a serious issue for Mars exploration
if no ozone layer, all plants would die, DNA would be mutated, life would cease except for deep thermal vents (possible origin of terrestrial life)
HOT AIR RISES, COOLER AIR MOVES IN TO TAKE ITS PLACE-THIS IS THE BASIS FOR WEATHER

Globe Demo

Seasons, tilt vs. perihelion (AUS)
counterclockwise
equinoxes, solstices
hadley, ferrel polar cells
deserts, rain forests
tradewinds
longitude vs latitude
GMT-why?

Atmosphere slice: layers

Air currents: RH, AH

3 energy modes: radiation, convection, conduction

Click for full-size image

Seasons

4 seasons (not just a hotel), equinox means "equal night”, solstices are the extremes (why sacred?)
Earth spins counter clockwise when viewed from north pole (think: sun rises in the east)
Latitudes are like a ladder, go horizontally (east to west), some short (near the poles), some long (equator)
Longitudes are all long, go vertically (north to south), all the same length
Seasons are determined by earth tilt, not by distance to the sun
Although, Australia (southern hemisphere) summer happens when we are closer to sun in our elliptical orbit, so more extreme summers (tilt + proximity)
Albedo-think of Albus (white) Dumbledore, means reflectivity. Earth is about 30%, snow is 95%

Click for full-size image

Module 10 Air currents and Water stuff

Relative humidity: the amount of water in the air at a certain temperature, relative to the maximum it could hold at that temperature (RH). Look this up here: http://10.14.30.1
You can blow on the room sensor and see this rise.
Absolute humidity: true amount of water in percent water in that parcel of air (AH)

Saturation point: the max amount of water air can hold at that temp (rises with temperature, note how this compares with gases dissolved in liquids, like your dissolved oxygen (DO) lab. You may know this as fog.
You may feel more comfortable with high temp and low humidity because your body can evaporate and cool more effectively. Conversely, humid, hot weather is ugly. Cold, humid air insulates poorly, so feels chilly, so running your air conditioner when it is humid and cool may actually make you feel warmer. Why?
You can look this up, it is called the "comfort curve" or psychrometric chart:
Dew point: weather term for the temp that water will condense from air, depends on humidity (think of cool mornings, wet grass, or water vapor condensing on a cool drink)
Adiabatic cooling: think of Waimea canyon, or the mountains of the Andes, Olympics, Coastal range, Himalayas, etc. As air rises, the reduced pressure makes it cooler. Opposite of pumps, which get hot (compression). You might feel see this with aerosol spray cans (cooler when you spray something).

Click for full-size image

Questions:

You see a circular flow in the counter-clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere on windy.com. Is this low or high pressure?
Why is the ocean less salty near the equator?
As a parcel of air rises (like Waipio or the Himalayas), what happens to the absolute and relative humidity? What happens next?
What level of the atmosphere has most of the weather and why?

Adiabatic heating: reverse of this: think of Puako or Kawaihae: as air descends, it is compressed and gets hotter.
Latent (hidden) heat release: when vapor condenses from gas to liquid, it releases energy. Opposite of evaporation or boiling, which both require energy.
Convection: one of three means that energy moves from place to place:

radiation (like light, can be reflected),
conduction (contact),
convection (movement of mass, usually air or water).

Hadley cells: between 30N and 30S, convergence at the equator (hot air rises there), descends after shedding heat to space and water as it rises (rain), descending dry air forms deserts at 30N and 30S. Winds from the north to south at the surface, opposite in the stratosphere.

Click for full-size image

Check this out on windy.com:

https://www.windy.com/?20.002,-155.533,5

ITCZ: intertropical convergence zone: the place near the equator where this convergence occurs, lower salinity in equatorial oceans (rains all the time, good AP question).
Hadley Cells: Between the equator and 30N or 30S.
Ferrell cells: between 30N and 60N, also on the southern hemisphere: deserts at the bottom, northward wind at the surface, opposite in space (stratosphere), which is why commercial flights usually have a headwind where they'd have a tailwind at the surface. Also why when trades are strong, mainland flights are faster/shorter.
Polar cells: southward wind from 60N to 90N, creates dry desert at the north pole.
Coriolis effect; spinning of earth makes air near the equator rotate faster around the axis than polar air. This difference creates hurricanes and ocean currents, therefore diagonal winds (see fig 10.6)
Rain shadow: think of the coast near Mahukona or Lapakahi, between Kawaihae and Hawi: very dry as all moisture has been wrung out of the air by ascending above mount Kohala. Think also of Eastern Washington, or the Desert in Chile, where the Andes dry out the air. Many more-find some!

Click for full-size image

Mod 11 ocean currents

Check this out:

Verify on windy.com again:

https://www.windy.com/?20.002,-155.533,5

Notice that the north pacific currents flow clockwise, south pacific counter clockwise. why?
There are places with little forward current, so they become islands of debris, e.g. the so called "Pacific Gyre", which is about the size of Texas, and made up of floating trash.
Gyres describe the circular flow, some refer to the islands of debris as gyres (not accurate), gyres are the circles, most equatorials move west (arrows match)
Difference between flotsam and jetsam: one floats, the other is jettisoned from boats
Thermohaline (thermo=heat, haline=saltwater) circulation:

This upwelling of 2000 year old water off the Kona coast is the bases for Koyo water near the airport (why is this water so precious?)
Upwelling off the peruvian/chilean coast-Andean trench=great fishing when in normal conditions (not el niño)
ENSO= el nino southern oscillation-a really big deal, reverses the normal ocean circulation, impacts weather around the planet

El niño and La niña (ENSO)

Note: top diagram has strong OFFSHORE wind, pulling up nutrients from below, note also that it is one big box from Peru to Indonesia, with a strong warm, dry subsidence around the coast of Peru (good for beach folks), known as La Niña, or the little girl,

Note: lower diagram (El Niño) has main convection moving to the middle of the ocean basin, weakening the offshore wind around Peru, so sad fisher-folk. El Niño was often associated with Christmas, so the "little boy" reference.

Though ENSO is a single climate phenomenon, it has three states, or phases, it can be in. The two opposite phases, “El Niño” and “La Niña,” require certain changes in both the ocean and the atmosphere because ENSO is a coupled climate phenomenon. “Neutral” is in the middle of the continuum, also known as “La Nada” or “the nothing”.

El Niño: A warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to become reduced while rainfall increases over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The low-level surface winds, which normally blow from east to west along the equator (“easterly winds”), instead weaken or, in some cases, start blowing the other direction (from west to east or “westerly winds”). This makes for sad fisher-people off the coast of Peru. Named for "the boy" or the Christmas child since it was first seen around December (winter solstice again).
La Niña: A cooling of the ocean surface, or below-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to increase while rainfall decreases over the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The normal easterly winds along the equator become even stronger. Happy fisher-people off the coast of Peru due to nutrient upwelling from the Peruvian trench. Named after "the girl", just the opposite of "the boy".
Neutral: Neither El Niño or La Niña. Often tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures are generally close to average. However, there are some instances when the ocean can look like it is in an El Niño or La Niña state, but the atmosphere is not playing along (or vice versa).

Figure 11.3 below——

Top: La Nada or La Niña: happy fisher-people off the coast of Peru (nutrient upwelling)

Bottom: El Niño: sad fisher-people off the coast of Peru

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September 21, 2021

by admin

Chapter 3: modules 6-8 energy and matter cycles

Module 6: Movement of energy

Biosphere-all life

Producer (also primary producer) gets energy from sun or heat directly, also known as autotroph

example: grass

Photosynthesis: CO2 + water + energy (heat or light) -> sugars (CHO)

Reverse process is respiration: Sugars + O2 -> energy + CO2 + water

Screen Shot 2019-09-23 at 4.09.27 PM.png

Anaerobic respiration (e.g. bacteria) don't use O2, less efficient, older primitive source of energy (pre-oxygen)

Consumer (heterotroph) consumes other primary autotrophs

Primary consumers eat plants (e.g. herbivores)
Secondary consumers eat them (carnivores)
Tertiary consumers eat other carnivores (algae->zooplankton->fish->eagles)

Trophe = "nourishment"

Trophic levels = food levels, see also food web

Scavenger-eats dead stuff
Detritovore-eats dead stuff that is decaying
Decomposers-break down into basic elements

GPP gross primary productivity= Total amount of solar energy into the system: like gross income in a business

e.g. all of the money coming into your business

NPP net primary productivity = GPP minus respiration (think of Maui onions):

gross income-expenses=net income

Biomass-total mass of all living things in an ecosystem-odd fact: rain forest soil is the lowest in nutrients and biomass-why?

Standing crop-total plant biomass (e.g. forest)

Efficiency is low (around 10%)

Trophic pyramid: 10x reduction in energy for each level (why?)-vegetarians vs. meat eaters

So, carnivores (us, wolves) are eating harvesting devices (cows) for autotrophs (grasses):

Screen Shot 2019-09-23 at 4.13.46 PM.png

Not very efficient, unless you can't digest grass, or it takes too much energy to walk around all day. This IS, however a good argument for global sustainable survival, as the sun will not go away soon, and as long as we have arable (farmable) land to grow plants, we could survive with a global population of 8-10 billion.

But we'd need access to fresh water...

Recall: energy->water->food->culture

Click for full-size image

Module 7: Movement of Matter

Biogeochemical cycles: bio=life geo = minerals chemical = chemical cycle = something that rotates

Hydrologic (water) cycle:

Heat provides energy for evaporation,

Plants secrete water as transpiration,

Condensation is collection of water vapor to drops,

Precipitation is the falling of these drops as rain, snow, hail etc.

ETO evapotranspiration: amount of water moving through an ecosystem, usually plants.

Farmers need to know EtO to know how much water to supply to their crops.

Eto depends on sunlight, humidity, wind and temperature (think of how these impact transpiration)

Click for full-size image

Runoff-just like it sounds

You will need to know about "transit time" which is the time it takes rain to reach a water body after hitting the ground

Why is this crucial?

(you will see this mentioned in the Poisoned Waters video this weekend)

Carbon cycle: photosynthesis, respiration, exchange, sedimentation, burial, extraction, combustion

air<->water<->land

photosynthesis-CO2 to sugar (air to plant structures or fruits-e.g. corn)

respiration-sugar to CO2

acidification or exchange-HCO3 (carbonic acid) e.g. seawater changing pH, remember?

sedimentation-CaCO3 (seashells, limestone) most efficient long term carbon sink (solids are dense)

burial-just like it sounds, oil, coal, nat gas

extraction-mining fossil fuels

combustion-burning fossil fuels with oxygen to release CO2

Click for full-size image

Nitrogen cycle:

6 macronutrients needed by plants: N,P,K, Ca, Mg, S (sulfur becomes part of Methionine, an amino acid)

NPK from fertilizers

N is a limiting nutrient

N fixation is when you can't get Nitrogen off your mind

quiz

Define N, P, K and how each impacts plants
Define evapotranspiration, condensation and precipitation
Which biogeochemical cycle only has a solid phase in the environment?
What element replaces oxygen in chemosynthesis?

It also means bringing N2 gas from the atmosphere into the biome, biotically or abiotically (without life)

abiotic: lightning or burning fossil fuels (high temps) direct to nitrate (NO3) (that interesting smell after rainstorms)

biotic: nitrogen fixing bacteria: N2 ->NO2 ->NO3 ->NH3 ->NH4 ion (used by producers, it is aqueous)

commercial N fixation: petrochemicals to form fertilizers (NH3, anhydrous ammonia, ammonium nitrate NH4NO3, which is used in ANFO bombs)

nitrification: NH4+ ->NO2- ->NO3-

nitrite kills bacteria (used in preserving meats), but nitrate is a good plant fertilizer (ANFO bombs)

assimilation: producing amino acids and then proteins (chains of AA)

Dead stuff: mineralization or ammonification (dead fish smell: NH4+ and amines)

Vitamins = "vital amines"

denitrification: NO3- goes to N2O to N2 gas (anaerobic bacteria, swamps)

Leaching: washing N out of soil

Click for full-size image

Phosphorus cycle:

Mainly rocks, between land and water

ONLY SOLIDS, NO LIQUID OR GAS PHASE

biotic: animals uptake PO4--- (see also phosphoric acid H3PO4), turn it into bones, teeth as CaPO4, then back to soil

abiotic: phosphate sediments in ocean-> become rocks, erosion on land dissolves into watershed

Humans: phosphate detergents, fertilizers (Dead zones)

Algal bloom: PO4 -> lots of algae on surface (light) -> these die, fall to the bottom, and as they decompose, they take all O2 from the water (hypoxia)

Arsenic in bananas---why we cannot use greywater for irrigation

Click for full-size image

Ca, Mg and K: dust (Kauai dependent on Gobi desert dust for K)

Sulfur cycle:

rocks -> SO4, can become part of methionine

See also SO2 (vog, acid rain, pollution)

Click for full-size image

Here's something interesting:

Find Sulfur below:

Click for full-size image

Ok, now find Oxygen.

Hydrothermal vents use sulfur instead of oxygen for a thermal (heat) version of photosynthesis called chemosynthesis

Module 8: Response to disturbances

Recall negative feedback (stable ships, relationships): greater the disturbance, the greater the restoring force (pendulums too)

Resistance is how hard it is to move the pendulum (ecosystem) away from center
Resilience is how fast the pendulum (ecosystem) returns to normal

Biodiversity and disturbances:

This is strange stuff:

Rare disturbances = competition, so only a few species dominate

Common disturbances = only fast reproducers survive, so low biodiversity

Intermediate disturbances = highest biodiversity

Watershed: drainage basin usually leading to a large body of water (Chesapeake watershed is huge):

https://www.cbf.org/about-the-bay/chesapeake-bay-watershed-geography-and-facts.html

Click for full-size image

How do you think this impacts the water quality, phosphates, nitrates and silt in the Chesapeake bay?

Why are we not allowed above the fences behind Pu'u La'e La'e?

On Oahu, the watershed is guarded by a barbed wire fence-why?

How are the Himalayas acting as a watershed?

Poisoned waters:

Video:

http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/poisoned_waters/POISONED_WATERS.mp4

http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/poisoned_waters/poisoned_waters.m4v

Weblog page:

http://physics.hpa.edu/groups/apenvironmentalscience/weblog/973c4/Poisoned_Waters_videoPBS.html

On campus try these:

http://physics.local/physics/apenvsci/videos/poisoned_waters/POISONED_WATERS.mp4

http://physics.local/physics/apenvsci/videos/poisoned_waters/poisoned_waters.m4v

http://physics.local/groups/apenvironmentalscience/weblog/973c4/Poisoned_Waters_videoPBS.html

quiz

why is the soil on Kauai so poor, and how does it get its Potassium?
how does the size of the Cheseapeake watershed impact eutrophication in the Chesapeake bay?
what is the difference between resistance and resilience in natural systems?
why do rotting fish smell so bad?

Summary notes:

Systems

systems are usually connected, exchange matter and/or energy
main energy source is our sun, or past suns (e.g. uranium)
feedback loops (again)
spheres: litho=stone, bio=living, hydro=water, atmo=above
geosphere: crust-mantle-core-inner core (spins, no way!)
plates-who thought this up? need to understand convection
where are oldest parts of crust? trick question
subduction zones, mid atlantic ridges (atlantis?)
eq: deep near subduction zones, shallow in transform faults
mid atlantic ridge: how do we know this? submarines
himalayas-how? matterhorn-what?
water cycle: evaporation and transpiration (eTO)
precipitation-condensation is first (condensation nuclei, e.g. vog)
aquifers-underground lakes, low turnover rate (pesticides) Oglalla
water can be ground water: aquifer, water table, water lens or surface water

Cycles

conservation of matter (neglect E=mc2)
nutrient cycles: carbon, oxygen, phosphorus, nitrogen COPN
primary producers-photosynthesis: CO2, water and light/heat
create sugar as stored food, structural element
consumers-eat primary producers, decomposers break down waste/detritus
cellular respiration (flowers in hospitals) at night
carbon also in HCO3- ion (seawater) and CaCO3 (seashells, limestone)
greenhouse effect from CO2 captured as plants->oil/coal "carbon bank"
phosphorus: rocks and water (stone and sea), erosion, very limited supply in biosphere (Waterloo bones)
P only absorbed in aqueous form (aq)
too much = eutrophication (also nitrogen) see dead zones
eutrophication: too much of a good thing, when algae dies, decomposes, creates hypoxic zones
aerobic vs. anaerobic bacteria-wounds
nitrogen cycle-NPK
N2 to life: lightning and bacteria (N2 to ammonia NH3 then to NO2 and NO3 (plants absorb NO3)
denitrifying bacteria change NO2 back to N2 (gas)
Haber process
See figure 3.30-nitrogen uptake
golf courses-Mauna Kea, iBoat

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September 12, 2021

by admin

Water, O-chem, food, energy

Water:

Key points:

Amphoteric: both an acid and a base, so pH is 7.0 (between 0 and 14), so pOH is also 7 (cool!)

Cohesion: recall the weak hydrogen bonds, these make water want to "hold hands": COhesion (think of pilot and copilot)

Adhesion: water likes to stick to other surfaces, just like adhesive tape

Capillary action: both of these working together-think of the meniscus in chemistry (U shaped dip)

Water has a U shaped meniscus, because adhesion is stronger than cohesion

Liquid mercury metal has an inverted U meniscus, because cohesion is stronger than adhesion

Why is this important?

Long hair and tall trees: both require fibers (adhesion) close together (cohesion) so the meniscus "climbs" up the tree

Surface tension: cohesion at work-think of water striders (evil trick: one drop of detergent makes all water striders fall into the pond)

Water molecules "holding hands" means insects can sit on the water surface.

Soaps and detergents break down surface tension, making water "wetter"

Why is this important?

Soaps are surfactants, and impact premature babies lungs (no surfactant, so the surface tension is so strong they cannot inflate their lungs). Vaping also dissolves this lung surfactant. Same with folks who breathe in gas fumes (like siphoning) who die from chemical pneumonia.

Osmosis: not in this chapter, but water anyway:

Water always follows salt or sugar, anything that is more concentrated.

Root hairs have sugar in them (why we chew on sugar cane), so the water in the soil is pulled into the roots.

Minerals or salts in the soil will prevent this, so we get "desertification" from using mineral rich well water on crops.

Romans also poured salt on fields of enemies so they could never live there, look up "salting the earth"

Acids and bases: the amount of hydrogen in an aqueous (water) solution

Very small numbers, so we use log10 for them:

[H+] = 1 ee-4 would be an acid with pH 4.0 and pOH of 12

pH and pOH always add to 14

[H+] =1 ee -0 is the strongest acid (pH 0), [H+] =1 ee -14 is the weakest acid and strongest base (pH 14)

Colligative (collected) properties:

Freezing point/melting point: can be depressed by adding other materials (salt, alcohol, antifreeze)

Boiling point: same deal, can be raised by adding salt (cooking pasta) or adding pressure (warm tea at altitude)

Solubility of gases: cool water can hold more dissolved gases, like oxygen or CO2 (perrier)

This is very important in thermal pollution, where heat from power plants starves fish of O2, same thing with dead zones like Chesapeake bay (more on this soon).

hint: don't ask for ice in your drinks, they must be cooled already to dissolve the carbonation

Chemical reactions: usually involve energy of some sort (heat, light-explosions, burning), and change of mass

Conservation of mass: matter never goes away in chemical reactions (it DOES in nuclear reactions)

Organic chem: any chemistry involving Carbon (why?)

Inorganic=either no carbon, or bound carbon (C02, like in carbon dioxide)

All life on our planet revolves around carbon in some form, so we use the term organic to describe this chemistry, usually C-H or C-C bonds.

Look on the periodic table below Carbon, we could be Silicon, but we'd have to be lava creatures since the energy needed for chemical reactions would be higher.

n.b. some thermal creatures use thermosynthesis instead of photosynthesis, using sulfur instead of oxygen (look again at the periodic table)

Good example: alcohols-always involve some form of carbon and an OH group, but they are NOT bases, weird rules here...

One can live on alcohols in some cases (alcoholics)

methanol: CH3OH (this is what killed people in prohibition by making "bathtub gin", decomposes into ant poison)

ethanol: C2H5OH (you know this as the type that gets one drunk-poisonous in large doses)

propanol: C3H7OH (you know this as isopropyl alcohol, what they use before they give you a shot)

All organic chem follows these meth (1 carbon), eth (2 carbons), pro (3) , but (4), pent (5) prefixes, many like in geometry.

Another example: octane (in gasoline)

How many carbons?

Much more on this later...

Food!

Three main groups:

Proteins: always include Nitrogen

carbohydrates: CHO in chains (starches) or simple (sugars)

fats: CHO again, but in a special branch structure (glycol) that is good for energy storage and insulation (whales)

Proteins: complex molecules of CHO and N. Look up amino acids, note the common structure.

Now look up the amino acid methionine. What element does it contain as well? Why do rotten eggs, swamps (and Kilauea volcano) stink?

CHO=carbohydrates (clever name), usually in a chain, short chains are sugars (used for fuel), longer ones are starches and can be used for structures (e.g. cellulose in plants) or pasta...

smallest: sugars, all end in -ose (glucose, sucrose) LOOK THESE UP, CHECK OUT THEIR MOLECULE SHAPE

glucose is a "monosaccharide" created by photosynthesis (next chapter)

longer chains: starches (rice, pasta) slowly digested (see diabetics, and glycemic index)

structural CHO: cellulose-little boxes with goo inside, need enzymes to break these down (cows)

ENZYMES ALL END IN -ASE

Fats/lipids: same chemical structure as CHO, but built along a glycol (alcohol) backbone.

If the fats have long carbon chains with only single bonds, they are saturated (lots of Hydrogen atoms) and can hold together (e.g. animal fat)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat

If the long chains have double bonds and don't fit together, they melt easier (e.g. oils) and are called "unsaturated", usually better for your health.

n.b. McDonalds® got into real hot water a while ago for frying all of their stuff in "supersaturated fats". Ugh...

Energy

Energy is the ability to do work (heard that before?)

Units are joules ("jowles in England), and a few others (calories, Calories, BTU, kWh)

Power is how fast you can do the work (climbing stairs or running up stairs), so Power = work/time

Units are Watts (joules per second or j/s) among others

Energy->Joules (work~amount of water)

Power->Watts (how fast the work is done~flow)

demo: walking/running upstairs-----------------

KE/PE: Kinetic and potential energy

PE: chemical bonds, height, spring

KE: motion, freewheel, flowing air/water

temp: KE=1/2mv^2 (macro level)

molecular level:

KE=3/2kT, so T prop to v^2 of molecules

EMR: shorter wavelengths more energy e.g. UV, X-rays

Light is one form of EMR or electromagnetic radiation (needs no medium, so we get light from the sun through the vacuum of space)

What you need to know: EMR has higher energy with higher frequency (e.g. ultraviolet light damages DNA, infrared heat can only burn)

See visible spectrum:

Screen Shot 2018-08-25 at 9.50.49 AM.png

Energy can be potential (ability to do work) like altitude or chemical bonds or kinetic (see Kinesias in Lysistrata), the energy of motion or heat (molecules in motion, KE = 3/2kT)

Temperature is not heat, but the average speed of the molecules...

Temp in the upper atmosphere is 900°C but you'd freeze there, as there is no atmosphere to conduct the heat to you.

Interesting fact: Concorde passengers could not touch the windows, not because they were too cold from the altitude, but too hot from the air friction of the plane going 2x the speed of sound.

Thermodynamics: how heat moves around (cold does not move, but heat does)

Three ways heat moves: radiation, conduction, convection

Three laws of thermo:

1. you can't win (nothing has more than 100% efficiency)

2. you can't break even (you always lose something in every reaction, a "heat tax")

3. you can't get out of the game (all reactions tend towards disorder, like your closet)

Efficiency is the amount you get out of any energy reaction, divided by the amount that went in, always less than 100%

efficiency; never 100%, 30-60% common

Human 35% efficiency, diesel engine 60%, Formula one racing car: 55%

Energy "quality" is the degree of organization of the energy (sugar molecules vs. heat coming from your body, or well organized gasoline "octane" molecules breaking into heat, CO2 and H2O)

Entropy: degree of disorder in any system, all reactions tend towards more disorder (e.g. your closet or bedroom-tell this to your parents)

energy quality-entropy, disorder, e.g. closet ∆S>0, takes energy input to reduce S (entropy)

Feedback mechanisms:

Feedback: think of the howling speakers at assembly: microphone picks up the speaker, gets louder, goes on and on: positive feedback

Negative feedback: tends towards stability, e.g. a pendulum: the more you pull it away, the stronger the restore force, e.g. sweating, stable ships at sea

Positive feedback: tends away from stability, e.g. climate change: heat melts ice, dark water absorbs heat, more ice melts, also tall cruise ships, childbirth, blood loss in accidents, albedo decrease in the arctic...

Next: cycles

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September 7, 2021

by admin

Worksheet 9.9.21

APES numbers worksheet 9.9.21

Another formula for decay:

amount left = starting amount/2^n

n = number of half lives

An element has a half-life of 30 days. If the original sample is 100 grams, how many grams will remain after 30 days?
How many will remain after 90 days?
How many will remain after 45 days?
A sample of carbon 14 is found in ancient bones containing 1/64 of the original amount. If the half life for carbon 14 is 5730 years, how old is the bone?
How much will be left after another 5730 years?
Graph the decay of the bone and attach a photo of your beautiful graph, with years on the X-axis and fraction as the Y-axis
A news announcer says:”Iodine 131 has a half life of 8 days, so it will all be gone in just 16 days”. What is wrong with this?
Which is more acidic: NaOH or HCl? Why?
How much more acidic is something with a pH 4 than one of pH 5?
Which has a higher Hydrogen ion concentration [H+]?
How about pH 4 vs. pH 8?
What is the pOH of something with a pH of 4?
You are told a solution has a Hydrogen ion concentration of 1 ee -12. What is the pH and pOH for this solution?

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December 12, 2021

by admin

Week two 8.31.21: elements, energy, chem review

Overview:

Frog book chapter 3: systems (3.1 and first part of 3.2 on your iPad)
FR chapter 2: systems (modules 3,4,5 in the FR text, Goodreader on your iPad)
Math bits: radioactive decay, pH

Review:

Chapter one was on overview of what Environmental Science is all about, what your greatest challenges will be in this century (good luck), and some bits about the scientific method (and how to find witches).

The iBook coveres these as well, but in a more interactive overview.

Chapter two is all about systems, matter and energy, the subject of other courses as well: physics is all about energy and matter, chemistry is about matter, energy and reactions, and biology includes feedback loops and systems, as well as lots of gooey living stuff.

For this chapter, cause and effect will be your guide-keep these in mind.

Reading: Chapter 2 in FR text, modules 4 and 5. Module 4 is huge, so don't give up.

Why this chapter now? How does it enable us to study other things?

Soils-capillary action

Populations-radioactive decay

Energy-PE/KE, thermodynamics

Global warming-radiation, thermodynamics, feedback

Water-pH, chemistry, colligative properties

Food-fat/CHO/proteins

Sustainability-feedback, thermodynamics

Some of these may be review for you, for others it may be new, so let's take our time...

Module 4: Systems and matter----------

matter=takes up space and has mass (better definition: anything that has density since d = m/v)

mass=amount of matter (n.b. NOT weight, you can be weightless in orbit, but you still have mass-watch the film Gravity...)

atom: a=not, tom=cut (look up tomogram, CAT scan, or go to subway)

atom=smallest particle (known then) that cannot be cut further (we now know there are protons, neutrons, electrons, and quarks, even smaller things than these are predicted, look up string theory)

Element: recall all of your previous science courses-this is a collection of atoms that share the same identity, usually noted on the periodic table by their number of protons, NOT neutrons (e.g. isotopes) or electrons (e.g. ions)

Look at carbon 12, 13 and 14-look at the notation for each (isotopes=iso, same tope, type)

Look at sodium atom and sodium ion, note the notation for each

Why do they have certain charges? Who does every element "want" to be? Why?

Diverge here into orbitals if you like; s,p,d,f (sharp, principal, diffuse and fundamental spectral lines)

https://ptable.com/?lang=en#Properties

Click for full-size image

Molecules: more than one atom (H2)

Compound: more than one element (NaCl)

Questions:

If density = mass/volume, why is this a good definition of matter?
Hydrogen can be an atom, while Hydrogen gas is a molecule. Explain
What is the difference between atomic number and atomic mass?
Carbon 14/12 is an isotope of Carbon 12/12. Explain

Radioactivity: unstable nucleus (usually more neutrons than protons), releases particles (often neutrons, but includes electrons as beta rays, or energy as gamma rays)

Largest and slowest radiation is alpha rays: slow Helium nuclei (2 protons, 2 neutrons, no electrons, so they are + charged)

Radiation summary: (n.b. you may see these referred to "rays" or "particles", they are the same)

alpha rays: Helium nuclei, slow, charged, stopped by your skin or paper
beta rays: fast electrons (137,000 mph), charged, stopped by foil
gamma rays: fast photons with very high energy, penetrates almost everything, stopped by lead
neutrons: can be fast (bad) or slow (thermal, useful in creating steam in nuclear power plants), goes through everything but 2 meters of concrete or lots of lead shielding

Radon gas

Biggest danger to you if you live near granite or other similar rocks (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington):

Alpha emitter, so not dangerous alone, but if breathed in, it emits alpha particles deep in your lungs, causing cancer (lung cancer and leukemia).

Second main cause of lung cancer in the US!

Much denser than air (226 grams per mole, vs. about 42 for room air) so found in basements or lower parts.

Ventilation is the solution, or not living in lower areas of a house.

Most states where this is found have laws requiring a ventilation fan system (ask someone from Alaska, Montana or Minnesota)

Half life: not just a boring Saturday night

Time it takes for half of whatever to decay, depends on amount left, like water leaking from a large water tank

If you are into math, this is known as a differential equation, meaning the rate is dependent on the amount left. We'll see more of this in population curves, but any time a rate is dependent on how many there are, you'll see the half life rear it's head.

Some math you will need to know:

A half life is the time it takes for half of something to go away.

In radioactivity, we use the formula: amount left = starting amount x (1/2)^n. where n is the number of half lives:

Sample problem:

Starting with 128 grams of unobtainium, which has a half life of 10 minutes, how much will be left after:

10 minutes

20 minutes

60 minutes

15 minutes (tough one, make sure you know how to use your calculator in real mode, not "hello Kitty" mode

You can also write the formula as: amount left = starting amount/2^n

Questions:

What is similar and/or different between U 234/92 and U 238/92?
How many protons, neutrons and electrons in each?
Would you expect this to be radioactive?
A news announcer says:”Iodine 131 has a half life of 8 days, so it will all be gone in just 16 days”. What is wrong with this?

--------------------

Radioactive decay lab: M&Ms®

pour at least 40 M&Ms® into a jar, close the lid and mix
pour the M&Ms® out onto a plate, and count the total number
remove any M&Ms® that have the logo face up
count again
repeat #1 above, one minute later
graph your results, with the X-axis as number of tests and Y-axis as number remaining after each removal
what does the X-axis represent?
what does the Y-axis represent?
what is the half life for emanemium?
graph our results along with the data from other teams on one graph-what do you notice? (x-axis is minutes, y-axis is # remaining)

Review:

Bonds: (not the money kind)

Covalent: weak, think of plastic, butter or things that can melt. Electron is shared between both atoms (e.g. pilot-copilot), examples: any twin (H2)
Ionic: strong, electron moves from one atom to another (NaCl is a good example), hard to melt, usually dissolves in water
Polar molecule: has one end more + than the other (like water, which is polar covalent-confusing!).

Hydrogen bonds are formed when a polar covalent molecule like water has one end (the hydrogen end) that bonds weakly with the negative charge (the oxygen end) on another molecule

Water!!!!--------------

What do blonde people and very tall trees have in common?
What do vaping teens and premature babies have in common?

Surface tension: cohesion (holding hands)-think of water bugs, and the soap example

Soap makes water "wetter" by reducing surface tension between water molecules

Soaps also have an ionic (water loving, hydrophilic) side and a covalent (water hating, hydrophobic) side, so they can carry away oils when in water, like washing your hands

Capillary action: cohesion and adhesion (think of adhesive)

Key to most plants...

Cohesion: water molecules want to "hold hands"
Adhesion (like adhesives): water molecules want to stick to other molecules
Capillary action: combination of these two, where walls are close together (hair, trees, all plants)

Questions:

what is the connection between water striders, tall trees, premature babies and vaping?
what is the connection between wifi, microwave ovens and dry toast?

Acid: more Hydrogen ions free (H+)

Base: fewer Hydrogen ions free (more OH-)

Water: amphoteric (both sides): balanced H+ and OH-

Water is H-O-H or H-OH, so has a balance

Here's the trick: Acids have more Hydrogen, but they have a lower pH (1) than bases (14)

huh?

pH: n.b. the notation, this means "potency of H+ ions" (don't misspell it)

Here's why:

pH is the -log10 of the [H+], so larger numbers are actually closer to zero

log10 of 1EE-14 is -14, a very small amount of hydrogen, so a base

log10 of 1EE-1 is -1, a much larger number of hydrogen atoms, so an acid

See? The negative sign in the formula makes these into positive numbers, so:

pH of acid is 1, pH of base is 14

Quick dive into pH and pOH:

pH is LOWER the stronger the acid

n.b. the pH and pOH always add to 14:

water is pH 7 and pOH 7

some acid might be pH 2 and pOH 12

some base might be pH 12 and pOH 2

pH of perfect acid is 0, which has a pOH of 14

pH of perfect base is 14, pOH is 0

Acids: battery acid, your stomach acid, fruit juice, vinegar, old wine, your skin (why?)

Bases: soaps, drain cleaners

----------------------9.9.21---------------------

<="colligative">Colligative properties<="colligative"> (collected properties): bp (boiling point), fp (freezing point), mp (melting point, often the same as fp)

Can be influenced by other substances, e.g. antifreeze, which is ethylene glycol, an alcohol. You could use any alcohol in your car to raise the boiling point, but ethylene glycol is less flammable (yet toxic to animals) than ethanol

n.b. anything that ends in -ol is an alcohol: methanol, ethanol, butanol, propanol, etc., (see below).

You could also use salt, which is hard on the bodies of cars (rust), but is great for melting ice on roads, or making ice cream (freezing point depression)
Water is weird stuff: as it boils, it gets less dense (e.g. steam) AND when it freezes, it gets less dense (e.g. ice)
Why is this critical for life in lakes in the winter?
It is also a "universal solvent" since it has pH of 7, dissolves ionics and is polar covalent. Nice to drink as well.
Fancy-pants word for this: amphoteric (both acid and base)

Alcohols:

"Organic chemistry" means based on carbon

Any organic (carbon) molecule with OH attached is an alcohol (different from OH in acids and bases)

Look these up:

Methanol

Ethanol

Propanol

Butanol

What do you notice?

----On alcohol being used as food for alcoholics:

Ethanol is metabolized in the body into ethanoic acid also known as acetic acid. You bio folks may recognize this as one of the inputs in the TCA (citric acid or Krebs) cycle. Once a human body "learns" how to live off of ethanol (e.g. alcoholics), many of their calories come from this source. One theory uses this as a possible explanation for certain genetic predispositions towards alcohol dependence.

This is what the chemistry looks like:

C-C-OH ---> C-C-O-O-H ---->C-C-H-O

ethanol --> ethanoic acid --> ethanal

The other name for ethanal is acetaldehyde, which is the strange smell you detect coming off the breath and skin of alcohol drinkers.

Methanol takes a far more toxic path:

C-OH --->C-OOH ----> C-HO

methanol --->methanoic (formic) acid ---> formaldehyde

You might recognize the second one as the sting from fire ants, and the third as a carcinogen they embalm dead bodies in...

As if that was not enough for one module...

Chemical reactions: usually involve movement of energy (light, heat), no mass is created or destroyed (conservation of matter)

melting and boiling don't count, sorry

Organic stuff (this could be an entire separate chapter-ask Ms. Anton!)

Organic=contains carbon, the base for life on our planet usually C-H or C-C bonds.

Look on the periodic table below Carbon, we could be Silicon, but we'd have to be lava creatures since the energy needed for chemical reactions would be higher.

n.b. some thermal creatures use thermosynthesis instead of photosynthesis, using sulfur instead of oxygen (look again at the periodic table)

Inorganic=either no carbon, or bound carbon (C02, like in carbon dioxide)

Food stuff:

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates: all contain C-H-O in some combination, only proteins have N as well...

Dive deep if you dare:

CHO=carbohydrates (clever name), usually in a chain, short chains are sugars (used for fuel), longer ones are starches and can be used for structures (e.g. cellulose in plants) or pasta...

smallest: sugars, all end in -ose (glucose, sucrose) LOOK THESE UP, CHECK OUT THEIR MOLECULE SHAPE

glucose is a "monosaccharide" created by photosynthesis (next chapter)

longer chains: starches (rice, pasta) slowly digested (see diabetics, and glycemic index)

structural CHO: cellulose-little boxes with goo inside, need enzymes to break these down (cows)

ENZYMES ALL END IN -ASE

Fats/lipids: same chemical structure as CHO, but built along a glycol (alcohol) backbone.

If the fats have long carbon chains with only single bonds, they are saturated (lots of Hydrogen atoms) and can hold together (e.g. animal fat)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat

If the long chains have double bonds and don't fit together, they melt easier (e.g. oils) and are called "unsaturated", usually better for your health.

n.b. McDonalds® got into real hot water a while ago for frying all of their stuff in "supersaturated fats". Ugh...

Proteins: complex molecules of CHO and N. Look up amino acids, note the common structure.

Now look up the amino acid methionine. What element does it contain as well? Why do rotten eggs, swamps (and Kilauea volcano) stink?

Nucleic acids: DNA and RNA (another whole chapter)

Questions:

What is the difference between carbohydrates, fats and proteins?
How much more acidic is something with a pH 4 than one of pH 5?
An element has a half-life of 30 days. If the original sample is 100 grams, how many grams will remain after 45 days?
Which is more acidic: NaOH or HCl? Why?

CALCULATOR PRIMER-------------

This is what an iPhone calculator looks like:

Click for full-size image

How to do half lives:

Let's say you are given 64 grams of something with a half life of 7 days. This means every 7 days, half of what you started with goes away.

If they ask you how much is left after 21 days, you first divide 21 by 7 to get "n" the number of half lives: 3

Then you set up your calculator like this:

Amount = Starting amount (0.5)^n

Best way is to do this from right to left (backwards)

so,

Enter 0.5

hit the xY key (just below m+)

enter n (3 in this case)

press equals

multiply all of this by your starting amount (64)

you should get 8 grams left

Try this with 128 grams and a half life of 6 days, after 42 days

You should get 18/6 = 3 = n

0.5 xy 7 = 0.125

128 x 0.125 = 16 grams

How to do pH calculations:

pH is a number between 0 (acid) and 14 (base)

pH is defined as -log10 [H+]

What this usually means is just the exponent of the [H+] concentration

so,

[H+} of 1 ee -4 has a pH of 4

[H+} of 1 ee -6 has a pH of 6

[H+} of 1 ee -4 has a pOH of 10

why?

pOH is just 14 - pH, so pH + pOH always = 14

On your calculator, calculate the pH of something with a hydrogen concentration of 1 ee-3

enter 1

press ee key (to the left of 1 on the calculator)

press 3

press the +/- key (above 8 on the calculator)

press log10 (left of 4 on the calculator)

change the sign from minus to plus

you should get the answer: 4

This also works for complicated numbers like [H+] = 4 ee -3: pH = 2.39

Module 5 (FINALLY!)

Energy is the ability to do work (heard that before?)

Units are joules ("jowles in England), and a few others (calories, Calories, BTU, kWh)

Power is how fast you can do the work (climbing stairs or running up stairs), so Power = work/time

Units are Watts (joules per second or j/s) among others

Energy->Joules (work~amount of water)

Power->Watts (how fast the work is done~flow)

demo: walking/running upstairs-----------------

KE/PE: Kinetic and potential energy

PE: chemical bonds, height, spring

KE: motion, freewheel, flowing air/water

temp: KE=1/2mv^2 (macro level)

molecular level:

KE=3/2kT, so T prop to v^2 of molecules

EMR: shorter wavelengths more energy e.g. UV, X-rays

Light is one form of EMR or electromagnetic radiation (needs no medium, so we get light from the sun through the vacuum of space)

What you need to know: EMR has higher energy with higher frequency (e.g. ultraviolet light damages DNA, infrared heat can only burn)

See visible spectrum:

Energy can be potential (ability to do work) like altitude or chemical bonds or kinetic (see Kinesias in Lysistrata), the energy of motion or heat (molecules in motion, KE = 3/2kT)

Temperature is not heat, but the average speed of the molecules...

Temp in the upper atmosphere is 900°C but you'd freeze there, as there is no atmosphere to conduct the heat to you.

Interesting fact: Concorde passengers could not touch the windows, not because they were too cold from the altitude, but too hot from the air friction of the plane going 2x the speed of sound.

Thermodynamics (heat in motion)

Laws: Physics version

1. you can't win (no such thing as more than 100% efficiency)

2. you can't break even (not even 100% is possible, there is always a "heat tax" on every reaction)

3. you can't get out of the game (all reactions tend towards disorder, the "heat death" of the universe, or ∆S>0 for the universe)

Chemical version:

energy cannot be created or destroyed
energy can move, but always at a cost (entropy, disorder increases, ∆S>0 universe)

Efficiency is the amount you get out of any energy reaction, divided by the amount that went in, always less than 100%

efficiency; never 100%, 30-60% common

Human 35% efficiency, diesel engine 60%, Formula one racing car: 55%

Energy "quality" is the degree of organization of the energy (sugar molecules vs. heat coming from your body, or well organized gasoline "octane" molecules breaking into heat, CO2 and H2O)

Entropy: degree of disorder in any system, all reactions tend towards more disorder (e.g. your closet or bedroom-tell this to your parents)

energy quality-entropy, disorder, e.g. closet ∆S>0, takes energy input to reduce S (entropy)

System dynamics----- (had enough yet?)

Open system: stuff comes in, goes out, e.g. energy

Closed system: everything stays in e.g. mass

Steady state: balance of inputs and outputs (money example)

Feedback: think of the howling speakers at assembly: microphone picks up the speaker, gets louder, goes on and on: positive feedback

Positive feedback: response makes the situation stronger/unstable: capsizing ships, childbirth, bleeding to death, climate change, melting permafrost, albedo decrease in the arctic...

Negative feedback: response makes the situation more stable, tends towards recovery: stable ships at sea, sweating, good relationships

Questions:

Explain the difference between energy and power
UV radiation will cause sunburns but infrared will not. Why?
What are the 3 laws of thermodynamics?
Give an example of positive and negative feedback

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August 25, 2021

by admin

Tuesday 8.24.21

Check this out:

https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2021/08/24/kilauea-activity-notice-earthquake-swarm-raises-alert-level-to-watch/

You can look at our seismic sensors in the monlab, or here:

https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/earthquakes

Today:

Review your responses to the HW questions
Discuss next HW assignment
Tour your critical issues papers
Begin the 8 country cause and effect project on sustainability

Global Footprint Network:

https://www.footprintnetwork.org

Our worksheets:

Complete worksheet:

Download file "Openhagen Teacher Training Part 1.pdf"

8 country worksheet:

--------------Thursday ("Thor's day") 8.26.21-------------------

Global footprint mystery sleuthing:

Global Footprint countries

1. How would you group the countries? Language? Economy? Sustainability? History? Religion? Political?

2. What cause and effect incidents can you see on the graphs?

3. Surplus is green, deficit is red, over what time frame? when did/will the lines cross? when did they start?

Events:

Australia-what about the red bumps?

Pakistan-what happened in 1978?

US-what happened in 1973?

NZ-how can fishing areas increase?

Bengaladesh-what causes the bumps?

Brazil-1984, what happened?

S. Korea has two cliffs-why?

When did the UK become in deficit? Why?

Your footprint: https://www.footprintcalculator.org

Reducing your carbon footprint:

Climate change map:

https://impactlab.org/map/#usmeas=absolute&usyear=2080-2099&gmeas=absolute&gyear=1986-2005

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August 20, 2021

by admin

Day 2: Friday 8.20.21

Plan for today:

1. Overview, review chapter 1: FR (links below)

2. Big picture project-your goals

3. iPads, Froggie book (time permitting)

First, some clarity:

This is "the frog book" only available now on the iPads:

Screen Shot 2020-08-28 at 10.54.15 AM.png

This is another text we'll be using, Friedland and Relyea, 3rd edition (note THIRD edition):

Screen Shot 2021-08-20 at 5.46.47 AM.png

Here's a link to chapter one, so you can do the homework over the weekend

You might notice that the FR text is more detailed. The first two chapters of both this and the frog book (iBook) deal with defining environmental science, the scientific process and how APES covers many different topics.

The FR text is divided into modules, with practice questions (PQ) at the end of each section and chapter questions (CP) at the end of each chapter. Your homework will often be the PQ during the week, and the larger CP over the weekend.

These notes are all about context, what you can't get just from the textbook...

FR Module 1 -------------

Fracking-What is it? Why is it controversial? How has it changed how we generate electricity in our country? At what cost? Why is this politically important? Why are the solvents they use secret? What is the impact of these solvents on water? Who developed it around 1960? What did he later put all of his money into?

Bio=life, so biotic means living, abiotic means not living (druids had a neat view on this)

How systems are defined enables us to create models of cause and effect (favorite topic of physicists and historians as well)

FR Module 2 ---------------

Environmental indicators: what we know and can observe that indicate the condition of a system

Ecosystem services: can be economic, direct or cascading (off shore oil for example, impacting fishing in the gulf of Mexico)

Biodiversity is a key indicator (why?)

These are the 5 challenges that you will deal with in this century. Knowing about them will enable you to impact change.

It's all about you...

More terms:

Genetic diversity: variation in a population (could be age distribution in our class)

Species: different in obvious ways (definitions vary on this)

Species diversity: variation of species in a habitat (age distribution in the school or elab)

Speciation: an adaptation based on stress

Evolution needs three things:

some form of genetic variation
some stress that favors this variation
survivors have to reproduce and carry on the variation

Think of giraffes as an example:

longer necks in some animals
drought that kills all short neck creatures (just like in "land before time")
long neck animals survive to reproduce and carry on the variation

There is an interesting theory that the background rate of mutation/speciation was much higher long ago because our atmosphere was thinner, and enabled more cosmic rays to penetrate, causing much higher rates of mutation/speciation.

Cool stuff:

In England, butterflies have adapted since 1850 to look more like soot from coal fires.

In NYC, a species of "subway mosquitoes" have been found that feed on humans in a dark, cool place

Huh.

Extinction is the opposite of speciation, where species die off.

There is such a thing as a "background rate of extinction", which we have surpassed by many times

Diversity is good: think of monoculture food crops: one pest kills everything.

Food production: see Malthus and Norman Borlaug, e.g. Mexico famine (APHG?)

Anthopogenic (anthro=man, genic=cause) Climate change:

Greenhouse gases (see car windshield as an example)

Not too many people know we need some CO2 on our planet to keep water above freezing-think of this as we search for exoplanets...

Resource depletion is hard to grasp, but resource constraints are easier:

If we had a major tsunami here that closed airports (all near the shore) and ports, how long would we have:

electricity?
water? (pumped by electricity)
food?

Our key concept:

energy->water->food->culture

With energy you can move/purify water
With water you can grow food
With food you can maintain a culture

Global Footprint countries

Sustainability: Thinking of forever

Click for full-size image

Notice that these are not your usual "energy, food and water" items people think about.

Sustainability is living within your means.

Starbucks example...

Ecological footprint: created by Jurgen Randers and Mathis Wackernagel (both here for the opening of this famed structure)

energy
settlements
timber
food
seafood
carbon
built up land
forests
cropland
fisheries

What impacts your global footprint?

Weekend Homework, Due Wednesday (yay!) 8.25.21:

Read modules 1-3, complete the practice questions at the end of each module, email your answers.

Cause and effect, email your answers:

Why does the girl think her dad is an alien?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVRAtQ7XjkM

What don’t we see between the kiss and him driving home?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7_slK24lXU

Monty Python Witch scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii68tPIiZOo

Can you follow cause and effect?
What is their logical path?
Why do folks associate fracking with earthquakes? (chapter one in the text)
Why do folks associate fossil fuels with global heating?
Who might be against this line of reasoning and why?

0 comments

August 18, 2021

by admin

APES 2021-2022!

Welcome folks,

This is the physics server, and you have found the weblog.

You might also want to check out the link lower on the blue page, where documents, texts and videos live.

Here are some notes on our first class together:

Intro to tools:

weblog: physics.hpa.edu (links below)
discussions: weblog thread, text notes
homework: email answers, I comment
iPads: ebook, pdfs, test prep apps

Big topics:

cause and effect
climate change
resource scarcity

Accounting:

HW: small percentage
Daily quiz: multiple of HW
Exams: rarely, multiple of quiz
AP diagnostic: December, March
HW, lab policy: no late work as we review in class (no challenge)
BUT: your first missed HW is dropped
If you miss none, you get one extra HW credit (yay!)
Check out the syllabus on myHPA for more info

Class time:

no phones please
taking notes is a wise move, here and later
I learn from your questions
be an explorer...
Biggest toolset: elab tour-end of class

Elab notes for students:

Please fill any water containers using the sink water, not bottled water
If you have trash, please use the correct container (ask Greg if you are curious)
If you use the bathroom, leave your phone behind
There are no student access printers in the elab
Please be aware of other classes in the elab, sound carries
Please return your chair under each desk, in full lifted position
Please leave all food and drinks out of the elab, ants are an issue

Cool stuff to check out:

windy.com-check out hurricane Linda, due here Sunday!

https://www.purpleair.com air quality network

iPads? You mean we get to keep them?

previous AP courses?
home?
other science courses?

text link:

https://physics.hpa.edu/sandbox/groups/apenvironmentalscience/weblog/60945/attachments/17ec7/FR-3e-ch1.pdf?sessionID=a64910de997677a85ddb061185be4e95c8624562

Physics server links

Download Firefox:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

http://physics.hpa.edu

https://physics.hpa.edu

From off campus:

http://physics.kamuela.org

https://physics.kamuela.org

From on campus:

http://10.14.250.2

https://10.14.250.2

Off campus, during the zombie apocalypse:

http://67.53.209.189

https://67.53.209.189

On campus, after the zombie apocalypse:

http://physics.local

https://physics.local

AP central ($)

https://apclassroom.collegeboard.org/14/home

Joining AP class section:

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/joining-your-ap-class-section-students.pdf

Tentative plan for week one:

Wednesday: who are we, what tools do we have

Homework: Powerful questions

Friday: what is most important to you, your future, and what about those zombies?

Homework: chapter one in FR3e, Monty Python and witches...

It is May 2022…

What are three things you are celebrating?

What is one thing that happened because of this class?

What is something you are really proud of?

What makes a really good teacher?

What makes a really good student?

0 comments

April 26, 2021

by admin

Week of 4.26

Please review the following law worksheet:

Free Response practice questions:

0 comments

April 23, 2021

by admin

Crash course screenshot

Screen Shot 2021-04-23 at 5.09.21 AM.png

0 comments

April 4, 2021

by admin

Practice test

Princeton review "cracking the AP"

0 comments

March 31, 2021

by admin

Ch. 17: Environmental health and toxicology

Ch. 17 in F/R text:

mod 56 Human Disease
mod 57 Toxicology and chemical risk
mod 58 Risk Analysis

Module 56 Human Disease

Bacteria e.coli in produce/food: summary

1992 Jack in the box-CA, 700 infected, 3 died
2002 ConAgra beef, recalled 19 million pounds of beef
2005 California spinach
2015 Chipotle restaurant
2017 IM Healthy granola

Key terms:

Disease: impaired health

Infectious disease: caused by agents-"pathogens"

Acute (sharp) vs. chronic disease

Click for full-size image

Note global rate of cardiovascular/heart disease (red), usually preventable

Pathways (vectors)

"Vector" in physics means magnitude and direction

In APES, we usually mean something (a "pathogen") that carries disease:

Screen Shot 2020-02-19 at 5.51.18 PM.png

Epidemic: rapid increase in disease (think of epidermis, the top layer of your skin)

Pandemic: entire continent or world (COVID19)

Plague: bacterium from fleas (modern antibiotics can cure this if given in time)

Malaria: from the Spanish for "bad air", also why Buenos Aires is such a nice place. Plasmodium in blood, no cure, just cure for symptoms. Once you have it, you have it for life, and it can recur.

Tuberculosis: airborne bacterium (like in Les Miserables), very contagious, modern threat is from drug resistant TB, esp. in Russia (selling antibiotics for alcohol)

Emergent infectious diseases:

AIDS/HIV: first seen in early 1980's (along with certain music and hair)

First showed up in babies, homosexuals and blood transfusion recipients

No known cure, but can be managed. Drugs are expensive, so this is still a threat in Sub Saharan Africa, among other places.

HIV mutates to avoid the immune system, and folks usually die from opportunistic infections, like pneumonia

Ebola: Hemorrhagic fever, about 90% fatality rate, very contagious, from primates originally in Africa

Mad Cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy): "prion" protein pathogen, basically a toxic protein that survives cooking, originally found in UK, banned all beef from there for a certain time in 1996.

Caused by using ground up sick cows as feed for other cows (gross!)

Influenza A viruses:

Swine Flu, Bird Flu H5N1: both jumped from animals to humans (like Covid-19). If this jump is not human-to-human transmitted, then only a few humans die, if it jumps or mutates, then things get serious.

H5N1 refers to the histology (H) and nucleotides (N) in the virus, so we can discern it from others

18000 deaths in 2009 from swine flu

Coronaviruses:

SARS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome, 2002, 10% fatality rate, air transmission, coronavirus

All boarders from Asia were kept at HPA for the year due to this breakout in Asia

person to person transmission, 8000 infected, 10% fatality rate

MERS: another coronavirus in 2012, ME stands for Middle East, 34% fatality rate (!)

COVID-19: SARS-CoV-2: Coronavirus, airborne and contact on surfaces (perhaps through food), mutating now with "variants" with different internal and spike protein structures.

Named COVID for CoronaVirus

President Biden says by April 19, 2021 90% of you (over 16) will be vaccinated.

3.31.21 news: Pfizer vaccine 100% effective for kids 12-15

Vaccines are either binary or solo (Johnson and Johnson), based on testing not on structure

Vaccines prep the immune system by mimicking the spike proteins on COVID-19, one reason you have an immune response.

Deb Birx the COVID coordinator in 2020 now says 400,000 deaths could have been prevented with masking (disinformation)

#3 cause of death in 2020 behind CV disease and cancer

"Long COVID". patients have many long term challenges, some have seen vaccine improves their outcome even after exposure

Exposure impacts everything in the cardiovascular system, and kidneys, as it attacks the lining of blood vessels and the angiotensin pathway that regulates blood pressure

2 day latency period (no symptoms, asymptomatic)

Note loss of smell, confusion and kidney impact, some are thought to be permanent

Fatality rate varies with age and pre-conditions, about 8% in early cases

Mechanism:

Others:

West Nile virus: in birds from mosquitoes, to humans, causes brain swelling

Lyme disease: from deer ticks, incidents are further north now due to global warming

Zika: pathogen causing babies brains to be damaged/small

Module 57 Toxicology

6 Main chemical toxins:

Neurotoxins-disrupt the nervous system, e.g. insecticides, lead, mercury

Carcinogens-cause cancer, e.g. dioxin, PCB, many others

Mutagens-cause mutations and often cancers, e.g. radon, asbestos, formaldehyde, tobacco

Teratogens-cause birth defects, e.g. mercury, thalidomide, alcohol

Allergens-cause allergic reactions, e.g. dust, pollen, animal dander

Endocrine disruptors-interfere with hormones, e.g. BPA

Click for full-size image

Note the heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic) the artificial chemicals (PVC, VC, Alcohol, phthalates) and the pesticides (atrazine, DDT).

Asbestos is a natural fiber, used in places that can cause cancer through inhalation in humans (insulation, flooring, etc.)

Radon occurs naturally, and concentrates in lower dwellings or in the lower lobes of your lungs.

Allergens: not usually taken seriously, but are often synergistic with toxins above (you may have some)

Endocrine disrupters: can interfere with growth, metabolism and others, often estrogens or similar

Can be hormone blockers or hormone copies (hormone mimicry)

Dose response studies: acute or chronic, seeks to find an LD50 or an ED50 (non-lethal)

LD50 means lethal to 50% of the test population

ED50 means non-lethal impact on 50% of the population

Test data is surmised to be linear, but often not so, e.g. drugs for the aged are not cleared by their liver/kidney as effectively, so blood levels of the drugs increase.

THC decay curve: if half life is 8 days, make a graph of dosing every 4 days

NOEL: no observed effect level-non-lethal impact

Bioaccumulation: A single organism, collecting in fat tissues (PCB, dioxins) or muscles (mercury)

Biomagnification: MANY organisms eaten by an apex predator, increasing the level of a toxin, e.g. you eating Ahi, getting mercury poisoning: See Jack Black and Sushi.

POPs: persistent organic pollutants (carbon based): note half lives

Screen Shot 2020-02-19 at 6.13.39 PM.png

n.b. roundup was recently banned in CA and EU, suspected of causing cancer

Module 58 Risk Analysis

Click for full-size image

Note difference between lightning and heart disease...

Risk = probability of exposure x probability of being harmed

Probability of exposure example: is you live in Nebraska, not much risk of sharks

If you surf in Hawaii, different story

Probability of being harmed: flying is safe, but if the plane crashes, fatality rate is around 100%

-----------------

Withgott (author of our Froggie iBook)

Sixth edition of his text, chapter 14 notes:

Download file "withgott 14 health-toxicology.pdf"

APES withgott 6e.14

BPA-bisphenol-A Water bottles, food, baby bottles, tupperware

Endocrine disruptors: what are they, how do they work?

BPA is an estrogen analog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

Hormone mimicry:

Click for full-size image

Possible impacts of hormone disruptors:

Click for full-size image

4 Hazards:

Physical e.g. UV radiation (DNA damage)
Chemical e.g. drugs, pesticides, venoms, synthetic and natural
Biological e.g. infectious diseases (vectors)
Cultural e.g. smoking, COPD, seat belts, hang gliding, swimming with sharks

Non-infectious diseases: genetics + environmental factors, e.g. cancer, heart disease, obesity

Infectious diseases (ID): ebola, influenza, AIDS, SARS, Covid-19

These spread much faster due to air travel, trains, trucks (see AIDS in Africa, bubonic plague, SARS)

Kinshasa "AIDS highway" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinshasa_Highway

Toxicology-chemical hazards

Radon: 226 mass, stays in lower lobes of the lungs, found in basements where Uranium ores are present (Colorado, Alaska)

Asbestos: fibrous non-burning insulating material, mined for ages as an insulator, tabletop, flooring, insulation. Fibers in the air cause asbestosis in the lungs, and various forms of lung cancer (carcinoma)

lead: used in many manufacturing processes, batteries, plumbing/solder, gasoline (yes, gasoline as tetra ethyl lead), causes brain retardation (see romans and lead), replaced in gasoline by MTBE, which causes cancer.

PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) fire retardants (e.g. TRIS), PBDEs are also hormone disrupters

Risk vs. reward (see malaria and DDT)

VOC in drinking water, also atomizers (like in some classrooms)

Heptachlor in green chop hawaii

EDB in water on Oahu (ant poison)

DDT-foggers in 1960’s….

Toxins

Carcinogens-cause cancer, long term or short term

Mutagens-mutate you or your kids (reproductive DNA)

Teratogens-cause birth defects: fetal alcohol syndrome (huge in Russia), thalidomide

Neurotoxins-mercury and other heavy metals (Minamata Bay), many derived from insecticides

Allergens-airborne or food borne

Pathway inhibitors-endocrine disruptors, BPA, Phthalates (plastics)

Exposure can be acute (short) or chronic (long term)

Bioaccumulation-A single creature

Biomagnification-MANY trophic levels, MANY creatures (see below)

Dose response analysis: determining the dose to have some sort of immediate impact, usually on test animals, but can also be part of a "natural experiment" where something happens to a human or other population, not planned, but well documented.

LD50 and ED50 (not the same)

LD50 is the dose that kills 50% of the population, so LD50 means "lethal dose to 50%"

ED50 is the effective dose (ED) in a test, which can be good or bad: good might be aspirin, but usually it means amount to cause some non-lethal effect, like mice losing their hair.

Threshold dose (non linear)

Pesticide poisoning: Yaqui indians, PCB endocrine disruptors

Synergistic effects-combined impact greater than sum of separate impacts, e.g. Endocrine disruptors

Risk probability: perception vs. reality

Regulation: Innocent until proven guilty vs. precautionary principle

Click for full-size image

Laws to know:

TOSCA 1976 in the US

REACH 2007 in EU (see difference below)

12 POPs: persistent organic pollutants: review for AP exam:

Click for full-size image

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March 23, 2021

by admin

Terrestrial Waste

Plan for the week: Ch. 16 (text), Ch. 19 (frog iPad book)

Class one: Definitions, generation, reduce/reuse/recycle (modules 51-52)

Class two: Landfills, hazardous waste, future solutions (modules 53-55)

Free Response questions: 2016.3, 2015.2

Module 51: Humans and waste

Terrestrial Waste:

Waste: Defined as anything from human activity that is not saved or re-used

"Humans are the only organism that produce waste others cannot use"

n.b. Previous chapters around air pollution and water pollution BOTH had as part of their solution burying waste:

air pollution: fly ash, smokestack ash->sanitary landfill

water pollution: sewage treatment plant sludge-> sanitary landfill

Sample FR question:

The wonderful city of Fremont, on the banks of the beautiful Fremont River hosts 10,000 people in 2021 (about the size of Waimea). Each person produces 5 lbs (2.5 kg) of solid waste per day. The sewage treatment plant produces 2 kg of waste per day per person, and the coal fired power plant produces 1.5 kg of coal ash per day per person.

a. What is the total daily landfill impact of the current population of Fremont?

b. If Fremont has a growth rate of 3.5%, how many years will it take for the population to double?

c. When this doubling has occurred, what will be the daily landfill impact then?

d. If the landfill is 100m x 200m in size, how deep will this have to be in meters for each day, assuming a waste density of 1 kg/m3

e. What steps could the population take to reduce this?

--------------------

p. 573: paper or plastic?

Styrofoam:

Lighter
Better insulator
Cheaper to transport
Can be reused
3 grams of petroleum
No water
Toxic emissions in production

Paper cups:

Need liners HOT!
2 grams petroleum
33 grams of water
2x energy
More water
Uses bleach and dioxin

Typical waste stream:

MSW=municipal (city) solid waste

Creepy comparison:

US: 2.2 kg/day (about 5 lbs)
Japan: 1 kg/day
Developing world: 0.5 kg/day
Indigenous people: 0 kg/day WHY?

Module 52: Recycling

MSW recycling (2014)

How and why is this different here in Waimea?

E-waste: a growing issue, why? What companies are doing something about it?

Screen Shot 2021-03-20 at 12.35.00 PM.png

Daisy, the Apple robot that recycles iPhones:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/19/17258180/apple-daisy-iphone-recycling-robot

Question: why would the white mac laptops in our classroom cost more to recycle than the aluminum ones? Which is cheaper? Which is cheaper after counting the value of the parts inside each?

(see cradle to cradle design-William Mcdonough) and "source design"

"all children of all species for all time"

Reduce: Source design

Re-use: upcycling

Recycle: new use for old stuff, or re-creating

Plastic to fleece: open loop recycling

Aluminum cans: closed loop recycling

Composting: similar to sewage treatment, aerobic breakdown of organic solids (not metals or glass)

needs AIR, so labor intensive

also a pest issue if not contained (e.g. rats)

Reduce and reuse:

Screen Shot 2021-03-20 at 12.30.51 PM.png

Recovery rates:

Bottle Bills:

Screen Shot 2021-03-20 at 12.32.39 PM.png

Module 53: Landfills

2 types: open landfill and sanitary landfill

Both produce methane (gas) and leachate (toxic)

Open landfills may have extraction tubes for methane

Closed landfills may also, but need a waterproof floor (not always perfect, often leaks into groundwater)

"Tipping fees": high in Kona (so no commercial trucks at the Waimea dump)

$6 per BAG of trash in Orcas Island, San Juan Islands

Sample problem:

Another option: incineration (burning at high temperatures, often with oxygen or forced ventilation)

Still creates ash (needs to go into sanitary landfill, it is toxic with heavy metals)

Fly ash is banned for use in construction in EU

Waste to energy: H-Power plant on Oahu

Module 54: Hazardous Waste

Definition: solid, liquid, gas or sludge that is toxic to humans

Household hazmat: batteries (acid), cleaning supplies (chlorine), smoke detectors (Americium 231, radioactive), motor oil, fuels

Definitions:

Ignitable. Likely to catch fire (for example, gasoline or alcohol).
Corrosive. Apt to corrode metals in storage tanks or equipment (for example, strong acids or bases).
Reactive. Chemically unstable and readily able to react with other compounds, often explosively or by produc- ing noxious fumes (for example, ammonia reacting with chlorine bleach).
Toxic. Harmful to human health when inhaled, ingested, or touched (for example, pesticides or heavy metals).

Click for full-size image

You might look for the red label ("1993") on trucks. Here are some common numbers:

1075: Propane

1203: Gasoline

1202: Diesel fuel

3334: Aviation fuel

Look up BLEVE on youtube (Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0jtD_OWLU

Two key laws:

CERCLA ("Superfund"): (1980) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act

-taxes chemical and oil industries to fund cleanup and recovery sites "superfund sites"

RCRA: (1976, 1984) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act-solid waste laws

Look up Love Canal, Hooker Chemical

Look behind the elab for a brownfield site...

Module 55: Future solutions

Life Cycle Analysis: Cradle to grave analysis (e.g. white MacBooks vs. aluminum MacBook pros)

(see cradle to cradle above)

e2: design 3.6 super use

Cesere says that “the only abnormal thing is mankind” Why?
Do you recognize the recycling station in the Netherlands? (hint: think locally)
What is the connection with waste streams?
Why are architects uniquely crucial in the video?
What recycled materials to you recognize in the espresso bar?
What is the psychological aspect they mention?
How is the design process “backwards thinking”?
What did you think of the shoe store? Would you shop there? Why?
What can you imagine using 6 billion tires per year for globally?
If the tires are not recycled globally, what disease do they promote?
There is a "gimmicky" aspect of these projects-how practical are they, and what special intelligence must be involved in any project? How does this compare to traditional projects?
Again, psychologically how does curiosity about a store engage the customers?
What is the "harvest map”? How could the internet make this more possible?
What are the health aspects of using recycled materials? Why is it easier to use new materials from this aspect?
Quantity, standardization and ease of use are cited-why?
If "cradle to cradle” reuse becomes more pervasive, could some materials be created with recycling in mind? What are you thinking of?
How does the Welpeloo project (glass home lady, Ingrid Blans) compare with the elab Living Building Challenge? Were any recycled materials used in the elab?
What about her kitchen?
All wood in the elab was “SPF” and “FSC certified”. Why are these important?
Rotterdam was completely demolished in the second world war, as was Dresden and several other European cities. Architects love the architecture of Chicago. What do these three cities have in common, and what opportunities do they present?
Why would the newer apartment buildings have insulation on the North side, and glass on the South side?
Refurbishing existing buildings is a huge market, as opposed to tearing down a structure and starting from scratch. What are the benefits outlined in the video?
What does "cheaper" really mean in the broadest sense?
Why is "close by" important?
Why are the “layers” in the design mentioned important?
How does this reverse the normal design process?

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Populations Mods 23-24

Mod 18-21 Population Ecology

Mods 14-17 Biodiversity

Frog book ch.6 biomes

Mod 13 Aquatic Biomes

Mod 12 Terrestrial Biomes

Biome Game:

LAB: Gambling with biomes

APES notes: atmosphere, weather

Modules 9, 10, 11 circulation

Chapter 3: modules 6-8 energy and matter cycles

Water, O-chem, food, energy

Water:

Worksheet 9.9.21

Week two 8.31.21: elements, energy, chem review

Water!!!!--------------

How to do half lives:

How to do pH calculations:

Tuesday 8.24.21

Day 2: Friday 8.20.21

APES 2021-2022!

Week of 4.26

Crash course screenshot

Practice test

Ch. 17: Environmental health and toxicology

Terrestrial Waste

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Water!!!!--------------

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