Thursday, April 30, 2009

Water's journey

75 percent of Colorado Springs water comes from snow melt near the Continental Divide. The water that's given to people of Colorado Springs is free of pollutant and chemicals. The water in Manitou Springs also comes from snow melt but it also comes from natural springs in the Rocky mountains. In Colorado Springs water goes through several processes that removes matter and disinfects other chemicals. Manitou springs water also goes through several processes. Some of the sources of water for Manitou are North French Creek and its surface water. The sources for
Colorado Springs are on the other side of the Continental Divide. Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs both have copper, lead, and sodium. A violation in the waters of Manitou and Colorado Spring is secondary fluoride.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Water cycle

1.What is the water cycle?
The water cycle is a continuous process in which water moves through the environment.

2.Does the water cycle have a beginning or end?
No It can start anywhere and end anywhere. It could start at the evaporation but it wouldn't make a difference if it started it at condensation. Same with the ending.

3.Starting with a puddle on a sunny day, describe how water might move through the water cycle and eventually fall back as rain.
The puddle gets wet,then the water evaporated of him it condenses in the air and falls as either rain,snow,sleet or other depending on the temperature and it ends as a runoff once it falls into lake ocean or the sea.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Acid rain-Pixton

Annotated Bibliography

While I was doing my 4 EQ I visited many interesting websites. Many of them had very good information i used in my prasantation some of the websites were:

1. http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/whatcauses.html

This website talks about the causes of the acid rain.It explains the process that happens in the atmosphere when the substances react with water or the oxygen in the atmosphere. This website taught me about the dangers of the acid rain and many other things. I used this website to talk about the causes of the acid rain on the 2nd slide. It helped me with understanding the concept. This website also talked about the causes of the acid rain caused by humans and their actions.

2. http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects/forests.html

From this website I learned alot about what acid rain does to the trees and other plants. I think people should start doing something about acid rain because trees are very important for us to get oxygen and for many animals to have a home. If acid rain keeps destroying the environment the future won't be so good. I used this web site to talk about the worst-case scenario on slide number 10.

3. http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/acid_rain.htm

This website talks about the effects the acid rain has on the animals living under the sea, forests of the world, and the air,humans, and animals. The acid rain can cause many diseases. The air keeps getting polluted which is harmful to our lungs.The acid rain also destroyes the forests which gives us oxygen.I used this website to complete information for each slide and my 4 EQ.

4. http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what/index.html

I learned what acid rain is from this website. It gave me the definition of the acid rain and helped understing the whole topic.I used this website to help myself understanding what i was going to do research on. This website helped me answer some of the 4 EQ.

Acid rain

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Acid rain-4 essentail questions

1.What, specifically about your topic, are you going to research?
The causes of the acid rain.
2.What conclusions did you come to? What do you recommend average citizens do to make a difference? Be specific. This is the main part of your assignment.
  • The acid rain is mostly caused by the cars and chemical reactions that begin when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air.
  • These substances rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form more acidic pollutants, called acid rain.
  • Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen very easily dissolves in the water that's why when it gets to the atmosphere it reacts with the water and falls as rain,snow,sleet,and etc.
  • After the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dissolve with the water it can be carried very far by the wind.
  • Humans are one of the big causes for the acid rains.Over the last decades humans have released many chemicals which mix up in the atmosphere. Power plants release the majority of sulfur dioxide and much of the nitrogen oxides when they burn fossil fuels, such as coal, to produce electricity.
3.What would happen if, worst-case scenario, nobody listened to your recommendations?
If no one cared about the acid rain and just kept releasing these harmful gases, all the plants would be destroyed and people would start getting sick.The earth wouldn't be very safe for animals, plants, or humans.I also think the acid rain could even cause global warming.
4.What would happen if, best-case scenario, everybody listened to your recommendations?
All humans would start listening to the solutions we have for the acid rain and start doing what they should do.That would most surely decrease the rate of acid rain and many more animals, plants, and humans would be safe on earth.The companies that release harmful gases would stop doing that.Also the cars would be made differently and safer for the earth.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Observing water's properties

http://www.teachmeteamwork.com/photos/uncategorized/pennychallenge_1_1.jpg

For this experiment we placed droplets of water on a penny until the water spilled over the side. My prediction was that only about 15 drops would fit on a penny. However when I ran the experiment I fit 25 drops in one trial. Some of my classmates placed over 30 but some could only fit about 10. I think the technique was the reason for the wide range of results.Working slowly and placing the droplets of water on the penny carefully helped to fit more drops on the penny.
I think so many water droplets could fit on a penny because of capillary action, surface tension and cohesion. Capillary action is the combined force of attraction among water molecules and the molecules of surrounding materials. Surface tension holds the molecules of water tightly together and makes a dome.
I think it is very cool how you can place so many drops of water on a penny. I learned a lot about the properties of water. Water is very cohesive and it has a lot of surface tension.