Monday, October 29, 2012

October 22-26 in AP Environmental

This has been a productive and interesting week in APES.  For the majority of the week, we worked in our lab groups on five different lab activities about Soil Productivity.  Ms. Bergeron received this huge lab from Carolina Biological last week, and we were excited to put it to use.



- First, we completed a pre-lab activity about soil productivity and discussed it in class

- Next, we split into our lab groups and began working on the five activities/labs in the Soil Productivity Handbook


- The First Activity we did tested the water-holding capacity and capillary action of various soils (sand, clay, humus, and a sample we collected outside the classroom) - data


    - The Second Activity required us to analyze the ion exchange capacity of our soil types using positively-charged Crystal Violet (left) and negatively-charged Eosin Y (right) - data


    - Our Third Activity involved analyzing the amount of free ions (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in our case) in our collected soil sample and how that related to pH - data



    - In the Fourth Activity, we poured water into the soil samples to determine their permeability (percolation rate) - data


    - In our Fifth and Final Activity, we measured the particle size distribution of our collected soil sample by mixing the soil with water and letting it settle - data



    Tuesday, October 23, 2012

    Cameron's Weekly Repurposing Project!

    Attention everyone, this is Cameron here to tell you about my weekly repurposing project! When first handed this assignment I had no idea what to do. Some classmates came to me and gave me ideas and they were good ones, but not things I really wanted to do. I didn't decide on my project until I did some research on the Internet. Finally, I saw an idea I absolutely knew I had to do. I was on Martha Stewart's website when I saw a picture of this piggy bank that was made out of a plastic water bottle. I thought the pig was adorable and I knew that was what I was going to do. However, to make my project a little more exciting, instead of doing just a plain old piggy bank, I decided to make my bank into the mascot (a ram) of UNC- Chapel Hill.

    Making this piggy bank was pretty simple. First thing to do was to get all my supplies which included a clean, washed one litter water bottle, scissors, a razor, cotton balls, a black marker, glue, blue pipe cleaners, water caps, end tip erasers that are put on pencils, and goggle eyes. These were all items that were just laying around my eyes.
    The Supplies
    First I cut the slit in the water bottle that the money was to be put in. Next, I molded the pipe cleaners into a circular spiral for the horns on my ram. Then I glued the goggle eyes on and began to glue the cotton balls on as well. As I began gluing the cotton balls on I realized that you couldn't see the slit I had cut to put the money in so i outline the hole in black marker. The last step was gluing on the feet that I made by gluing water bottle caps to the bottom of the ram and then gluing on the end tip erasers that go on the end of pencils. These erasers allowed the ram to actually "stand up."
    
    Finding the Slit

    Gluing
    After all this was done I finally had a cute little ram that kind of resembled the mascot of UNC. It still kind of looked like a pig though.

    Repurposing plastic bottles reduces oil consumption in the US, the amount of bottle rotting in landfills, and land and water pollution. I chose to repurpose plastic bottles because for me, everyday I drink at least one bottle of water and just throw it away. I don't even bother to recycle it and don't think twice about what I'm doing by throwing it away. After doing this project I realize that this isn't the best thing to do because I'm increasing oil consumption, adding another bottle to our landfills, and aiding in polluting the environment. Repurposing this item wasn't hard and it was actually a really fun project. I enjoyed it a lot and hope it inspires others for ideas on their repurposing projects!

    Martha Stewart website I got idea from:
    http://www.marthastewart.com/272476/bottle-bank
    

    Monday, October 22, 2012


    For my re-purposing project I chose to do something that my grandma and I make and use. This item we make and use are bird feeders. The reasons we decided to start making these are to protect her nice bird feeders from being chewed on by squirrels and to reuse items that were going to get recycled.
    1)      The first step in making the bird feeder is to find an item with a lid such as a coffee container or sour cream container etc.
    2)      The second step is to cut a hole in the lid however big you would like.
    3)      The third step is to go find a tree you would like to use for the location of your feeder.
    4)      The fourth step is to nail or drill the bird feeder to the tree so that it doesn’t come off. Be sure to drill or nail the feeder so the hole in the lid is facing you.
    5)      The final step is to place some bird seed inside your bird feeder and wait for birds to come.

    The bird feeders we make are out of plastic containers and by doing this we lower the amount of fossil fuels that are used, pollution, and crowding of landfills.

    -Kelby Butner

     

    Monday, October 15, 2012

    Study PowerPoint for Test 2

    Here's the PPT that I used in class. Feel free to email question to me or post comments if you need help or have a question. I posted the TED Talks video we watched as well. Good luck!

    -Ms. B

    PPT:
    http://www.waverly-shellrock.k12.ia.us/srhigh/Departments/Science/APES/Population%20Unit_files/frame.htm

    TED Talks:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTznEIZRkLg


    Thursday, October 11, 2012

    Weekly APES blog

    This week them main focus was on population. We learned about how human and animal populations interact and how each effects each other and the planets resources. On Monday we we did work in groups and discussed 5 major population issues from Urbanization, the water crisis etc. Then on Tuesday we continued to discuss population an  how it would change as the years go on. After these discussions we began to watch "Earth 2100". This video takes us through a tour of time with a girl names Lucy who was born in the year 2009. As the video went on it showed just how the planet changes as the years go on.
              

    Sunday, October 7, 2012

    Weekly Repurposing Project !!!

    When sitting down this week to plan out my project, I wanted to make something that me and my family would actually put to use. You know not just make it and say how it could be used, but actually use it. This is how I came up with the ideas that I have. There are two different repurposing ideas here:

    First one - 1) take a washed out milk jug, and cut it( like the pictures shown) 2) with the milk jugs cut. I then took a card bored box that I would have originally thrown out and made a storage unit out of it. Now you may be thinking what is she gonna do with those cut milk jugs? Well they are to put your pens and markers and different school supplies in. This is a great way to store school/ office supplies in.

    Second : I then took cereal boxes and cut them to make another storage area. This is used as a place to store mail or papers or important information.


    These will reduce of humans throwing away milk jugs that most families go throw more than one a week. It will reduce the amount of milk jugs in the landfills. It will also reduce the amount of cardboard being thrown away. Both of these are also easy to make and cost hardly nothing.

    I am reducing my carbon foot print with each box or jug I either reduce , reuse or recycle!
    I came up with these ideas on my own.

    Re Purposing Project

    This week I had the idea of re purposing toilet paper rolls in two very unique and useful ways. First off you have you had that one cobweb you just can't get down with a duster and your vacuum cleaner hose just can't reach it well have you ever considered using toilet paper rolls to extend your vacuum cleaner hose well you can it is very simple to do. All you have to do is put toilet paper rolls end to end and get them to stay together then slide it onto the end of your vacuum cleaner hose, and voila you can get that cobweb! 



    Now most of us have wrapping paper around our house that whenever you go to wrap a present that the end of the wrapping paper is tore up because of the way the wrapping paper was stored, now don't you wish you had a way to fix this well thanks to Ms. Bergeron's idea you don't have to worry about that anymore you simply take toilet paper rolls cut them on one side wrap them around the wrapping paper roll, and now your wrapping paper is secured so you don't have to worry about messing up your wrapping paper because all the tape stays on the toilet paper rolls, so it won't rip your wrapping paper.

    1. This will reduce the amount of waste in the landfill. Also on normal basis it takes toilet paper rolls two to three years to decompose. This can also be a hazard to birds and other small animals that have it can get wrapped around their mouths and they won't be able to eat.
    2. It is important to me to repurpose this material because we go through many of these at our house, and they usually just get thrown in the trash.
    -Jeffrey Davis