Thursday, November 29, 2012

Atmospheric Pollution Chart Key

Pollutants
Sources
Problems
Solutions
Lead
-          Leaded fuel
-          Metal refineries
-          Power plants burning fossil fuels
-          Brain and kidney damage
-          Contaminated crops and livestock
-          Use only unleaded fuel
-          Reduce reliance on fossil fuel burning power plants.
NOx
-          Vehicles
-          Power plants burning fossil fuels
-          Coal burning stoves
-          Lung damage
-          Acid rain forms
-          Deteriorate buildings and statues
-          Damages forests
-          Forms ozone
-          Reduce the use of fossil burning power plants
-          Replace old coal burning stoves
-          Reduce car emissions
VOCs
(Volatile Organic Compounds)
-          Paint
-          Perfumes
-          Nail polish
-          CFCs (in refridgerants and cleaning supplies)
-          Car exhaust
-          Respiratory problems
-          May lead to cancer.
-          Deplete the ozone layer
-          Reduce exposure to items that release VOC’s
-          Reduce the use products containing CFCs
SOx
-          Coal burning power plants and industries
-          Coal burning stoves
-          Refineries
-          Volcanoes
-           
-          Eye irritation
-          Lung damage
-          Kills aquatic life
-          Forms acid rain
-          Acid rain that forms damages buildings and forests.
-          Reduce reliance on coal
-          Recycle metals so less needs to be refined.
CO2
-          Volcanoes
-          Motor vehicles
-          Power plants burning fossil fuels
-          Forest fires
-          Produces smog when reacts with light.
-          Increases the greenhouse effect
-          Reduce car emissions
-          Utilize nuclear energy
-          Prevent unnatural forest fires
CO
-          Motor vehicles
-          Power plants burning fossil fuels.
-          Kerosene or wood burning stoves.
-          Headaches
-          Reduced mental alertness
-          Death
-          Heart damage
-          reduce car emissions
-          Utilize nuclear energy.
-          Stop or slow the use of wood burning stoves or kerosene.
NMHC: Nonmethane hydrocarbons
-          Fossil fuel burning
-          Increase greenhouse effect
-          Reduce fossil fuel use
SPM:
Suspended Particulate Matter
-          Diesel engines
-          Power plants
-          Industries
-          Windblown dust
-          Wood stoves
-          Lung damage
-          Eye irritation
-          Damage to crops
-          Reduces visibility
-          Discolors buildings and statues
-          Reduce the use of diesel engines
-          Filter smokestacks
-          Reduce use of wood stoves
CFCs
-          Motor vehicles
-          Refridgerants
-          Cleaning products
-          Deplete ozone layer
-          Reduce the use of items that contain CFCs
Ozone (ambient air)
-          Vehicle exhaust
-          Forms when other air pollutants react with sunlight.
-          Forest fires
-          Lung damage
-          Eye irritation
-          Respiratory tract problems
-          Damages vegetation
-          Causes smog
-          Reduce car emissions
-          Add pollutant filter to smoke stacks.
Ozone (stratosphere)
-          Vehicle exhaust
-          When pollutants in atmosphere react with sunlight.
-          Increase the greenhouse effect
-          Reduce car emissions
-          Filter smokestack smoke
Mercury
-          Burning fossil fuels
-          Contaminate fish
-          Reduce the use of fossil fuels.


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Last Week Stuff

Alright guys, here's the last week update for the epic and magnificent endeavors of the 2012 AP Environmental Science course. Just so no confusion is caused, there was no school on Monday. On Tuesday, the class took notes on the subject of quadrats as well as researched the numerous different species of trees and shrubs in North Carolina (http://people.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/). This information led into Wednesdays activity. The class traveled down to the pond area and conducted quadrat assessments of the deciduous forest and forest edge biomes. On Thursday the class partook in a mining activity which involved the creation of their own websites which can all be found on the blog.

Monday, November 19, 2012

FRQ Topics:

Dams
Quadrat Sampling
Water Shortage Solutions

Good luck and study hard!
http://hitupmypagefordatgold.weebly.com
-AJ Giles :)

Aluminum Knowledge

http://aluminumknowledge.weebly.com/index.html
By: Janet M
Here's my website on......
LEAD MINING
http://whattimeisit-educationtime.weebly.com/
To help you study for the test, here is the powerpoint we used for note taking.

http://www.waverly-shellrock.k12.ia.us/srhigh/Departments/Science/APES/EarthResourcesunit_files/frame.htm

Hope that helps you with your topic list!

DIAMOND LIFE

diamondlifee.weebly.com
This is my website for the mining project I hope you enjoy it, and find it very educational.http://limestonemining.weebly.com/
-Jeffrey Davis

Ravishing Ruby ;)

Mica mining - Kelby

http://kelbymica.weebly.com/

by kelby butner

Graphite

http://apesgraphite.weebly.com/

Truly Tanzanite

http://trulytanzanite.weebly.com/

Coal Mining Website

http://coalminin.weebly.com/
This is Anderson Crowson's website about coal mining

Learning about Quartz!!!

http://letslearnaboutquartz.weebly.com/

APES Uranium

http://apesuranium.weebly.com/

Diamond Mining Website- Cameron

http://diamondinformation.weebly.com/
Good Afternoon APES Students!

Here is your assignment for today!

1. Post your mining website on the blog.
2. View another student's blog and comment on their work. In your comment, you should IDENTIFY and DESCRIBE 2 ways this resource benefits humans. You should also IDENTIFY and DESCRIBE 2 ways the environment is harmed due to humans using/obtaining this resource.
3. When you're done posting and commenting, visit this site: 

http://www.waverly-shellrock.k12.ia.us/srhigh/Departments/Science/APES/chapt141516guide_files/chapt141516guide.htm

...and work on answering the questions to help you practice and review for tomorrow's test. Some of the questions (i.e. the plate tectonic ones) are not going to be on the test, only the land use and water use type questions. However, the plate tectonic questions are good review for the AP test! Use your study topic list as a guide as well as the review reading sheet that was handed out Friday. Good luck!

-Ms. Bergeron


Weekly Repurposing Project - Wine Bottle Vase

I found a cool idea for a flower vase on Pinterest by wrapping yarn around a wine bottle!  I wanted to do something like this for my repurposing project, but I wanted to make it my own.  So, instead of yarn I used chalkboard paint. :)

Supplies:
- a wine/cider bottle
- chalkboard paint
- chalk
- flowers

Steps:
1.  Clean the bottle well.
2.  Paint the bottle with the chalkboard paint and allow 24 hours to dry completely.
3.  Decorate and place flowers in the vase!






The Desire for Sapphire

http://sapphiredesire.weebly.com/

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Weekly Blog from SLHS APES!!!

Hey everyone, this is AJ Giles informing you on our adventure out to the pond. This week the entire APES class walked out to the pond to test it for various contaminations. For instance, my group had to test for Nitrate or Nitrite. In finding all these contamination we could learn on how these contaminants entered the water and about the safety regulations. Aside from testing the pond water we were also capturing organisms in the water to see if they can survive. Many of us gathered very interesting creatures and some came up unsuccessful. Well that is a weekly blog! Stay healthy, keep smiling, and save the enviroment!

-AJ Giles  

Emerald Mining


 Click on the emerald to go to my website about emerald mining. Enjoy!



Friday, November 9, 2012

Alex's Repurposing Project: GSU (Gravity-defying Storage Unit)

After about 20 minutes of roaming the interwebs,  I found a repurposing idea that's simple and flexible.

Here's list of supplies to get this going

  • Binder clips (I've found the smaller ones easier to work with)
  • Some tape (optional, can save you some binder clips and/or satisfy your urge to tape stuff)
  • A toilet paper roll, styrofoam cup, or paper and other stuff once you get the gist of making these.
Now for some visual aid


With the toilet paper roll, you'll have to flatten it a bit and use a binder clip to pinch the bottom. If you don't feel like using a binder clip there, you can fold the bottom behind it and use tape to hold it. Then you hang it on a nail or hook up after putting a binder clip on a top edge.
For a styrofoam cup you just slap on (not literally) a binder clip and hang it up. Don't worry about disfiguring the cup, for it does not feel pain or shame.

This little craft doesn't take too much time and it can save some resources while providing some nice storage wherever you may need it. You can store away anything and have it readily available whenever you need it, whether it be pencils, markers, pens, and even little woodland creatures.


Here be the source of knowledge responsible for the creation of the magnificent GSU



Thursday, November 8, 2012

Weekly Repurposing Project: Aluminum iPhone Case

At first, I had decided I was going to use bottle caps, a broken coat hanger, and an old jump rope to make a muscle massager. Needless to say, that didn't work out too well, and I had to resort to Plan B.

I have always thought that aluminum is an interesting metal, and we are constantly throwing away aluminum cans, so an aluminum case for smartphones and mp3 players seemed pretty interesting, since I have a phone that a case would be useful for.



Materials

  • 4 aluminum cans
  • knife
  • scissors
  • scotch tape
  • duct tape
  • sandpaper (optional)

Procedure

1.  Use knife to roughly cut out center of aluminum can.




















2.  Use scissors and sandpaper to smooth out edges and flatten aluminum into a rectangle (do this for each aluminum can).




















3.  Use your phone or mp3 player as a base and fold the four pieces of aluminum around it, using the scotch tape to hold the pieces together. Be sure that you make the case a little larger than your phone so that it will fit inside easily. (NOTE: This step is very complicated and took a long time. It is difficult to explain, and I did not take any pictures because my phone was inside the aluminum.)





















4.  Use the duck tape to seal everything off and cover any sharp edges.

5.  To close the case, just tuck in the flap.


Although I would liked to have soldered the case and made it be entirely aluminum, I had to make do with what I had, and I am still repurposing something.

By making this case, you:
  1)  Reduce the amount of waste being emitted by humans
  2)  Put something to use that would otherwise have been wasted and thrown away
  3)  Eliminate the need to buy a case and use up more resources

I use my phone a lot and carry it around with me, so this was a project that interested me greatly, since my family throws away many aluminum cans.

This case can also be used to carry around other things, such as money or food, not just electronics.

NOTE:  THIS CASE IS MADE OF ALUMINUM AND MAY INTERFERE WITH INCOMING AND OUTGOING RADIO SIGNALS

Friday, November 2, 2012

This week in APES

On October 30th, our APES class took a small field trip to a local cemetery so we could gather data on the local population in 1950. This was part of our local population pyramid activity. 
To start the activity our class divided up into groups and went to different parts of the cemetery. We then started to find gravestones with people who were born on or before 1950 and still alive that same year. We then recorded the age of the person on our data table.
A group gathering data

Headstones in the cemetery
One of the old headstones in the cemetery.

When we got back we added each groups data and began the process of finding the percentage for each age groups and gender. After finding the percentages, each student began to graph the data. 
The population pyramid


By looking at the graph, we were able to tell that there was a baby boom in the area because of the large percentage of children in the pre-reproductive stage. Also, we could tell that the local area was developed at that time because the graph is mostly bullet-shaped which is typical of a developed country or area.