Rocks

My favorite part about rocks is the amazing landscape composed of the different types in nature.

First up is the Igneous Rock. An example of Igneous is columnar basalt which composes Devil's Tower. Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or moon. Basalt is an igneous rock with less than 20% quartz and less than 10% feldspar by volume.

Secondly is Sedimentary Rock. Sedimentary rocks make up about three-quarters of the rocks at the Earth's surface. They form at the surface in environments such as beaches, rivers, the ocean, and anywhere that sand, mud, and other types of sediment collect. Many sedimentary rocks are made from the broken bits of other rocks. An example of this in nature are the Chalk Cliffs of Dover. 

And lastly, there is Metamorphic Rock. Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The original rock protolith is subjected to heat (temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C) and pressure (1500 bars), causing profound physical and/or chemical change. The protolith may be sedimentary, igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock. Here is an example of metamorphic rock in Capri Italy!

  

We also learned about the 12 soils of the world which are present in different regions of the world, which you can learn more about here.

http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm

Also, another important aspect of soils is how to classify them and differ between sands, silts, and clays, which can be determined from the chart here. 

Sunflower

So, as one of our labs, we are each growing sunflowers!

                                         But for now, here is the first day that I planted her.

I named mine Gertrude and hopefully she will look like this one day.

 

After 4 days, she sprouted!

 

2 days later, she was an inch tall. She's growing fast!

 

2 days after that, she doubled to 2 inches!

1 week later, and Gertrude sure has grown!

She is now 4 and a half inches. 

One week later she has grown to an astonishing 12 inches!

Barometer

Barometers have been used since 1640 to measure atmospheric pressure.

We made a homemade barometer with a balloon pulled over a glass jar with a straw on top and were able to measure the pressure depending on if the straw went up or down.

 We then collected data and created this graph from our work.

Windrose Plots

We have been studying the pattern of wind and how that affects the environment.

 The bottom picture are the wind patterns of 1990 and the one on the right are patterns in 1992. We can see that in this area there has been much change in the wind over the two years, which shows a some sort of change in the weather pattern or event.

 In this area, both the 1990 and 1992 wind patterns were similar by the Jackson-Hartfield airport. This indicates that there probably wasn't a major change in the weather patterns.

Solar Trajectory Lab

By measuring the shadows of my roommate at different times of the day, more specifically morning, afternoon, and evening, I was able to catch a glimpse of the solar trajectory path. I measured the height of my roommate (68 inches), the different lengths of her shadow in inches, the ordinance of each of those shadows, and took the tangent of her height over the length of her shadow to calculate the sun's position.

Height:            Length:        Angle:                                          Direction:
27 inches         32 in                27/32=.844= 40 degrees          North 175
27 in                49 in                27/49=.551= 29 degrees          NE 147
27 in                134 in              27/143=.202= 11 degrees        NE 96
27 in                100 in              27/100=.270= 15 degrees        NW 122
27 in                56 in                27/56=.482= 26 degrees          NW 139
27 in                35 in                27/35=.771= 38 degrees          NW 161

*Data from class example

Volume of Rainfall

In our first lab, we calculated that during a two inch rainstorm, about 88,000 gallons of water fall on the Willet Science Center parking lot. Just to give some perspective, a swimming pool holds about 10,000 gallons of water; so, almost 9 swimming pools of water fell on just that one parking lot! This stresses the importance of having a good drainage system for any sort of construction project. Can you imagine the castastrophe that would result from that much water pooling on that parking lot??

Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson is an American Marine Biologist and Conservationist. She began her professional career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of fisheries and was an avid writer of nature by the 1950's. By the late 1950's, she turned her sights to nature conservation, where she received significant recognition for her book Silent Night. This book opened the eyes of many Americans who were unaware of the detrimental effects the synthetic pesticides have on the environment. Her book led to the nationwide ban on the pesticide DDT among other pesticides and created grassroot movements leading to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.   

For more information about Rachel Carson, visit
http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/24hours/carson.html