Solar Tracking

Over the past week or so, we have been doing something quite interesting in environmental science, or at least I find it interesting. We have been calculating the sun's path in our sky with some polar graph paper, measuring tape, a compass and some shadow to measure.

Despite the fact that it was fun to do, it was a bit difficult, so if you want a more accurate depiction of where the sun is, try SunCalc.net. It shows you where the sun should be at any time, on any given day of the year in any part of the world. It is actually pretty cool so you should check it out.

I went out and calculated my data on the 5th of November though I got several data points, I should have gotten an earlier one than 10:30, the first part of my polar graph is a bit more of an estimate than anything else. The data I gathered is included on the picture below though I used easycalculation.com to find the angle of the triangles using the opposite and adjacent data that I gathered, the opposite number coming from the object standing upright and the adjacent came from the length of the shadow. 

To the left is a picture of my raw data. The bottom triangles are data points that I picked up a few weeks earlier than the data of the triangles up at the top which was taken on November 5. The data up top is what was attempted to be graphed on the lower half of the polar graph paper. The curving purple line is what the graph should look like, or at least close and as you can see the points do not follow that at all. The long purple lines radiating out from the center are the supposed sunrise and sunset areas. Strange as it was, the 10:30 and 12 were both in the same strange place both times I did the math and I couldnt quite figure it out. We actually worked with my numbers in class and it looks a bit better in the cleaned up picture down below.

Below is a picture of the more finished and cleaned up polar graph chart. In the upper right hand corner is the data a bit better laid out and the dots seen on the graph are the results of what was calculated. The yellow line is the supposed curve of the graph that I ended up coming up with. 

Overall, It looks similar to what SunCalc shows me (a picture of which is below), but I feel that the line is perhaps too high on the chart and there is not enough curve to it. Ah well, humans error so perhaps I did something wrong with finding the numbers. 

Biodiesel

This past lab, we learned how to make bioethanol.

We took Banana fibers, shredded them in a blender, heated it up and let it cool down before we added yeast. By attaching a pipe and a balloon to the sealed container, we could see the production of the gas by watching the balloon inflate though it took a few days. 

There was an effort to make paper out of all of the banana leaves that would just pollute the planet after a harvest. It wasnt practical to just make paper as it took a lot to make only a little bit of paper. However, if you also made ethanol biofuel out of it as well, it becomes more practical and reduces waste. 

It was an interesting lab, but instead of talking more about bioethanol, I am going to talk about making biodiesel because it is much easier to do on your own in your own backyard. 

What is biodiesel?

"Biodiesel is a biodegradable, nontoxic, and clean-burning fuel that can be made from any fat or vegetable oil, including recycled cooking oil."

Actually a by product of making Biodiesel is glycerin which is actually a high quality soap. Add a little fragrance to it and you can sell that at well so you make a little extra money on the side while saving money by making your own fuel

Here is a diagram of the process

This site was actually very helpful in helping understanding biodiesel, what it was and how to make it. 

Here is a link to a youtube video that very simply shows you how to make your own batch of Biodiesel using new vegetable oil though there are others who use used vegetable oil; you would just have to add the extra step of filtering the oil before hand. (Go to 6:30 for a summary and recap if you dont have time to watch the whole video) 

And lastly, here is a video of the Mythbusters testing to see if a diesel run car can go on nothing but used fryer oil (still just used vegetable oil) after filtering.

Community Gardens

"A community garden (the term favored in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people"

Gardens are beautiful and can be very useful if they are well taken care of. Community Gardens specifically can be very useful to a larger number of people than just one family. Most such gardens are created so that the community has somewhere other than the supermarket to get their grown vegetables and fruits. However, the gardens dont have to be about growing food, it can just be about the beauty of nature in a place that is accessible to a lot of people who want to enjoy it. Community Gardens can be huge, but they dont have to be. It could be just a small group of friends that get together to take care of a small patch of land, creating a little oasis of beauty in a place that might not have much greenery. Everything starts out small any way doesnt it?

It is great for people to start up gardens that everyone can visit and share, not only for the beauty and food they may provide, but also as a way for the community to bond and get to know one another. I personally find it amazing that when my parents were kids, they knew all of their neighbors, from the ones right next door to the ones down the street. They knew each other because they actually went outside and played, but now a days, that doesnt happen as much any more. It seems like everything is too dangerous or there is some electronic calling your name. I honestly only know the names of my neighbors and that in itself seems to be special. If every neighbor hood/community had a garden to go to and work on together, people would come out of their houses, spend a little time in the sun and get to know one another. 

The gardens are even great for the environment! The more things we plant, the better the air is thanks to photosynthesis. The gardens can add a bit of natural beauty to a neighborhood or just a street with a few flowers and perhaps a tree or two. They help provide FRESH food for a certain amount of people if veggies and fruits are planted, much better than anything you could get at your local Wal Mart (even if they dont look quite the same). The food is natural and loved as it is growing and not shoved through an assembly line or fed chemicals. You know what? They even help give people a place to go get some natural exercise as well. I personally have worked in a community garden this past semester and it is very satisfying to go and help out, meet new people and see the fruits (literally or figuratively) of your labor after a few hours of hard work. So get out there and join in on the fun! Find or start up a local garden and feel the joy of watching a little green thing grow and thrive with your help!

Soils of the World (and Georgia)

Soils and rocks can be very interesting if you give them the chance. For example, did you know that there are 12 major different soils of the world? Below is a map that shows how these different soils are laid out in all different countries and environments. It is simplified, yes, but it is very interesting to look at it and see such a thing. Try finding where you live and see if that the graph is right. You can do that by going to this site. It lists all 12 soil types and tells you what kind of composition each soil has.

The soil type for Georgia, where Mercer University is located, is mostly ultisols, which is a red clay sort of soil. It is red because it is rich in oxidized iron. It is made by the weathering down of rocks and other minerals over a long period of time and is usually found in humid temperatures, which Georgia surely has.   Sadly because of its composition, ultisols is not the best agricultural soil unless it is heavily fertilized. The particles it is made up of are so small that water doesnt easily pass through it and it is made more of minute particles of rocks and minerals rather than decaying plants and such, things that plants need to grow fully.  The soil is especially prevalent on old country roads all throughout Georgia. You can usually tell if someone is from the country in Georgia thanks to the red that is obvious on their car.

Despite the fact that Georgia is known for its red clay, Ultisols is not the only kind of soil in Georgia. According to the soil map of the US below, there is apparently a bit of spodosol towards the south and some inceptisols in the northern part of the state. There are surely many of the other types of soil as well but when looking at simplified maps of such things, you only get so much.

A specific kind of rock that we were asked to mention is Micaceous schist. A picture of a possible specimen of said rock is shown below. A Micaceous schist is just a schist rock with an abundance of mica. This mica, which is usually found in flakes if alone, is what makes the rock sparkly. A Micaceous schist is a metamorphic rock which means that it was previously already a rock that was reheated and rearranged a bit before it cooled down again. Schist in general are named for the mineral that is most prominent in them, so can you guess which mineral is most prominent in this one?

Here is a link that will tell you more about the rock and schist in general. 

Plants Around Campus

Here is another post for my environmental science class. During this lab we walked around campus and identified several different kinds of foliage from bushes to shrubs to trees and ivy. Here in this blog post though, only four of the many that were seen and named will be mentioned and discussed in further detail. Before that however, I would like to mention that I was eaten by ants at the end of said lab and that little bit was not at all fun. The rest of the lab was quite informative and enjoyable though so if you are interested in plant life, enjoy this post.

One of my favorite trees that we saw during this lab was the Ginkgo biloba or Gingko tree. 

This tree is supposedly the oldest known tree that still thrives and continues to grow. It is known as a living fossil because it is a very unique tree that is known to have both a male and female tree. Most all trees today have both male and female reproduction organs on a single tree so they can reproduce without help from another. The Gingko tree is different though. A male tree and a female tree must be planted near each other in order for the female to be fertilized. An interesting fact about the gingko tree... it smells. At least the females do when they drop their berries to be fertilized by the male. So if you are on the market for a very beautiful gingko tree, be sure that you purchasing a male.

Another very interesting tree that we saw on campus was the Quercus phellos or Willow Oak.

One of the main reasons I liked this tree was because as a child, I loved regular Willow trees so the fact that there was such a thing as a Willow oak intrigued me. Another thing that was interesting about this particular tree was its species in general, the oak. Oaks are so different from each other and yet they are also closely related to one another. It is just interesting that one can look like a willow tree and yet still be related to what most people think of when it comes to oaks. It is also a very sturdy tree which is a great trait for ornamental trees.

A third very interesting plant that was seen on our trek around campus was actually a very common plant that many people know, Holly or its more scientific name Ilex. 

A very interesting thing about holly is that it can be found as both a hedge/shrub or as a tree if it is left alone long enough. The most commonly known holly has sharp, spined leaves but this is not the case for all hollys, which is something that I did not previously know. When the holly plant is brought up in conversation, most people (myself included) think of Christmas. Holly has been related to Christmas for quite some time and is one of the many symbols of the holiday though it is more the american holly that is thought of as compared to Spanish or small-leaved holly. The plant itself is pretty sturdy and can be related to evergreens for its year round green color. 

The last plant that I will mention in this post is another pretty well known tree, the Sycamore or Plantus occidentalis.

This particular tree was seen during the lab, but it was from afar. The interesting thing was that it was easy to spot thanks to its signature white bark, an example of which can be seen to the left. Now not all of them have white bark and half the time only parts of its bark is white but that is a pretty sure way to find one of these trees. What is known as a sycamore in America though can actually be a very different tree in different parts of the world. The one picture above, as well as this ones particular scientific name is the American Sycamore. Another notable aspect of this tree is its seeds that take the shape of sticky green buds that brown as their spines grow. 

Mystery of the Megaflood

If you are interested, here is a link to the whole documentary on youtube. 

If you dont care to watch the whole thing, here is a short summary.

The Mystery of the Megaflood was all about the Channeled Scablands in Lincoln County of Washington state and how they were formed pretty much over night. 

When one sees something similar in form to the grand canyon, most would think that it was carved over several million years and in most cases the majority would be right. However in the case of the Channeled Scablands, the majority of the formations were carved out in a matter of hours.

Here is an aerial view of the scablands, just so you can see the extent of the canyons. 

It doesnt look much like the grand canyon does it? It doesnt appear to be carved out by a meandering river or any other sort of slow erosion method. 

It turns out that this was formed by a massive amount of water rushing through the area. The question that was asked by most was where did the water come from. The answer was not come across very easily, but it was found in the Missoula valley. Evidence here shows that the whole valley was once underwater. This was because a giant glacier blocked off the mouth of the valley and dammed up the river there, creating what essentially became a giant bowl. The valley filled with water over a long period of time before the glacial dam finally gave way, releasing all of the water which rushed over the land towards the pacific ocean. When it passed over the Scablands, it carved out the formations seen today as well as depositing, large granite rocks and creating deep pools in the landscape. How all of this happened is explained in the documentary itself and it is quite fascinating. 

Remember how I said that the Scablands were created in hours? That is only partially true. There evidence that shows that there might have been several megafloods that continuously changed the scablands layout, so it was both carved out in hours as well as over millions of years so in a way, everyone is right!

Elevation in the Omulgee River at the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway

The study site for the particular lab that the picture above depicts was at the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway. Their full site is currently under construction so the link above will take you to a concise description of the Greenway and the Heritage Trail. 

In this lab, Dr. Rood's Intro to Environmental Sciences class went down to the lab and did a couple of different things. There were three groups, two of which took the elevation measurements in the river itself at two different points in the same area of the river. Each group had two poles which were sectioned out in 6in increments. A string was attached to each pole and moved up or down according to the elevation in the river. Data was recorded and a graph will soon be made. The third group measured the flow rate of the water on each side of a sandbar to see where the current was stronger, using an orange and a stop watch. 

Community Parks are an important part of everyday community life. People can use a safe, outdoor environment to do a multitude of things. Some people walk dogs, some people exercise, some walk with a lover or a friend. People of the community can get together and bond. People in the same community can meet and create friendships and connections that will help them feel safer in their area. The Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway is one such place