History of the Climate

Watch this video on the history of earths climate and answer these questions:

List three things that may have had a major effect on the earths climate and what change they had on the climate.

Are we currently in an ice house climate or a green house climate? What would be the danger if we switched from one to another?

How do you think we figured out what the climate was like long before their were humans?



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With a partner, open up this sheet of ice core data. This is a collection of measurements taken from an ice core extracted in Vostok, Antarctica. In it you have three columns: the depth of the ice (in meters), the ratio of different isotopes in the ice, and the age of the ice (in thousands of years). As the ice gets deeper, we're working with older and older ice.

Make a copy of the data so you can manipulate it (right-click on the Master Data-set tab and select copy to new spreadsheet).

We want to plot temperature over time. The age of our ice already gives us a good sense of time and we can figure out what the temperature was like when the ice formed based off of the different isotopes in the ice. The formula we will use is Temp = -55.5 + (Isotope+440)/6

In the next column of the spreadsheet enter the above formula for temperature, starting from the equal sign. Instead of writing isotope, click on the first data point in the isotope column. After you finish entering the equation, google sheets should do the calculation for you.

Grab the bottom corner of the calculation you just completed and drag it all the way down to the bottom of your data. Google Sheets should calculate all of your temperature data!

Highlight the age of ice and newly created temperature columns and click insert -> chart. Be sure to label your axis's.

You should have a nice graph of the temperature data for the last 150 thousand years. Check that this data is accurate by comparing recent temperatures on your graph to the current average temperature in Vostok, Antarctica.

Email your data sheet (put both names in the title) with graph to ksultzer@psd267.org

Human society appeared around 12000 years ago. Has human society experienced any massive temperature changes according to this data?

When was the last maximum temperature?

How can we use this data to study climate change?

Geography and Climate

At your tables, create a poster to describe one of the following geographic effects on weather (each is a link to an article you can used to get started):

Rain Shadow

Lake Effect

Rainforest Transpiration

Marine Layer

Valley Inversion

Urban Heat Islands

Your poster should include a diagram and answer the following questions:

Where is your effect found?

How does the geography create this effect?

How does the weather change due to this effect?

Potassium and Nitrogen

Answer the following in your journal.  

As a follow up to your soil tests:

What role does Potassium serve in your body?

What role does Nitrogen serve in your body?

What role does Phosphorous serve in your body?

How would you expect the composition of your soil to change over the course of the year?  Explain.

Read this article.  Land: 10 main Characteristics of Land in Economics

• Define Land
• What does the article mean by "Land is a Gift of Nature"
• What does the article mean by land use?
• Are there any factors identified that you disagree with?  Explain.

Why is the weather what it is where it is?

Watch this video and answer the following questions in your notebook.

Why does air flow from the poles to the equator?
Why does it rain so much at the equator?
Why does are their two large bands of desert just north and south of the equator?







Check out ventusky. Does the wind and pressure systems there look like what'd we would expect?

We need to include another phenomena to explain the way the wind blows. How about this one?

What is the Coriolis effect?
What causes the Coriolis effect?
How does the Coriolis effect change our climate?

Energy

Questions

• What is energy?
• What does the phrase “children of the sun” mean?
• How does electricity differ from energy?
• How has energy use transformed civilization?

Other views of the changes

Soil Investigation #3 - Soil Profiles

Objective: To classify soil samples by particle size
Purpose: To see how a mixture of material types affects soil properties

Procedure #1
•Look at your soil sample and make observations
•Observe color type and size of particles
•Estimate the composition of your sample based on particle size
•Use the triangle diagram to classify your soil

Procedure #2

use the Flow chart to ID your soil

Procedure #3 

•Put the soil into your water bottle. You only need to fill about ½ way if you have lots of soil.
•Put 1 level teaspoon of Calgon into the bottle and enjoy the smell (Fiona)
•Fill until the bottle is about ¾ full
•Place the lid on tightly
•Shake vigorously for 2-3 minutes
•Observe your bottle after 2 minutes and again at 5 minutes
•Place bottle aside to allow particles to settle by particle size

Analysis Questions

What type of soil did you have?
•
•Describe some properties of this type of soil.
•
•Which method do you think was the most accurate? Explain why?
•
•Why was Calgon added to the soil?

Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles

• Sketch out the basic water cycle
• Sketch out the basic carbon cycle
• What is the role of carbon in ecology?

• What is the role of Nitrogen in ecology?
• What is the role of Phosphorous in ecology?
• Define nitrogen fixing

Soils Investigation #2 - Particle Size

Objective: To determine the flow rate and water retention capacity for different soil types.

Purpose: To understand the effect of particle size on flow rate and water retention

Part One:  Write your hypothesis

• Manipulated Variable: Particle Size (Soil Type)
• Responding Variable: Drain Rate
• Controlled Variables: Amount of soil, amount of water

Part Two: Write your hypothesis

• Manipulated Variable: Particle Size (Soil Type)
• Responding Variable: Water Retention
• Controlled Variable: Amount of soil, amount of water

Equipment: Graduated Cylinder, Funnel,Filter Paper, Beaker, Sand, Silt, Clay, Timer

   

Procedure

1. Measure 40 ml of water in the graduated cylinder. Pour into the beaker and set aside.
2. Fold the filter paper in half, then in half again. Place into the funnel and fold open.
3. Place funnel into the Graduated Cylinder
• First trial is filter paper only- pour water through and record
4. Measure two LEVEL teaspoons of sand and place into the filter paper funnel
5. Record observations of initial conditions
6. Pour the water from the beaker into the funnel so it will flow through the soil into the cylinder. Make sure your water does NOT rise above your filter paper.
7. Start the timer as you start pouring. Try to pour at a consistent rate and make sure the water is always above soil.
8. Record the amount of water in the graduated cylinder at prescribed times
9. Repeat for the other types of soil. Get a new piece of filter paper for each trial.

  Observations:

Note the appearance, texture, composition of your soil samples before and after each trial.  Ensure you break up the used sample to observe the interior as well as the exterior at the end of each trial.

Calculations

Calculate the water retention: how much water was left IN the SOIL at the end of your trial?

•  Water Retention = 40 ml – (water in graduated cylinder) – (water in filter paper) – (water still in beaker after 8min)

Graphing and Analysis

1. Graph your data – create a volume vs time graph for all four trials. Use different colors or symbols for the different trials
2. Describe the relationship show on your graph from each trial.  
3. Were any results surprising to you? Explain.
4. Why did you do a trial with filter paper only?
5. Do you think this is/is not a controlled variable? Explain your reasoning?

Conclusion

Write two conclusions

• Relationship between particle size and flow rate
• Relationship between particle size and retention

Application

• Which soil type do you think is best for farm land? Explain your reasoning.
• Provide one example each for where you think clay rich, sand rich and silt rich soil would be useful

  

Soils #1 - Surface tension. Notes

Key terms

Adhesion
Cohesion
Capillary Action
Surface Tension

Differentiation/Separation Notes

Methods presented for separating materials in a mixture from last time:

Filtration - Particle Size
Distillation - Boiling Point
Crystallization - Freezing Point
Partial Melting - Melting Point (similar to crystallization, just other direction)
Weight - Density separation, i.e. panning for gold, placers on rivers.

Nova Saving the Dead Sea

 Video for today .  We will talk sinkholes and applications on Monday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY3d3Onr3bo

Two ages of civilization followed by ores in Washington

A pair of videos to get us started on Ores

1. Go to this link and complete the Mineral Distribution in Washington exercise.  The image shows the location of ore deposits in Washington, and the questions require you to consider how the melting points and/or densities may affect the distribution here in Washington.

Soil Basics

Here are the basic concepts presented in class today

• Soil is a Mixture:  Minerals, Organic Materials, Water and Air
• Soil is defined by particle size:  Gravel, Sand, Silt, Clay
• Rocks are broken down into sediments by mechanical and chemical weathering
• Weathered rock becomes soil.
• Sediments move by Gravity, Water and Wind
• They are separated by size and weight
• Sedimentation is the result of Compaction and Cementation

Complete the "Porosity" Gizmo on explorelearning.com