Tornado

A tornado hit Joplin, Mo. on Sunday night. It left the town in the dark without any phone lines or anything. Reporters say it was in direct line of the tornado. About 30 people were killed and 11 bodies were picked up in one location. The local hospital had to be abandoned because it caught on fire. This tornado was just part of a deadly string of them that has killed hundreds of people in the past few months.
These tornadoes are really sad and tragic. Many lives have been lost in only a few months because of them. I think people within those areas should move to a different, safer location for the time being where there are few tornadoes. I think people should donate money and volunteer to help rebuild and clean up the mess.

Acid Rain

1.) List a few of the gases which lead to acid rain.
Sulfur and Nitrogen oxide.
2.) What is the source of much of the acid rain producing gases in Pennsylvania?
The coal burning in power plants, cars, and agricultural sector.
3.) Briefly explain how acid rain forms.
It forms when sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide combine together with water sulfuric acid and nitric acid and then mixed with rainwater, fall to the earth as acid rain.

Article

1. Some natural factors causing mudslides are hurricanes, a lot of rain, and frequent earthquakes.
2. Some of the human factors that are causing mudslides are deforestation (when they cut down too many trees).
3. Some ways to help reduce these mudslides are planting trees and telling other people what's going on.

Article

What are some natural factors causing mudslides in Guatemala?
Some natural factors causing the mudslides are a lot of earthquakes, heavy rains, and hurricanes.
What are some human factors causing mudslides in Guatemala?
Some human factors causing mudslides are deforestation.
What is being done to help reduce mudslides and mudslide damage?
Some things being done to help reduce mudslides and mudslide damage is that Anne Hallum is trying to convince them to not cut down all the trees so they work as a barrier. She is traveling around Guatemala to do this. They also hold weekly instructional courses and plant trees and are protecting them. They are also donating and installing eco friendly, fuel-efficient cooking stoves. Lastly, they provide educational resources and promote economic independence.

Global Temperature Graph

1. The horizontal scale is by 20 years. It is showing the years 1880-2000.
2. The vertical axis is showing the temperature anomaly. It goes up by .2. The total range is -.4 to .6.
3. I can tell that it came from a school website on their assignments.

Questions

• 1 - What do you think the global average temperature is?  This means the average for everywhere on Earth, day and night, for an entire year.  Explain why you answered what you did.
• I think it would be 50 degrees because for the most part, half the areas of the earth are really really cold and the other half is really really hot or some areas are in between.
• 2 - People are often talking about "global warming."  How much do you think the average global temperature has increased in the past 100 years?  Do you think that this is a lot?
• I think it has increased around 20 degrees. I think this is a lot because 20 degrees can make a big difference. 
• 3 - What do you think is the hottest the Earth has ever been? (since there has been an atmosphere?)  How about the coldest the Earth has ever been?  Explain why you answered what you did.
• I think the hottest it has ever been is around 150 because in some places the earth is realllllyyyyyyyy hot. I think the coldest it has ever been is around -50 or -50 degrees because it's like that in Antartica.
• 4 - Are you concerned about "global warming?"  Why or why not?
• Yes, because the ice caps are melting which is causing the ocean to rise which means some places will be underwater.

Question 4

The amount of rainfall shows how it can affect the types of soil because of the wet or dryness. In forest soils, the soil is shallow. But in grassland soils, the soil is much deeper. This is because the climate is very hot in the grasslands and doesn't have much rain. So, the rocks weather faster. In the forest lands, there is much more rain and isn't hot year round so it doesn't weather down as easily.

Mass Movement: Soil Creep

A type of mass movement is Soil Creep. Soil Creep is the slowest of all types of mass movement. A soil creep happens when the ice melts and the soil is pulled down slope under the influence of gravity. Trees with curved trunks or roots and broke retaining walls and curved railroad tacks alos indicate a soil creep.

Fossil Fuels Journal Entry

Human consumption of fossil fuels is getting bad. We are using so much of fossil fuels to power our daily lives, that eventually we will run out. It is also effecting and polluting our earth and atmosphere. We need to find a safer alternative for these fossil fuels. Something that wouldn't pollute our atmosphere and we wouldn't run out of. The pollution from these fossil fuels is causing Global Warming which is causing a lot of other problems. We use fossil fuels for so many things. For example: gas, oil, electricity, ect. Since we use those things for almost everything of our daily lives, it's impacting the earth at an alarming rate. Pretty soon, there will be no fossil fuels left. What would we do then if we don't find an alternative energy source by then? In some countries, they use sugar cane or corn to power their vehicles. We don't have enough of those resources in America to power everything with sugar cane or corn, but I'm sure we'll find something eventually.

Coal

Coal is mostly made of carbon and hydrocarbons. It is a nonrenewable because it takes millions of years to be created. For millions of years, layers of dead plants on the bottom or the swamps was covered in water and dirt. That is what trapped the energy of the dead plants. The pressure and heat from the top layer helped form coal.

The Movie

3 Scientifically Accurate Things:
1. The ash covering everything
2. Acidic Water
3. Pyroclastic Flow

3 Scientifically Non-Accurate Things:
1. The hot spring becoming hot within seconds.
2. Them outrunning the Pyroclastic Flow
3. The water becoming acid that fast.

Fossils

This is a trace fossil. This is a trace fossil because it has animal prints in it. Trace fossils are when they have an imprint of animal trails.











This is an original remains fossil. It is an original remains fossil because it has the original remains of bone preserved in it. Original remains fossils are when tree sap trap the animal or bones and are preserved perfectly for millions of years.

Sequence in Layers Excersize

The youngest rock layer would be 3 because it is an intrusion so the other layers would have to have already been there. The next youngest layer would be 1 because the second intrusion doesn't go through it so it must have already been there and number 1 is at the top. Number 6 would be the next youngest because number 2 doesn't go through it and its the next layer below number 1. I think the next youngest layer would be layer number 2 because it's an intrusion that goes through the remaining layers of rock so it has to be younger. The second oldest layer of rock would be number 5 because it is above 4 if the vertical line were the fault is was even. The oldest rock layer would be number 4 because it would be at the bottom if the fault didn't happen and 2 also went through 4 before it went through 5.