Greenhouse Effect Response (Science Menu)

As we learned about greenhouse gases the other day, I was intrigued enough to look up an article and respond to it for the science menu. The article states how much the world is heating up due to global warming. The ice on the Upsala Glacier is receding by 180 feet per year due to this extreme heating. Greenhouse gases tie into this article because an excess of these gases create the heating of our planet and our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are natural but if we continue to pollute the earth with car emissions, the gases increase. I find this quite depressing because we should be keeping our planet clean so we can live safe and sound. If we don't start now we will never survive later in our futures. Reducing car emission and factory emissions are small steps towards this big goal. The more we use bikes and our feet to get to places, the less we pollute the earth. This is because we don't release gas emissions like automobiles do. Lets make a stand against global warming and save our planet.

Link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176980,00.html

The Greenhouse Effect Interactive Game (Science Menu)

Today in science class, I chose to play an interactive game about temperature. There were three different gases in this game. First comes carbon dioxide which makes ups less than one percent of the atmosphere. It is very vital to keeping our earth warm and we need it to survive. Carbon dioxide is one of multiple greenhouse gases. This gas comes from various places including volcanoes, car exhausts, power plants, and decaying plants and animals. When we burn coal, we release the carbon from it as carbon dioxide. Other planets have carbon dioxide too. There is little on Mars but plenty on Venus. More of this gas makes the planet hot, while less makes it colder. Enough about carbon dioxide. Next is oxygen. It was made from cyanobacteria through photosynthesis. It makes up about about one fifth of our atmosphere. As you learned earlier, photosynthesis comes from plants and this creates oxygen. Oxygen is key to our living as it is what we breath in every day. Take a deep breath! It is perfectly safe and we need it to survive. But watch out! If oxygen levels are too high, randomly things can combust into flames. At lower levels, few creatures can survive. Enough about oxygen. Lets move on to our final gas, ozone. It is an oxygen gas that is gathered in the Earth's atmosphere. Ever heard about the ozone layer? Ozone is in the stratosphere and it should stay there. If there is ground level ozone, people's lungs can burn up. Kids breath in more air than adults so we are more in danger. But don't worry the chances of that are very slim. These three gases are very important in our life and help our planet. Hopefully you learned something from me today! See you next time.

Popcorn Popping (Science Menu)

Today is science class, we made popcorn, As interesting at it is, science is a big part of these delicious little treats. In fact, science is huge part of life in every aspect. Well lets get back to popcorn. Heat transfer is a big part of this process. Heat transfers into each kernel and makes them pop. Radiation causes this to occur. "Radiation describes any process in which energy travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body." In simpler words, it is the transfer of heat energy through an empty space. The heat is transferred from the microwave through empty space and hits the another body, the kernels. This makes the water in each kernel turn into steam. The steam pushes outwards and expands the small kernel into a relatively larger piece of popcorn. The process continues until all the kernels are transformed. Their popping gives them the name "pop-corn." After that the popcorn is all ready to be devoured. Add a little butter and your snack will be perfect. Enjoy!