Riccardo's Science Blog

phys.org Image -  Summary - This week in science, we continued our investigation on the dying fish. Phosphates can harm fish by causing oxygen loss. Phosphates allow algae to grow, but too many phosphates in a body of water can cause algal blooms. Although fish eat algae, and many people would think that it is good for them, it isn't. Algae starts to rot, and then the rotting algae is eaten by bacteria. The bacteria continues to multiply as it eats the regrowing algae. The bacteria then steals all of the oxygen out of the water, therefore, leaving little to no fish and killing lot's of fish. We also investigated oil. Different oils have different patterns, just like fingerprints. Oils can float on water or sink to the bottom. Different oils include oil that is leaked out from cars, (fuel emissions) and refinery oil. I name those two because we looked at both of them. SP3 - We tested water samples for phosphates. By finding out which water body/bodies have the most pho...

www.wildjunket.com Image- Summary -  This week, we learned about acid rain and sediment. Acid rain in the Gray area may be caused by the logging, oil refinery, city, and toy factory. This is because the logging, toy factory, city, and oil refinery all let out carbon dioxide (cars), as well as harmful gasses/smog (refinery and factory) The logging also causes the amount of green house gasses and other harmful gasses to be released into the air. Trees normally control the amount of these gasses, but with the trees gone, the amount of gasses increases. These gasses and chemicals trigger chemical reactions within the clouds, creating acid rain. Another problem with logging is that logging can cause erosion. When trees are cut down, their roots no longer hold the soil in place, causing the soil to erode into the river. Sediment is also a problem. If the river is murky, fish will be unable to see. This can cause them to starve because they will be unable to find their prey, a...

Summary The Amazon river is the second longest river in the world, only being surpassed by the Nile. It is around 4,000 miles long and goes through countries such as  Bolivia, Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The Amazon river mostly runs through jungle, meaning that people did not alter the course of the river in many areas. There are a lot of tribes around the river that use the it as a sources of water. Many of the people in this region have a belief called animism. They believe that every living thing has a soul. There are a lot of minerals and plants in or around the Amazon river that make it popular with investors. The Amazon river is threatened by factories and logging done by people. In Ecuador they are especially threatened by the oil industry in that area.  Backward-Looking I knew a lot about rivers already. I had studied them many times in previous grades. Now the Amazon river I did not know much about. The only...

China Should not build Hydroelectric dams. After 18 long years of construction, the 3 gorges dam was completed in 2012 on July 4th. It took over 30 million dollars to build. The dam was an attempt by China to go green, but many people inside and outside of China think if it was really worth it. Although the 3 gorges dam has produced a lot of clean electricity, its consequences outweigh the benefits. On of the reasons the dam was built was to reduce the risk of flooding, but it also increased the risk of landslides by 70 percent. China wants to build 4 more dams along the Jinsha River; a river flowing into the Yangtze River. This would cause even more problems. The three gorges dam alone has damaged the ecosystem, affected peoples' lives, and caused the landscape to change. With four more, the dams would be disaster areas. The building of the dam also affected people. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to relocate. One of the few costs that the dam has caused was that t...

Summary; Rivers can take a long time to form. Many different things can affect the way a river forms. Some of these things include glaciers and dams. These two things either add water or block water. This can either be good for the river or bad. Building dams can be very risky because it is holding up so much water. If not build correctly, the dam could send a lot of water inland, corrupting the river and it would have to much water. Glaciers on the other hand can help speed up the erosion process because they add more water to the river. But if to much erosion happens to much sediment is brought down filling parts of the river with to much sediment. Rivers are very important resources to humans and other living things. They provide water and a home for other animals. Without rivers, we would not be able to be the advanced species we are today. SP2: Developing and using models: We used models of rivers to simulate how a river was formed. We performed multiple experiments to...

Summary : Rivers are very important natural resources. They help ecosystems flourish.   The water in rivers is pulled to the lowest point by gravity. Rivers have a lot of different parts.  The mouth, the  channel, the  tributary,  confluence, and meander are just to name a few. Rivers are also able to carry heavy things for humans. Rivers can erode and deposit sediment. Without rivers, life today as we know it would not be the same. SP2: Developing and using models: I worked on multiple diagrams of rivers when I was learning the vocabulary of rivers. I was able to label the different parts of a river. (mouth,channel,tributary,etc.) This helped me understand where all the different parts were and what they do for the river. I can now understand how the river works, why it works and what it does for the ecosystem. All the parts of the river and its surroundings are very important when you are learning about rivers. Using diagrams really helps you ...

Summary:   Erosion is water,wind or ice. pushes,hits against or breaks apart rocks,hillsides,etc.  Dunwich was having an erosion problem. Dunwich was getting hit constantly by the waves. There is no sea defense so no one could stop it. They tried solving it by putting up beaches to absorb the wave attack. They did the simplest thing because they thought Dunwich was already lost and unsalvageable so they did not find reason to spend millions on the solution. Backward-Looking: Before we started this project I did not know much about Dirt and soil. I thought that dirt was just something that's there so we can put plants in. I hadn't realized that without it there would be so much wrong with the world. Without it crops would die leaving there no food or cattle/animals to eat. If they didn't eat we couldn't eat and it would be worldwide caos. Inward-Looking:  During this project t...