Riccardo's Science Blog

theodysseyonline.com Summary : This week we did activities on food waste. We also learned about the process that apples and another food of our choice go through to get to consumers. Some of the levels in a food path are farmers or farms, supermarkets, or consumers.    Food gets wasted on every level of the food system. Farms are the beginning of this big waste. Almost every type of farm is able to waste.  While growing on trees, apples can be wasted due to other animals and insects only eating half or a small portion of the fruit and throwing the rest away (though it composts). Another way is for good apples to fall or the tree to fall, wasting the apples.     Once the apples ready, they are harvested. During harvestation, apples can be wasted due to their looks and size. Many perfectly good apples are thrown away due to these reasons. You can help this problem in a few different ways. One simple way is to cook with foods that are in-sea...

http://grasslands2026,weebly.com Summary Grasslands are large landmasses that are full of grass but surprisingly no trees. This is like a paradise for cattle rearing and in places with cattle rearing being one of subsistence activities; grasslands are no less than perfect. The reason of no trees lies in the fact that temperate grasslands receive lesser rainfall and are drier.  Location: The major temperate grasslands include:The velds of Africa,The pampas of South America,The steppes of Eurasia, and The plains of North America.Grasslands are considered the transitional biome. This means that they are usually found between deserts and forests. Climate :   Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters. Summer temperatures can be well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while winter temperatures can be as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. They typically have between 10 and 35 inches of precipitation (rain) a year, much of it occurring...

Summary Ocean currents can bring bottles almost all around the world. We were given two locations and had to figure out how currents could bring the bottle from one area to the other. This familiarization included the temperature and salinity of specific currents. In my set of currents, there were two neutral currents and 1 cold current. I  also learned how the different currents interact with each other. This is a way that this bottle can get from Tasmania to Namibia if it takes the right currents.  Backward-Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started? I actually new a lot about currents before we started this project. I was already very familiar with density which plays a key role in how the currents form/work. There were things that I never thought about before this such as how land masses affect how the currents move. Inward-Looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you parti...

en.wikipedia.org Summary:  Oceans currents are a crucial part of the ocean environment. They are powered by wind circulation across the surface of the ocean. Ocean currents are created by density, salinity, temperature changes, and wind. Because of this, wind currents and ocean currents travel in the same general direction.   When two winds clash, they bounce back and then turn causing gyres. Ocean currents also create gyres (from the wind). This occurs along with the wind. The water hits land masses causing it to bounce back and form and travel in a circular shape. This means that if there were garbage it would just stay there for a long time. (GPGP)  Currents flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.  SP2: Developing and Using Models: We used models to explain how different things contribute and affect the forming of currents, mainly ocean currents. We put two rocks in a small tub of water along with some ...

Have you heard about the problem of the grey bay? No, well I’m here to talk to you about it. All over the grey bay there have been fish found dead and the people are eager to find the culprit. Autopsies on the fish have been done but we’ll talk about that later. There are many factors in this conversation, such as chlorine, oil spills, sediment in the water, phosphates in the water,etc. I think that based on the results of the autopsies (which were 14 killed by oil, 21 insufficient oxygen, 8 by chlorine and 7 others, out of fifty fish.) that the people from the golf course who have been putting phosphates in the water are killing most of them. Phosphates are a problem but the people at the golf course are also releasing sediment when there is erosion. 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, and it will also cause them to breathe in the sediment. Another thing is that the sediment settles t...

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...