Energy Basics
1. Energy is essentially something, anything that can power something to be of use. There are many forms of energy and thus the idea of what energy is can be very broad.
2. Potential energy is stored energy. The ability to do work but isn't used at the moment.
Chemical - Energy that is stored in the bond of molecules, in the bonds that hold atoms together.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Gravitational - The energy of position or place. (guy on a bike at the top of a hill)
Stored Mechanical - Energy stored in objects using the object of force. (like a rubber band)
3. Kinetic Energy - Energy from some kind of motion
Electrical - Movement of electrons through a conducting substance.
Radiant - Electro magnetic energy moving in waves.
Thermal - Heat, vibration of molecules.
Motion - Movement of objects when a force is applied (hitting a baseball with a bat)
Sound - Energy is the movement of energy through substances. Vibration.
4. Hydro - Using the flow of water to power a generator to produce electricity.
Solar - Harnessing the suns rays to be used for electricity.
Wind - With use of large turbines in windy areas, catching the wind to spin a generator to make energy.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Biomass - Breaking down of every day items into smaller and smaller piece until we can use them for energy.
5. Energy efficiency - very simply energy efficiency is using energy efficiently and with good reason.
Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Resources
1. Hydro - Using the flow of water to power a generator to produce electricity.
Solar - Harnessing the suns rays to be used for electricity.
Wind - With use of large turbines in windy areas, catching the wind to spin a generator to make energy.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Biomass - Breaking down of every day items into smaller and smaller piece until we can use them for energy.
Fossil Fuels - Millions of years of dead animals and plants being compressed and decomposing until they turn to oil
2. Fossil Fuels are basically just dead organisms that have been compressed and smashed for millions of years.
3. Oil - obtained by drilling deep into the ground to tap into a source of oil and pumping it out of the ground. Sometimes they are pumped from sea and sometimes they are pumped from the ground.
Hydro - Obtained by holding water behind a dam and releasing little bits at a time to turn a turbine to power a generator to produce energy
Solar - Obtained by taking the suns rays and turning it into energy.
Wind - Using the wind in the air to turn turbines that are high above the ground to power generators
Nuclear - Obtained by splitting an atom and harnessing the energy that it creates.
Biomass - Obtained by anything that was at one point living broken down to the point that we can use it for energy.
5. Each one of these sources can be used to power anything electrical, oil is more used for machinery than power however. All the other forms of energy produce electricity through means of some kind of generator.
6. Fossil Fuels - unbelievably cheap and abundant
Hydro - Efficient and renewable
Solar - There will always be a sun, its self sustaining
Wind - requires minimal building and is pleasant to look at while still producing a lot of energy.
Nuclear - Massive amounts of energy
Biomass - It uses things that we would think of as trash
7. Fossil Fuels - Sources are running out and they emit a toxic gas that destroys our ozone layer of the earth
Hydro - If the dam breaks, it causes disaster and to build a dam, it takes years and the area around the dam must be vacated before construction which messes with the ecosystem of the animals that currently live there
Solar - Doesn't gather energy at night or in the shade. Its very costly to make solar panels
Wind - Doesn't produce as much energy as the other ways of renewable energy because it's not always windy
Nuclear - Threat of a nuclear meltdown. Which basically means anything within a 5 mile radius could be destroyed and the radiation would cause the land to be inhabitable for years in the future.
Biomass - Costly
8. America uses almost double the energy of every other country.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
QQC China
"Compared with conventional energy, wind power is still an emerging industry in china and faces ongoing challenges. Wind power development is restricted by the capacity of the electrical grid which continues to lag."
I find it interesting that in china, wind power is just now emerging and in america they are all over the place, fields filled with wind powered turbines and different forms of energy sources created only from wind. I always thought of china as being almost if not more advanced than we are. it's weird to know that we are being a bit more proactive than they are. Why is it taking them so long?
I find it interesting that in china, wind power is just now emerging and in america they are all over the place, fields filled with wind powered turbines and different forms of energy sources created only from wind. I always thought of china as being almost if not more advanced than we are. it's weird to know that we are being a bit more proactive than they are. Why is it taking them so long?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Energy Discussion
-Solar
-Hydro
-Wind
-Nuclear
Benefits of current form of energy: It works, and has been working for years, its very compatible with everything that we need to use it for.
Drawbacks: It’s running out very quickly, its costing more and more to run the world on that type of energy, one of the reasons is the war in iraq and it making it harder to find oil and more costly to take it from that part of the world.
If we as a society started caring less about money and more about the environment in the long run then our need for the current source of energy would be obsolete. The world is being run like a business, to run a business you have to invest in your business for a long time before you can start making profit, so if we started investing in our world with more solar plants, nuclear power plants, hydro energy, and wind energy then we would be very poor for the now but in the long run it will help our economy. You have to spend money to make money.
People commit themselves to being eco friendly so they can be smug to their neighbors while “saving the planet”, and being a productive member of society. It also helps them save money by spending a lot of money.
“I would get solar power but, right now its not quite in the budget”
-My Dad
-Hydro
-Wind
-Nuclear
Benefits of current form of energy: It works, and has been working for years, its very compatible with everything that we need to use it for.
Drawbacks: It’s running out very quickly, its costing more and more to run the world on that type of energy, one of the reasons is the war in iraq and it making it harder to find oil and more costly to take it from that part of the world.
If we as a society started caring less about money and more about the environment in the long run then our need for the current source of energy would be obsolete. The world is being run like a business, to run a business you have to invest in your business for a long time before you can start making profit, so if we started investing in our world with more solar plants, nuclear power plants, hydro energy, and wind energy then we would be very poor for the now but in the long run it will help our economy. You have to spend money to make money.
People commit themselves to being eco friendly so they can be smug to their neighbors while “saving the planet”, and being a productive member of society. It also helps them save money by spending a lot of money.
“I would get solar power but, right now its not quite in the budget”
-My Dad
A Day Without Electronics...Sorta
Well, for my single day without electronics, it was a very simple task. I chose a day that I was in Catalina when I already had no electronics. I was there for three days, I might as well get three times the points, how does that sound! While I was there, my entertainment included swimming in the pacific, kayaking, snorkeling, playing cards, and sharing many stories with my classmates about different events that have made people feel stupid or scared. There was no way to receive the news because there was no mail, no TV, and no newspaper. The only news that I was aware of was the tsunami in Japan because that was the biggest topic of discussion at the time. Our only form of communication was yelling out really loud and hoping that the person you want to talk to can hear you and can yell loud enough to respond if they aren’t already right next to you. My most difficult gadget that I had to give up was my cell phone because I’m a teenager, my entire life is in my right pocket. The easiest thing I gave up was my iPod because I was already too busy to use it. My only surprise was that I wasn’t very bothered at all by not having any of my electronics. It was just like camping, not a big deal. It might be cheating a little bit that I was already deprived of my electronics anyway.
Once I was back to civilization, I loved having heating in my sleep. For the whole trip I had to sleep outside in a tent. Every single night, it was freezing cold and it made it hard to sleep. As soon as I got home, I was able to sleep through the whole night. I might not have been living in the year 1983, but I know that I would much rather live in the time that I was born into.
Once I was back to civilization, I loved having heating in my sleep. For the whole trip I had to sleep outside in a tent. Every single night, it was freezing cold and it made it hard to sleep. As soon as I got home, I was able to sleep through the whole night. I might not have been living in the year 1983, but I know that I would much rather live in the time that I was born into.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Starting essay
San Diego Public School foods have been ever changing with the different organizations that have risen to take on the challenge of trying to provide quality healthy foods for students at the elementary school level, middle school level, and high school level. Numerous different organizations have been started, trying to be the best, some to provide it for kids who have a rough life at home who can’t really afford it, some trying to make food more nutritious for the kids. From a few decades ago compared to now, I’d say that they have done a really good job of it.
A few years ago, when I was in elementary school, they served us food that tasted like rubber, we even had to question if what we were eating actually came from anything natural or was it glob with paint on it. There was no choice on what food to eat, they just gave everyone the exact same thing. The only real thing was the milk but only a small bit of it was given out. In 2002 the school district wanted to make things better for the students so they started given the kids choices on what to eat in elementary schools and supplied salad bars for kids who wanted to eat a little healthier.
Up until sometime in the mid 20th century kids even were sent home to eat lunch. There was no such thing as a “school lunch” maybe a snack or something but not a full on lunch. Kids who weren’t able to go home for lunch (because of distance) had to bring theirs to school in a pale.
A few years ago, when I was in elementary school, they served us food that tasted like rubber, we even had to question if what we were eating actually came from anything natural or was it glob with paint on it. There was no choice on what food to eat, they just gave everyone the exact same thing. The only real thing was the milk but only a small bit of it was given out. In 2002 the school district wanted to make things better for the students so they started given the kids choices on what to eat in elementary schools and supplied salad bars for kids who wanted to eat a little healthier.
Up until sometime in the mid 20th century kids even were sent home to eat lunch. There was no such thing as a “school lunch” maybe a snack or something but not a full on lunch. Kids who weren’t able to go home for lunch (because of distance) had to bring theirs to school in a pale.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Blue Gold
While watching, Blue Gold there was number of thoughts that went through my head. What happened to start this "crisis" and if the cooperations are selling all this water for as much profit, then how are we in a recession. it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Lets start out with why this all got started. what I got from the film was that industrialization covered the land and didn't allow the water to soak back into the earth and continue the cycle. Apparently we are using too much of the water, I find it to be a really simple solution. Theres a million things that we are doing as a society that is wasteful to our water sources. For one, everyone insists on washing their cars at home, at car washes, the water gets recycled and used again to wash another car. People take hour long showers when it only takes 10 or 15 minutes to get clean. Water parks only serve the purpose of wasting water. Just almost everything we do wastes water, its ridiculous.
Second of all, my question is why the hell are we in a recession if companies like that make so much money, wouldn't it make the economy go up from all the sales. Everyone needs water and so many companies sell it now for so much money and every company in the world uses water in even the smallest way. I feel like so many of the worlds problems could simply be fixed if people would just have a heart and think of the right thing to do instead of what money says to do.
Lets start out with why this all got started. what I got from the film was that industrialization covered the land and didn't allow the water to soak back into the earth and continue the cycle. Apparently we are using too much of the water, I find it to be a really simple solution. Theres a million things that we are doing as a society that is wasteful to our water sources. For one, everyone insists on washing their cars at home, at car washes, the water gets recycled and used again to wash another car. People take hour long showers when it only takes 10 or 15 minutes to get clean. Water parks only serve the purpose of wasting water. Just almost everything we do wastes water, its ridiculous.
Second of all, my question is why the hell are we in a recession if companies like that make so much money, wouldn't it make the economy go up from all the sales. Everyone needs water and so many companies sell it now for so much money and every company in the world uses water in even the smallest way. I feel like so many of the worlds problems could simply be fixed if people would just have a heart and think of the right thing to do instead of what money says to do.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
QQC
"A normal pig would fight off his molester but a demoralized pig has stopped caring "learned helplessness" is the psychological term and its not uncommon in confinement operations where tens of thousands of hogs spend their entire lives ignorant of sunshine or earth or straw crowded together beneath a metal roof upon metal slats suspended over a manure pit." I find it interesting that animals learn from birth depending on the living condition that they are put in. Its curious to see that a pig would act in such a way under conditions but merely born in a different location can give it an entirely different opinion on life.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Annotated Bibliography
Possible essay subject: What is the history of the food that is served in san diego schools.
"The focus is on offering meals that are nutritious and well received by students."
"Program Goals
To provide healthy meals daily to students, preparing them to learn and guiding them in the process to develop positive life-long eating habits.
To meet USDA and State nutritional guidelines.
Continue to expand program access to student meals.
To remain a financially self-sufficient department.
To continue to look for partnerships and coalitions among public and private sectors to enhance programs and quality of food."
Possible Essay topic: Eating disorders in san diego
http://www.eatingdisordershelpguide.com/trends.html
"Doctors around the country have seen an increasing number of young victims of anorexia-some as young as 8 years old. While this may represent increased parental awareness of eating disorders, it also reinforces current research that suggests a strong genetic component to the development of an eating disorder rather than simply environmental pressures."
Possible Essay Topic: Relationship between fast food and obesity
http://weight-loss.emedtv.com/obesity/fast-food-and-obesity.html
"This means that you could eat fast food on a regular basis and not become obese. In fact, you can even lose weight while eating fast food. This, however, requires knowledge of not only how many calories you are burning on a daily basis, but also the calories in the food that you are eating."
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Cove
The Cove is essentially a documentary about how the Japanese are killing dolphins by the hundreds. The camera and the side we are supposed to be following is the sides of the Americans that are trying to stop it from happening. They show footage of Japanese trying to get Americans arrested and trying to stop cameras from showing what’s actually happening. This movie doesn’t at all allow the viewer to come up with their own opinion because the whole movie is trying to use shock factor and human’s weak side of pity to get them to believe what they are saying is true. They never show the Japanese side. All they show is dolphins dying. As a viewer, I feel like they are trying to hide something, also as a viewer, I don’t buy into pity that’s pushed so hard on me, I want to be able to have pity for cases that deserve it, not ones that are just because someone loves sea world too much. The opinion that they are presenting has lots of video footage to try to get their point across. From the first second of the film, the makers try their hardest to get you to like dolphins so that later when they show them dying that it would hit you harder. Just like I said earlier in the paragraph, they spend all their time showing images trying to play on people’s pity instead of presenting facts, it preaches to the converted.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Local Food Questions
1. Why would one buy locally as opposed to long distance. If they cost the same one, then what would make one better than the other?
2. Why do they send food so far to different places if they have places that are closer making the same things.
3. Does location change quality of the food?
4. Why be a commercial farmer if the benefits are bad?
5. Since the world is getting new technology and new ways of doing things, bigger and better, then why hasn't our way of getting food better?
Monday, January 31, 2011
supplimental information
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132082743/if-your-meat-prices-rise-you-can-blame-ethanol
What is the argument of the author?
That food is no longer used for food purposes, its used to power things and for energy usage and fuel.
What is the interest of the author?
How food is being used to power things other than peoples bodies. A third of corn doesnt go to livestock or people, it goes straight to fuel....corn....for fuel....is this really what we are reduced to.
http://www.buyfuelcorn.com/
Whats the arguement of the author?
That corn is "natures perfect fuel" and basically the author is obessing over how perfect it is and can be used for anything.
whats the interest of the author?
uhm.....corn
What is the argument of the author?
That food is no longer used for food purposes, its used to power things and for energy usage and fuel.
What is the interest of the author?
How food is being used to power things other than peoples bodies. A third of corn doesnt go to livestock or people, it goes straight to fuel....corn....for fuel....is this really what we are reduced to.
http://www.buyfuelcorn.com/
Whats the arguement of the author?
That corn is "natures perfect fuel" and basically the author is obessing over how perfect it is and can be used for anything.
whats the interest of the author?
uhm.....corn
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
da seeds
http://www.groworganic.com/n-a-104.html
not entirely sure whats supposed to go on this post but theres 3 things that would be pretty dank to grow
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Initial Research
Watermelons - I swear if anyone at all laughs at this I’m going to be pissed. But watermelon is one of my favorite fruits and I think it would be something cool to grow, and maybe eat towards the end of the semester.
Grapes - My neighbor is growing grapes and they are really good and they seem to be quite easy to grow.
Sun Flowers - They are tall, beautiful and who doesn’t love sunflowers right?
Watermelon
A. Fruit
B. Summer
C. Takes lots of compost lots of fertilizer 3 to 4 seeds to a hill and the hills 8 feet apart.
D. 80 days
E. Eight feet apart with 3 seeds together
F. It takes a lot of nutrients and I guess you could say a heavy feeder.
G. It needs a ton of water apparently.
According to today’s stereotypes, this is the fruit of my people.
Grapes
A. Fruit
B. Summer
C. Plant grapes from nursery stock or cuttings in a site located in full sun which is mandatory for good fruit production. The developing fruit requires ample heat. Vines planted in partial shade are susceptible to fungus disease.
D. Wow. 2 years. Looks like thats not happening.
E. 8 feet apart in rows 12 feet apart
F. Very packed in soil
G. Not a whole lot of water is needed
There are more than 60 species and 8000 varieties of grapes all over the world. Some common varieties of grapes are blue, black, green, red, golden, blue-black, white and purple.
Grapes - My neighbor is growing grapes and they are really good and they seem to be quite easy to grow.
Sun Flowers - They are tall, beautiful and who doesn’t love sunflowers right?
Watermelon
A. Fruit
B. Summer
C. Takes lots of compost lots of fertilizer 3 to 4 seeds to a hill and the hills 8 feet apart.
D. 80 days
E. Eight feet apart with 3 seeds together
F. It takes a lot of nutrients and I guess you could say a heavy feeder.
G. It needs a ton of water apparently.
According to today’s stereotypes, this is the fruit of my people.
Grapes
A. Fruit
B. Summer
C. Plant grapes from nursery stock or cuttings in a site located in full sun which is mandatory for good fruit production. The developing fruit requires ample heat. Vines planted in partial shade are susceptible to fungus disease.
D. Wow. 2 years. Looks like thats not happening.
E. 8 feet apart in rows 12 feet apart
F. Very packed in soil
G. Not a whole lot of water is needed
There are more than 60 species and 8000 varieties of grapes all over the world. Some common varieties of grapes are blue, black, green, red, golden, blue-black, white and purple.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Friday Day 5
My normal breakdown meets my ears to wake me up this morning. after my normal routine i drive in my moms mercedes to school. my school day is nothing special just normal class normal friends normal everything. after school, back to the mercedes to go home then the drive out to the military base. after a long day i return home to sleep till the morning comes.
mercedes cars come from germany. so they assemble all the parts over there and ship them to the USA but it costs, oil and gas for the ships to bring them here. all the fuel harms the environment by waste that might make its way into the ocean and the pollution from giant boats and factories getting into the air. also it harms the marine life. because fish and whales can get caught on the boat which would kill them. so bottom line. to drive a mercedes, it kills fish
Thursday Day 4
I figured that i might as well cut straight to the chase. Today while i was brutally forced to clean up the engineering lab for 1 measly percent to scrape up a B instead of a C. I couldnt help but think about how the building got there in the first place. what went into building it. the wood, the cement, metal.
the wood was harvested from forests and processed in factories when shipped here and is cut into pieces and fitted to make the building frame. cement was laid down to make the building more sturdy and useable and metal was used to reinforce it to make it stronger. quite a bit goes into simply making a building.
Wednesday Day 3
Waking up to the sound of a dog barking instead of my usual breakdown was unusual. THats normally a sign that a day wont go too well. but thats ok, my morning routine comes again. today on my way to school i stopped at jack in the box and remembered that i didnt bring nasty shoes for the garden. upon arrival to school, the class goes on a ridiculously long walk to the garden. the day continues on normally. when i get home, i proceed to asking my parents to sign my environmental science sylibis. Going back to the origins of my jack in the box breakfast, people have theories that the food is all fake. if it is then a scientist in some distant place put together combinations of different things to make up different parts of the food. but if its real food then the meat came from an animal who was most likely raised in bad conditions and given some kind of drug. then to the slaughterhouse. once the meat is cut up, its probably sent to the lab for processing and addition of different things to preserve it, make it cook faster, and taste better. after which it is sent to the jack in the boxes to be cooked and served. im assuming that the bread is real and that the eggs are just eggs.
Tuesday Day 2
Waking up to anohter one of my favorite breakdowns, lyrics are rather innopropriate but nonetheless a favorite. After early morning cleansing and preperation for the day O set pff fpr ,u 30 minute drive to the learning facility known as HTHMA, my daily routine
lia
lia
margaret
lunch
dave
margaret
xblock
After my brain's capacity for knowledge has been fulfilled i return home. on the first day of classes normally there is very little homework if any at all. on this day there were just sylibi and such things. After which i relax in my room with video games, music, and facebook until later that night when i get on the phone. To get to school every day i take a car. the car is powered by gas which is in the gas station. It comes from the refinery after much processing but even before that it was in the ground waiting to be drilled by the workers. for me, a simple push of a button and pull of a trigger to fill up my car. but a few stages before that, someone has to drill deep underground for this prescious resource.
Monday Day 1
"Theres bloooood eeeiiinnnn daaa wwaahhttuuurrrr" *breakdown* the sound of a breakdown wakes me up. Small blue light on my phone indicating that one of my friends awaits for my reply to their message. Walking downstairs and staring into the fridge to decide what i want to eat.....cereal....breakfast of champions. Cleaning up from my 8 hour hibernation I head for my metal specimen of transport to speed over the lands to eli's house. Artificial men charging the fields of battle controlled by xbox controllers. For hours thats what we do, until i am called upon to return home. Now onto virtual socializing of the endless realms of facebook. Afterwards I communicate with my girlfriend over the phone for the next few hours until i sleep. One step farther is analyzation of something that happened today. To wake up in the morning to the sound of music would be something unheard of a long time ago. Before it was on my computer it was a file on a cd. Before that, just an idea in band practice, before that, just notes on a piece of paper. Even moreso before that, the song itself was just an idea. While it was still an idea, the paper that it was going to be written on was still in the factory being processed. Before that, it was part of a tree in one of the great forests of the world. even still before that, it was a seed in the ground. so in a sense, my music came from a seed in the middle of a forest. It goes back even farther for the computer and instruments used to play the song or record it. but im not going back that far.
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