I just generated an assignment based on the VAERS interactive website. It is in the link for online
discussion prompts. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page.
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Follow-Up Video to Previous VAERS Video
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, June 14, 2021,
New Video on Vaccines
This video shows you how to navigate the VAERS website. I will soon be making this into an assignment:
https://vimeo.com/561319196 Continue reading ...
Online Discussion Prompts
This semester I will be teaching an asynchronous online class. Consequently I shifted more credit to online discussion. I am sharing my discussion prompts in the section for
online activities.
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Article on Government Website Says Masks are Counterproductive
According to this article on an NIH-related government website, masks are for the most part, counterproductive for fighting COVID:
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Deadly Consequences of Food Adulteration in the Past
Disturbing video on heartbreaking consequences of food adulteration in Victorian England:
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Health Expenditures per Capita
This cool moving chart shows health expenditures per capita in the highest spending nations. The US is not always number one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxGIjfogXCA&t=86s
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Fauci Wants to Vaccinate Babies
So far there is no conclusive evidence that this vaccine is harmful but giving this vaccine to children is wrong on two counts: First, children are least at risk from the virus. Second, the vaccine is too experimental to use on people who have so many years of life ahead of them. Some ideas are so idiotic that only a PhD would believe in them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5eioMDklo
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Putting Masks in Children Does More Harm Than Good
Few things bother me more than seeing children under the age of 5 wearing masks. It's time to call out people that encouraged this madness:
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Shocking Video of Lightning Strike
Horrific video of people standing under a tree that is struck by lightning. The video is graphic, but it is a cautionary tale:
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The Unintended Consequences of Living in an Antiseptic Environment
This fascinating article elaborates the "hygiene hypothesis" as a significant cause of allergies, how it was made worse by measures taken in response to the pandemic. It also proposes shocking solutions like "probiotic" surface cleaners. Read it all:
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Space Village Grows in a Sleepy Border Town
This story hits home for me because I have relatives in the Rio Grande Valley and visited it many times when I attended graduate school at Texas A & M. It is very exciting that a space center is going to be built in one of the poorest counties in the nation. Unsurprisingly, some retirees who live near the growing space center are opposed and do not want to move. Nevertheless, all of these are vacation homes and there are many coastal alternatives in the valley where they can live at a safe di...
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Lynx Scolded by Embattled Chicken Farmer
Well on the bright side this lynx got off easy. As someone who grew up in the “rub nose in it” school of ethics, I can relate to this:
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Sperm Whales Interacting with Divers
This story about whales interacting with divers says a lot about the power of sound waves:
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More Bad News for Soy Consumers
I have heard for years that soybean oil has estrogenic properties, and there is speculation this may play a role in breast cancer in women and declining testosterone levels in men. And now this:
https://www.eutimes.net/2020/01/soybean-oil-causes-mental-retardation-autism-dementia-and-alzheimers-research-finds/
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A Plant for Absorbing Air Pollution
Useful for industrial towns:
https://www.ecowatch.com/plants-fighting-air-pollution-2650611803.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2
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Social Distancing Strategies for School Band
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, February 25, 2021,
In :
education news
COVID-19 Activity
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, February 24, 2021,
Back to blogging
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, February 22, 2021,
I discontinued this blog 5 years ago due to lack of traffic. Now that I have created my own teacher's group at MeWe, I am going to use this blog to mirror what I regularly post in my group at MeWe. For those interested in joining my group in MeWe, here is the link:
https://mewe.com/join/teachersofenvironmentalscience
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A Graph All Freshman College Students Should See
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, October 14, 2016,
In :
education news
I currently teach freshman biology for science majors where between 30-50% of the students drop the class or get less than a C. The problem is not only academic unreadiness, it is lack of self-awareness: Many have no clue as to how unready they are for science or health-related fields. Shockingly, some of them repeat the class and fail this
class three times in a row! I shared this article with them to give them some much needed perspective. I stumbled on it by accident when ...
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New Video
I just posted a new video on
the relationship between development and consumption. I hope this encourages instructors to teach more development-related issues.
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Environmental Consequences of Growing Fuel on Land Confirmed
I have always been
strongly against used land to grow fuel as both costly and bad for the environment.
This article finally documents some of the adverse consequences that up to now had only been a matter of speculation.
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Portable Wind Turbine
While there are many version of portable photovoltaic panels, this is the first time I have ever seen a
portable wind generator. I look forward to seeing the price when it becomes available to see how it compares with photovoltaics.
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Robust Evidence that "Farm Dust" Protects Children from Allergies
Since my son suffers from many allergies I am always on the look-out for good articles on how this condition can be minimized. I am particularly intrigued by the "hygiene hypothesis" which presumes that rate at which people suffer from allergies has increased because children growing up in cities and suburbs are not regularly exposed to pathogens and parasites as their rural counterparts. This contrast is more evident in more affluent countries, perhaps because city dwellers in less affluent ...
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Lab Manual Addendum
I have just written an
addendum with updates and improvements to four of the lab activities. If you already have a copy of the lab manual, please download a copy to keep your book up to date.
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Video Page Re-make
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, August 16, 2015,
I have just re-organized the
video page by replacing all of the Youtube videos with Vimeo. The reason I did this is because Vimeo allows viewers to download personal copies of the videos. I want people who purchase the lab manual to be able to watch these videos offline in case the internet connection in their school is down.
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Busy Summer
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, August 8, 2015,
I have not posted anything because I was in China for two weeks (family reasons) and I was brutally busy in the preceding weeks. These days I will be preparing my exhibit for the annual meeting of the
American Ecological Society. It is only 40 minutes from where I live so this is a rare opportunity for me to display
my book for instructors all over the U.S.
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Ax-Grinding at Ratemyprofessor
Someone recently made the "misteak" of registering for my class. To set the record straight, I never give "pop quizzes". I give frequent quizzes and allow students to prepare a 4X6 notecard which may be used during each quiz. If you want to vent about your professor, then "you can be my guess" but at least tell the truth. This is why I recommend better screening of college applicants. Continue reading ...
Solar Impulse Lands in Hawaii!
The Solar Impulse just landed in Hawaii after 5 days of solo flight from Nagoya, Japan. This is a big deal because it is perhaps the riskiest portion of the first RTW flight on a manned plane that is powered entirely by photovoltaic panels. Kudos to Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg for making it happen. As you may well know, the Piccard family has been setting records for dangerous pioneering research for generations. But how many of you know that Bertrand's grandfather served at the rea... Continue reading ...
New Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Could Double Energy Density While Lowering Costs
This
new lithium battery that uses sulfur as the oxidizing agent could dramatically increase the range of electric vehicles while lowering the price due of the low cost of sulfur. Lithium however is still rare and expensive. If there is a possibility of combining sulfur with more commonly available alkali metals like sodium in batteries the price should be dramatically lower. The sacrifice in energy density (sodium is heavier than lithium) may be worth it to those with short commutes who do n...
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A Realistic Assessment of the Hydrogen Economy and Fuel Cell Cars
Even though I have
a personal fascination with fuel cells and even incorporate
a fuel cell activity into my lab manual, I think it is a waste of resources to invest in the "hydrogen economy".
This article does a great job of summarizing the economic and technological hurdles of using hydrogen as a major transportation fuel. First, it utterly demolishes the myth that hydrogen is a "green" fuel since the only practical source of hydrogen is natural gas. Second, it shows how lithium batteries ar...
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The High Cost of Carbon Emission Reduction
Realistic economic trade-offs of policies designed to reduce carbon emission are seldom addressed by environmentalists outside the
Copenhagen Consensus, so it is refreshing to see this issue brought up
in this journal. Even though the authors rightly emphasis the problem of using agricultural land for biofuel (a policy that
I have always strongly opposed), they also touch upon the high cost of carbon reduction technology, which in turn gives consumers less disposable income. The proponents of...
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Battery-Powered Ferry in Norway
Given the range limitation of battery-powered transportation I do not expect to see electric cargo vessels in the near future, but this
electric ferry that carries passengers and cars takes advantage of the fact that ferries usually cover the same small distance. The installation of a battery unit at the port has cut down fueling time to 10 minutes, making this lag time comparable to that of its diesel counterparts.
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Off-Grid Microshelter
This
charming little shelter that provides all its utility needs was developed in Eastern Europe. It looks tiny from the outside, but the pictures of the interior convey an efficient use of the limited space. While this may be too small for regular housing, it may provide an interesting model for larger plans. I look forward to seeing the price tag when it becomes available.
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Poor Man's Refrigerator
This
item is particularly interesting because most environmentally-friendly products are not cheap. This is sold in India for people who lack electricity or cannot afford an electric refrigerator. It is amazingly simple and cost-effective. I would only like to see how cool it keeps food on a hot day.
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WHO Glitch Resolved & New Video About Using the WHO Website
The glitch at the WHO website has been resolved. The filtering system does not work for downloading data to so that downloading is quicker. This means I had to change the procedure from what was written in the lab manual. Another part of the problem was that the Safari browser was not downloading the excel file in a usable format, so I used Google Chrome. Now that these problems have been solved I was able to
complete the video so that those who are using this lab activity know what changes n...
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Glitch in WHO Website
I am in the process of producing a video for navigating the WHO website, but there is a glitch in the
Global Health Observatory website that does not filter the data when I download the excel file. For example, when I try to download life expectancy for 1990, the excel file gives me life expectancy for all the years form 1990 to 2013. This was not a problem with I published the manual so it probably can be fixed.
I just filled out their feedback form to indicate the problem so they can hopefu... Continue reading ...
New Video on Collecting Data from the U.S. Department of Energy
I just posted a
new video based on one of the activities in my lab manual. Specifically "The Fossil Fuel Costs of Electric Cars". It involves navigating the
U.S. Energy Information Administration website in order to acquire data to calculate how much of each fossil fuel is needed to generate a given amount of electricity. This in turn is used to estimate the efficiency of electric cars in terms of how much fossil fuels they consume at the power plant.
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A Low Budget Remediation Strategy for Nutrient Pollution
According to
this article by the director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, strategically placed ditches can play a major role in capturing and removing nutrient runoff by providing a place were these nutrients can be held until plants use them up. One of my biggest disagreements with Bjorn Lomborg in his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is the very high cost he puts on the remediation of nutrient pollution is bodies of water. I have not done the math myself, but given the economic benef...
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Flying Now More Efficient Than Driving?
According to
this study from the University of Michigan taking a plane is more efficient that "driving".The comments below the article reflect my misgivings about the lack of comparison to other forms of ground transportation (like long distance buses), but in all fairness I only
read the abstract of the study. Maybe these comparisons are in the original research article. However, the fact that plane travel has gotten cheaper and more crowded is probably indicative of improvements in energy e...
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Video About My Lab Manual
I have not been posting lately because I was very busy putting together this
8-minute video about the lab manual I wrote for environmental science. I was so obsessed with getting it right that I missed a credit card payment (it slipped my mind) and my kids started to think I was ignoring them. It's over now, I will pay the late penalty and make it up to my kids. Let's hope it was worth it!
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Questioning the Sustainability of Electric Vehicles
While I have a great deal of respect for
Bjorn Lomborg, I would like to see an itemized chart showing how he came to the
conclusion that electric vehicles are more polluting than those that rely on internal
combustion engines. Beyond the obvious fact that electric cars are only as
clean as the means whereby the electricity is generated, Lomborg does bring up
the overlooked issue of battery life and the resources needed for their
manufacture and disposal. The fact that recharg...
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Update on Fuel Cells
In the past, I gave some tips on teaching
about fuel cells. The main advantage of fuels cells over rechargeable batteries
is energy density: Rechargeable batteries must carry with them all components
of the oxidation-reduction reaction that generates current. In contrast, fuel
cells vehicles are lighter because (like combustion engines) they only need to transport
the reducing agent (what is referred to in plain English as “fuel”).
Unfortunately, most fuel cells only run ...
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Moving Bicycles and Pedestrians Underground
In downtown Houston there is a 6-mile
network of underground tunnels and second story catwalks that allow pedestrians
to walk to many popular buildings without experiencing the summer heat. I often
made use of these between the classes I taught at the University of Houston,
not because I could not tolerate the heat, but because it allowed me to walk indefinitely
without having to cross any streets. Many of these tunnels had shops,
restaurants, and spaces for art, so there was...
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Update on the Car from Elio Motors
Here an an update on a post I made
in the past about a highly affordable 84 mpg car that will soon be produced in the U.S. An interesting and commonsensical point made by Mr. Elio in the video is how
mass is the main factor determining fuel economy in the city, just as
aerodynamics determines mpg on the highway. Interestingly, this car is legally classified as a type of "motorcycle" and the manufacturers are trying to persuade some states not to require the drivers to wear helmets. When I liv...
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Two Items on Hypereutrophication
This interview of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s director Alan Girard hits close to home because I live only 40 minutes from this important estuary. Much concern has been raised due to Governor Hogan’s easing of regulations addressing nutrient runoff into the Bay. However, what mainly caught my attention was how Girard singled out the use of manure fertilization as a very significant source of nutrient pollution into the bay. Traditionally, organic fertilizers (like manure) were regarded...
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Correlation Between Personality and Terrain Preference
I like both mountains and ocean shores,
but if I have to choose one I prefer the ocean. A new study implies that
introverts prefer mountains and extraverts prefer the seaside. Apparently this
preference is related to the likelihood of socializing in the given environment
since mountains are regarded as more “secluded” (this probably rules out skiing
resorts). I am not an introvert, but I do prefer secluded beaches because of
their natural beauty, especially if there are s...
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More on the Ethanol Racket
This article about the European Union's Ban on First Generation Biofuels contains two videos that succinctly describe the damage of the ethanol racket on the environment and politics. According to the first video the mandate was started by George W. Bush, but Obama pretty much ran with it. The second video describes how congressman Charles Grassley goes after an oil company that chooses not want to sell E-85 (an crappy product that almost nobody wants due to its low energy density and destruc...
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The Ethanol Mandate Versus Reality
Grain prices are dramatically lower due
to high yields and lower demand for ethanol fuel. I have never been a fan of setting
aside land to grow biofuels, and I have always regarded the ethanol mandate
(for putting ethanol in gasoline) as a particularly egregious example of
politicians implementing bad policies just to buy votes. While I feel for tenant
farmers struggling to pay the rent, they partly have themselves to blame for
their participation in this charade.
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Reverse Desertification: A Win-Win Means of Carbon Sequestration
Reversing the process of desertification is a winner on many levels, not only because it provides more arable land, but also because it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, addresses one of the greatest concerns of climate change (the growth of deserts in lower latitudes), and increases biodiversity. With most forms of geoengineering there are too many unknown consequences, and with emission reductions we know more about the dire economic consequences than the ecological advantages. Hence, mor...
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The Brave New World of Geoengineering
Without a major technological
breakthrough, no country will sacrifice its economy to reduce its carbon
emissions in a large way. Hence, nothing short of a world government along the
lines of that in North Korea can make this happen now, and most people (like
myself) prefer to take chances with global warming than live like the North
Koreans. Consequently, some environmentalist prescribe geoengineering as a
means to offset anthropogenic climate change. This article cautions ag...
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For Environmentalists Who Like Long Showers
Like most Americans, I appreciate the relaxation that comes with a warm shower. But as an environmentalist I am mindful of how much water and energy this consumes. I somethings thought about designing a means for recirculating water in a shower after the dirty water has gone down the drain. This
shower designed in Sweden has taken this idea a step farther by means of instant purification as well as recirculation, thereby saving a whooping 90% of the water otherwise consumed. The only thing mi...
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The Cost-Effectiveness of Vaccination
While on the topic
of my activity using the WHO database, I will relate this to the recent
measles outbreak in the U.S. Based on this article, “herd immunity” kicks in at
about 92-94%. Shockingly, some counties of California have immunization rates is as low as 18-23%. Evidently, some people in these counties feel they can
“afford” to refuse vaccination because of their access to first rate medical
care in the event that their children are stricken. This is not the ca...
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Alleviating Poverty by Eliminating the Use of Solid Fuels in the Home
This article highlights
the cost-effectiveness of subsidizing modern stoves (such as gas or electric) in order to phase out solid fuels like firewood and dung. The devastating effect of indoor
pollution from solid fuels has been thoroughly documented by the WHO. In one of my lab activities (2-5: Risk Factors
and Health Outcomes in Africa) students compile raw data from the WHO interactive website. This culminates in a graph with solid fuel use on the x-axis and childhood dea...
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Most Radioactive Places on Earth
This easy to understand video puts radioactive exposure in perspective by measuring it in terms of "bananas" (the radiation contained in a banana due to its potassium content). Much like the
chart I referred to in an earlier post, this video puts many concerns to rest with regards to routine exposure like cordless phones and microwave ovens. I was particularly shocked at the amount of radiation absorbed by smokers. Would this be the main reason smoking causes lung cancer?
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Two New Articles on Urban Farming
On average, OECD inhabitants of cities live more sustainably than those who live in suburbs and rural areas. This is not necessarily so in less developed countries where a large portion of the rural population relies mostly on manual labor and subsistence farming. Since standards of living are rising in most of the world, we must look to the role of urbanization in minimizing the trade-offs between economic development and protection of natural resources. While Curitiba often gets much attent...
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Genetically Engineered Bacteria Relies on Synthetic Amino Acid
Some of you may
recall the book/movie Jurassic Park, where biotechnologists cloned dinosaurs
from DNA samples extracted from ancient mosquitoes preserved in amber. In order
to prevent their products from endangering the outside world, they incorporated
a mutation that made them highly dependent on the lysine supplements provided
by the park staff. Since lysine is a naturally occurring amino acid, this
strategy was not very effective when they did escape (this was not in the
m...
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Update on Measuring Work Efficiency Video
I just made a significant update for this video on
measuring work efficiency. To keep it low budget, I just included the option of
using a power drill for measurement
of work involving rotary motion. Since this option is barely described in the lab
manual I decided to include it in the video. Most of you who teach
environmental science may never use this activity because it seems more
appropriate for physics or engineering. Nonetheless, I always use this activity
when I teach...
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Algae Culture Update
Here is an update on a
post from December 9 based on
this procedure where I applied different doses of carbon dioxide to pond water confined to plastic bottles. Note that after 14 weeks, the strongest color is found in the bottle with the highest dose of carbon dioxide. This is not at all evident in the early weeks because the high dose of CO2 seems to have an inhibitory effect on algae. However in the long run, I seems that this dose results on the highest algae density because the other bot...
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IKEA Applies Its Innovative “Flat Packaging” Concept to Refugee Shelters
I generally hate shopping, but I like
going to IKEA. There’s something about the way they arrange the space that
makes strolling through their store much more interesting than being in a mall.
Predictably, nearly all the furniture in our house is from IKEA. My first
exposure to the elegant minimalist style of Northern European furniture was a
small store I knew as a teenager called “Scan” (short for “Scandinavia”). This
store near our house is long gone, and I was i...
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Generating Electricity from Living Plants
This video was produced by a private company that found a way to generate electricity from plants without harming them. From what I gathered in the description, they accomplish this by placing electrodes in the soil in locations that have differing voltage potentials. This electrical gradient can be attributed to the the breakdown of photosynthetic products released from the plants' roots. Much like a hydrogen fuel cell, the product of this electrochemical reaction is water. I do not know how...
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100-Fold Increase in the Rate of Soil Erosion
According to this article human
activity has increased the rate of erosion about 100-fold. This is not
surprising to me. I recall my agronomy instructor about 35 years ago using the
last day of class to give a slide show to discuss the erosive effects of plowing
and building construction. This is also why I have always been strongly against
using land to grow biofuels. In this article I wrote a few years ago, I
reference other research suggesting that biofuels may have played...
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Highly Readable and Informative Chart on Radiation Exposure
I abhor getting X-rayed, and every time a doctor or dentist requests one for myself or a family member I always ask myself: Is this necessary or is he/she just practicing defensive medicine? In one event, I refused to be X-rayed for a routine dental appointment and had to sign a waiver acknowledging my refusal. In another event, my son was rushed to the emergency room for an asthma attack and the doctor persuaded me to allow him to get a chest X-ray in case he had pneumonia. In retrospect I s...
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Favorable Mention of My Lab Manual
While fishing around the internet for mention of my
lab manual, I was very pleased to see
this favorable comment by Andrew Friedland (see the November 13 entry). Based on the discussion threads I have read on the College Board environmental science forum, I know the textbook who co-wrote with
Rick Relaya is very widely used. Now they are putting out a new edition which is thoroughly described
in this video.
I met Andrew Friedland at the AP Conference in 2010(?) shortly before he published the ...
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"Free" Community College
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, January 9, 2015,
In :
education news
The Obama administration proposed a new program whereby
students pay nothing to attend the first two years of any community college. For people (like myself) whose employment depends on enrollment, this may seem like a good thing, but unless you have no qualms about inflating grades or do not mind playing "hatchet man" to a disproportionate number of students, you should not be celebrating: This is little more than gimmick to shore up the youth vote for his party. It also ties in with the
idi... Continue reading ...
Tree-Like Wind Energy Structure with Turbine "Leaves"
This
tree-like structure produced in France replaces leaves with mini-turbines that produce electricity. It is quieter and more aesthetically pleasing than standard wind turbines. It also manages to generate electricity even when subjected to light breezes. I would think that this design is also much less likely to kill birds and bats. Maybe this information is not yet available. According to the designers, this "pays for itself" in only two years. I would be more satisfied knowing how much e...
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Floating Greenhouse Also Purifies Water
This
floating greenhouse could make densely-populated port cities much more self-sufficient and sustainable. Using only energy from the sun, these hydroponic farms can purify all the water they need from bodies of water that are either to salty or polluted for human consumption. Given the high labor intensity of hydroponics, this innovation may not be cost-effective in the U.S., but it may work out in developing countries where labor costs are relatively low. Having experienced the pollution,...
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Dumpster House
While
homes built from shipping containers have gotten much attention as a means for building sustainable housing,
this house takes minimalism to its extreme. What makes this project particularly interesting is that it is being carried out not by an instructor or architecture or engineering, but someone who teaches
environmental science. Having lived in Texas for over 10 years, I think he will have to put an open canopy over it during the summer to avoid getting cooked!
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Broken Ankle
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, December 28, 2014,
I have not posted anything for a week because I broke my ankle last week while ice skating. Since I have to keep my left foot elevated, this limits the amount of time I can sit at the computer. Someone who saw me with crutches asked me if I had been "climbing trees". She was referring to
this incident last spring. I never imagined ice skating could be riskier!
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A Possible Substitute for Lithium
The central theme of
this article is a new technology that improves the performance of lithium batteries. Unless you are in this field (I am not) you may struggle to understand the breakthrough the author is describing. I confess that I never really "got it", but what caught my attention was that this new process might allow for electric vehicle batteries that use sodium instead of lithium for their battery packs. This is very significant because lithium is a rare metal that must be imported ...
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Using a Multimeter to Measure Conductivity in a Water Sample
I just put out a
new video showing an alternative means for measuring conductivity for those who do not have a conductivity meter. This procedure applies to
Lab 1-4 (Solution Chemistry of Natural Waters). While making this video I first tried using a 9-volt battery to provide the current, but the amperage reading kept dropping. I learned later that this happens when the voltage drops. This is often a problem with zinc batteries that are not fresh. Only then I decided to switch to a lead acid ...
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American-made 84 mpg car that sells for less than $7000
The problem with hybrids and electric vehicles is that they are still very expensive to produce.
This car from a new company called "Elio Motors" does not rely on government subsidies or tax rebates for its incredibly low price. The airplane cockpit design is for purposes of cutting down air resistance. From all appearances, this car only seats two, but given that the popular "Smart" car which gets less than
40 mpg and
costs over $12,000, this car seems to be a much better deal.
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Cost Effectiveness of Photovoltaics
This
TED Talk is not that new, and a bit longer than usual, but the speaker does a pretty good job of summarizing how to set up photovoltaics in your home. The main reason I am posting this is because, much like
Lab 3-9 (Photovoltaic Cell Dynamics) and this
corresponding video, the speaker presents a calculation for how many years are needed for the photovoltaic panels to pay for themselves. He bases his calculation on the "cost per watt hour" of photovoltaics. My calculation is based on "co...
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Feed Conversion in Mealworms Video
I just put out a
new video based on a procedure I included in the second edition. I first described how the idea for this procedure came about in
this post back in July. The last portion of the video provides more equations than most instructors will need, but keep in mind that these videos are also for student use.
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Dose-Response to Carbon Dioxide
This semester I am not teaching environmental science, but for display purposes I have been setting up a few experiments. One which got a lot of attention at the booth I rented at the Pennsylvania Science Teacher Association conference last week was the algae culture I produced by
applying different doses of carbon dioxide. Below are the I got after 3 and 8 weeks. The bottles in each picture are placed in order of decreasing doses of carbon dioxide (the last bottle on the right is the control...
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Measuring Electricity from a Photovoltaic
I just posted a
new video. The main difference with the lab manual is that instead of using a DC wattmeter I use two multimeters: One is set up to measure amps and the other is set up to measure volts. Most high schools and colleges already have multimeters (used is physics) so this can save you money.
This is the same way I measured electricity generated from a cordless drill. In this new video I also incorporated a slightly more simplified equation for calculating the cost-effectiveness of ... Continue reading ...
Producing Hydrocarbon Fuels from Scratch
The production of hydrocarbons using carbon dioxide and hydrogen (obtained from water) is not new, but
this plant in Germany is the first time it is being done on an industrial scale. The hydrogen is obtained from water by means of electrolysis. The carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide. These two feedstocks, H
2 and CO are then subjected to Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis from production of a wide variety of hydrocarbon fuels. The facility currently produces about a barrel a day. Hopefully, ...
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Multi-Use Water Barrage in Singapore
I visited Singapore in 1999 and was amazed at the cleanliness and efficiency of this city. Only when I visited some of its open markets was I reminded that I was visiting one of the most crowded cities on Earth.
So it did not surprise me to see this article about this aesthetically pleasing water barrage that serves mainly as a means of flood control and storing freshwater, and secondarily as a recreational "green space" for the city's inhabitants.
According to the CIA fact book, Singapore has...
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Exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Science Teacher Conference
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, November 7, 2014,
I will be exhibiting December 4-5 at the
conference of the Pennsylvania association of science teachers in State College, PA. I will make available copies of the new edition of my lab manual, free samples, and sample activities (including the "homemade" fuel cell).
This should give me better exposure than the conference in MD because the exhibits will last for two days (instead of one) and PA has double the population of MD. Stop by my booth if you are in town. Continue reading ...
Maryland Science Teacher Conference
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, October 31, 2014,
Last week I attended the Maryland Science Teacher Conference as an exhibitor promoting the second edition of my lab manual. I used most of the table to display activities from the manual. The display that got the most attention was the "homemade" fuel cell that was being used to run a digital watch. It consisted of platinum coated nickel electrodes in a semi-solid aqueous solution consisting of agar, water, and sodium sulfate. The bubbles sticking to the electrodes produced enough current to ...
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Indoor Urban Farming
Here is an article on the
viability of indoor urban farms. As a graduate student in the 1990's I visited a hydroponics farm in Texas where they grew strawberries and combined it with fish culture. I also visited an indoor shrimp farm that used recirculated salt water
I do not know today if they are still in business. At any rate, the idea of growing food in crowded cities is interesting. In order to compete with traditional food sources they use different marketing strategies. Currently, food... Continue reading ...
Second Edition Updates
The second edition is finished. I have
updated the lab manual page to reflect this, and changed the posted excerpts to incorporate the final corrections. To save printing costs I have removed the last activity from the printed book and put it into the CD as a "supplement" because it has many pages, and is too difficult for most environmental science students. I like this activity (Chemistry of Flue Gas Desulfurization), but to be honest I only used this activity on my AP chemistry students. I...
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Electric Scooter with Battery You Can Charge In Your House
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, September 20, 2014,
One of the biggest disadvantages of electric vehicles is access to charging stations. People who own houses can have charging stations installed on their property, but what about those who live in apartments? This
motor scooter has a battery that is easily removed for charging inside your flat. Despite a modest weight of less than 17 lbs, it provides a range of about 60 miles.
I am afraid of riding motor cycles and motor scooters. Perhaps with some adjustments this idea can be applied to very ...
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A Visual Perspective What You Get From Copper and Diamond Mines
Do not forget to recycle those batteries! This
photoshop gives you perspective on how much target material you get out of mines. One of the biggest problems with the mining of metal ores is that the environmental costs are not incorporated into the monetary cost of the product. Consequently, taxpayers usually take up the tab for remediation of the toxic residues from the ores of nickel and copper, not to mention the ripped up landscape (I do not know if this is also true of diamond mines). In...
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Presenting at the Maryland Association of Science Teacher's Conference
I will be presenting one of my lab activities at a
conference for the Maryland Association of Science Teachers (MAST). My presentation will be on
Saturday, October 18 from 9:30-10:30 AM. In addition to presenting, I will also be at a table where I will be selling copies of the newest edition of the lab manual. Since this table space will be much more than I need, I will use most of this space to do demonstrations that will hopefully get people's attention.
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Publication Delay
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, September 4, 2014,
My deepest apologies to those who were expecting to have the a copy of the second edition at the start of the academic semester. Due to some unexpected issues I will need a few more weeks. It will be up for sale by the end of September.
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Algae Biofuel from Sewage
I am never a fan of land-based biofuels because they are worse for the environment than fossil fuels, and I regard algae fuels as problematic due to the difficulty of separating phytoplankton from water. However,
this use of algae as a means to treat sewage as well as serve as biofuel is noteworthy because it also serves to remediate an environmental liability. I proposed this in an article I published five years ago where
I question the use a switchgrass as a sustainable biofuel. I suggested...
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Ecotourism with Children
I got back last week from a trip to Florida. We started with "Bathtub Reef" near Stuart Florida. We chose this place because of its reputation as a good place for children to snorkel due to its shallow waters and gentle waves. We only got to do a couple of hours of snorkeling because we had wasted too much time trying to get a hotel by the beach, only to find them way out of our price range. We would have saved much more time if we had directly gotten a hotel in town, because we only needed t...
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New Video on Generating Electricity
I have a new video available. It is a detailed procedure on measuring the efficiency of a cordless drill generator. This is a bit more complicated than doing this with a car fan, but it generates much more watts. This procedure is also included in the new edition of the lab manual
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New Edition Excerpts Posted
I am in the process of adding finishing touches to the second edition of the lab manual. To give you some idea of what it looks like, I have made some excerpts available. Some of them will be removed in a few weeks because I do not want students downloading answers from the instructor's guide.
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Feed Conversion in Mealworms
Some months ago I walked into a pet store and saw a glass tank with mealworms eating dry cat food. Since dry cat food comes in nuggets that allows you to easily recover the leftovers this gave me an idea for new activity. The rule of thumb for productivity/energy recovery up each link of the trophic pyramid is around 10%. The biomass recovery I got with with my mealworms was around 20% (based on dry weight). It is higher than the rule of thumb because I was raising them during their period of...
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Bad News on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
This
article based on well-to-wheel analysis exposes some inconvenient truths about hydrogen fuel cell cars. Even though I am fascinated by the fuel cell principle and even include a lab activity on fuel cells, I have never been a fan of fuel cell cars. In fact, two of my activities (
Lab 2-2: Transportation and
Lab 3-6: Fuel Cell Dynamics) expose the inefficiency of extracting hydrogen from water for purposes of using it in fuel cells. This is why most hydrogen is extracted from natural gas (...
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Second Edition Update
I have not been much of a blogger because I am concentrating all my efforts on getting the new edition out before the end of the summer.
The most important change I am doing is making many of the activities easier and more uniform in the amount of effort needed. I had to do this to deal with my new teaching situation. I am also trying to incorporate new activities and fix some glitches in some old activities. One significant glitch involves the use of thiosulfate to neutralize the toxic effec... Continue reading ...
Electric Car from 1905
Electric cars are not so new. I remember as a child in the 1960's when I saw a commercial for "Timex" electric watches where a little old lady enters a jewelry store and purchases an electric watch. Given the context that electric watches were a novelty at this time, the merchant says to her "Welcome to the electric age!" (I am paraphrasing). She then retorts, "Young man, I have been driving one for over 40 years". In the next scene, she leaves the shop and enters a battery-powered antique ca...
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Water heating efficiency
One of my less popular videos involves using a wattmeter to measure the
efficiency of an immersion heater. In response to someone's request, I recently wrote it out. Immediately below is the letter I sent to this instructor and further below is the written procedure. I am posting a copy on the vimeo website:
I did this lab for the first time last week with students by just talking them through it and writing things on the board. However, since I have to write it up sooner or later I just wrote...
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Electric cars for rent …in China!
Even though technological limitations still make it hard to electric cars to compete in the U.S., here is an interesting development;
a vending machine that doles out rental electric cars in Chinese Cities. Given that this is a private endeavor with probably little or no help from the Chinese government it is worth seeing how this develops over the next few years.
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New edition in the works
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, February 23, 2014,
This semester I
am no less busy because I am teaching three classes in two different schools;
general biology, environmental science, and respiratory care science. Before
this semester I never heard of “respiratory care science”, but I was hired due
to my having taught both chemistry and biology at the college level. Even
though I need to prepare extensively for this class, I enjoy teaching a college class that involves both chemistry and physics.
Since this is
the second ...
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Regrouping
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, November 4, 2013,
In :
education news
I have not posted for
over a month because I am teaching introductory biology while taking education
classes to broaden my options. I am also reeling from the culture shock of teaching so many students who have no idea how unready they are for college. This was less of an issue when I taught introductory chemistry because the students were screened by means of an entrance exam. Obama once said that
"everyone" should go to college. Whether or not you voted for him,
most science...
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The World's Largest "Battery"
In an
earlier post, I noted the importance of energy storage. I was also surprised by the fact that more than half of this comes from water that is pumped into a reservoir in order to serve as temporary hydropower. Here is an interesting article on
the world's largest "battery" of this kind. This is
considered by some to be more environmentally-friendly than conventional hydropower in that it can be used in brown fields (such as abandoned quarries) and can be used to supplement intermittent f...
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The Hygiene Hypothesis and Autoimmune Disorders
According to the hygiene hypothesis children today have more allergies due to an overly clean environment that results in the immune system overreacting to nonpathogenic substances. This can be prevented in part by living on a farm or at least having a dog in the house. The is also credible evidence that probiotics (supplements or fermented foods with beneficial bacteria) play a role in reducing allergies.
Both my wife and myself have had worms when we were children and neither of us have any...
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Using Supercapacitors Instead of Batteries
The biggest disadvantages of electric vehicles are prolonged charging times, high cost of lithium batteries, and mass of the batteries. Even though (according to my own calculations) lithium batteries are about 4 times more energy dense than their lead acid counterparts, the mass of lithium battery material needed for a road trip can be 10 times that of the gasoline that can be used to cover the same distance in a conventional vehicle. In contrast to internal combustion engines and fuel cells... Continue reading ...
Ecotourism with Children
I just got back last night after about ten days vacation
spent mostly in Florida. Among the highlights of our trip was seeing a manatee
grazing at the inlet in Anastasia State Park. We were lucky because most of
them migrate north in the summer. It helped that the tide was near its peak
during the early evening and that most of the visitors were gone. The high tide
made the seagrass accessible for grazing, and with less people the manatee felt
more comfortable feeding near th...
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Teacher Certification is a Racket
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, July 29, 2013,
In :
education news
This
article on how poorly education departments prepare teachers confirms what I've already known for years. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many administrators also know this and will preferentially hire uncertified teachers (when regulations allow it) to avoid
the baggage of teacher education school training! It's nice to know that some of the people in charge did not drink the Kool-Aide.
I've know this ever since my wife became a certified teacher. I would estimate that about 30% ...
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Formula Sun Grand Prix
Even though
these cars are not practical, I am amazed at how fast they move.
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Electricity storage is a big dea
I got this interesting chart from an article about how an energy storage company called Eos may
revolutionize the way electricity is stored using
zinc air batteries. I never knew that so much generating capacity was stored by simply pumping water! The advantage of these batteries is their low cost ($160 / kWh vs. $400 / kWh using lithium batteries). All of this is discussed in terms of making the grid more reliable. I wonder if these batteries are light enough to use in a vehicle?
...
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Amazing Human-Powered Helicopter
The materials must be incredibly light because it is
enormous. Its large size no doubt allows it to provide so much lift even though its propellers are moving so slowly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJq10EQkog Continue reading ...
Why Development?
The One of my most unusual activities involves the creation of spreadsheets from the CIA Factbook comparing different countries in their levels of socioeconomic development and quality of life (Lab 2-3: Development and Quality of Life). When I first tried this activity on my students I made them create the whole spreadsheet from scratch, and split the work rather inefficiently. There was a lot of groaning, but the long-term rewards more than made up for it. The worldly per...
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AP Course Audit
Yesterday I attended a job fair and used this opportunity to promote my manual in person. One of the school representatives asked me if these labs had been approved by the College Board. I told her that I based my labs on topics from the textbook by Richard Wright ("Environmental Science: Towards a Sustainable Future"
ISBN-10: 0132302659 • ISBN-13: 9780132302654). This is helpful, but I forgot to tell her that the College Board approved a syllabus I submitted in 2009 with labs that came exc...
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Teaching About Fuel Cells
Some of you who are mostly
trained in biology will see the Lab 3-6
(Fuel
Cell Dynamics) and get turned off before you even purchase the lab manual. For
the record, my doctorate is in zoology, and the title of my dissertation is “The Hormonal Control of Vitellogenesis in
Decapod Crustacea” (are your eyes glazing over?). I teach classes
peripherally related to my specialty because my post-doc did not take me
anywhere (mostly my fault). In fact, I never heard of environmenta...
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Department of Energy Website Overhaul
Someone totally redesigned the Department of Energy website making the information that you need for the Lab 2-2 (Transportation) is harder to find. Worst of all, the links on the main website (which has been renamed www.energy.gov) are little more than window dressing for impressing impressionable taxpayers. This page is useless to us because we cannot use it to navigate to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Even putting this name in the "search" box does not work! So here it the li...
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Using Grazers to Reverse Desertification
This is not an update on my lab manual. It is environmental news that some of you might find interesting. Here is a lecture by Allan Savory on using grazers to
reverse the process of desertification, thereby addressing one of the worst consequences of climate change. Here is the link:
http://vimeo.com/8291896
I am not an agronomist, but what he suggests is both counterintuitive and contradictory to what we teach from our textbooks. Nevertheless, his hypothesis on how this impr...
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Quick and Dirty Spreadsheets
Lab 2-3 (Development and Quality of
Life) entails the construction of a large spreadsheet from scratch. If you have
plenty of time (as in my case when I worked at Saint Anselm’s) you can apply it
as a cooperative assignment in which students are assigned different sections.
This does not work if you are pressed for time (as I am in my current job), so I
used a different strategy: I took the students to the computer room and had
them navigate the CIA fact... Continue reading ...
Quick and Dirty Conductivity Readings
Last week we carried out
Lab 1-5 (
Solution Chemistry of Natural Waters) without the benefit of the conductivity meter I had in my previous job. Though I probably could have borrowed one from the chemistry department, I chose to use my digital multimeter (easily available in most electronics hobby shops and hardware stores). A physics instructor had told me that all I needed to do was to set the multimeter for measuring
ohms, then simply measure the
electrical resistance of the solution (which...
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New Carbon Cycling Calculations
Two weeks
ago we performed Lab 3.1 (Carbon Cycling Between Goldfish and Elodea) using Spirogyra and zebra fish. Even though the procedure went smoothly, I did not realize that
the manual had failed to provide formulas for properly answering questions 5 and 7.
Below are the formulas with explanations:
5) If you
divide the numbers in column I (fish) by column I (plants), you will have the
reciprocal of the ratio of fish to plants needed to provide a 1:1 ratio... Continue reading ...
Spirogyra to the rescue!
Last week I needed green water in order to do
Lab 1-2 (
Net Primary Productivity & Biological Oxygen Demand). It's not easy finding it in the middle of January, but on the day of the lab I drove to my most reliable source: a 1-acre pond in a small park heavily trafficked by waterfowl. To my dismay, the
pond had been drained for cleaning! With little time to spare, I needed a substitute, so I used the filamentous algae that was invading my fish tank. I distributed the algae equally into light a...
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First Post
Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, January 29, 2013,
It has now been about 5 months since the manual went to press. During that period I found some minor editorial errors that can easily be corrected by the new user. More importantly, I recently started teaching a class at Washington Adventist University that meets on only two consecutive days per week. This is very different from my previous situation at St. Anselm's Abbey School because the equipment available to me is not the same and I don't have the benefit of seeing my students on a daily...
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