Bio Ethanol Fuel

Today we discussed how to make bio ethanol. Bio ethanol is most often used as motor fuel. The ethanol that is found in this fuel is the same alcohol that is in alcoholic beverages. Bio ethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks. It can be made from corn, sugar cane, potato and manioc. The basic steps fror large scale production of ethanol are yeast fermentation of sugars, distillation, dehydration and denaturing.

There are pros and cons to Bio ethanol. Some pros are that through the use of bio ethanol, some of these CO2 Green house emissions will be reduced as the fuel crops absorb the CO2 they emit through growing. Also, it will reduce dependence on Oil. Some cons are that bio ethanol can be corrosive to metals such as aluminum. Also, it may require the use of too much arable land and too much energy input during the production process to justify it.

Mitochondrial Eve

Mitochondrial Eve is the woman from who mall living humans today descend, on their mother's side, and through the mothers of those mothers and so on, back until all lines converge on one person. Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived around 200,000 years ago most likely in East Africa. even though all people have descended from this mitochondrial eve we all look different. This is because as people migrated from different people they adapted to different environments which had effects on them such as changes in their appearances.

Macon Dog Park Lab

For this lab we went to the Macon Dog Park called Tyler's Place. While at the park we took samples of the water in the park to see if there were any bacteria or parasites in the water. We also discussed the impact we thought the dog park had on the community. Dog parks can really make a community feel connected because most people will tend to go out to the dog parks with their dogs and be more social with other members of the community. Along with these perks there are sometimes downfalls to dog parks such as dog fights and owners not cleaning up after their dogs just to name a few.

Amphioxus

Amphioxus, also known as Lancelet, are found buried in the sand in shallow parts of temperate or tropical seas. They are an important object of study in zoology as they provide indications about the origins of the vertebrates. They serve as an intriguing comparison point for tracing how vertebrates have evolved and adapted. Even though Amphioxus split from vertebrates more than 520 million years ago, their genomes hold clues about evolution, particularly how vertebrates have employed old genes for new functions. They are regarded as similar to the archetypal vertebrate form.

They grow up to about 5 centimeters (2.0 in) long, reaching 7 centimeters (2.8 in) at the longest. They have a translucent, somewhat fish-like body, but without any paired fins or other limbs. A relatively poorly developed tail fin is present, but they are not especially good swimmers. In common with vertebrates, lancelets have a hollow nerve cord running along the back, pharyngeal slits and a tail that runs past the anus. Also like vertebrates, the muscles are arranged in blocks called myomeres.

Darwin's Dilema: The Burgess Shale, Hallucigenia

Hallucigenia is an organism that arose during the Cambrian explosion. It got its name from it strange and dreamlike appearance. It was 0.5-3 cm in length and lived on the sea floor. Figuring out how this creature functioned and whats its unique appendages were used for has proven difficult for scientists. While still debated, it is commonly thought that the blob on one of its ends functioned as a head-like structure even though it has no signs of a mouth, ears, or eyes. The six spines rising from one of its sides are paired with six tentacles on the other side. It is thought that it may have fed by either ingesting food through each of its tentacles or by passing food along with them to its 'head'.
An alternative interpretation considered Hallucigenia to be an appendage of a larger, unknown animal. There had been precedent for this, as the species Anomalocaris had been originally identified as three separate creatures before being identified as a single huge 3-foot-long creature. Given the uncertainty of its taxonomy, Hallucigenia was tentatively placed within the phylum Lobopodia.

I'm a Tree Hugger!

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)

Asarum canadense is commonly known as wild ginger. The long rhizomes of wild ginger were used by Native Americans as a seasoning. Although it is similar to true ginger, wild ginger should not be used as a substitute because it contains an unknown concentration of the carcinogen aristolochic acid. Native Americans used the plant as a medicinal herb to treat a number of ailments including dysentery, digestive problems, swollen breasts, coughs and colds, typhus, scarlet fever, nerves, sore throats, cramps, heaves, earaches, headaches, convulsions, asthma, tuberculosis, urinary disorders and venereal disease.

Jackson Springs and Geology

Jackson Springs Park is home to great examples of rocks located in the river bedrock and in the creek bed in the area. The bed of the river is mostly composed of mica. We then took samples from the creek bed to see the other rocks that were found naturally in the creek bed. The frocks found in the area were mainly granite, feldspar, and rocks composed from hornblende and quartz. We also observed the creek bed and the different sizes of grain. In the bed we found the sizes ranging from pebbles and sand to eventually silt.

Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake is a caldera lake located in Oregon. the lake is the main attraction of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fills a nearly 2,148-foot (655 m) deep caldera that was formed around 7,700 (± 150) years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. On the basis of maximum depth, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, the second deepest in North America , after Great Slave Lake in Canada, and the ninth deepest lake in the world. 

Due to several unique factors, most prominently that it has no inlets or tributaries, the waters of Crater Lake are some of the purest in terms of the absence of pollutants in North America. The lake has relatively high levels of dissolved salts, total alkalinity, and conductivity. The average pH has generally ranged between 7 and 8.While having no indigenous fish population, the lake was stocked from 1888 to 1941 with a variety of fish. Several species have formed self sustaining populations.

The caldera was created in a massive volcanic eruption that led to the subsidence of Mount Mazama around 5700 BC: about 50 cubic kilometers (12 cubic miles) of rhyodacite was erupted in this event. Since that time, all eruptions on Mazama have been confined to the caldera. Lava eruptions later created a central platform, Wizard Island, Merriam Cone, and other, smaller volcanic features, including a rhyodacite dome that was eventually created atop the central platform. Eventually, the caldera cooled, allowing rain and snow to accumulate and eventually form a lake. Landslides from the caldera rim thereafter formed debris fans and turbidite sediments on the lake bed. It is estimated that about 720 years was required to fill the lake to its present depth of 594 m. Much of this occurred during a period when the prevailing climate was less moist than at present.

The Klamath tribe of Native Americans, who may have witnessed the collapse of Mount Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake, have long regarded the lake as a sacred site. Their legends tell of a battle between the sky god Skell and Llao, the god of the underworld. Mount Mazama was destroyed in the battle, creating Crater Lake. The Klamath people used Crater Lake in vision quests,  which often involved climbing the caldera walls and other dangerous tasks. Those who were successful in such quests were often regarded as having more spiritual powers. The tribe still holds Crater Lake in high regard as a spiritual site.

Indian Mounds and Fall Line CIties

Macon, GA is located along a geographical feature known as the fall line. The fall line is the area where the upland region of the Piedmont meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Sites along the rivers on these fall lines have long been sought after by civilizations because they usually have rapids and waterfalls. These features can mark the head of navigation and are a good source of water power. The early settlers came to Macon because of its location on the river. The river supplied them with water and food. The later settlers were attracted to the area because of the trade that the river allowed.

Negative Feedback Loop

A negative feedback loop is a feedback loop in which a system responds to s change by returning to its original state, or by decreasing the rate at which the change is occurring.

An example of a negative feedback loop can be seen through the levels of sugar in the blood stream after eating a candy bar. The graph below shows how Dr. Rood's blood sugar reacted to a candy bar. You can see the response and return to homeostasis over a period of time.

Soil Taxonomy

USDA Soil Taxonomy developed by United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cooperative Soil Survey provides an elaborate classification of soil types according to several parameters (most commonly their properties) and in several levels: Order, Suborder, Great Group, Subgroup, Family, and Series. 

There are 12 different soil types. The like below shows them and gives a little information on them.
12 different soil types

The Macon community is starting to have community gardens. Many people think this is a good change for the community but many are concerned about community gardens in urban areas because of soil contaminants. Soil contaminants can damage whatever may be growing in the gardens. Click here for a link to the Macon Roots website to learn more.

Plants, Trees, and Flowers

Trees:

 

Ginkgo (Ginkgo Biloba)

 

Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)

Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

 

River Birch Tree (Betula nigra)

 

Willow Oak (Quercus phellos)

 

Plants:

Aloe Vera (Aloe vera)

Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)

 

 

Hosta (Undulata variegata)

 Elephant Ears (Colocasia esculenta)

Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

 

Flowers:

Rhododendron (Rhododendron Catawbiense)

Zinnia (Zinnia angustifolia)

Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia arorea)

Nandina (Nandina domestica)

Monkey Grass (Liriope spicata)

River Transect with Clam Data

This is a Google Earth image of part of the Ocmulgee River. In this lab we collected data in the river for how many clams were found in different sections of the river. The line segment across the river represents where we measured the depth of the river every ten feet. The graph below shows the depth.

 

The Atlantic Puffin

 

The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a seabird species in the auk family. Also known as the Common Puffin, it is the only puffin species which is found in the Atlantic Ocean. They feed primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. 

This bird is mainly black above and white below, with grey to white cheeks and red-orange legs. The bill is large and triangular and during the breeding season is bright orange with a patch of blue bordered by yellow at the rear.

This Atlantic Puffin breeds on the coasts of northern Europe, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, North America, and even within the Arctic Circle to northern Maine and France.

The population of puffins has started to decline. This may be due to increased predation by gulls and skuas, the introduction of rats, cats, dogs and foxes onto some islands used for nesting, contamination by toxic residues, drowning in fishing nets, declining food supplies, and climate change. I have always been interested in studying puffins ever since my childhood when I would visit my family in Alaska and see paintings of them in houses and museums, and read stories about them.

 

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum:    Chordata

Class:        Aves

Order:       Charadriiformes

Family:     Alcidae

Genus:      Fratercula

Species:    F. arctica

Isarithmic Map of Mean Annual Percipitation in Georgia

My Happy Place

This is a Google Earth picture of my happy place. My happy place is located in Fairbanks, Alaska. This is Where my Grandma lived until she passed away a few summers back. I spent a month there every summer since I was born.

Different Topographical Maps

                                                    Isarithmic Map

An isarithmic map is a map that depicts smooth continuous phenomena such as precipitation.




                                                    Choropleth Map

A choropleth map shows statistical data aggregated over predefined regions by coloring or shading.




                                                    Dot Density Map

A dot density map is a map used to locate each occurrence of a phenomenon. A dot may indicate any number of entities.