♥ Wednesday, February 25, 2009 ♥

Mr Heah didnt come, once again.

A pretty female teacher came (sorry i forgot her name) and planned to show us a DVD. However, since our projector sucks, she could just do revision with us first. We recapitulated what we have discussed last lesson, the two questions which Xinyi has already pointed out in her post. I really think the teacher is very good. She made me much clearer about what we have learnt through explaining it as a system. For example, the exist of seasons is not because the difference in distance between Earth and Sun, but the intensity of sunlight. The tilted axid of Earth causes one place to experience different sunlight intensity during different time within a year. That is quite fun!(:

She answered some other questions we asked and finish the revision. Then she decided to let us watch the show directly through her computer screen. We squeezed together and watch although not everybody could see clearly. The position I chose is just ok, so lucky I got things to write now!(: The video we watched is called The Private Live of Plants. It showed us many beautiful scenes of plants and it was that enjoyable.

The explorer brought us to a mountain, at where he found some interesting plants growing in the rocks. It a kind of algae plant which develops slowly in the rocks and then makes them look fantastic. He also found some tiny flowers struggling in between the rocks. Oh man, plants are so strong! They can even survive within such a harsh environment. Plants can adopt their growing condition no matter it is cold or hot, wet or dry. The explorer then shifted to another mountain all covered with snow. We saw some trace of plants but it seemed they have already died under the snow. However, the video used fast-foward effect and made the time fly. The snow gradually melted and we saw the leaves and stems of the plants. They turned back to live! And then sunshine came out, the plants growed further and even started to bloom. The flowers were that cute! They always faced the sun and followed its movement. And at night, they folded their petal. Then we travelled to a extremely hot and dry desert. The plants there all got their own way to deal with the weather. For example, the cactus got needle-shaped leaved to prevent excess loss of water and they got peat-trunk to store water. Another dont-know-what-it-is-called plant buried its main body deeply in the ground and just sent its transparent "window"to the surface of ground to absorb the sunlight for its photosynthesis. Sometimes, it does rain for even 20 years, but the plants could even survive and grow super fast when precipitation comes. The explorer poured a cup of water to a plant which seems have been thirsty for quite a long time. It immediately extend its leaves and stand up. Before long, we saw the flowers just came out. Since in desert, there is not much food provided for plants. Some of them learnt how to capture insects and get nutrients from them. This types of plants are normally quite beautiful and fragrant so that they can attract their preys. The last place the explorer brought us to is the hot rain forest in Mountain Roramia. We saw the mangroves growing in the water. Sometimes the tide might submerge the mangroves and them need to hold their breath until coming out of the water. It is so cool! And also, they can drop their seeds directly into the water, some of the seeds just get into the mud and grow while others are brought away by the waves and develops their generation away from their parents.

Around our Earth, climates are different according to the location. Plants in different place respond to the climate and form their specilized features. Our nature is a system and all parts of it are affecting each other.

Labels: plant video

Crapped at 5:02 AM - 2 comments

♥ Monday, February 23, 2009 ♥

Mr heah didnt come today!

today we had to answer 2 questions.
1) Explain the distribution of Earth's Climate.
2) Why are there seasons?

We have learnt in previous lessons that is it crucial to break down the question that we are going to answer in parts. By doing so, we will be questioning the question. A recap of what we did in class for question 1: what is distribution and what is climate? You should know the answers already, since we went through them in class.

Then, we were split up into groups to answer either one of the question and my group had to answer question 2. For the Q2, you may ask what are seasons? I believe that most of you know what seasons are so i don't think i need to explain. (FYI, this is what i got from wiki "A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather")

Reading the notes provide us with sufficient information to answer the question. But if we have to explain our answers to our classmates, we can't possibly read out the entire stack of notes to them. So when we are asked to answer a question using the information given, we have to sift out the important points in the notes tso as to answer the question.

Today, when we were asked to explain to the other half of the class why there are seasons, one of the groups simply used one sentence from the notes to answer the question. (The sentence is "The changing orientation of the hemispheres with regard to the sun is the true cause of the seasons".) At first, i thought this was an excellent answer, but when i tried to use this sentence to explain to another group, i realise that is it not so easy to understand that sentence! some people would just go like "huh?" when they read it. (which they did. heh.) There is more than just answering the question, we have to understand the process which takes place as well. The sentence above does not explain how the changing orientation of the hemispheres with regard to the sun causes the different seasons. I believe that using one of the diagrams in the notes (figure 2-11) to explain why there are season is will be much more effective, allowing for the group to better understand the concept and to answer the question as well.

All in all, when we are answering a question, we can't simply copy and paste from the notes. We should understand the infomation on the notes and answer the question based on our understanding, possibly even rephrasing it in a suitable manner. Afterall, what mr heah have been emphasizing that we should understand these concepts so that we don't end up mugging and memorising like mad before the exam! :D

Crapped at 6:50 AM - 1 comments

♥ Thursday, February 19, 2009 ♥

Yay! My turn to post! Heehee!

SO! Today we learnt how to answer questions about climographs! Before today's lesson, I looked at the example for Singapore's climograph and thought,"Oh no! It is impossible to memorise such a long paragraph full of information on that climograph!" Fret not! Because after the lesson, I've learnt that with a little bit of common sense and understanding, climograph questions are not all that scary!

Firstly, we have learnt that climate is all about how wet and warm the place is. Therefore, a climograph will show how wet and warm a particular place is!
These are some things to take note of when answering climograph questions:
1. Think of wet and warm. Be concise in what you want to say, do not write long sentences which would complicate the simple meaning you are trying to bring across.
2. Notice the shape of the graph of the temperature, those in the northern hemisphere would have a different shape of those in the southern hemisphere.
3. Check for any abnormalies! For example if the shape of the temperature graph does not fit or correspond to those of its seasons.
4. Don't just use wet, dry, warm and cold. Add adjectives to show how wet or dry like MILDLY wet or VERY dry or INTENSE precipitation.
With these points to take note of when writing, your answer will be more precise and have less mistakes!
That's all for the points!

Today, we have also learnt that the shapes of the temperature graph is affected by which hemisphere it is in and the season too. The climographs of countries in the northern hemisphere have a "n" shape while those in the southern hemisphere has a "u" shape. Also, the amount of precipitation affects the temperature. With little precipitation, the temperature would be high. What I've found interesting is the part on Mcmurdo station. It seems that its temperature graph is flatter when it is between April to September. This is because it is positioned such that when the earth rotates on its axis, it will not recieve any sunlight at all thus the temperature remains almost the same because it has no season as it is not recieving any sunlight.

I have certainly been enlightened today because the climograph question originally got me worried since there was so much information needed in that short paragraph. I was worried if I would be able to remember what kind of information to include inside or whether there was anything extra that I was writing into the answer. However, after the lesson, I got a better understanding of how to answer the question and why I must include this answer. Now it seems a lot easier because after writing something, I can easily link it to another piece of information on the climograph and include it in and so on. :D

Haha! Now everyone! Comment on this blog entry the climograph description for the different countries! Yay!

Crapped at 6:47 AM - 4 comments

♥ Monday, February 16, 2009 ♥

Do u fully understand climate change? How has the climate been changing so far? In order to answer these questions, it is important to know about the types of climate and their distribution throughout the world.

Firstly, we have to understand the difference between climate and weather. Both refers to the atmospheric conditions of a specific location with the only difference whereby climate describes the condions that occurs over a long period of time while weather decribes that of a short term of time. The atmospheric condtions generally refer to how warm and wet the place is.

In order to know about the climate condtions of a country, the easiest way is by referring to climographs. So what is a climograph? It is a representation of the climitic conditions in that particular country. It contains the values of the monthly average temperature and the monthly average rainfall of that country.

Below shows how you can read a climograph:

In order to describe this climograph in details, below is the format that you can follow
*refer to the above mindmap on atmospheric condtions for describing climograph

-the general temperature pattern (constant or not?)

-the range of the temperature

-the general pattern of the precipitation(even? high?)

-indicate the dry season (months with lesser rainfall as compared to other months) with the approximate range

-indicate the wet season (months with more rainfall as comapred to other months) with the appoximate range

-finally, the climate type of the country (temperate or tropical etc) Above shows the general division of the climate types at different parts of the world. (Remember what's the other term to describe the tropics? (ans: torrid) and polar regions?(ans: frigid==> with courtesy to mr.heah's explanation =D. If it is easier to remember the climatic conditions of each climate type with this interesting explanation!)

I feel that it is very important to know the climatic conditions of the different countries for very basic reasons such as traveling, migration etc. By knowing the climatic condtions, we can also infer about the economic activities such as the types of agriculture cultivation. Remembering how space shapes people, we will able to know about the living lifestyles and the cultures of other places too. Just by knowing the climatic condtions, we can get to know so much more about other places. Isn't it amazing?

Extra:

When you hear a thunder roaring, tell your surrounding people that the process is called nitrogen fixation! *with courtesy to mr.heah's explanation

(lightning is 5 times hotter than sun surface-->heats up air-->burns nitrogen-->expansion-->loud explosion (thunder)-->nitrogen dioxide-->dissolves in water-->nitric acid-->fall as rain-->seeps into soil-->bacteria converts nitric acid to nitrates-->absorbed by plants as nutrients-->taken in by humans)

Crapped at 6:03 AM - 2 comments

♥ Saturday, February 14, 2009 ♥

Today, we learn about 3 types of rain: convectioned rain, frontal rain and relief/orographic rain.

Frontal rain:

∗ Warm air meets cold air.
Cold air meets/collides/move into warm air.
∗ Warm air is force to rise.
∗ Adiabatic cooling

∗ Rain
∗Located at temperate regions.

Relief/ orographic rain:

∗ Moisture – laden air from the sea.
∗ Relief of the land/mountain forces air to rise.
∗ Adiabatic cooling
∗ Water vapour condenses.
∗ Rain leeward side.
∗ Rain shadow – dry ( ↓ moisture, air sink )

Convectioned rain:
∗ Heat from sun to ground.
∗ Heat from the ground heats the air above.
∗ Evaporation from the sea.
∗ Warm air rises.
∗ Adiabatic cooling.
∗ Rain.
∗ Located at tropical region.
∗ Only occur in the afternoon and evening.

Above are the summary and diagrams of the 3 types of rain. In today lesson, Mr.Heah let us discuss first, gave us some clues, and then we had to come out with the answer based on our own knowledge. At first, everybody said they were not sure of their answers or it would probably be wrong. However, all groups got it right in the end. Mr.Heah proved his point here ☺, which is, “In fact, we know everything in geography, it is only that we haven’t organized our knowledge” ☺

Crapped at 7:26 PM - 5 comments

♥ Monday, February 9, 2009 ♥

okay, today we watched a video, "The inconvenient truth" and the blog post will answer the question "To what extent should we be concerned about carbon dioxide emissions?" based on it. Basically, our Earth is livable due to the presence of the atmosphere. However, it is very thin, and vulnerable such that we can change its composition. Although one may arue that the atmosphere is really huge, it is actually only as thick as a coat of varnish on a ball, imagining that the ball is of the sanme size as the Earth, so ya, our atmosphere is really thin. Apparently, our atmosphere keeps our Earth warm by retaining some of the sun's radiation, however, it is thickening as increasing carbon dioxide is being emitted. This thickening of the atmosphere is resulting in more outgoing infrared radiation to get trapped and thus leading to global warming.

The concentration of carbon dioxide is also directly proportional to the temperature. In 650, 000 years in the past, the carbon dioxide level never exceeded 300 million parts per million, now however, it far exceeds 300 million parts and this level is predicted to go up for the next 50 years or more. More carbon dioxide in the air will also just mean a higher tenperature of the Earth as more heat is trapped from the Sun. Global warming thus occurs.

Global warming is having negative effects world widely. One example is the rise in temperature leading to the melting of glaciers world-wide and the Himalayas. However, the spring water from the Himalayas is providing 40% of the earth's population with water supply, and the melting of the whole Himalayas will just result in this 40% without water.

One of the effect of global warming that is often unnoticed is the increase in precipitation worldwide. When there are storm conditions, all these precipitate will just come down together. One example is the rain in India when there was 37 inches of rain within 24 hours, resulting in the biggest downpour ever in India. However, the precipitate is often relocated due to global warming, causing floods and droughts to occur simultaneously in neighbouring provinces. lakes are also dried up and water is evaporated from oceans and even soil. People then have to be relocated as where they live are often determined by climate patterns and global wamring is changing these patterns.

The Arctic is one of the places which is receiving the fastest impact of global wamring. Permafrost is thawing, resulting in the collapsing of buildings and trees not standing straight. Moreover, in 1970, there was a decrease in the amount, extent and thickness of th Arctic ice cap by about 40%. By an approximate 40 to 50 years time, it is guessed that the ice cap would have be completely gone.

With global warming, polar bears are also for the first times, reported to drown. This is due to the decrease in ice in the oceans. When the sun shnes, the ice reflects back the heat while the open ocean absorbs the sun energy. Withthe rising temperature, the water absorbs more heat energy and warms up, thus melting the ice into open waters. As a result, there is no more ice to reflect the sun's energy but all has melted to become water, absorbing the heat energy. This causes polar bears to swim for miles looking for ice, yet being unable to find one and drowning.

There are also planetary effects which will be affected. Heat is regulated by wind and ocean currents. These currents are formed when water sinks due to higher density from the salt content and becomes cold water. The cold water sinks at 5 billion gallons per second which results in the direction of the currents to go South resulting in the currents. With this, an ncrease of 5 degrees of the Earth, the equator increases by 1 degree while the poles increase by 12 degrees and the Earth's average temperature is 55.8 degree farenheight. However, these currents can be disrupted. For example, when the dam at the Great Lakes(melted water) broke, water gushed out and reduced the concentration of salt content in the water, causing the currents to jam.

Glabal warming can also result in a change in seasons, like for the hatching seasons of animals. In the past, the peak of hatching seasons for the birds and worms are the same, thus the birds will always have enough food to eat. However, recently, the peak of the hatching season for the worms are earlier and the hatching season for the birds is unable to catch up with it, thus leading to hunger of the birds.

Number of days with frost are also decreasing with the years. Pine beetles which are often killed by the frost can now survive more due to the days of frost decreasing. This will then lead to the destruction and devastation of the pine trees): Furthermore, due to higher temperatures, mosquitoes can climb to higher altitudes and new diseases such as SARS are emerging. Diseases such as Avian flu and West Nile, which were under control for a very long time, have also re emerged. Coral reefs have been bleached and organisms dependent on it are also affected.

Someone also mentioned that ice shelves in Antartica breaking is a great alarm bell for glabal warming. That is exaclty what is happening, one example is Larsen B. With this breaking ice shelves(floating ice), pools of water used to find the problem are increasing. Land based ce supported by the floating ice also falls into the ocean, increasing the sea level. One analogy provided was the one of ice cubes in a cup. When the ice cube is already in the liquid, melting of it will not raise the water level. However, when the ice cube is resting on the top of other ice cubes, melting of the paricular ice cube which is not in contact with the liquid, the water level will rise and lead to over flowing. This is what is happening in the oceans))): Also, lakes which were expected to refreeze form moulins instead..

Another effect of global warming is the melting of greenland reulting in the map having to be redrawn. This is because of the melting of Greenland keeps occuring, other places such as San Francisco, Netherlands, Beijng, Shanghai, Florida,Calcutta and east Bangladesh will be underwater. these places which have approximately 100 million people will then have to relocate the people.

Outside the video!!
right, Mr Heah said that the tipping point is the point when positive or negative feedback has no more power. For example, when a body is super super super cold, it can only shiver this much and will thus eventually die. yeps, of vice versa when the body is super super super hot, it can also only perspire this much before it finally dies):

okay, so yea, tt's bout it, except that in a essay, we must not just keep wondering "WHAT points" to write but "WHAT TYPE of points" to write so that we won't keep writing and writing thinking that we have a lot of points only to realise later that all the points are just different examples of A SINGLE point(:

Crapped at 3:49 AM - 9 comments

♥ Thursday, February 5, 2009 ♥

Crapped at 6:44 AM - 4 comments

♥ Tuesday, February 3, 2009 ♥

Yesterday's (monday 02/02/09) lesson was mainly about the question we were given: How severe is the impact of man on the carbon cycle?

We learnt during the lesson that the carbon cycle is like a system, and with systems, balance/equlibrium is tried to be achieved. Mr Heah gave an example of the human body whereas when it is cold, our body would shiver to gain heat. And when it is hot, our body would perspire to lose heat. Either negative or positive feedback occurs when the system is not in an equilibrium and the system would try to discourage change during negative feedback, and would encourage change during positive feedback. An example Mr Heah gave for positive feedback is labour contractions. When the womb (is it the womb? Oops not sure!) muscles contract, postive feedback is sent to the muscles, producing a substance. The substance causes the muscles to contract even more, causing more pain.

After Mr Heah talked about the systems, he talked about the question in our assignment paper. How severe is the impact of man on the carbon cycle? He mentioned that most people would just Google/Wiki the term carbon cycle, and talk about it in the essay. But in the end, they'd get a B grade. Instead, what we should do is to break down the question and question the terms in it (for an A grade essay!).

The carbon cycle is actually a balanced system, but with the inteference of man, the amount of carbon increased greatly. Instead of solving the problems, man is making it worse. Within the cycle, man are adding on to the amount of carbon by burning up fossil fuels, as well as producers. Plants, the only producers, are being burned down to make more space for man, and this is causing deforestation. Not only that, plants actually remove CO2, but without them, not only would CO2 be unable to be removed, it is added on. All this extra carbon dioxide is being added on to the atmostphere, causing many implications, like on the weather. Now the main thing is to solve this problem and stop adding on carbon dioxide to the atmostphere. Solutions should not be making things worse and should be effective. So what should they be? We'd have to think about it.

Overall I think yesterday's lesson was very enriching because what was taught to us would aid us a lot in our assignment. From how systems work, to how we should break down the question to answer them part by part. These pointers would help us analyze the assignment better and guide us along better as well.

Crapped at 9:00 AM - 10 comments

08IP03! (:

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