Weather Fronts

Cold Front- fast moving cold air meets slowly moving warm air and because cold air is denser it stays low to the ground and the warm air rises over it. As the warm air rises, it cools to the temperature that water vapor in the air condenses. Strong winds and thunderstorms are often linked with cold fronts and if there is enough moisture in the air, there could be heavy rain.

Warm Front- warm front happens when slowly moving warm air meets slowly moving cold air. The warm air rises over the cold air because it is less dense. Warm fronts are often accompanied by clouds, storms, and rain. Because the front moves slowly, the weather may be rainy or foggy for several days.

Stationary Front- a stationary front happens when cold air and warm air meets, but neither had enough force to move the other one. When the cold air and warm air meet the water vapor in the warm air condenses into rain, snow, fog, or clouds. The stationary front can remain over an area for many days.

Occluded Front- a occluded front occurs when warm air is caught between two cold air masses. The denser cold air pushes the warm air up and cuts it off from the ground. The weather may become rainy or snowy because the air by the ground becomes colder.

Which type of front occurred this week to bring the cold weather and then snow?
The weather front that occurred was an occluded front.

Voyage 3: 13 S Lima, Peru to 32 S Cape Town, South Africa

Travel time: 15 Days
Direction traveling:Southeast
Were you successful? Yes
How many attempts? Two
How were you successful? I set my course slanting slightly upward to battle the prevailing westerlies.
What winds did you take advantage of or compete with during your travel? The prevailing westerlies made it difficult to sail north.

Voyage 2: 45 N San Fransisco, United States to 28 S Sydney, Austrailia

Travel time: 13 Days
Direction traveling: Southwest
Were you successful? Yes
How many attempts? One
How were you successful? I payed attention to the prevailing westerlies and the trade winds.
What winds did you take advantage of or compete with during your travel? The prevailing westerlies and the trade winds.

Voyage 1:27 N Havana, Cuba to 48 N Londen, England

Travel time: 9 Days
Direction traveling:Northeast
Were you successful? Yes
How many attempts? One
How were you successful? I used the prevailing westerlies to travel Northeast.
What winds did you take advantage of or compete with during your travel? The prevailing westerlies helped me reach my destination faster by blowing me North, the direction I wanted to go, but I also had to change my course because the winds blew me North of my set course.

Atmospheric Factors Effecting Climate

This is my atmosphere post. Hope you enjoy!

Acid Rain

Acid rain is rain that is more acidic than usual. Acid rain is formed when nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, which are formed from burning coal, combine with water in the air. This forms nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Acid rain is a problem because it can make lakes and ponds so acidic that plants, amphibians, fish, and insects can no longer live there. Acid rain can also be strong enough to damage the surface of buildings and statues. In the U.S., the government has passed a number of laws to reduce air pollution. The amounts of major air pollutants have decreased and newer cars and power plants are less polluting than old ones. Also, individual people can take voluntary measures like using public transport instead of driving.Acid rain is a big problem, but maybe in the future, near or far, the problem will improve.

Earth's Atmosphere

Earth's atmosphere make Earth different from other planets and moons without an atmosphere for in many ways. The atmosphere is very important for Earth to maintain a temperature suitable for life. Without an atmosphere the Earth would get very hot when the sun hits it and then very cold when the sun goes away. A part of the atmosphere called the ozone layer blocks harmful UV(ultra-violet) radiation. Without an atmosphere there would be no air, and so no oxygen and other gases that living things need to survive. One last difference is that without an atmosphere, all meteors aimed at the moon strike it. When a meteor enters Earth's atmosphere, it usually burns up before reaching the earth. Even those who do hit, their craters are eroded by the weather, which moons and planets that don't have an atmosphere do not have. Earth's atmosphere causes many differences between Earth and other planets and also make it possible to be inhabited by life.

Space Exploration

Space Exploration

The Science of Rockets
Rockets have three stages, Atlas, Centaur, and the payload. Atlas uses both solid-fuel boosters and liquid-fuel engines to launch the payload into space. Centaur maneuvers into proper orbit using liquid-fuel engines. The third stage is the payload, which is the satellite or spacecraft carried by the rocket.

The Space Program
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was begun in 1958. Some important projects were Project Mercury, Project Gemini, and Project Apollo. Apollo 13 seemed at first to go smoothly but then the oxygen tank blew up. After surviving frigid temperatures and dehydration, the crew landed safely in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa. The end of Project Apollo was not the end of lunar exploration, three NASA spacecrafts have visited the moon since 1972.

Exploring Space Today
A new type of technology includes a small robot called a "personal satellite assistant." This robot is powered by solar cells and is equipped with many sensors to monitor temperature, pressure, and air quality. It uses small internal fans to change course or move in various directions.

Using Space Science on Earth
According to NASA, less than one percent of the U.S. budget is spent on the space program. Many people believe that the money would be better spent elsewhere. To counter these arguments, NASA includes a detailed justification of space exploration on the program website.

The Moon, Eclipses, and Tides

Rotation and Revolution

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Seasons

Seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth's axis as it revolves around the sun. During the Summer the Sun's rays are more direct. Also, the Sun is higher in the sky and the days are longer. When it's Autumn or Spring, daytime hours and nighttime hours are relatively equal. In the winter, there is very little direct sunlight and the days are shorter. as the Earth moves around the sun, the place on earth that receives the most direct sunlight changes. The more direct sunlight, the higher the solar energy, and the hotter the weather.

Perspective

The book zoom by Istvan Banyal shows perspective in an unusual way. Each picture zooms out from the previous picture, giving you a broader idea of what is happening. The picture would have clues of what the next picture will be, but it's still difficult to guess. It shows that to gain a better perspective, you have to look at the big picture. There is almost always smaller details and almost always a bigger idea.
Many times you think you are seeing something accurately, but when you change your perspective you see it differently. An example is that my sister gave me a puzzle that had five towers. You had to draw two lines to "complete the pattern." Then my sister gave me a clue, "think in perspective." when you flip the picture over, the tops of the towers become the letters U, V, W, and Y. One tower doesn't have a letter. Adding to lines to the top of that tower to make an X completes the pattern. To alter your perspective you can change the way you are looking at something, like turning it upside down. Experience and knowledge can also change your perspective.
Someone that is interested in close-up data is gathering information from a small field of information. Someone interested in gathering data from a larger perspective might be studying a big idea. In Astronomy it might be important to be aware of perspective because space and everything in it are so gigantic. Small details don't seem as important whan something so large. Although, sometimes it's important to slow down and take a closer look at something.

Voki

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Enigma Box

There are five important skills that scientists use. The skills are observing, inferring, predicting, classifying, and model making. When a scientist observes, they use one or more of their senses to gather information. There are two kinds of observations, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative observations deal with numbers or an amount. Qualitative observations are observations that cannot be expressed in numbers. The second skill is inferring, or explaining or interpreting the things you observe. The next skill is close to inferring, but not the same. Predicting is making a forecast of what will happen based on past experience or evidence. Classifying, or the process of grouping together items that are alike in some way, is the third skill. The last but not least important skill is model making. Scientists make models to explain complex ideas. All five skills are very important in science and in every day life.
The Enigma Box is an opaque, black, rectangle. It has one small hole and one big hole in the top. Also there is a tube coming out of the bottom. When 100mL is poured into the box, nothing comes out of the tube. Once 300mL of water is poured in, a few drops come out. After 500mL of water has been poured in, the dripping changes into a stream of water and it all comes out.
If I could see inside the box , I believe that there would be a spiral of tubing that slopes up at some point. The little bit of water that is poured into the box in the beginning collects at the bottom of the tube. When more water is poured in, the water fills up the tube to the point where is can overflow. Once the water starts coming out, the force will pull the rest of the water out. Something like this is a syphon, which is used in many drains. Also, when we drain our hot tube we put a hose in the water the hang the other end over the porch railing. After the water gets flowing, the rest drains out.
The inside of the Enigma Box is just one loop of tubing. Once the water poured inside reaches the overflow level the water starts flowing out. The force of the water coming out pulls the rest of the water out the tube. A few drops of water is left in the tube and when water is poured in, the pressure pushes the drops out. This explains the dripping in the beginning. Figuring out what was inside the box was difficult, it truly was a "puzzle box."