This is the ENV 1300 L Lab Book. It consists of 39 pages so if you are going to print it this is a good time to check your paper….

There are 10 exercises

Exercise 1 – Basics of the Lithosphere

Exercise 2 – Impacts on the Lithosphere

Exercise 3 – Basics on the Hydrosphere

Exercise 4 – Impacts on the Hydrosphere

Exercise 5 – Basics on the Atmosphere

Exercise 6- Impacts on the Atmosphere

Exercise 7 – Basics of the Biosphere

Exercise 8 – Impacts on the Biosphere

Exercise 9 – World population

Exercise 10 – Consumption of Resources

Some of these lab exercises require you to gather data from home before coming to class so be sure to read ahead each week…

Exercise 1 –Basics of the Lithosphere

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The labs are broken down to cover the various spheres of the earth system: lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. Each will include an introductory section and follow with a section on impacts. In the introductory section you will answer a series of questions. You are encouraged to use your text book from ENV 1300, or other sources. Submit your answers to me as a hard copy unless other arrangements have been agreed upon before hand.

The lithosphere is that part of the earth system that consists of rock, minerals and soils but also includes the physical geology, landforms etc. of the earth’s surface. The llthosphere is that part of the earth that lies above the asthenosphere. Answer the following questions and submit them to me.

1. What is a mineral?

2. What is a rock?

3. What is the difference between chemical and physical weathering?

4. What is sedimentation?

5. What is soil and what is it composed of?

6. What is soil texture and how is soil texture determined?

7. What are the 3 types of soils (based on particle size)? (What three mineral particles is soil composed of?)

8. What is the term used when no particular size particles dominate the soil?

9. How does soils particles size affect soil?

10. Which of the 3 soil types is the smallest? The largest?

11. What is humus and what is its function?

12. What important function do microorganisms perform in soil?

Exercise 2 – Impacts of the Lithosphere

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Impacts in the lithosphere include pollution of the soils, erosion and sedimentation, geologic hazards associated with development (unstable slopes, development in seismic zones, etc.).

Objective

For this exercise, you are being asked to conduct a home hazardous materials audit. This exercise will expose you (figuratively!) to hazardous materials in use everyday in and around your home.

Directions

This exercise consists of seven steps. It is important that you complete the steps in order. Please read the exercise completely before you begin. This will help you in carrying out the directions and optimize the success of the exercise. Also, please be sure to make a backup of the exercise as you proceed.

Exercise 2:

Step One – Introduction to Household Hazardous Waste

Go to the website http: http://www.7metasearch.com/ This website is a very powerful Internet metasearch engine that performs searches of lots of other search engines. In the search box type in hazardous household waste and several websites will appear. Visit various hazardous waste websites and answer the following questions.

1. What is household hazardous waste?

2. What are some of the dangers associated with household hazardous waste?

3. Why is proper use and storage of household hazardous waste important?

4. Why should leftover household hazardous waste never be mixed with other products?

5. List 4 or 5 ways that household hazardous waste can be minimized.

Step Two- The Home Hazardous Materials Inventory

A large number of hazardous materials are used in and around the home. In step two, you are to conduct a physical inventory of potentially hazardous materials.

Go through each room/area in your home as directed below. For each room/area, identify all the potentially hazardous materials that are stored or used in each area and enter their names in the space provided. Some of you may not have all six room/areas in your house. If you do not, simply enter the phrase "not applicable".

For each product identified, indicate whether there is some type of warning about using the product. If there is a warning, indicate the type of warning or provide the description in the space provided. (If you need more space, just type in the column and it will become larger.) Answer the questions at the end when you have completed the inventory.

Room/area	Product Name	Warning (yes/no)	Warning type or description
Kitchen
Bathroom
Laundry
Garden
Garage or Workshop
Basement

1. Was this inventory difficult to complete? Why or why not?

2. Are you surprised by the results of the inventory, If so, in what way?

Step Three – Hazardous Chemical Ingredient Identification

In step three, you are to conduct research on the characteristics of five potentially hazardous materials identified in step one.

Select five products, from the lists compiled for step two, which you think may contain the most hazardous materials. Identify the five products below and list their chemical ingredients. If you have a product for which the ingredients are not listed, select a product that does have ingredients listed. Answer the questions at the end when you are finished with the ingredient identification.

Product	Chemical Ingredients
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1. Did the products you believe to be hazardous, for the most part, have the ingredients identified?

2. Was the ingredient labeling information clear and consistent from product to product?

3. Was the warning label information clear and consistent on the five products identified?

4. Describe or provide examples of how the product warnings were labeled.

Step Four – Hazardous Ingredient Identification

For each of the five products, select two ingredients which you suspect to be hazardous. For example, for a can of insecticide with two active ingredients listed at a concentration of .05% each and .090% inert ingredients, it is likely that the two active ingredients are more hazardous than the inert ingredients. Use your judgment and intuition. Once you have selected the two ingredients from each product, enter their names below. If a product only appears to have one hazardous ingredient, just list the one ingredient and enter the phrase "not applicable" in the space for the second ingredient.

Product Name

Ingredient #1

Ingredient #2

Step Five – Hazardous Ingredient Research

Now comes the fun part (if researching hazardous ingredients can be considered fun). For five of the ingredients listed in step four, you are to use the Internet to access information about the nature of their hazard.

Go to http://www.orcbs.msu.edu/chemical/nfpa/nfpa.html Review the system developed for indicating the health, flammability and reactivity hazards of chemicals. Find one of the above ingredients in the index and enter the rating index in the following table. If you cannot find the ingredient, then select another of the ten ingredients. The goal is to get information on five of the ten ingredients. Answer the question below.

Ingredient

Health

Flammability

Reactivity

Special (if applicable)

1. Explain the differences between the different chemical hazard labels.

When you have finished with the NFPA Chemical Hazard Labels, go to the Environmental Defense Fund’s Chemical Scorecard, http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/ . Enter an ingredient name from above in the search box and hit go. In the next screen click on CHEMICAL REFERENCE FOR your ingredient and then click on chemical scorecard. Provide the following information for each ingredient. Answer the questions at the end of each ingredient profile.

Ingredient One:

1. Health Hazard:
2. Chemical Use Profile
3. Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US:
4. Regulatory Coverage:
5. Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards:
6. Information Needed for Safety Assessment:

Question #1: Of the six categories listed how many have little or no information for this ingredient?

Question #2: What percentage of the six categories have little or no information for this ingredient?

Ingredient Two:

1. Health Hazard:
2. Chemical Use Profile
3. Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US:
4. Regulatory Coverage:
5. Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards:
6. Information Needed for Safety Assessment:

Question #1: Of the six categories listed how many have little or no information for this ingredient?

Question #2: What percentage of the six categories have little or no information for this ingredient?

Ingredient Three:

1. Health Hazard:
2. Chemical Use Profile
3. Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US:
4. Regulatory Coverage:
5. Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards:
6. Information Needed for Safety Assessment:

Question #1: Of the six categories listed how many have little or no information for this ingredient?

Question #2: What percentage of the six categories have little or no information for this ingredient?

Ingredient Four:

1. Health Hazard:
2. Chemical Use Profile
3. Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US:
4. Regulatory Coverage:
5. Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards:
6. Information Needed for Safety Assessment:

Question #1: Of the six categories listed how many have little or no information for this ingredient?

Question #2: What percentage of the six categories have little or no information for this ingredient?

Ingredient Five:

1. Health Hazard:
2. Chemical Use Profile
3. Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US:
4. Regulatory Coverage:
5. Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards:
6. Information Needed for Safety Assessment:

Question #1: Of the six categories listed how many have little or no information for this ingredient?

Question #2: What percentage of the six categories have little or no information for this ingredient?

Now let's examine each profile category individually. For each category, calculate the percentage of little or no information provided for all five ingredients.

First, determine the number of ingredients for which there was little or no information. For example, if two of the five ingredients had no information on health hazards, enter the number 2 below.

Then provide the percentage. Two of five equals 40%. What this says, then, is that 40% of the five ingredients did not have information on health hazards. After each category below, list the actual number of ingredients with no information and then the percentage of ingredients with no information. (For the example given above, Health Hazard would list as 2, 40%.)

Category	Actual number of ingredients with no information	Percentage of ingredients with no information.
Health Hazard:
Chemical Use Profile
Rank Chemicals by Reported Environmental Releases in the US
Regulatory Coverage
Basic Testing to Identify Chemical Hazards
Information Needed for Safety Assessment

1. Now, let’s calculate the overall average percentage for all six categories. To do this, add the percentages for the six categories and divide by 6.

2. Enter the overall average percentage here:

3. Is the amount of information available on the ingredients you selected consistent with what you thought you’d find? Why or why not?

Step Six – Hazardous Material Disposal

In this part of the exercise, you are asked to contact your local authorities to determine what type of system is in place for homeowners to dispose of hazardous materials.

To do this, check with the town or county in which you reside. There should be an office of solid waste. If you have trouble locating the proper office, call either the mayor's office or the county executive's office. Once you find someone (who you think has some idea of what you are talking about) ask that individual the following question using the five products from step three. Record the information conveyed to you in the space provided and answer the questions at the end. Keep track of the number of phone calls it takes you to find the person with the information you are seeking.

"I live in ________________ town/county and I have a number of products in my home which I'd like to get rid of in an environmentally responsible manner. Can you please tell me how to get rid of ____________________?"

1. What town/county do you live in?

2. When you made the phone calls, please record below the information conveyed to you for each product.

· Product #1

· Product #2

· Product #3

· Product #4

· Product #5

3. Describe your search process to acquire the information.

4. If you had to make phone calls, how many did you have to make?

5. Was the individual/individuals with whom you eventually spoke knowledgeable and forthcoming with information? Why or why not?

6. Do you think that your town/county handles household hazardous waste in an appropriate manner? Why or why not?

Step Seven – Hazardous Product Alternatives

In this final step of the exercise, you are asked to conduct research to identify less hazardous substances for each of the five products you've identified. There are lots of ways to do this. The solid waste official that you talk to in step six may be able to recommend alternatives. You could go to a library and find a home ecology book or catalog that has alternatives listed or search the web. Lastly, you might visit the following web sites: http://www.hawaii.gov/doh/eh/eiwmpp02.htm

http://www.metrokc.gov/dnr/kidsweb/hhw/hhwalts.htm (Yes, even kids are learning about alternatives to hazardous products)

Once you have identified alternatives, record what you have found out below. Complete the questions at the end.

1. Record your findings below:
• Product One Name & Alternative
• Product Two Name & Alternative
• Product Three Name & Alternative
• Product Four Name & Alternative
• Product Five Name & Alternative

2. Did you have difficulty finding out information about alternatives?

3. Which was easier, finding information about how to dispose of hazardous materials appropriately in your town/county or finding out information about alternatives? Why or why not?

4. Has this exercise changed your perception at all about household hazardous waste? Why or why not?

5. What was most surprising about the information you uncovered while doing this exercise?

Exercise 3 – Basics of the Hydrosphere

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Objective

For this exercise, you are being asked to conduct a personal water usage audit. This exercise will show you how, and how much, water you use every day and well help you understand where your water comes from and where it goes to.

Directions

This exercise consists of five steps. It is important that you complete the steps in order. Please read the exercise completely before you begin. This will help you in carrying out the directions and optimize the success of the exercise. Also, please be sure to make a backup of the exercise as you proceed. When you are finished the exercise, upload it back into the assignment section like you did for your practice exercise.

Exercise 3:

Step One – Introduction Part I and II

Part 1 – Visit the website http://www.epa.gov/safewater/index.html and then click on Drinking Water and Health Basis. Answer the following questions. The questions can be answered by clicking on: What contaminants may be found in drinking water? Where does drinking water come from? How is drinking water treated? And in the second paragraph “recommendations for their owners”.

6. Where does our drinking water come from? Include both types of water supply and their sources. We also use this water for cleaning, bathing, watering our yards and flushing away our waste.

7. What is a watershed and what part does it play in our drinking water?

8. What is the most common drinking water treatment and what does it accomplish?

9. Described the basic water treatment process including these steps:

· coagulation:

· sedimentation:

· filtration:

· disinfection:

· storage:

10. All water contains some impurities. Where do these impurities come from?

11. When are impurities considered contaminants and where do the contaminants found in water come from?

12. Is bottled water free of contaminants?
13. List and describe one contaminant from each group:

· Microbes:

· Inorganics:

· Organics:

· Disinfectants:

14. If someone has a private well, how can they protect their water supply?

Part II – Once we use water it may go to a septic system or it may go to a wastewater treatment plant. Visit the West Point Treatment Plant web site http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/westpoint/index.htm which describes the basic process of wastewater treatment; read “The process” and then click on “What Takes Place at West Point” and answer the following questions:

1. What happens in preliminary treatment and how is this accomplished?

2. What happens in primary treatment and what happens to the solids removed here?

3. What happens in secondary treatment? (Include what occurs in the aeration basin, in secondary clarifiers and what occurs after it leaves the clarifiers)

4. What happens to the water once it has been treated?

5. What is solids processing?

6. What are biosolids and what are they used for?

Step Two- Personal Water Use Audit
Keep track of the water you personally use for a 24 hour period using the categories and average water usage provided below. If you have water using devices on which the exact consumption is noted, substitute the actual figures for the estimates given. Water use is usually calculated either as a total amount for each type of usage, or by using gallons per minute, or g.p.m.

Water Using Device	Average use	# of Uses	Total Water Used
Toilet	4 gallons/flush
Shower	7 gallons/minute
Bath	35 gallons/bath
Washing clothes	30 gallons/load
Kitchen faucet	3.5 gallons/minute
Bathroom faucet	3.5 gallons/minute
Automatic dishwasher	15 gallons/load
Drinking, tap/bottled water	Use size of bottle
Other use	Estimate water use
Other use	Estimate water use
Total Daily Usage	-----------------------	-------------------------

Step Three – Calculating Your Daily Usage

In step three, you are to calculate your daily, weekly and yearly usage. You will also be able to calculate your household, United States and World usage. Answer the questions.

1. Using the information from step two, calculate the percentage for each type of use. Use the following example for your calculations: (total water used per device/total water used daily) X 100.

Water Using Device	Percentage of Use
Toilet
Shower
Bath
Washing clothes
Kitchen faucet
Bathroom faucet
Automatic dishwasher
Drinking water
Other
Other

2. What use accounted for the most water?

3. Does this surprise you? Why or why not?

4. Let’s assume that you use roughly the same amount of water every day of the week. How many gallons would you consume in a week? Is this a realistic assumption? Why or why not?

5. Let’s assume that you use roughly the same amount of water every day of the year. How many gallons would you consume in a year? Is this a realistic assumption? Why or why not?

6. How many other people do you share your home with?

7. Based on your own personal average, calculate the following for your household as a whole.

Total Usage	Gallons
Daily
Weekly
Yearly

8. There are approximately 260 million people living in the United States. Based on your personal daily average calculate the following for the U.S. as a whole:

Total Usage	Gallons
Daily
Weekly
Yearly

9. There are approximately 6 billion people on earth. Assuming that everyone had the same daily level of water consumption as you, calculate the world’s consumption as a whole.

Total Usage	Gallons
Daily
Weekly
Yearly

10. Is the assumption that everyone has the water level consumption about equal to yours realistic or not? Why or why not?

Step Four – Checking Your Sources
The next step in this exercise is for you to determine where your water comes from. Domestic water typically comes from a municipally owned source such as a reservoir or well (what is known as city water) or from a privately owned well.

Determine the source of your water. If private well, list private well and complete section A. If city water, list city water and complete section B.

Section A - Private Well
If your water comes from a private well, complete this section. Ask around to determine the approximate actual amount of water pumped out of the well for whatever time you can. Also, see if you can find out the depth of the well, the capacity rating for the pump, usually expressed in gallons per minute. Lastly, try and find out when the last time the well was tested and the results. Answer the following questions.

1. Actual usage (in gallons per minute):

2. Depth of well (in feet):

3. Capacity rating of pump (gallons per minute):

4. Date of last testing:

5. Summary of results:

6. Is it possible for your well to run dry during certain times of the year?

7. Are there ever times when you have to watch your consumption so as not to dry out the well? If so, what times of the year does this occur?

Section B - City Water
If you are on city water, complete this section. Find out where your water comes from. Probably the easiest way to do this is to get a copy of a recent bill. The town, county, or municipal authority that provides the water should be listed on the bill.

1. What town, county, or municipal authority is listed on the bill?

2. Next, call the town, county, or municipal authority that provides your water. Explain to them that you are doing a research project for class. Ask them the exact source/sources from where their water comes from. They are likely to tell you that it comes from municipal wells, reservoirs, or a combination of both.

3. From what source/sources does your water come from?

Step Five – Where Does Your Waste Water Go?

The water in your house is really part of a much larger system. Water is piped into the house, either from a well or reservoir, is used by you and other members of your family or your roommates, and is drained away from the house. Water that has been used for a variety of purposes, such as washing, personal hygiene, etc. is referred to as wastewater and, more specifically as municipal wastewater to differentiate from the wastewater that comes from factories which is called industrial wastewater. In this last part of this exercise, we are going to try and find out where your municipal wastewater from your house ends up.

If you have a private well, chances are high that the water that leaves your house ends up in a septic tank underground somewhere near the house. Ask around and find out where your water goes. If you are on a private well, it is possible that you do not have a septic tank and that your wastewater enters a municipal system. It's unlikely, but possible. If this is the case, complete the city water section below.

Well Water Students:

2. Where does your water go?

3. If your water ends up in a septic tank, answer the following questions (this may not be so pleasant, just be glad I’m not asking you to conduct actual field research on this one!)

4. When was the last time the tank was cleaned (fun, huh?)?

5. About how often is the tank cleaned (more fun!)?

6. Who cleans the tank (Boy this is great, you could have taken an astronomy class instead)?

7. Last, (You’re almost done, I promise) but not least. Call the company that cleans your tank. Explain to them that you are doing a class project. Find out what happens to your municipal wastewater once they suck it up out of the tank (more fun, huh?).

8. What happens to your wastewater?

City Water Students:

Research and find out what happens to the wastewater from your house. (I know you've just been dying to get your hands around this section of the exercise, figuratively speaking of course!). Chances are good that the same town, county, or municipal authority that brings water into your house is also responsible for removing the wastewater. Find out. Get them on the blower (i.e. the telephone, though I suspect some municipal water authorities are up on the web). Explain to them that you have to do a class project and that this is not one you've volunteered for nor is it for extra credit. Ask them what happens to the wastewater that leaves your house.

Chances are very high that it goes to some type of municipal treatment system. Find out where it is. Call them. Find out about the type of treatment they use. Different municipalities use different kinds of treatment though there are some standard ones. Answer the questions below.

7. Who’s in charge of your wastewater?

8. Where does your wastewater go?

9. Where is the treatment facility?

10. What type of treatment do they use? (Be as reasonably descriptive as possible without being graphic. I appreciate it, thanks. )

11. What happens to the solid material, or sludge, leftover from the treatment process?

12. What happens to the liquid remains after the treatment process?

Sit back, smile, you are done. If doesn’t get any better, I mean worse, than this Remember, we could be doing field trips!

Exercise 4 – Impacts of the Hydrosphere

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Objective

The objective of this exercise is to familiarize students with environmental concerns related to the Chesapeake Bay, America's richest estuary and Maryland's most valuable natural resource. For this exercise, you are to complete a search for the data requested.  Start with a visit to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation website: http://www.chesapeakebay.net

Directions

This exercise consists of four steps. It is important that you complete the steps in order. Please read the exercise completely before you begin. This will help you in carrying out the directions and optimize the success of the exercise. Also, please be sure to make a backup of the exercise as you proceed. When you are finished the exercise, upload it back into the assignment section like you did for your practice exercise. Please fill in your name below.

Exercise 4:

Step One – Introduction

Visit the website: http://www.chesapeakebay.net . Click on watershed profiles. We learned from exercise 3 that a watershed it defined as all of the land that drains into a particular body of water. Answer the following questions:

15. What states are included in the watershed of the Chesapeake Bay?

16. What rivers empty into the Chesapeake Bay?

17. At the bottom of the page in the area where it says: Find your watershed by _____________, click on zip code. Enter your zip code in the space. What is the name of your watershed area? If you have more than one listed, name the one with the highest percent.

18. Compare the land cover of your watershed with the Chesapeake Bay watershed land cover. Are the percents relatively the same or different?

Step Two –Animals and plants of the Chesapeake Bay and their habitat

Return to the website: http://www.chesapeakebay.net and click on the link to about the bay. The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary. The Bay is a complex ecosystem that includes all the animals that live in the bay and their habitats. Answer the following questions:

1. What is an estuary?

2. What does the term brackish mean?

3. Click on the word oysters. The oyster is a filter feeder. Historically, how many days did it take for the oyster populations to filter the Chesapeake Bay? How long does it take today?

4. What four factors are threatening our oysters?

5. Explain what an oyster reef restoration project is.

6. Click on the word fish. Explain the difference between resident and migratory fish.

7. List at least 3 ways expanding human populations are threatening fish populations.

8. How can you help with the problem of declining fish populations?

9. Click on underwater grasses. Why is SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation) so important to the Bay?

10. Why are SAV declining?

11. How can you help with the problem of declining SAV?

12. Click on water quality. What are some of the components of healthy water?

Step Three – Chesapeake Bay Stressors
The Chesapeake Bay is being assaulted from the air, water and land. The worst problem in the watershed is the overabundance of nutrients. Also, toxic and chemical contamination, air pollution, landscape changes and yes – too many people are problems that the Bay is facing. Click on the link to bay stressors.

11. What nutrients are causing problems in the Bay?

12. Answer the true and false questioned asked on the nutrient pollution page. Answer:

13. What are the sources of nutrients?

14. What is being done to prevent nutrient runoff into the bay?

15. What is toxics pollution?

16. What are the sources of toxics pollution?

17. What can you do to help with the toxics pollution problem?

18. What is Pfiesteria?

19. What health impact does Pfiesteria have on humans?

Step Four – Chesapeake Bay Restoration
Part 1. Many Federal, state and private groups are helping to improve the condition of the Chesapeake. Click on Bay restorations. Explain how the following practices are helping to restore the Bay:

8. Monitoring

9. Reducing pollution

10. Habitat restoration

11. Managing fisheries

12. Sustainable development

13. Modeling

Part II. Indicator species are species that indicate the health of an area. Looking at habitat restoration link, indicate what is the indicator species for each of the following habitats:

4. Freshwater tributaries and streams

5. Shallow water habitat

6. Open water

7. Inlands and islands

Part III. Explain how the following restoration efforts are beneficial to the Chesapeake Bay:

1. Fish passages

2. Riparian forest buffers

3. Wetlands

If we were in a traditional classroom setting, we would be mucking around in the streams and wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay. For some of you, it would have been fun, but for others, you would have rather done the exercise we just did. BUT, if you ever have the opportunity to go out on the Bay, do it. It is an awesome place! (Yes, I was disappointed I couldn’t get you out there!)

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Exercise 5 – Basics of the Atmosphere

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Objective

The objective of this exercise is to develop your understanding of major atmospheric concepts, to have you observe atmospheric conditions and learn temperature conversions. For this exercise, you are asked to answer a series of questions on general atmospheric characteristics. In addition, you will observe and record weather conditions in the atmosphere for four days. In Section 6, you are asked to perform a number of calculations relating to temperature scale conversions.

Directions

This exercise consists of six steps. It is important that you complete the steps in order. Please read the exercise completely before you begin (step 6 requires 4 days to complete). Also, printing this exercise before you begin will help you in carrying out the exercise. Also, please be sure to make a backup of the exercise as you proceed. When you are finished the exercise, upload it back into the assignment section like you did for your practice exercise. Please fill in your name below.

Exercise 5:

Step One – General Characteristics
Search the web or use a textbook to answer the following questions with regards to general atmospheric characteristics.

20. Define the atmosphere.

21. The atmosphere can be divided into 4 layers based on contrasting temperatures. List the 4 layers in order, starting with the layer closest to the earth.

22. List four characteristics of the troposphere.

23. List four characteristics of the stratosphere.

24. Carbon dioxide, ozone and water vapor are “trace” gases that are located in the troposphere. Two gases make up 99% of our atmosphere. List these two gases and the percentage of each in the atmosphere.

25. The sun supplies the earth with its solar energy. Describe in detail how solar radiation heats the earth.

26. Solar energy does not strike the earth equally. The equator is warmed by the sun more than the poles. Energy is transferred between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere by conduction and convection. Explain these two terms.

27. Describe the Coriolis effect. What causes it?

28. What is the difference between weather and climate?

29. What layer of the atmosphere is responsible for our weather and climate?

30. Describe in detail the two types of cyclonic storms – hurricanes and tornados.

Step Two – Greenhouse Gases

Some gases located in the atmosphere hold the heat that is given off by the land, oceans and the vegetation in the form of invisible infrared radiation.

9. List the 4 most abundant gases located in the atmosphere, starting with the most abundant.

10. Explain the term “greenhouse gases”. What are these gases?

11. What is the greenhouse effect?

12. Define the term albedo.

13. What is global warming?

14. Describe how humans have released more CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Step Three – Ozone

Ozone is a gas that contains three oxygen atoms and is blue in color. The ozone layer in the stratosphere absorbs a portion of the radiation from the sun, preventing it from reaching the plant’s surface. It absorbs the portion of ultraviolet light called UVB. Answer the following questions:

1. What is causing the loss of ozone in the atmosphere? Be sure to include the 2 chemicals responsible for ozone loss.

2. Discuses the ozone “hole” over Antarctica.

3. What problems are associated with ozone depletion?

4. How can there be “bad” ozone and “good” ozone? Where is each type of ozone located?

Step Four – Acid Deposition

Acid rain or acid deposition is rain or snow that has a pH below 5.6. Normal, unpolluted rainfall is slightly acidic with a pH of about 5.6. (The pH scale runs from zero, the most acidic, to 14, the most alkaline. A pH 7 is neutral – the point at which most organisms thrive.) The slight acidity of normal rainfall results from carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the air. When it dissolves in droplets of rain, CO₂ reacts with water to form carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), which partially ionizes to release H+ ions.

CO₂ + H₂O = H₂CO₃

Rainfall in MD may be as low as 4.0. Answer the following questions about acid deposition:

1. What causes acid deposition?

2. Where do these emissions come from?

3. Can acid deposition be dry? Explain your answer.

4. How does acid deposition affect aquatic life?

5. How does acid deposition affect terrestrial plants?

6. How does acid deposition affect buildings, structures and monuments?

7. Does your electric power contribute to any of the above mentioned pollution problems?

Step Five – Your weather

Keep a log of atmospheric conditions for 4 days and record the following information. Find out information from any one of the following sources such as local newspapers, television news, or the Weather Channel.

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Date
Location
High temperature
Low temperature
High/low difference
Air pressure
Rising or falling?
Wind direction
Wind speed
Time of sunrise
Time of sunset
Amount of daylight

19. What is the overall four-day temperature trend?

20. What is the overall four-day pressure trend?

21. Was the wind direction consistent over the four-day period? If not, what pattern did you observe?

22. Was the wind speed consistent over the four-day period? If not, what pattern did you observe?

23. What pattern did you observe with regards to the amount of daylight over the four day period.

Step Six – Temperature scales

Temperature can be measured in different scales. We typically think of our temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (F). Today the temperature was 33˚ F when I woke up. Yes, it was cold! Scientists use the Celsius (C) scale. Water boils at 100˚C and freezes at 0˚C. Life on earth is possible because water has unique properties that allow it to exist in a liquid form in the temperature range most conducive to living organisms. The formulas for converting from one temperature scale to the other are as follows:

˚F = ((9/5) x ˚C) + 32

˚C = (5/9) x (˚F – 32)

Complete the following calculations:

1. 15 degrees Fahrenheit =______________ degrees Celsius

2. 75 degrees Fahrenheit = ______________ degrees Celsius.

3. 32 degrees Fahrenheit = ______________ degrees Celsius

4. 31 degrees Celsius = _______________ degrees Fahrenheit

24. 13 degrees Celsius = _______________ degrees Fahrenheit

25. 0 degrees Celsius = _______________ degrees Fahrenheit

Exercise 6 – Impacts of the Atmosphere

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Objective

The purpose of this exercise is to perform a household energy analysis as well as understand how energy generation and use results in environmental impacts.

Directions

This exercise consists of six steps. It is important that you complete the steps in order. Please read the exercise completely before you begin. Also, printing this exercise before you begin will help you in carrying out the exercise. Also, please be sure to make a backup of the exercise as you proceed. When you are finished the exercise, upload it back into the assignment section like you did for your practice exercise. Please fill in your name below.

Exercise 6:

Step One – Origin of Electricity
All of you live in a dwelling that uses electricity. The first step in this exercise is to research and find out where your electricity comes from. Some of you may know immediately. Others may have to conduct some research. If you don't know where your electricity comes from, the first step is to examine a copy of the electricity bill. The name of the electricity provider is likely to be somewhere on the bill. If you live in an apartment or condominium, you may have to contact your landlord to find out where your electricity comes from.

31. Type of dwelling unit (i.e. house, apartment, condominium).

32. Do you own or rent?

33. Who is your electricity provider?

Step Two – Generation of Electricity

Once you have figured out who your electricity provider is, call the company or office that provides your electricity. Explain to them that you are doing a project for class and that you have a few questions. Find out where your electricity is generated. Usually this will be a large power generating station.

15. What is the name of the power generating facility?

Ask your electricity provider about their fuel mix. Fuel mix is the type of fuels or sources that are used to generate electricity. Try and determine the approximate percentages of each fuel type and list below. This information may be available on the web once you determine the name of the power generating facility

Fuel Sources	Percentage
Coal
Oil
Natural Gas
Nuclear
Hydroelectric
Other

Step Three – Electricity costs

In this step you are asked to find out how much your electricity costs. You can do this in a couple of ways. First, the price is likely to be printed on your electricity bill. It is either listed as a cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh), or as a cost per unit. If it is not listed on your bill, then you may need to ask the company itself.

5. What is the unit of cost (kilowatt hour, unit, BTU, etc)

6. What is the cost per unit?

7. How much electricity did you use over the last 3 months? (If you rent, you may need to obtain these figures from your landlord).

Step Four – Energy Use

In Step Four, we'll begin to take a look at how energy is used in your house. In order to examine your energy use, we are going to focus strictly on lighting. For starters, go around your house and calculate your total lighting electricity load. To do this, look at each and every light bulb in your house. Somewhere on the light bulb the amount of watts used will be listed. For example, a 75-watt bulb uses 75 watts of electricity.

A watt is a unit of energy and determined by multiplying the voltage times the current. For example a 125-watt appliance drawing 10 amperes has a power rating of 1250 watts. You will not have to calculate the wattage for your light bulbs as it listed on the bulb.

Make a list of all the light bulbs in your house and their wattage's. In addition, make some estimate for the number of hours that each light bulb is on. Some lights are used infrequently, such as inside a closet. Others may stay on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In this survey you will determine the number of hours each bulb is on. This will give you the watt-hours for each bulb. In the example below, the 2 – 60 watt bulbs are left on for 4 hours per day and this equals 480 – watt hours.

Example - Light Bulb Listing

Room	Location	# Bulbs	Bulb wattage	# Hours per day	Total watt- hours
Bathroom	Lamp	2	60	4	480

Fill in the following chart with information from your house (if you need more rows, highlight a row and click on the table heading in your word processing program. Then add more rows.):

Room

Location

# Bulbs

Bulb Wattage

# Hours per day

Total Watt hours / day