Tuesday, January 5, 2010

DONE - Hydroelectric Dams

Hydroelectric dams have both advantages and disadvantages to society and nature. They supply humans with the electricity we need, from computers to light bulbs. Dams also supply us with our water, giving us a reliable source to go to when we need it. Dams also have some drawbacks. They can emit greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Dams also harm nature, by destroying habitats and cutting off migration routes. Humans also take a hit when it comes to dams. Dams have forced millions of people to relocate their entire lifestyle to another location and make it work there. Finally, the water quality is a major factor when it comes to spreading diseases such as malaria schistosomiasis, and river blindness. Hydroelectric dams positively and negatively affect our lives, so are they worth it?

Some people may not know, but hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants both produce electricity in a similar way. The Turbine, a propeller-like piece, is moved by a power source, which turns a metal shaft in an electric generator. An electric generator is the motor that produces the electricity. The power source for the hydroelectric power plant is water, but in the coal-fired power plant, the source is the steam from the coal. From there, the results are the same.

Dams are designed to be built on a river with a large drop in elevation. Near the bottom of the dam, water is taken from the reservoir, the water behind the dam, and puts it through the water intake. Trash is collected by the trash rack located at the entrance of the penstock. The water falls down the water intake, through the penstock, to the turbine. The turbine is moved by this water, which in turn moves the shaft connected to the transformer to produce power. This power goes up power lines from the dam and into use by society. After the water goes by the turbine, it passes through the tailrace into the river past the dam.

http://www.opg.com/power/images/hydrohow.jpg

Dams can come in a variety of shapes. The shape used for a dam is determined by how the dam will be utilized, funding, the materials available, and how much water is going to be retained by the dam. There are four main types of dams built:

· Embankment

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/images/dam/embankmentforces.gif

· Gravity

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

· Buttress

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

· Arch

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

The most common dam is the embankment. Made of locally available material, such as rocks, gravel, sand, and clay, these dams resist the flow of water by their weight. Water can flow into and through the dam because of the permeable materials used. The structure can not be all permeable so the clay protects the structure and its purpose. Since the materials for these dams are local, and the construction process for these dams is relatively simple, the cost to build this dam is much lower compared to other types of dams. Gravity dams also hold back water by their weight. This type of dam is usually built on a solid rock foundation, with the rest created of cement or masonry. The spillway designs of embankment dams are normally where gravity dams are built. This is because of the stable, solid nature of the dam is favored by many. Arch dams are created to resist water by their upstream-facing arch. Arch dams are usually made of concrete and found in narrow canyons. These dams need good contact between the bedrock and the concrete in which it is created to ensure stability and prevent leakage. The final type of dam is the buttress. These dams are no longer economically viable, because of the steel framework and the labor needed for construction and maintenance. Buttress dams are usually made in wide valleys where solid bedrock is not available.

The general purpose, or the way it was designed, is another way to classify a dam. Storage dams can provide a reliable source of water for a short or long period of time. These dams can provide a variety of uses once built. The can be used for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, recreation, and community water supply. Storage dams can capture water runoff for the use of livestock during dry summer months. Diversion dams are created to move a body of water to another location. They do this by typically elevating a body of water to allow that water to move and change direction. Common uses for this type of dam are to supply irrigation canals or put water into a storage reservoir for industrial or public use. A detention dam is the last type of dam classified by a general purpose. Detention dams minimize the impact of flooding by slowing or stooping the flow rate to a particular channel. They can also be used to recharge the subsurface groundwater system. Debris dams, a type of detention dam, are used to trap sediment and debris carried by floods.

More than eight thousand years ago, the Sumerians built an irrigation-based civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This shows that man has need and has found ways to get the water he needs to survive. The Mediterranean, the Middle East, Central America and China all had low dams by the first contrary B.C. They had limited technology that kept their dams down. This was until the fifth century, when a thirty-four meter high dam was constructed in Sri Lanka, making it the world’s highest dam. That record would stand for the next millennium. (http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/energydams.htm#03Civilization 2009)

Hydroelectricity and the idea of producing electricity by water came into America in 1882. H.F. Rogers was a paper manufacturer with a problem, he need to supply light to his two paper mills and a house. The development of the electric generator, improvements in the hydraulic turbine, and a growing demand for electricity all pushed Rogers to produce the first commercial hydroelectric power plant, supplied with water from the Fox River in Wisconsin. He created a 12.5 kilowatt generator becoming the first person to successfully engineer a hydroelectric power plant.

Dams can come in a variety of shapes and sizes for different uses in the world. The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) says a large dam is over fifteen meters high, but their definition also includes dams five to fifteen meters high that hold over three million cubic meters of water. There are about 40,000 large dams and 800,000 smaller dams hat have been constructed. Half of the world’s dams that exceed fifteen meters in height are located in China. In total, all of the world’s dams are expected to hold around 6,000 cubic kilometers of water. Turkey, China, Iran, China, and Japan account for sixty-seven percent of the worldwide dams built since 2003. $2 trillion was been spend on the construction of dams within the twentieth century alone, with around 1,600 large dams built annually. Sixty percent of the 227 largest rivers in the world have some type of construction done, from canals, dams, and diversions. Nineteen percent of the globe’s electricity comes from hydroelectricity. One-third of the countries in the world rely on hydroelectricity for more that fifty percent of their total electricity.

(http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/water/dams_initiative/quick_facts/)

Publication Year Not Available

Some dams are famous for pictures or their location. The Hoover Dam, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, has been a necessary resource for the growth of the American Southwest. Lake Mead is the reservoir created by the Colorado River, the river the Hoover Dam is holding back. Of the thirty-five billion cubic meters of water held back, 15,000 cubic meters of water is released from the dam every second. The dams’ seventeen generators create four billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. This electricity serves over 1.3 million people in the surrounding area.

The Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam in the world, is located in China. The 1.3 mile across, 610 feet tall structure holds water from the Yangtze River valley in a reservoir that extends 350 miles upstream. Although the dam was completed until 2006, the hydroelectrically facility was not completed until 2009. This facility has the capacity to produce 18,200 megawatts of electricity, equal to fifteen nuclear power plants. The Three Gorges Dam has had many catastrophic floods in the last 2,000 years. In 1954, a flood was reported to have killed 30,000 people. More recently, in 1998, 4,000 people were killed and over one million left homeless when a flood occurred. That same flood caused $24 billion in economic losses.

Dams can provide a variety of uses for the everyday use of society. They provide flood control by slowing the amount of water entering an area. This excess water can also be transferred to nearby areas for irrigation use. In a dam’s reservoir, wildlife and fish populations can flourish, providing shelter and food year-round. Human’s can also benefit from the creation of a dam. The reservoir can provide a place to have outdoor activities, such as hunting, fishing, and even picnicking. Once treated, the stored water can be used by the public for drinking, or for industrial use.

Power plants running on fossil fuels can sometimes create less carbon dioxide and methane than hydroelectric dams. These amounts vary from dam to dam, but some dams create a significant amount of the greenhouse gases. In one study, scientists studying the emissions of the Curuá-Una dam in Pará, Brazil, estimate that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions were three-and-a-half times greater than if that same electricity was created from oil. Scientists think that because the trees and plants that were in the reservoir when it initially flooded had died and rotted. The plant matter then settled and started to decompose on the bottom of the reservoir without any oxygen. This caused a buildup of methane, which was released into the atmosphere when water passed through the dam’s turbines. Even though methane is twenty-one times stronger than carbon dioxide with its effect on global warming, it goes unchecked because scientists cannot agree on how significant methane really is.

The magnitude of the destruction a dam can cause is often correlated with its size. Before dams are built, rivers and the waters flow rates vary in response to weather conditions. But, once a dam is constructed the rate at which the water below the dam flows is restricted. Dams release water constantly, but usually more during times of need, instead of being dictated by nature. Also, sediment that is carried by the incoming water settles to the bottom of the reservoir. This increases the erosive potential of the outgoing water. The water can affect shorelines and the biological productivity of coastal areas all because of sediment deprivation.

People use dams and reservoirs for many outdoor activities. People can enjoy swimming, boating, diving fishing, and water skiing. This is one viewpoint that causes conflict with other environmentalists who want the natural river system restored. In the Colorado River, where the 2,300 kilometers of water would flow freely and create a rich delta in Mexico, now has ten dams in it and the water can be recycled as many as eighteen times. This means the nutrition is not getting to where it needs to be and the environment is suffering. The delta is now dry except for years when there is exceptional rainfall. Because the environment changed, native species may not be able to adapt to their new surroundings. As a result, nonnative vegetation, including trees and small shrubs from Eurasia, has invaded the banks of the river.

Fish migration routes are big concerns when building dams. Huge declines in anadromous fish, such as salmon, steelhead, shad, and sturgeon, have been caused by the dams built. Dams, along with over population and fishing, have caused the shad and sturgeon to virtually disappear from the U.S. Atlantic coast, and salmon from many rivers in Europe and the American West and Northeast. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, fish must be trucked to their spawning grounds. $50 million had been spend by the public and utilities over a twenty year time period on fish ladders and passages on the Susquehanna River, a spawning ground for fish coming from the Chesapeake Bay. 20% of the world’s 10,000 freshwater fish have become extinct, threatened, or endangered in recent decades.

Dams not only effect the fish and wildlife, but the overall health of the river and its water. They can alter the riverbed, downstream floodplains, and even coastal deltas. This can ultimately lead to lower groundwater tables, an accumulation of toxic materials, and even increase flood risks. It is estimated that wetland areas have see a decrease of water by fifty percent as a result of dams.

Humans are affected in many negative ways. Approximately forty to eighty million people have been displaced from the construction of dams worldwide. Yet the migration, compensation, and resettlement given are often not enough. This can cause social disruption and higher population densities in resettlement areas. Poor hygiene and related diseases are common in these communities. People may also not know how to make a living. With the natural ecosystem disrupted the livelihoods of millions of people downstream who depend on wetlands, fisheries, and the regular sediment deposits may be in jeopardy.

One prime example of human life being disrupted is the Three Gorges Dam in China. This dam has submerged thirteen cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages. This adds up to 1.3 million people displaced. Some people complained that the housing they received as settlement is so expensive that they cannot pay the rent. Some have even taken from their saving, because only forty-five of the 181 building went to higher ground. Since these buildings did not move, over 20,000 people lose their jobs. By the year 2020, it is estimated that another 530,000 people will have to be relocated because 178 kilometers of the riverbank is expected to collapse. (http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/3Gorges_FINAL.pdf 2009)

Hydroelectric Dams

Intro

Hydroelectric dams have both advantages and disadvantages to society and nature. They supply humans with the electricity we need, from computers to light bulbs. Dams also supply us with our water, giving us a reliable source to go to when we need it. Dams also have some drawbacks. They can emit greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Dams also harm nature, by destroying habitats and cutting off migration routes. Humans also take a hit when it comes to dams. Dams have forced millions of people to relocate their entire lifestyle to another location and make it work there. Finally, the water quality is a major factor when it comes to spreading diseases such as malaria schistosomiasis, and river blindness. Hydroelectric dams positively and negatively affect our lives, so are they worth it?

2A How Electricity Is Made

Some people may not know, but hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants both produce electricity in a similar way. The Turbine, a propeller-like piece, is moved by a power source, which turns a metal shaft in an electric generator. An electric generator is the motor that produces the electricity. The power source for the hydroelectric power plant is water, but in the coal-fired power plant, the source is the steam from the coal. From there, the results are the same.

Dams are designed to be built on a river with a large drop in elevation. Near the bottom of the dam, water is taken from the reservoir, the water behind the dam, and puts it through the water intake. Trash is collected by the trash rack located at the entrance of the penstock. The water falls down the water intake, through the penstock, to the turbine. The turbine is moved by this water, which in turn moves the shaft connected to the transformer to produce power. This power goes up power lines from the dam and into use by society. After the water goes by the turbine, it passes through the tailrace into the river past the dam.

http://www.opg.com/power/images/hydrohow.jpg

2B Classification

Dams can come in a variety of shapes. The shape used for a dam is determined by how the dam will be utilized, funding, the materials available, and how much water is going to be retained by the dam. There are four main types of dams built:

· Embankment

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/images/dam/embankmentforces.gif

· Gravity

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

· Buttress

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

· Arch

http://www.icold-cigb.net/pagearticle.aspx?ssmenu=340

The most common dam is the embankment. Made of locally available material, such as rocks, gravel, sand, and clay, these dams resist the flow of water by their weight. Water can flow into and through the dam because of the permeable materials used. The structure can not be all permeable so the clay protects the structure and its purpose. Since the materials for these dams are local, and the construction process for these dams is relatively simple, the cost to build this dam is much lower compared to other types of dams. Gravity dams also hold back water by their weight. This type of dam is usually built on a solid rock foundation, with the rest created of cement or masonry. The spillway designs of embankment dams are normally where gravity dams are built. This is because of the stable, solid nature of the dam is favored by many. Arch dams are created to resist water by their upstream-facing arch. Arch dams are usually made of concrete and found in narrow canyons. These dams need good contact between the bedrock and the concrete in which it is created to ensure stability and prevent leakage. The final type of dam is the buttress. These dams are no longer economically viable, because of the steel framework and the labor needed for construction and maintenance. Buttress dams are usually made in wide valleys where solid bedrock is not available.

The general purpose, or the way it was designed, is another way to classify a dam. Storage dams can provide a reliable source of water for a short or long period of time. These dams can provide a variety of uses once built. The can be used for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, recreation, and community water supply. Storage dams can capture water runoff for the use of livestock during dry summer months. Diversion dams are created to move a body of water to another location. They do this by typically elevating a body of water to allow that water to move and change direction. Common uses for this type of dam are to supply irrigation canals or put water into a storage reservoir for industrial or public use. A detention dam is the last type of dam classified by a general purpose. Detention dams minimize the impact of flooding by slowing or stooping the flow rate to a particular channel. They can also be used to recharge the subsurface groundwater system. Debris dams, a type of detention dam, are used to trap sediment and debris carried by floods.

2C Early Uses

More than eight thousand years ago, the Sumerians built an irrigation-based civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This shows that man has need and has found ways to get the water he needs to survive. The Mediterranean, the Middle East, Central America and China all had low dams by the first contrary B.C. They had limited technology that kept their dams down. This was until the fifth century, when a thirty-four meter high dam was constructed in Sri Lanka, making it the world’s highest dam. That record would stand for the next millennium. (http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/energydams.htm#03Civilization 2009)

Hydroelectricity and the idea of producing electricity by water came into America in 1882. H.F. Rogers was a paper manufacturer with a problem, he need to supply light to his two paper mills and a house. The development of the electric generator, improvements in the hydraulic turbine, and a growing demand for electricity all pushed Rogers to produce the first commercial hydroelectric power plant, supplied with water from the Fox River in Wisconsin. He created a 12.5 kilowatt generator becoming the first person to successfully engineer a hydroelectric power plant.

2D Modern Dams

Dams can come in a variety of shapes and sizes for different uses in the world. The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) says a large dam is over fifteen meters high, but their definition also includes dams five to fifteen meters high that hold over three million cubic meters of water. There are about 40,000 large dams and 800,000 smaller dams hat have been constructed. Half of the world’s dams that exceed fifteen meters in height are located in China. In total, all of the world’s dams are expected to hold around 6,000 cubic kilometers of water. Turkey, China, Iran, China, and Japan account for sixty-seven percent of the worldwide dams built since 2003. $2 trillion was been spend on the construction of dams within the twentieth century alone, with around 1,600 large dams built annually. Sixty percent of the 227 largest rivers in the world have some type of construction done, from canals, dams, and diversions. Nineteen percent of the globe’s electricity comes from hydroelectricity. One-third of the countries in the world rely on hydroelectricity for more that fifty percent of their total electricity.

(http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/water/dams_initiative/quick_facts/)

Publication Year Not Available

Some dams are famous for pictures or their location. The Hoover Dam, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, has been a necessary resource for the growth of the American Southwest. Lake Mead is the reservoir created by the Colorado River, the river the Hoover Dam is holding back. Of the thirty-five billion cubic meters of water held back, 15,000 cubic meters of water is released from the dam every second. The dams’ seventeen generators create four billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. This electricity serves over 1.3 million people in the surrounding area.

The Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam in the world, is located in China. The 1.3 mile across, 610 feet tall structure holds water from the Yangtze River valley in a reservoir that extends 350 miles upstream. Although the dam was completed until 2006, the hydroelectrically facility was not completed until 2009. This facility has the capacity to produce 18,200 megawatts of electricity, equal to fifteen nuclear power plants. The Three Gorges Dam has had many catastrophic floods in the last 2,000 years. In 1954, a flood was reported to have killed 30,000 people. More recently, in 1998, 4,000 people were killed and over one million left homeless when a flood occurred. That same flood caused $24 billion in economic losses.

3 Advantages

Dams can provide a variety of uses for the everyday use of society. They provide flood control by slowing the amount of water entering an area. This excess water can also be transferred to nearby areas for irrigation use. In a dam’s reservoir, wildlife and fish populations can flourish, providing shelter and food year-round. Human’s can also benefit from the creation of a dam. The reservoir can provide a place to have outdoor activities, such as hunting, fishing, and even picnicking. Once treated, the stored water can be used by the public for drinking, or for industrial use.

4A Emissions/ Air Pollution

Power plants running on fossil fuels can sometimes create less carbon dioxide and methane than hydroelectric dams. These amounts vary from dam to dam, but some dams create a significant amount of the greenhouse gases. In one study, scientists studying the emissions of the Curuá-Una dam in Pará, Brazil, estimate that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions were three-and-a-half times greater than if that same electricity was created from oil. Scientists think that because the trees and plants that were in the reservoir when it initially flooded had died and rotted. The plant matter then settled and started to decompose on the bottom of the reservoir without any oxygen. This caused a buildup of methane, which was released into the atmosphere when water passed through the dam’s turbines. Even though methane is twenty-one times stronger than carbon dioxide with its effect on global warming, it goes unchecked because scientists cannot agree on how significant methane really is.

4B Environmental Damage

The magnitude of the destruction a dam can cause is often correlated with its size. Before dams are built, rivers and the waters flow rates vary in response to weather conditions. But, once a dam is constructed the rate at which the water below the dam flows is restricted. Dams release water constantly, but usually more during times of need, instead of being dictated by nature. Also, sediment that is carried by the incoming water settles to the bottom of the reservoir. This increases the erosive potential of the outgoing water. The water can affect shorelines and the biological productivity of coastal areas all because of sediment deprivation.

People use dams and reservoirs for many outdoor activities. People can enjoy swimming, boating, diving fishing, and water skiing. This is one viewpoint that causes conflict with other environmentalists who want the natural river system restored. In the Colorado River, where the 2,300 kilometers of water would flow freely and create a rich delta in Mexico, now has ten dams in it and the water can be recycled as many as eighteen times. This means the nutrition is not getting to where it needs to be and the environment is suffering. The delta is now dry except for years when there is exceptional rainfall. Because the environment changed, native species may not be able to adapt to their new surroundings. As a result, nonnative vegetation, including trees and small shrubs from Eurasia, has invaded the banks of the river.

Fish migration routes are big concerns when building dams. Huge declines in anadromous fish, such as salmon, steelhead, shad, and sturgeon, have been caused by the dams built. Dams, along with over population and fishing, have caused the shad and sturgeon to virtually disappear from the U.S. Atlantic coast, and salmon from many rivers in Europe and the American West and Northeast. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, fish must be trucked to their spawning grounds. $50 million had been spend by the public and utilities over a twenty year time period on fish ladders and passages on the Susquehanna River, a spawning ground for fish coming from the Chesapeake Bay. 20% of the world’s 10,000 freshwater fish have become extinct, threatened, or endangered in recent decades.

Dams not only effect the fish and wildlife, but the overall health of the river and its water. They can alter the riverbed, downstream floodplains, and even coastal deltas. This can ultimately lead to lower groundwater tables, an accumulation of toxic materials, and even increase flood risks. It is estimated that wetland areas have see a decrease of water by fifty percent as a result of dams.

4C How Are Humans Effected?

Humans are affected in many negative ways. Approximately forty to eighty million people have been displaced from the construction of dams worldwide. Yet the migration, compensation, and resettlement given are often not enough. This can cause social disruption and higher population densities in resettlement areas. Poor hygiene and related diseases are common in these communities. People may also not know how to make a living. With the natural ecosystem disrupted the livelihoods of millions of people downstream who depend on wetlands, fisheries, and the regular sediment deposits may be in jeopardy.

One prime example of human life being disrupted is the Three Gorges Dam in China. This dam has submerged thirteen cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages. This adds up to 1.3 million people displaced. Some people complained that the housing they received as settlement is so expensive that they cannot pay the rent. Some have even taken from their saving, because only forty-five of the 181 building went to higher ground. Since these buildings did not move, over 20,000 people lose their jobs. By the year 2020, it is estimated that another 530,000 people will have to be relocated because 178 kilometers of the riverbank is expected to collapse. (http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/3Gorges_FINAL.pdf 2009)

4D Water Quality

Monday, December 21, 2009

Are America’s Children Becoming More Violent?

With more and more negative influences in the world today, people wonder why American Children are becoming more violent. Many children turn to drugs, gangs, and violence because they do not see another “attractive alternative.” Everywhere children turn, they are experiencing some type of negative influence in their lives.

Pop culture in America has a major effect on how a child behaves and acts. Watching movies and TV and listening to music can really affect a child’s mood and how the child will react to different situations. The news alone shows all of the crime, violence, and shootings going on in the local area. Videos games such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Call of Duty are games in which the main character has to shoot and kill in order to survive. Children seeing this everyday may think that the world runs this way. Musical artists TuPac and Eminem glorify violence on the streets and the gang culture. Some critics even believe that the lyrics heard by children may encourage them to use violence as a way to solve their problems.

Critics and observers also believe that children may be becoming more violent due to the easy accessibility of guns. At the Columbine High School massacre, all of the guns and ammunition were bought legally. As a result, fifteen people died. Also, at the Westside Middle School, 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden killed five people and injured ten. They obtained seven of the ten weapons used from Golden’s grandfather, an Arkansas wildlife official. Even more shocking was the children’s accuracy. Of the thirty-six rounds shot, twenty-seven shots were hits. Both of the boys were taught at a young age how to hunt and fire a weapon. This shows that even the smallest person can have a huge impact.

Outside influences may not be the only cause for negativity. Children who come from dysfunctional families may be influenced by the aggressive behavior and the situations taking place inside the home. Children may see their parents acting in a certain manner and think it is ok. They may then take these actions out onto the street where they are not only harming themselves, but the people around them. Other critics do not believe in this view. The shooting at Westside Middle School was done by Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden. Johnson did come from a dysfunctional family, but Golden on the other hand had an average family. He came from the typical hardworking, American family; financially stable, two-parented household, with love and encouragement everywhere. But this did not deter him from going on a shooting spree.

As you can see, many factors may lead to a child becoming more violent, from video games to music to household influences. Children need to be watched and have some supervision on what is going into their noggin and how they relate to the outside world.

Pictures for the 1960's

Sites:

http://www.rhodesfamily1.com/bobbynmaryschooldays/1960fads.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/240170/the_most_unforgettable_craziest_fads.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/8-groovy-fads-of-the-1960s.htm

http://www.mesquiteisd.org/library/hhs/FadsandFashionsofthe1960s.htm








Fads

http://www.rhodesfamily1.com/bobbynmaryschooldays/fads/lovebeads3.bmp

Slang

Inventions/Technology

Slang

Dance

http://www.rhodesfamily1.com/bobbynmaryschooldays/fads/chubbycheckers.bmp

Movies

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

1960 Timeline

Timeline of the 1960's
1960
• The first debate for a presidential election was televised. It was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Nikon seemed nervous, but Kennedy stood tall. The debate on TV changed many people's minds about Kennedy.
• This year NASA sent up ECHO, the first communications satellite to be seen with the naked eye.
• American "U2" spy plane shot down over the USSR.
• The Olympic Games were held in Rome and Wilma Rudolf won three gold medals.
1961
• John F Kennedy moves into the White House. He gives his famous speech - "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
• The soviets have sent the first man into space and the Americans need a man in space, too. The event came on May 5, 1961. Alan Shepard was sent to space in the "Freedom 7". On May 25, Kennedy wanted to have a man on the moon and back before the decade was over.
1962
• John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth - 3 times. It was a five hour flight.
• Rachel Carson, a scientist and writer, warned that our earth would die of pollution and chemicals. Especially chemicals that were developed to kill bad insects. DDT was a real bad chemical. It killed bad insects, along with good insects, along with plants, along with animals. She wrote the book Silent Spring with a warning. At least five states banned DDT.
1963
• Martin Luther King Jr. made the speech, "I have a Dream" on August 28, 1963. More than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators came to Washington DC to demand equal rights for Black and Whites. Part of the speech was - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…"
• President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was never sent to trial. While being moved by police to a different jail, a man named Jack Ruby shot Oswald. Who killed President Kennedy nobody knows for sure.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Dynamic Planet

Earthquakes

Primary hazards:
• Ground movement and shaking
• Earthquakes emit body waves, which travel through the earth, and surface waves. S-Waves may cause buildings to collapse and underground pipelines to break.
• Buckling railroad tracks
• Roads cracking and buckling; bridges giving way; shattering of glass and injuries / deaths resulting from these.
Secondary Hazards:
• Soil Liquefaction – Solid material changes to liquid state. Foundations of buildings may be damages
The objects at risk – buildings, roads, facilities.
• Landslides – Often a result of ground shaking. This can overrun building and bury people.
The objects at risk – population, facilities, pipelines, electrical lines, buildings, roads, railways.
• Tsunami (title waves) – 90% occur is the Pacific basin. The more movement and the shallower the focus, the larger the wave.
The objects at risk – ports, port facilities, boats, population, buildings, pipelines.
• Fires - Moderate ground shaking can break gas and electrical lines, sever fuel lines, and overturn stoves. Water pipes rupture, making it impossible to fight the earthquake-caused fires.
• Rockfalls - rough stone materials are located on the slopes. The rockfalls are frequently accompanied by mud flows and landslides
Objects at risk – road and railway traffic, people, communication systems.

• Homelessness may be caused by all of this

General Recommendations for risk reduction
- Mapping the potentially hazardous zones of the expected appearance of the secondary effects.
- Dissemination of the information for the expected secondary effects in case of a strong earthquake among the population.
- Marking the zones of possible secondary effects by different techniques.
Preventive measures
- Strengthening (Upgrade) hazardous zones where and when possible.
Including in the Civil Defense plans the adequate measures for the expected secondary effects.
- Insurance of the facilities against the risks of the secondary earthquake effects.




Plate Boundaries

Continental – Continental: If the oceanic crust is completely subducted the two remaining continental plates will collide to form fold mountains as the sediment on the old sea floor is compressed and uplifted.
This type of boundary has no volcanic activity and earthquakes are mainly shallow focus. E.g. Himalayas, formed by the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate.

Continental – Oceanic: The denser oceanic plate sinks or is subducted beneath the continental plate in a subduction zone. The continental plate is compressed to form a mountain range and deep ocean trench e.g. Peru-Chile trench and Andes

Oceanic – Oceanic: When oceanic plates collide, a volcanic island arc is produced as the denser plate melts and magma rises to the surface.
E.g. Kurile, Aleutian and Tonga islands

Divergent Plate Boundary - Oceanic: When a divergent boundary occurs beneath oceanic lithosphere, the rising convection current below lifts the lithosphere producing a mid-ocean ridge. Extensional forces stretch the lithosphere and produce a deep fissure. When the fissure opens, pressure is reduced on the super-heated mantle material below. It responds by melting and the new magma flows into the fissure. The magma then solidifies and the process repeats itself.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a classic example of this type of plate boundary. The Ridge is a high area compared to the surrounding seafloor because of the lift from the convection current below. (A frequent misconception is that the Ridge is a build-up of volcanic materials, however, the magma that fills the fissure does not flood extensively over the ocean floor and stack up to form a topographic high. Instead, it fills the fissure and solidifies. When the next eruption occurs, the fissure most likely develops down the center of the cooling magma plug with half of the newly solidified material being attached to the end of each plate.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge exposed above sea level on the island of Iceland, and 2) the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Africa.
Effects that are found at a divergent boundary between oceanic plates include: a submarine mountain range such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; volcanic activity in the form of fissure eruptions; shallow earthquake activity; creation of new seafloor and a widening ocean basin.


Faults:

Dip-Slip Normal:



Dip-Slip Reverse:


Strike-Slip:
The movement along a strike-slip fault is approximately parallel to the strike of the fault, meaning the rocks move past each other horizontally.

The San Andreas is a strike-slip fault that has displaced rocks hundreds of miles. As a result of horizontal movement along the fault, rocks of vastly different age and composition have been placed side by side. The San Andreas fault is a fault zone rather than a single fault, and movement may occur along any of the many fault surfaces in the zone. The surface effects of the San Andreas fault zone can be observed for over 600 miles (1,000 km).

Normal faults form when the hanging wall drops down. The forces that create normal faults are pulling the sides apart, or extensional.

Reverse faults form when the hanging wall moves up. The forces creating reverse faults are compressional, pushing the sides together.

Together, normal and reverse faults are called dip-slip faults, because the movement on them occurs along the dip direction—either down or up, respectively.

Strike-slip faults have walls that move sideways, not up or down. That is, the slip occurs along the strike, not up or down the dip. In these faults the fault plane is usually vertical, so there is no hanging wall or footwall. The forces creating these faults are lateral or horizontal, carrying the sides past each other.

Strike-slip faults are either right-lateral or left-lateral. That means someone standing near the fault trace and looking across it would see the far side move to the right or to the left, respectively. The one in the picture is left-lateral.


strike-slip fault graphicstrike-slip

Transform boundary:aka conservative plate boundary and transform boundaryImage of a graph that displays the Transform Boundary.  Please have someone assist you with this.

Transform Boundaries
Places where plates slide past each other are called transform boundaries. Since the plates on either side of a transform boundary are merely sliding past each other and not tearing or crunching each other, transform boundaries lack the spectacular features found at convergent and divergent boundaries. Instead, transform boundaries are marked in some places by linear valleys along the boundary where rock has been ground up by the sliding. In other places, transform boundaries are marked by features like stream beds that have been split in half and the two halves have moved in opposite directions.

Friday, December 11, 2009

1960's

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade60.html
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1966.html
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1960.htm

http://cougartown.com/slang.html go to the site and find good slang words



1961

The Bay of Pigs

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's leftist regime led President Dwight D. Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the Central Intelligence Agency had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. The invasion plan was approved by Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy.

1961: Soviets win space race

The Soviet Union has beaten the USA in the race to get the first man into space.

At just after 0700BST, Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was fired from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, Soviet central Asia, in the space craft Vostok (East).

Major Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes travelling at more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 kilometres per hour) before landing at an undisclosed location.

Alan B. Shepard, Jr NASA EXPERIENCE:

Rear Admiral Shepard was one of the Mercury astronauts named by NASA in April 1959, and he holds the distinction of being the first American to journey into space. On May 5, 1961, in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, he was launched by a Redstone vehicle on a ballistic trajectory suborbital flight--a flight which carried him to an altitude of 116 statute miles and to a landing point 302 statute miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.