Major Chemical Spill in Hungary

On October 5, 2010 a major Eco disaster took place in Hungary, in the surrounding Budapest area, mostly impacting rural villages and towns. This disaster supposedly happened after a reservoir damn broke and an 2 meter high massive industrial wave flooded the areas and wiped away any materials in its way. This wave flooded many villages and left a number of streets and houses covered with red-sludge. Hundreds of helpless people were evacuated from villages from this terrible wave. This disaster has so far killed 4 people and injured a hundred others. This chemical wave is slowly spreading through surrounding countries including Serbia. There is also instant actions in how we can stop a terrible scene to happen. Some suggest dams while so suggest different types of ideas. In my opinion, safety measures are drastic because of this risky chemical combination. After all, this combination can potentially take away many lives and this is the fact that we are trying to cancel out. To conclude, this drastic chemical spill took place on October 5, 2010 in the surrounding villages of Budapest and has consisted of great attention. I certainly hope that drastic measures be held to prevent this spill from being a world wide issue.

In my opinion, I think this tragic event fits our topic of class in a couple of ways. Firstly, the chemical spill has a lot to do about chemicals and how they cope. This spill also represents the bad ways chemicals can influence our world. Secondly, this event can also combine with the upcoming essay about effects of harmful chemicals. I truly believe that this topic would be a perfect topic for elaborating on. Thirdly, this event elaborates more on compounds and safety measures that have to be taken when referred to chemicals. God knows when something like this could happen again, but much worse. Those are the times where we have to be ready, because as you have seen, chemicals can kill. To conclude, I personally think this video was very tragic but completed the necessary components of a chemical awareness video.

As I mentioned earlier, this video has much to do about chemical awareness, similar to the Blue Gold which is about water awareness. They both try to make the world a better place by taking action. The videos try to raise awareness about a certain topic that needs instant major attention.

Newly Discovered Planet May Be First Truly Habitable Exoplanet

Summary

A specialized team consisting of planet hunters led by the astronomers at the University of California and the Carnegie Institution of Washington have discovered an earth sized planet (three times the size of earth) orbiting a close by star. The discovered planet is in the middle of the planets "habitable zone" where H2O can exist on the planets surface. If authenticated, this planet can be the first potential planet that humans could actually survive on. To astronomers a habitable planet would be a planet that could actually sustain life, not necessarily a planet that could be lived on. These finding were based on the 11 years of observations at the observatory in Hawaii. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institutions stated the following, "Our ability to find potentially habitable worlds is now limited only by our telescope time." This newly invention will yet be released in public also including many minor names that contributed to this miraculous discovery. It all started when two planets were found around the dwarf star Gliese 581. This improved the number to six orbiting planets which is the second largest system after ours. The most interesting planet, Gliese 581g is three times the mass of earth and as Vogt stated, enough gravity to hold down an atmosphere. This incredible planet is 20 light years away from earth and had practicably enough characteristics as earth. "We had planets on both sides of the habitable zone--one too hot and one too cold--and now we have one in the middle that's just right," Vogt said. This planet is also locked to the star meaning that the planet does not rotate, therefore, one side is always exposed to light and the other is always exposed to darkness. The planets temperatures range from -31 C - -12 C. In one side, its gets really hot while on the other it gets really chilling and cold. It was a really challenging job to find this incredible planet but the researchers are fascinated on how fast they found Gliese 581. Plus, according to the percentages, they have come to an conclusion that there are possibly billions of planets that have the same attributes. Once again, this planet was really special and many researchers and astronomers hope this planet can actually sustain life. This project was financed by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

In conclusion, there are many other planets to be discovered and finally some day, we hope we will be able to take the human civilization and transfer it to another planet.

Reflection

In my opinion, this article was very useful for developing my knowledge and it made the memories from the astrology unit. Firstly, I learned how hard planet hunters work. They never accept breaks and try to discover planets for 24 hours. There hard work payed off with this event and now we possibly have a habitable planet. I also learned a lot about habitable planets and there aspects. Now I know what type of planet is a habitable one and how it becomes a habitable planet. As I said earlier, this project also brought back memories from the astronomy unit. I now know more about the atmosphere and gravity a planet holds and more about the core of the planet. This article mostly connects to the astronomy unit and I personally think it would help students understand planets a little bit better.

In conclusion, I want to state that this article really helped my mind develop and become stronger. I also hope this planet will become a new earth!

Green PLastic

After I finished watching this video, I learned many things, one being that "Green PLastic has a bad and good impact on the world. Firstly, that Green Plastics are made out of corn, sugar canes, sugar beets and other materials. I also learned that PLA is very effective in producing materials such as diapers, socks etc. These plastics are "green" because they do not use any fossil fuels as raw materials to make plastic. They are also green because they can decompose on their own without even polluting the environment.

Green Plastics also has harmful aspects. I look at it as a cycle. To harvest these crops used for plastic, you need fertilizers which contribute to water pollution. Motor vehicles used for harvesting, transporting, planting etc release carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming. Factories used to produce plastics also need electricity which usually comes from fossil fuels.Many trees would also be cut down which would increase deforestation and less oxygen.

Some compounds I found were methane, water or H2O, lactic acid and carbon dioxide.

These two videos try to tell us what is going on in the world around us and give us interminable ways on how we could improve on its factors. They talk about polluting and the cycle of polluting. They also raise awareness on how the precious world should be treated.

In conclusion, i want to state that this video was really interesting and helped me understand more about the outside world.

Atomic Theory Reflection

Here is the link to the website containing the video:

http://www.101science.com/Chemistry.htm#Chemicals_and_Interactions

Reflection On What I Learned

In my opinion, this video was very interesting and really helped me sum the information we learned in 21 minutes. Here are some factors that I really picked up during his video presentation.

Firstly, the main factors, such as the protons, electrons and neutrons were explained in great detail. The great diagrams and pictures also helped me stick the basics into my head.

The other important aspect I learned was the one with the organization of the atom. He drew where the protons,neutrons and electrons were. He also greatly defined the orbits and orbitals which really helped me understand the electrons job in the atom.

Next, he really deeply explained the mass, number and weight which allowed me to combine and see how they all connect with each other. One example of this would be the atomic number and mass. He demonstrated how they both are used to fond the amount of neutrons.

After that, he stated some very intriguing facts and comments that I have not heard before. What blew mine and his mind is that actually all the things we look at are not really solids but empty space. They just look the way they are because the way lights reflects on them. There were some other interesting comments along the way.

I also enjoyed how he was using philosophy and the philosophers mind. His thinking and explaining made you ask a lot of inquiry question regarding the topic. I also adored how he kept everything steady and mysterious. This aspect really made me eager to watch the 20 minute video.

In conclusion, I want to state that this video had a positive effect on me and hopefully my classmates. This video also helped pound in the swirling information that was orbiting around my head. After all, this video helped me sum up all the information we have learned about chemicals.

Current Events-Most Penguin Populations Continue To Decline

Summary

This interesting article I read was about how the penguin population is decreasing. Not long ago, over 180 penguin biologists, officials and zoo professionals have come together to discuss this fearing problem. They have come to a conclusion that 10 out of the worlds 18 species have had a decline in their population over these couple of years. There are four main reasons of this intimidating happening. Firstly, the population has decreased because of climate changes. One example of this would be the blockage of cold water currents. These cold currents have brought many schools of fish for the penguins to eat. But now, the cold water currents are permanently blocked. Therefore, the penguins do not have enough food to live. The massive icebergs also cause problems for the helpless penguins.

The second main reason on why penguin population has gone down is because of overfishing. The large amount of fishing going on has prevented the penguins from getting their food so now they are fighting for their own food. The catching of fishes means that the penguins do not have anything to eat so lower breading success and vulnerability is a big problem. Penguins are also caught in various fishing nets.

Thirdly, oil spills and chronic pollution have killed many penguins over this time. This oil usually comes from sunken ships and ships crossing the sea.

Lastly, mammalian predators are also a problem. Till now, penguins have lived in remote areas where there has been no animal predators. But now, the introduction of weasels and foxes in different areas has a had a huge impact on small population of penguins.

In conclusion, penguins are in great danger and this is what the biologists are trying to stop.

Reflection

I chose this intriguing article because of my love for animals. I think I learned a lot from this article. It taught me how small aspects that don't really matter to someone, in this case people, can affect other beings, in this case the helpless penguins. Another valuable aspect I learned is actually how much attention is faced toward this problem. I am actually very glad to see that there are many people out there that want to help these penguins. I am also hoping that this article will raise awareness of the endangered animals, not only penguins. I my opinion, people have faced so much to the natural world and forgot all about the beautiful animals that roam through earth. I personally really enjoyed this article and learned quite a lot form it. I am sure that I will keep all the information about monkeys and endangered animals. People should worry about Global Warming or Water Loss, but they should never forget the beauty inside the animals. Remember people, animals have feelings too. They can feel anger, pain, sadness and happiness.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100906145115.htm

5 New Facts Regarding Water

1. Once evaporated, a water molecule spends ten days in the air.

Honestly, I did not know this fact about water and I found it very helpful. The moment I read this article I thought of a way it could help us gather water. If we knew how much time the molecules stayed in the air, we could predict where the rain would go and how strong it would be. Maybe be could build some sort of machine who could collect the rain and we could have fresh water. In this way water supply could increase. I think that this perfectly connects with the water video due to the fact that it can help the increase of fresh water. It also can connect with Macedonia. My country could take some risks and try to use this useful fact.

http://www.mamashealth.com/water/waterfacts.asp

2. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily can decrease the risk of breast cancer by 79 %, and one is 50 % less likely to develop bladder cancer.

I chose this fact because I found the information very interesting. I could not believe that drinking water can actually decrease the likability of getting cancer. I am really curious why this information is not so known because I believe it can help many people that fear these types of cancers. I am really interested in how the water banishes these cancers. I personally think this is a very important fact and sooner or later it should appear on the news. This can connect to the video because it is one way fresh water is wasted but it used for good deeds. Macedonia could also acquire this fact and start putting it into use.

http://www.all-creatures.org/health/inter.html

3. A human being can go without food for a month, but can go without water for a week.

This fact really sums up the whole problem with water. It basically states that food is much less important than water and sadly, we have much more food than water. Our water resources are slowly going down by the numbers and soon finding water will become an impossible task. This is why the conservation of water is a crucial thing in the world. I my opinion this fact is basically what the whole movie is trying to tell you, to preserve the water!!! This information should also quickly spread through Macedonia and more people should value water more than anything else.

http://www.strange-facts.info/interesting-water-facts

4.There are about 70000 contaminants of water.

This article was very interesting it blew my mind with what I actually already knew. Its complicated to explain. As we all know, there are many pollutants of water but no one would say there are 70000!!! I think this is absurd and whoever those pollutants are, they should be stopped. Awareness of these contaminants should arise and people should start paying attention to the water. I think this is also a perfect match with the topics we are learning in class. I think that Macedonia should also raise awareness and pay more attention to the Macedonian bodies of water.

5. 70 % of the worlds fresh water is devoted to agriculture.

I finally chose this one because I wanted to state how the fresh water is not organized. As we all know, water is a necessity to life. Now if we use this water for agriculture, there is not gonna be enough for the world. Due to this fact, the fresh water should be divided into proper groups so their is enough for everything and everybody. I think this fact connects to the video in a way of organization and how the fresh water of the world should be divided. Macedonia also has many farms and agriculture and this fact is pointed toward my country. People should start thinking of how they treat the FRESH water.

http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/

5 Things I Didn't Know About Water

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/20-things-you-didn.t-know-about-water

1. Water is everywhere—there are 332,500,000 cubic miles of it on the earth’s surface. But less than 1 percent of it is fresh and accessible, even when you include bottled water.

I thought this fact was really intriguing but at the same time fearful. I chose this fact because this fact has many changed aspects than what we learned in class. Firstly, it states that only one percent of the earths water is fresh, including bottled water. I found this very interesting because many people have been stating that there is only 3 % of fresh water. This relates to our class because we are currently learning about water and how it has affected the world. This fact also relates to my country, Macedonia. Many people do not know these type of facts and in my opinion this is a really important one on the conservation of drinkable water.

2. Cheers! The new Water Recovery System on the International Space Station recycles 93 percent of astronauts’ perspiration and urine, turning it back into drinking water.

I also chose this fact because I thought of it being quite innovative and it brought up a fact I didn't know before. What surprised me in this fact was that I did not know that urine can be turned back into drinking water!?!? I was totally stunned by this comment. I never knew you could turn urine into water. Believe it or not, I am really curious on how they do this. This fact sort of connects with the unit we are studying but could be a real hit on the astronomy unit. Although Macedonia doesn't have much astronauts, the conversion could be widely studied and it could bring us fresh water.

3. Good gardeners know not to water plants during the day. Droplets clinging to the leaves can act as little magnifying glasses, focusing sunlight and causing the plants to burn.

I was personally really amazed by this fact. It added information to my head that would have almost never come to my brain. I did not think of this "formula" this way in the past but his comment really lit up my brain. I am sure many farmers have asked themselves why their plants were burning but its too bad for them, they did not go to a good science class :) But now that I think of it I ask myself, can plants survive the day with no water? We all know that plants need water to survive so this is the only question I have. I also think this fact relates to our topic and it can help the farmers in Macedonia keep the business going.

4. Although many doctors tell patients to drink eight glasses of water a day, there is no scientific evidence to support this advice.

I also chose this fact because the actual message of it was very interesting to me. I have been told many times to drink eight glasses of water per day and I thought the doctors were of it. I guess this fact states the opposite. I am really curious on how many doctors have come to the same conclusion due to the fact that their is no proof. I guess after reading this very persuasive fact I will doubt some other specific thing in life. I think the only connection this fact has is with the world. I think that it is fatal for doctors to be giving such prescriptions if they do not know the outcome over time.

5. Recent evidence suggests that when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago, comets had liquid cores. If so, life may have started in a comet.

As soon as I read this miraculous fact it totally blew my mind. I have always been told that life had started on earth after the big bang, but turns out it is a possibility that life started in a comet. If this was actually true I believe that research and investigations would be all over the place. Maybe dinosaurs weren't the first creatures. I really have a lot of questions to ask about this fact and I am sure many people do to. Once again this fact would totally fit in the astronomy unit more than the chemical unit. I really look forward to reading some more information about this fact.