The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you.
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what i was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now. It’s a great resource!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
“A [Prince Edward Island] dairy farmer's attempt to save money on feed — he fed his cows seaweed from a nearby beach — has led to a discovery that could bring a substantial reduction in greenhouse gases worldwide.
A researcher found the seaweed reduced the methane in the cows' burps and farts, a key contributor to climate change.
‘Considering that agriculture is one of the big contributors to the global greenhouse gas inventory, it's pretty huge,’ said agricultural scientist Rob Kinley.
More than 10 years ago, Joe Dorgan was a dairy farmer in Seacow Pond, near the northwestern tip of the province, with many of his cows grazing near the shore.
He decided to convert to an organic dairy farm and, as a way to save money, he started feeding seaweed to the cows as their source of minerals and vitamins. … The seaweed is plentiful and washes up on the local beaches where it is gathered using rakes hauled by horses.
‘This is 100 per cent natural. As the storms toss it ashore on the beach, we gather it, dry it, process it and feed it,’ he said.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/12/02/seaweed-cows-greenhouse-gases_n_13373556.html
According to a 2016 report, “A team of Australian scientists lead by Rocky De Nys (James Cook University) discovered that a certain type of red seaweed, called Asparagopsis taxiformis, can decrease the amount of methane produced by the bacteria found in a cow’s stomach.
Lauren Kuntz explains that methane is a very potent but short-lived greenhouse gas. Limiting methane produced by livestock, a major source of the gas, could help abrogate short-term dramatic global warming (on the scale of a few decades). It would not, however, eliminate the need to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide contributes to the global warming via the greenhouse effect and remains in the atmosphere for a much longer time than methane.”
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/seaweed-may-cut-cows-methane-production/
“While previous studies have focused on the role of methane in greenhouse trapping of the infrared energy emitted by the Earth and its atmosphere, this new study also took into account the way methane absorbs energy from the sun, at shorter wavelengths. It shows that much of the extra absorption is in the lower part of the atmosphere, where it has a warming effect.“
https://phys.org/news/2017-01-effect-methane-climate-greater-thought.html
“Cows and other cud-chewing animals digest their cellulose-laden food with the help of stomach bacteria in a process called enteric fermentation, which is why they can live happily on grass. The end result of such microbial metabolism is methane, of which the average cow produces some 200 to 500 liters per day.
Actually, despite a lot of jokes about farting cows, the bulk of methane emissions— about 90 percent—come from their slightly less impolite burps. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global livestock collectively burp and poot about seven gigatonnes (that’s seven billion metric tons) of CO2-equivalents each year. About 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock. That is more than global car and airplane traffic emissions combined.”
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/11/seaweed-may-be-the-solution-for-burping-cows/
“Scientists at the Cow Research Institute in Mathura, around 100 miles south of New Delhi, are tinkering with cattle feed, seeking a formula that will create less gas for the cows to belch out. (That is how most of it is released, by the way; scientists say much less comes from farting.)
But a team of researchers in the southern state of Kerala is working on a long-term answer.
E.M. Muhammed, a breeding expert, has been experimenting with an indigenous strain of miniature cattle that produce less milk than typical crossbred cows but are much better able to stand very hot weather. An unexpected surprise along the way, he said, was that these dwarf animals, which are about one-quarter the weight of crossbred cows, produce only one-seventh as much manure and one-tenth as much methane.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/world/what-in-the-world/india-cows-carbon-emissions.html?mcubz=0
“A recent [June 2017] study by researchers at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, has found a certain type of Australian red algae can significantly inhibit methane emissions from cows. Led by Professor of Aquaculture Rocky De Nys, researchers found an addition of less than 2 percent dried seaweed to a cow’s diet can reduce methane emissions by 99 percent. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an Australian federal research agency.
Methane is about 25-times more potent than carbon dioxide in a 100-year time span, and a single cow releases between 70 and 120 kilograms of methane per year. Burps from cows account for 26 percent of the United States’ total methane emissions, and the U.S. is only the world’s fourth-largest producer of cattle, behind China, Brazil, and India. There are currently approximately 1.3 to 1.5 billion cows roaming the planet.
Researchers started investigating the potential effect of seaweed on cows in 2005, when a dairy farmer named Joe Dorgan inadvertently conducted an experiment on his herd in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Dorgan noticed cows that grazed on washed-up seaweed in paddocks along the shore were healthier and more productive than those that stayed in the field. He began feeding his cows a mixture of local storm-tossed seaweed and found the new diet saved him money and induced ‘rip-roaring heats,’ or longer cycles of reproductive activity.
Dorgan is not the first farmer to discover the beneficial properties of seaweed in farm animals. The practice was used by Ancient Greeks in 100 B.C, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. There are also records of Icelandic farmers using kelp and algae to keep livestock healthy and produce larger milk yields.”
https://foodtank.com/news/2017/06/seaweed-reduce-cow-methane-emission/
This topic can be a useful Homework or Extra Credit topic when discussing the naming of compounds such as methane, CH4, and carbon dioxide, CO2.
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom. Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Have a great weekend!
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you.
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what i was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now. It’s a great resource!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
“A [Prince Edward Island] dairy farmer's attempt to save money on feed — he fed his cows seaweed from a nearby beach — has led to a discovery that could bring a substantial reduction in greenhouse gases worldwide.
A researcher found the seaweed reduced the methane in the cows' burps and farts, a key contributor to climate change.
‘Considering that agriculture is one of the big contributors to the global greenhouse gas inventory, it's pretty huge,’ said agricultural scientist Rob Kinley.
More than 10 years ago, Joe Dorgan was a dairy farmer in Seacow Pond, near the northwestern tip of the province, with many of his cows grazing near the shore.
He decided to convert to an organic dairy farm and, as a way to save money, he started feeding seaweed to the cows as their source of minerals and vitamins. … The seaweed is plentiful and washes up on the local beaches where it is gathered using rakes hauled by horses.
‘This is 100 per cent natural. As the storms toss it ashore on the beach, we gather it, dry it, process it and feed it,’ he said.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/12/02/seaweed-cows-greenhouse-gases_n_13373556.html
According to a 2016 report, “A team of Australian scientists lead by Rocky De Nys (James Cook University) discovered that a certain type of red seaweed, called Asparagopsis taxiformis, can decrease the amount of methane produced by the bacteria found in a cow’s stomach.
Lauren Kuntz explains that methane is a very potent but short-lived greenhouse gas. Limiting methane produced by livestock, a major source of the gas, could help abrogate short-term dramatic global warming (on the scale of a few decades). It would not, however, eliminate the need to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide contributes to the global warming via the greenhouse effect and remains in the atmosphere for a much longer time than methane.”
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/seaweed-may-cut-cows-methane-production/
“While previous studies have focused on the role of methane in greenhouse trapping of the infrared energy emitted by the Earth and its atmosphere, this new study also took into account the way methane absorbs energy from the sun, at shorter wavelengths. It shows that much of the extra absorption is in the lower part of the atmosphere, where it has a warming effect.“
https://phys.org/news/2017-01-effect-methane-climate-greater-thought.html
“Cows and other cud-chewing animals digest their cellulose-laden food with the help of stomach bacteria in a process called enteric fermentation, which is why they can live happily on grass. The end result of such microbial metabolism is methane, of which the average cow produces some 200 to 500 liters per day.
Actually, despite a lot of jokes about farting cows, the bulk of methane emissions— about 90 percent—come from their slightly less impolite burps. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global livestock collectively burp and poot about seven gigatonnes (that’s seven billion metric tons) of CO2-equivalents each year. About 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock. That is more than global car and airplane traffic emissions combined.”
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/11/seaweed-may-be-the-solution-for-burping-cows/
“Scientists at the Cow Research Institute in Mathura, around 100 miles south of New Delhi, are tinkering with cattle feed, seeking a formula that will create less gas for the cows to belch out. (That is how most of it is released, by the way; scientists say much less comes from farting.)
But a team of researchers in the southern state of Kerala is working on a long-term answer.
E.M. Muhammed, a breeding expert, has been experimenting with an indigenous strain of miniature cattle that produce less milk than typical crossbred cows but are much better able to stand very hot weather. An unexpected surprise along the way, he said, was that these dwarf animals, which are about one-quarter the weight of crossbred cows, produce only one-seventh as much manure and one-tenth as much methane.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/world/what-in-the-world/india-cows-carbon-emissions.html?mcubz=0
“A recent [June 2017] study by researchers at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, has found a certain type of Australian red algae can significantly inhibit methane emissions from cows. Led by Professor of Aquaculture Rocky De Nys, researchers found an addition of less than 2 percent dried seaweed to a cow’s diet can reduce methane emissions by 99 percent. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an Australian federal research agency.
Methane is about 25-times more potent than carbon dioxide in a 100-year time span, and a single cow releases between 70 and 120 kilograms of methane per year. Burps from cows account for 26 percent of the United States’ total methane emissions, and the U.S. is only the world’s fourth-largest producer of cattle, behind China, Brazil, and India. There are currently approximately 1.3 to 1.5 billion cows roaming the planet.
Researchers started investigating the potential effect of seaweed on cows in 2005, when a dairy farmer named Joe Dorgan inadvertently conducted an experiment on his herd in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Dorgan noticed cows that grazed on washed-up seaweed in paddocks along the shore were healthier and more productive than those that stayed in the field. He began feeding his cows a mixture of local storm-tossed seaweed and found the new diet saved him money and induced ‘rip-roaring heats,’ or longer cycles of reproductive activity.
Dorgan is not the first farmer to discover the beneficial properties of seaweed in farm animals. The practice was used by Ancient Greeks in 100 B.C, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. There are also records of Icelandic farmers using kelp and algae to keep livestock healthy and produce larger milk yields.”
https://foodtank.com/news/2017/06/seaweed-reduce-cow-methane-emission/
This topic can be a useful Homework or Extra Credit topic when discussing the naming of compounds such as methane, CH4, and carbon dioxide, CO2.
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom. Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Have a great weekend!
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