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The Hidden Air Pollution in our homes

4/12/2019

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40th anniversary of 3-mile island accident

4/5/2019

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Petrochemical fire near houston, tx

3/29/2019

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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 !

“Crews have extinguished a fire that burned for several days at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility [on March 20, 2019]”.

International Terminals Company [ITC] said the blaze in Deer Park was extinguished as of 3 a.m. Wednesday [3/20/2018]. The fire began Sunday [3/17/2019] at the facility southeast of Houston, sending a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet in the air, though officials said air quality remained safe.

Crews will continue to spray foam and water on the storage tanks that caught fire to cool them down and prevent the fire from reigniting, the company said, adding that steam and smoke will be visible, and the fire could still flare back up.

The tanks that caught fire contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner.”
http://time.com/5554796/houston-petrochemicals-fire-contained/

Days later, “[a] fire at a petrochemical plant outside of Houston briefly reignited Friday [3/21/2019], sending up another plume of black smoke at a site where a blaze had erupted earlier this week. The fire was preceded by a chemical spill into the Houston Ship Channel.

As of Friday afternoon [3/21/2019], the fire at a tank farm operated by the Intercontinental Terminals Co. in the city of Deer Park, just east of Houston, appeared to be contained, according to local reports. The incident delayed cleanup efforts for the original blaze which was initially extinguished on Wednesday [3/19/2019] after local authorities had issued shelter-in-place alerts to area residents. In the aftermath of that fire, the Environmental Protection Agency detected elevated levels of benzene.

The cause of Friday's [03/21/2019] fire is still unknown. There are no reported injuries.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an environmental lawsuit against Intercontinental Terminals claiming violations of state clean air laws.

‘ITC has a history of environmental violations, and this latest incident is especially disturbing and frightening,’ Paxton said in a statement. ‘No company can be allowed to disrupt lives and put public health and safety at risk.’
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/22/706082075/petrochemical-fire-reignites-at-houston-area-fuel-storage-facility

“The all-important channel is described by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a manmade port for ocean-going vessels, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Houston and Harris County, Texas.

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Kevin Oditt said tests are being done to monitor the conditions of the channel. A tank ship successfully went through the area on Sunday. [03/24/2019]..
‘The goal was to assess the impact to the on-scene recovery operations as well as ensure that there was no visible oil on the hull. Both were successful,’ Oditt said.

A tank ship and tank barge were to be sent through the area on Monday, [03/25/2019], he said. The Coast Guard has opened the San Jacinto River, he said.’ “
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/25/us/deer-park-residents-environment/index.html

“Students returned to school Monday [03/25/2019] in an area southeast of Houston after a fire at a petrochemical storage facility prompted several days of canceled classes.

Students were back in class Monday [03/25/2019] in Deer Park, Galena Park and other communities near the International Terminals Company in Deer Park.

Classes were canceled because of concerns over air quality near the facility, which caught fire on March 17 [,2019] and burned for several days.

The fire destroyed or damaged storage tanks that contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner.

Elevated levels of benzene were detected in the air Thursday, prompting officials to order people to remain indoors.
The fire also led to the closure of part of the Houston Ship Channel. The U.S. Coast Guard says it hopes to have the channel reopened Monday [, 03/25/2019].”
https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Texas-students-return-to-school-following-petrochemical-fire-507619011.html

“Benzene has a pungent odor, and inhaling it can irritate the skin, eyes and the respiratory system, while severe exposure can harm the nervous system or lead to unconsciousness, according to experts. The EPA classifies benzene as a carcinogen.

The state’s environmental regulator said monitors detected up to 190.68 parts per billion of benzene in Deer Park early Thursday [03/20/2019], a level that can cause headaches and nausea. Deer Park sits on the Houston Ship Channel, an area with nine oil refineries and dozens of energy related facilities.
Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA, a unit of France’s Total SA, emptied several of its petrochemical tanks as a precaution, it reported to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The flaring released thousands of pounds of propene, a volatile organic compound, it said.

Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday [03/20/2019] had ordered employees to avoid an area at its facility where it had detected elevated levels of benzene.

‘Given our very conservative air quality standards we are at a level where out of an abundance of caution there should be a shelter in place,’ Lina Hidalgo, the chief executive of Harris County which encompasses Houston and its suburbs, said during a morning news conference. …

Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said firefighters have continued to apply a foam blanket on the burn area to stop the escape of dangerous fumes.

TCEQ, one of the groups investigating the incident, estimated that on the first day of the fire, 6.2 million pounds of carbon monoxide and thousands of pounds of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and toluene were released. The regulator has cited ITC for violations of state air-emissions rules 39 times over the past 16 years.

The EPA is to test local waterways for possible contamination from the millions of gallons of water and foam dropped on the fire since Sunday. “
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-energy-houston-fire/houston-suburbs-lift-travel-restrictions-imposed-after-petrochemical-fire-idUSKCN1R21BH

“Pyrolysis gasoline, also known as ‘pygas’ is a benzene-rich liquid byproduct that can be blended with other chemicals for use as a gasoline additive. That chemical was the source of a benzene spike Thursday [03/20/2019] morning, after it leaked out from foam covering one of the tanks. City leaders issued a shelter in place that lasted several hours.

ITC officials estimated Thursday [03/20/2019] that 14,000 barrels of pygas remained in that tank. However, ITC officials said Friday [03/21/2019] that about 20,000 barrels remained.
Crews attempted to pump pygas from the tank on Thursday [03/20/2019], but the effort didn’t work, Weber said, in part because of a less-than-ideal environment concerning the positioning of the pump, Weber said.

Aside from the roughly 20,000 barrels of product in the one tank, about 40,000 more barrels are expected to be removed, Weber said. Not all tanks are compromised, but they contain pygas and naptha, which have some percentage of benzene.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/New-fire-erupts-at-Deer-Park-plant-as-leaking-13710439.php

“The San Jacinto River, a waterway leading into the ship channel and located north of ITC's facility, was reopened to barge and tow traffic but only for about three hours on Monday [03/25/2019].

The ship channel is one of the busiest commercial waterways in the country, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Houston.
Water samples from the Houston Ship Channel have been tested, but those results are still not complete, said Jeff Kunze, with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Over the weekend, benzene levels in the air were very high near the site of the fire, but they have dropped significantly, according to monitoring by the Environmental Defense Fund. The group also took water samples in Galveston Bay and is awaiting results.

Adam Adams, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said air monitoring from his agency as well as several others in the last 24 hours has not found any hazardous conditions that would require warning the public.”
https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-students-return-to-school-following-13714127.php

A Homework assignment may be to Students to define 10 terms in one article because of the multiple organic terms cited. One bonus question may for a student defining a term not cited by anybody else in the class or all classes.

These 2 articles present summaries that may be useful for a class assignment:

https://www.kbtx.com/content/news/fire-reignites-again-at-Deer-Park-facility--507533041.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/national-guard-called-houston-after-chemical-fire-residents-told-stay-n985776

*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!

0 Comments

cost of the american lawn

3/22/2019

0 Comments

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 !

“The American ideal of the house with a white picket fence usually includes a nice green lawn. Now, that ideal has become a part of law in many communities; many zoning rules and homeowner codes mandate grass in front of our houses. Suburban environments are looking more and more the same, all across the country.

Kimberly Bois in New Hampshire is just one example; she decided to plant flowers in her small front yard and was eventually sued by her condo association. They reportedly told Kimberly that they ‘just want[ed] all the units to look the same.’ Similarly, thanks to its lawns, suburban Phoenix now looks in many ways more like a northeastern suburb than the desert a mile outside of town. But Phoenix is a desert–should it really look the same as Connecticut or Oregon?”
https://www.bard.edu/cep/blog/?p=8238

“Covering yards across the United States in grass requires a lot of resources:

Water – Many home irrigation systems are wasteful; they spray sidewalks or over water, leading to water running right off into the drain. While it is impossible to know the exact amount of water used on lawns on a daily basis across the entire country, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 30% of the average household’s water use is outdoors, and half of that is to water lawn. If you live somewhere hot and dry, grass species like zoysia may be a better option.

Fertilizer and Chemicals – An awful lot of fertilizer and chemicals get used to keep lawns looking lush and green. The US EPA states that on average, Americans buy 70 million pounds of fertilizer per year. The National Gardening Association estimates that homeowners use over 125 million pounds of pesticides to kill grubs, ants, and other insects, and herbicides to kill those pesky dandelions, per year. These chemicals not only harm the things you’re after, they can be toxic to people and other animals.

Money – Lawn care products and companies are big business in the US. According to Bloomberg News, at least 6 billion dollars per year is spent on lawns.”

[In a ] “modest one-page interview with Dr. Paul Robbins, the director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison. Robbins is, to put it bluntly, a sworn enemy of American lawns. Americans ritually coat their property with fertilizer, chemicals, and thousands of gallons of water in order to achieve a picture-perfect lawn. Robbins thinks this is a tragedy. From an environmental standpoint, he’s right: we pour enormous amounts of resources and energy into our lawns, and in return we get little but fertilizer-contaminated groundwater and a fragile suburban monoculture. So what’s stopping us from just pulling up the nation’s lawns and replacing them with something less wasteful?”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/connor-wood/americans-waste-resources-on-lawns-why-_b_10458312.html
“Well, habit, for one. But more importantly, lawns perform a social signaling function. A well-kept lawn is a great example of what animal behavioralists call a ‘costly signal.’ It takes energy, time, commitment, and resources to keep a lawn looking healthy (as any exasperated homeowner can confirm). An immaculate front lawn can fall into disrepair with only a few days’ worth of neglect. That means that a lawn’s condition is an exquisitely sensitive signal of a homeowner’s level of investment. For neighbors, a disheveled or weed-choked lawn is a warning indicator that the owner of that house might be a weak link in the neighborhood fabric - someone who might be a drag on the community.”

“Overwatering is a Common Homeowner Mistake
When it comes to landscape irrigation, much water is wasted. Some estimates are that lawns and landscapes are overwatered by 30 to 300 percent. Based on my experience over the last 30 years of visiting with homeowners and looking at lawn issues and dead or dying trees, this is a fairly accurate estimate.

Overwatering not only wastes water, a valuable but limited natural resource; it is also unhealthy for landscape plants. While lawns that turn yellow tend to recover, valuable trees, shrubs and perennials are often killed by overwatering. … Avoid wasting water by not overwatering lawns and landscape plants. Water will be conserved and plants will perform better and live longer. “

“Why do we have lawns?

Whether we know it or not, we’re imitating European royalty. The first lawns were created by the nobles and aristocrats of 17th- and 18th-century Europe, including Louis XIV of France, whose Versailles gardens were the first to include squares of tapis vert, or ‘green carpet.’ The idea of lawns as status symbols and ‘pleasure grounds’ caught on among French and British landed gentry, who relied on servants, sheep, and goats as lawn mowers.

After the American Revolution, the trend hopped the Atlantic and flourished among the new nation’s landed aristocrats. George Washington had an English-style lawn at his home in Mount Vernon, as did Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Front lawns didn’t really trickle down to the common man’“until the development of suburban housing after the Civil War’ said Virginia Scott Jenkins, author of The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession. With World War II’s end and Americans’ mass exodus from cities, lawns became emblems of American leisure and prosperity—and a burden for generations of homeowners.”
https://theweek.com/articles/483762/blades-glory-americas-love-affair-lawns

“Overwatering is a Common Homeowner Mistake
When it comes to landscape irrigation, much water is wasted. Some estimates are that lawns and landscapes are overwatered by 30 to 300 percent. Based on my experience over the last 30 years of visiting with homeowners and looking at lawn issues and dead or dying trees, this is a fairly accurate estimate.

Overwatering not only wastes water, a valuable but limited natural resource; it is also unhealthy for landscape plants. While lawns that turn yellow tend to recover, valuable trees, shrubs and perennials are often killed by overwatering. …
Avoid wasting water by not overwatering lawns and landscape plants. Water will be conserved and plants will perform better and live longer. “
https://droughtresources.unl.edu/avoid-overwatering-lawns-landscapes

One idea, [whether] you’re a homeowner praying for rain in drought parched Southern California, or you reside somewhere that’s still unaffected by the drought that’s entrenched itself across various parts of the Western United States in the past few years, artificial grass has a lot to offer in the way of saving water.

Just how much water you ask? Try 660,000 gallons over the course of 15 years.

‘It is amazing that a healthy grass lawn typically requires 55 gallons of water per square foot per year,’ said Brian McGibbon of Fields of Green, speaking to The Sacramento Bee. ‘That is 44,000 gallons of water per year for a 800-square-foot lawn.’

By simply installing artificial grass to replace live turf, a homeowner with an 800-square-foot lawn is primed to save hundreds of thousands of gallons over the lifetime of the lawn. And with artificial grass costing less than $5 per square foot, a relatively small up-front investment can pay off many times over.

How Much Water Does It Take To…Water plays an invaluable role in not just the lives of homeowners, but in nearly every aspect of manufacturing, farming and culture. If you’re having trouble conceptualizing how much 660,000 gallons is, that’s the same amount of water that’s required to produce:

Sixteen cars, including tires
Four thousand loaves of bread
Six thousand watermelons
Five thousand eggs
Ten tons of steel

And all this isn’t just hypothetical: With water shortages nationwide, the cost of manufacturing and farming goods at higher water rates is passed on to the consumer, resulting in higher prices.”
https://www.purchasegreen.com/blog/just-how-much-water-can-you-save-with-artificial-grass/

“Q. How much water can be saved by removing a lawn?
A. Water savings depends on how effectively the lawn has been irrigated, the type of turfgrass removed, which plants and how many will replace it, and how effectively the water applied to new plants is managed. If a lawn is removed and plant material is changed but the irrigation system and water management practices are not improved, then little water savings will be realized. If the lawn has been over watered and irrigation was poorly managed, then maximum water savings are possible by removing the lawn. However, in such situations keeping the lawn and simply improving irrigation management and improving or replacing an inefficient irrigation system will also generate substantial water savings without the trouble, cost, and the loss of aesthetics and functions that occur when removing the lawn.

Turfgrass water requirements vary by species. Warm-season lawns, such as bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, buffalograss, and St. Augustinegrass, need about 20% less water than widely planted cool-season lawns, such as tall fescue. So, simply replacing a tall fescue lawn with a warm-season one will significantly reduce the water needs of a turf area. Water requirements of warm-season grasses to provide optimum performance are about 10-20% greater than those of trees, shrubs, and groundcovers of any type, but these grasses can remain alive and largely green, though not lush, when irrigated at the same level as trees, shrubs, and groundcovers. For optimum performance, cool-season grasses require about 40-50% more water than trees, shrubs, or groundcovers, but they will provide minimum coverage with just 10-20% more water than these woody plants require.
Replacing a lawn with a mix of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, vines, and herbaceous perennial plants that creates a nearly complete, well-performing plant canopy over the landscape can be expected to have 50% less water demand than a cool-season lawn or at least 30% less than a warm-season lawn, assuming the lawn was watered to perform well and the new planting is well-designed with a highly efficient and well-managed irrigation system. Larger water savings can be realized if cool-season grass (such as tall fescue) is replaced with mulch and a few widely-spaced, if any, drip irrigated woody plants. However, there are significant functional, aesthetic, and maintenance differences between fully and sparsely planted landscapes that must be considered before choosing a lawn removal and replacement strategy.”
https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanHort/Water_Use_of_Turfgrass_and_Landscape_Plant_Materials/

“Imagine the visual: the small, 12 inch-by-12 inch patch of lawn, consuming enough water annually to nearly fill the bid of a small pickup truck’s bed. The numbers generated by synthetic grass conserving water are also remarkable: a backyard with 500 square feet of natural grass, drinking 67,500 gallons of water annually, enough to fill three swimming pools. Or, not drinking – nada agua — when turf is substituted.

Does immediate water savings justify installing artificial grass? No. Gasoline is priced at $4 per gallon, and up; most residential water users pay less than $0.004 per gallon. Replacing grass with turf in that 500 square-foot backyard might save you $270 per year, $22.50 per month. Over the life of the synthetic grass, however, savings add up; 10 years’ worth equates to $2,700 less in water bills (not adjusted for inflation).

Now imagine how much water could be saved annually if all the natural grass lawns in America, estimated at 40 million acres, were synthetic grass that requires zero H2O.

Forty million acres equals 1,742,400,000,000 (that’s trillions) square feet. Multiply each square foot by 135 gallons, the Southern California multiplier, and you get 235,224,000,000,000 (hundreds of trillions; next stop, quadrillions) of water that goes to keeping lawns looking green and healthy, coast-to-coast, in one year. And theoretically and mathematically, that much water would fill Great Salt Lake … 47 times.”
https://syntheticgrasswarehouse.com/how-much-water-can-turf-conserve-try-235224000000000-gallons-a-year/

“Lawn Care Uses a Lot of Water In some urban and suburban areas in the Southwest US, outdoor water use can reach up to a whopping 80 percent of all home water use. This is a serious concern considering the region’s primary water sources like the Colorado River and Sierra Nevada Mountains are already over-allocated and, during times of drought, can be stretched very thin.

Residents of the Southwest aren’t alone, though. Many people across the nation water lawns during dry spells and droughts, drawing from already strained water supplies. This is especially concerning considering that no section of the country is immune from drought or water scarcity and state water managers anticipate water shortages in 40 of 50 states over the next 10 years.

No matter where people live, it’s important to think about outdoor water conservation, especially in lawn care. A well-managed yard not only uses less water, it can also significantly cut down on downstream water pollution from using too much fertilizer and pesticides.

Swimming Pools Can Waste a Lot of WaterSwimming pools are major outdoor water users. The average pool takes about 18,000 gallons of water to fill (find out how to calculate pool volumes) and an uncovered pool can lose thousands of gallons a month from evaporation in arid areas. Over the course of a year, that could add up to 30,000 gallons (and a high water bill) if it is refilled each year. If a pool seems like it is losing a lot of water, it might have a leak (here’s an easy way to find out).

Covered pools save 30 to 50 percent of the water that would otherwise evaporate and 50 to 70 percent of the heating energy lost from a heated pool that isn’t covered. Heated pools use even more water, because the energy used to heat a pool would most likely come from a thermoelectric power plant. These plants withdraw billions of gallons of water each year across the US for their cooling systems. Covered pools save water and energy, and they save dollars, too.

Car Washes Use Less Water than Garden HosesWashing a car can help preserve its life, but it takes a lot of water – about 100 gallons, on average – to get a car clean if it’s washed at home with a hose. In addition, the accumulated dirt and grease that comes off a car goes into gutters and can end up in local waterways. Automatic and full-service car washes are a better option all around because they use much less water (15 to 60 gallons) and anything that comes off a car will go down a drain and into a wastewater treatment plant. Some car washes even recycle their water. The best car wash in terms of water use is a self-service car wash. They use the least amount of water because of their high-pressure hoses and easy-to-turn-off pistol grips.

Cars use water in other ways besides car washes. It takes a lot of water to make gasoline – approximately one to 2.5 gallons of water for one gallon of gasoline – which means that unnecessary driving trips waste water. Instead, ditch the car and carpool, walk, ride a bike or take public transportation.
Remember: Saving water saves energy, too! A little bit of planning can curb outdoor water waste, and save both energy and money.”
https://www.watercalculator.org/water-use/outdoor-water-use-at-home/

“Watering Wisely Under Normal ConditionsMost lawns need the equivalent of 1 inch of rainfall each week to retain their health and attractive appearance. This includes water from natural precipitation and any supplemental irrigation you provide. Water moves faster and deeper through sandy soils than through clay, but 1 inch of water penetrates about 4 to 6 inches deep in average soils.4 That's adequate for grass roots in most normal lawn situations. TWCA-qualified grasses require even less.

Implementing these water-wise watering practices, as part of your regular lawn maintenance routine keeps lawns healthy while cutting down on wasted water:

Use rain gauges or weather data to track how much weekly water nature provides, then supplement only as needed. Too much water prevents roots from getting needed oxygen and encourages many types of lawn disease.
Monitor how much water your sprinkler system provides; don't guess. Set up water gauges or 1-inch-deep cans (tuna cans or cat food cans work well). Measure the sprinkler water you collect in 15 minutes to determine how long it takes to supply 1 inch.
Water your lawn between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m., whenever possible. Early morning watering reduces loss to wind and evaporation, and allows water to soak in before sunlight heats the soil.
Use watering systems that stay close to the ground. Arcing sprinklers waste more water than systems with low trajectories.
Water ordinary grasses deeply once or twice per week, if needed. Shallow, frequent watering leads to shallow, drought-vulnerable roots. Deep, less frequent watering encourages deep roots and improves drought tolerance.
Distribute water evenly and slowly to prevent puddling or runoff, and avoid watering sidewalks or other paved areas. Consider intermittent sprinklers that water briefly, then allow a soak-in period before continuing.

Whatever watering regimen you choose, look to your lawn for the final word. Well-hydrated grass springs back up when stepped on. If grass stays depressed, it may need water. Curled grass blades or dull, blue-gray color are signs grasses are water stressed. “
https://www.pennington.com/all-products/grass-seed/resources/manage-your-lawn-and-water-use-wisely

“What Makes a Meadow?
The term meadow refers to uncultivated areas featuring herbaceous plants and soils that aren’t wet year-round. While grasslands are defined as having more than 50% grass cover, meadows have more than 50% forb cover. Most forbs are wildflowers, although the term also includes non-flowering plants like ferns.

Infrequent mowing (only once or twice a year) allows a site’s vegetation to diversify. Species of native grasses like bluestem and purpletop, which are suited to the mid-Atlantic, begin to colonize. Forbs like goldenrod and aster enter the site, followed by wildflowers such as daisies and black-eyed Susans. Over time, the site transforms into a meadow of diverse plants and wildlife.

BenefitsMeadows have clear advantages when compared to turf lawns. Converting an area to its natural state is an affordable way to create healthy, vibrant landscapes, whether in a public park or residential yard.”
https://conservationtools.org/guides/151-from-lawn-to-meadow
This article might be a Homework Assignment where students summarize the pros and cons of the “meadow” lawn”

Your students may want to research the challenges and options of lawn choices as water usage has more limitations.

*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!

0 Comments

increase in the cost of recycling

3/15/2019

0 Comments

voyager-2

3/8/2019

0 Comments

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 !

“NASA's Voyager 2 probe, launched in 1977, is now more than 11 billion miles from Earth and has reached interstellar space, the agency said Monday [12/10/18]. This is the second time a human-made object has reached this part of space. And it's an incredible feat for a spacecraft designed to last five years.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/10/us/nasa-voyager-2-update/index.html

“Launched just 16 days apart, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were designed to take advantage of a rare alignment of the outer planets that only occurs once every 176 years. Their trajectory took them by the outer planets, where they captured never-before-seen images. They were also able to steal a little momentum from Jupiter and Saturn that helped send them on a path toward interstellar space. This 'gravity assist' gave the spacecraft a velocity boost without expending any fuel. Though both spacecraft were destined for interstellar space, they followed slightly different trajectories.

Voyager 1 followed a path that enabled it to fly by Jupiter in 1979, discovering the gas giant’s rings. It continued on for a 1980 close encounter with Saturn’s moon Titan before a gravity assist from Saturn hurled it above the plane of the solar system and out toward interstellar space. After Voyager 2 visited Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1981, it continued on to encounter Uranus in 1986, where it obtained another assist. Its last planetary visit before heading out of the solar system was Neptune in 1989, where the gas giant’s gravity sent the probe in a southward direction toward interstellar space. Since the end of its prime mission at Neptune, Voyager 2 has been using its onboard instruments to continue sensing the environment around it, communicating data back to scientists on Earth. It was this data that scientists used to determine Voyager 2 had entered interstellar space.”
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2018/12/18/then-there-were-two-voyager-2-reaches-interstellar-space/

“After Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune, NASA formally renamed the entire project (including both Voyager spacecraft) the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM). Some year before 2030, Voyager 2 is expected to cross the heliopause-the outer boundary of the vast region of space dominated by the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field-and reach interstellar space. In that sense, it can be said that the spacecraft will be able to sample what space is like beyond our solar system. (If we define the solar system as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, however, Voyager 2 will remain will emerge from the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years.

As the spacecraft's power supply dwindles, it will need to begin shutting down its instruments. Sometime in 2025 or after, there will be insufficient electricity to power even one instrument, and Voyager 2 will continue its eternal journey among the stars in silence.

Key Dates
Aug. 20 1977: Launch
July 9, 1979: Jupiter Flyby (Closest Approach)
Aug. 26, 1981: Saturn Flyby (Closest Approach)
Jan. 24, 1986: Uranus Flyby (Closest Approach)
Aug. 25, 1989: Neptune Flyby (Closest Approach)”
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-2/in-depth/

“Scientists have been watching for Voyager 2's grand departure since late August, when data beamed back by the probe suggested it was nearing what scientists call the heliopause, a bubble created by the solar wind of charged particles flowing out from our sun and influencing the environment within our solar system. Scientists use the heliopause to mark where interstellar space begins, although depending on how you define our solar system it can stretch all the way to the Oort Cloud, which begins 1,000 times farther away from the sun than Earth's orbit.

Beyond that bubble, spacecraft fly through many more cosmic rays — much higher-energy particles — than the lower-energy particles of our own neighborhood. Two instruments onboard the Voyager 2 probe track these particles as they collide with the spacecraft. The transition from mostly lower-energy particles to nearly none of these and a sudden surge of cosmic rays tells scientists the probe has crossed the heliopause.”
https://www.space.com/42680-voyager-2-reaches-interstellar-space.html

Here is a 3 minute youtube clip that summarizes this event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGPM58S5Njg

“The most compelling evidence of Voyager 2’s exit from the heliosphere came from its onboard Plasma Science Experiment (PLS).

Until recently, the space surrounding Voyager 2 was filled predominantly with plasma flowing out from our Sun — the so-called solar wind.

The PLS uses the electrical current of the plasma to detect the speed, density, temperature, pressure and flux of the solar wind.

The instrument observed a steep decline in the speed of the solar wind particles on November 5 [,2018].

Since that date, it has observed no solar wind flow in the environment around Voyager 2, which makes mission scientists confident the probe has left the heliosphere.

In addition to the plasma data, members of the Voyager science team have seen evidence from three other onboard instruments — the cosmic ray subsystem, the low energy charged particle instrument and the magnetometer — that is consistent with the conclusion that the spacecraft has crossed the heliopause.

‘There is still a lot to learn about the region of interstellar space immediately beyond the heliopause,’ said Voyager project scientist Dr. Ed Stone, a researcher at Caltech.
Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth.

The mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters the new phase of its journey, but information — moving at the speed of light — takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth.”
http://www.sci-news.com/space/voyager-2-interstellar-space-06705.html

“Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. Mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. By comparison, light traveling from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.Together, the two Voyagers provide a detailed glimpse of how our heliosphere interacts with the constant interstellar wind flowing from beyond.

While the probes have left the heliosphere, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have not yet left the solar system, and won’t be leaving anytime soon. The boundary of the solar system is considered to be beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, a collection of small objects that are still under the influence of the sun’s gravity. The width of the Oort Cloud is not known precisely, but it is estimated to begin at about 1,000 astronomical units (AU) from the sun and to extend to about 100,000 AU (1 AU is the distance from the sun to Earth). It will take about 300 years for Voyager 2 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly 30,000 years to fly beyond it.

Voyager 2 launched in 1977, 16 days before Voyager 1, and both have traveled well beyond their original destinations. The spacecraft were built to last five years and conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn. However, as the mission continued, additional flybys of the two outermost giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, proved possible. As the spacecraft flew across the solar system, remote-control reprogramming was used to give the Voyagers greater capabilities than they possessed when they left Earth. Their two-planet mission became a four-planet mission. Their five-year lifespans have stretched to 41 years, making Voyager 2 NASA’s longest running mission.
https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-2-probe-enters-interstellar-space

“Voyager 2 launched in 1977, 16 days before Voyager 1, and both have traveled well beyond their original destinations. The spacecraft were built to last five years and conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn. However, as the mission continued, additional flybys of the two outermost giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, proved possible. As the spacecraft flew across the solar system, remote-control reprogramming was used to endow the Voyagers with greater capabilities than they possessed when they left Earth. Their two-planet mission became a four-planet mission. Their five-year lifespans have stretched to 41 years, making Voyager 2 NASA's longest running mission.

The Voyager story has impacted not only generations of current and future scientists and engineers, but also Earth's culture, including film, art and music. Each spacecraft carries a Golden Record of Earth sounds, pictures and messages. Since the spacecraft could last billions of years, these circular time capsules could one day be the only traces of human civilization.”
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-nasa-voyager-probe-interstellar-space.html

“To boldly go where only one other human-made object has gone before.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/tech/nasa-s-voyager-2-becomes-second-man-made-object-enter-ncna945941

Makes me wonder what Voyager 2 will find!

*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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radiation in grand canyon museum

3/1/2019

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nanosize technology

2/22/2019

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Nanoscale additives to or surface treatments of fabrics can provide lightweight ballistic energy deflection in personal body armor, or can help them resist wrinkling, staining, and bacterial growth.
Clear nanoscale films on eyeglasses, computer and camera displays, windows, and other surfaces can make them water- and residue-repellent, antireflective, self-cleaning, resistant to ultraviolet or infrared light, antifog, antimicrobial, scratch-resistant, or electrically conductive.
Nanoscale materials are beginning to enable washable, durable ‘smart fabrics’ equipped with flexible nanoscale sensors and electronics with capabilities for health monitoring, solar energy capture, and energy harvesting through movement.
Lightweighting of cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, and space craft could lead to significant fuel savings. Nanoscale additives in polymer composite materials are being used in baseball bats, tennis rackets, bicycles, motorcycle helmets, automobile parts, luggage, and power tool housings, making them lightweight, stiff, durable, and resilient.
Carbon nanotube sheets are now being produced for use in next-generation air vehicles. For example, the combination of light weight and conductivity makes them ideal for applications such as electromagnetic shielding and thermal management.

Nano-bioengineering of enzymes is aiming to enable conversion of cellulose from wood chips, corn stalks, unfertilized perennial grasses, etc., into ethanol for fuel. Cellulosic nanomaterials have demonstrated potential applications in a wide array of industrial sectors, including electronics, construction, packaging, food, energy, health care, automotive, and defense. Cellulosic nanomaterials are projected to be less expensive than many other nanomaterials and, among other characteristics, tout an impressive strength-to-weight ratio.
Nano-engineered materials in automotive products include high-power rechargeable battery systems; thermoelectric materials for temperature control; tires with lower rolling resistance; high-efficiency/low-cost sensors and electronics; thin-film smart solar panels; and fuel additives for cleaner exhaust and extended range.
Nanostructured ceramic coatings exhibit much greater toughness than conventional wear-resistant coatings for machine parts. Nanotechnology-enabled lubricants and engine oils also significantly reduce wear and tear, which can significantly extend the lifetimes of moving parts in everything from power tools to industrial machinery.
Nanoparticles are used increasingly in catalysis to boost chemical reactions. This reduces the quantity of catalytic materials necessary to produce desired results, saving money and reducing pollutants. Two big applications are in petroleum refining and in automotive catalytic converters.
Nano-engineered materials make superior household products such as degreasers and stain removers; environmental sensors, air purifiers, and filters; antibacterial cleansers; and specialized paints and sealing products, such a self-cleaning house paints that resist dirt and marks.
Nanoscale materials are also being incorporated into a variety of personal care products to improve performance. Nanoscale titanium dioxide and zinc oxide have been used for years in sunscreen to provide protection from the sun while appearing invisible on the skin. “

https://www.nano.gov/you/nanotechnology-benefits

“It’s a far cry from ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids,’ but the new method has plenty of cool real-world uses. For example, scientists are exploring ways to add tiny robotic particles to cancer drugs that can seek out only the cancerous cells. And forget microchips — MIT says this technology could be used to develop even smaller ‘nanochip’ electronics.

The best part? MIT’s cutting-edge technique simply requires a laser and an absorbent gel (commonly used in baby diapers) — materials that most biology and engineering labs already have.

Here’s how it works: Using a laser, researchers make a structure with absorbent gel — akin to writing with a pen in 3D. Then, they can attach any material — metal, DNA, or tiny ‘quantum dot’ particles — to the structure. Finally, they shrink the structure to a miniscule size.

MIT has come up with a way to shrink objects to nanoscale using a laser. (Photo credit: Edward Boyden/MIT Researchers)
‘It’s a bit like film photography,’ explained graduate student researcher Daniel Oran. ‘A latent image is formed by exposing a sensitive material in a gel to light. Then, you can develop that latent image into a real image by attaching another material, silver, afterwards.’

In fact, Oran is a trained photographer, and the project began in 2014 when he and graduate student Samuel Rodriques, who has a background in physics, decided to collaborate.
The team discovered the method by reversing a common technique, originally developed by Boyden to enlarge images of brain tissue. Called ‘expansion microscopy,’ that process involves injecting a material into a gel and then making it larger and therefore easier to see.

By doing the reverse, the researchers were able to make nanosized objects. Previously, similar laser techniques could only make two dimensional structures, and other methods for shrinking 3D objects were much slower and more difficult to perform in most labs.”
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/12/18/mit-shrink-objects-nanoscale-laser/

Many of you are enjoying a Winter Break vacation this week of 2019. Use some time to view previous entries to this blog (listed in a Topic List).

*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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