Diary Entry about Farming

We learnt about cattle farming and Dairy farming in New Zealand from Nick Kimpton's visit. I'm happy to tear about the cows being raised very humanly and in an environment they can enjoy. I'm also glad that when the cows are killed, it is done fast and so they feel as little pain as possible. After watching Food Inc. it was great to have another view of the farming industry, and to see that not everywhere around the world is like america. Also, it was good to see that big cooperations like Monsanto are not involved in smaller countries like New Zealand. This is good because it shows that not everything feed to the cattle is genetically modified and they are still doing farming around the world naturally. I was quite surprised at the number of things that go on in farms in New Zealand to protect the environment. 

Exam Question on air pollution

(e) i. Atmospheric pollution is worse in places with a dry climate because the particles cannot rise and move so the area becomes dry and smoggy due to the particles being caught between a layer of warm particles and a layer of cool particles, this is called an inversion layer. In addition, in dry climates there is not a lot of wind and sunlight so the high energy particles cannot move. 

iv. Strategies for reducing traffic emissions are likely to be more effective in developing world cities like Cairo and Beijing. I think this because in Los Angeles, although they are more developed and have the money to provide public transport, the pollution stays in the city and cannot escape it. In Los Angeles there are a lot of valleys and so an inversion layer occurs when the cool water and particles are below a layer of hot air particles and cannot escape. The valley traps the cool air so they do not have a lot of energy. And with little wind in Los Angeles the particles cannot rise and disperse 

Example exam question about cyclones

High sea temperature causes the warm air to rise, this mixes with the cold air. The air particles are heated causing the low pressure particles to rise. This causes the air particles to rise rushing upwards. The air particles contain massive amounts of energy because of the latent heat energy stored, this creates a vortex. The high pressure particles then sink in the eye of the storm. The centre of the vortex becomes high pressured. 

Practice Question

In Australia sugar cane is burnt before harvesting. This gets rid of dangerous snakes and also the dry parts of the plant which contains little sugar.
"Doesn't cane burning harm the environment by releasing carbon dioxide (a 'greenhouse gas'" into the atmosphere?" 
the farmer said no. What reasons could the farmer give to support this answer?   


He can argue that the sugar can is just a sink of carbon dioxide and burning them is just returning the carbon dioxide back to it. 

objective 14.3

The structure and composition of the atmosphere 

- Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and Water vapour in the air

In Class we: 
- Learned the composition of atmosphere 

- Learned the structure of the atmosphere

Reference to the book: pages 118 and 119

Other Resources for this topic: 
http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/struct.html
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html

Atmosphere Investigation

Date: 28th March 2011 


Cloud Types: Stratus, Cumulonimbus 
Cloud Cover: Overcast (90% - 100%) 
Contrail Cover: None


Barometric Station Pressure: 
Barometric Pressure (mbar): 
Local Time (Hour:Min):
Universal Time (Hour:Min):


Relative Humidity: 
Dry Bulb Temperature (degrees C): 24 
Wet Bulb Temperature (degrees C): 19
Relative Humidity (%): 64


Wind Speed: 135m/s, 125m/s, 130m/s 


Maximum, minimum, and Current Temperatures
Current air temperatures (degrees C): 
Maximum daily air temperature (degree C): 
Minimum daily air temperature (degree C): 
Current soil temperature (degree C): 
Maximum daily soil temperature (degree C): 
Minimum daily soil temperature (degree C): 


Surface Temperature 
Observation spot 1: 27.8
Observation spot 2: 26
Observation spot 3: 26.2
Observation spot 4: 28.4
Observation spot 5: 28.2
Observation spot 6: 29.2
Observation spot 7: 30.6
Observation spot 8: 27
Observation spot 9: 26

Air Temperature - 25.5 degrees C
Day Precipitation - 0.0mm
Month Precipitation - 78.5mm
Air Density - 1.1536
Humidity - 62%
Types of Clouds - Stratus and Cumulus
Percentage Cloud Cover - 95%


These results where taken at 4:00pm