Julia's+Diasters

media type="custom" key="6094127" width="399" height="271" =Julia's Natural Disaster Page = . ** __ WEEK 2 __ **

Q1. What is a disaster? A disaster is something really bad. Some people would call something as simple as breaking a nail a disaster, but usually I think it is something more extreme like when someone dies or if there is a natural disaster like an earthquake or tsunami. If you organize an event (e.g. a party or concert) and it goes totally wrong, you might say it was a disaster.

Q2. Name some natural disasters -Tsunami media type="youtube" key="IiEw1p5BaSU" height="282" width="348" align="right" -Volcanic eruption (click on the video space to see one) -Earthquake -Sinkhole -Typhoon -Hurricane -Tornado -Cyclone/Twister -Blizzard -Sandstorm -Avalanche -Landslide -Bushfire -Storms (lightning/hail) -Floods

Q3. What is the most dangerous natural disaster? I am not quite sure. I am torn between a volcanic eruption and an earthquake. I think an earthquake because it kills the most people, it destroys entire cities and more, and because earthquakes can cause other natural disasters, e.g. tsunamis. Earthquakes are caused by the moving of the Earth's tectonic plates. Volcanic eruptions may be the most dangerous because they can kill you in more than one way. Some ways you can be killed by a volcanic eruption are; choking on the ash cloud, having the hot rocks fall on top of you, being boiled alive by the lava and more. You can run away from a volcano when it is erupting, but you can't run away from an earthquake. Recently, a volcano erupted in Iceland and an ash cloud is covering Europe. No planes can be flown there at the moment because the plane engines may falter, causing the planes to crash. These two disasters I have just mentioned are all very dangerous, which is why I can't decide which one is the worst.

What I have learnt this week Some things I have learnt this week are: - A typhoon is like a cyclone, only it is in the water - The difference between tornados, hurricanes and cyclones. They are all very similar, but hurricanes and cyclones both start over water then move onto land, whereas a tornado starts on land and stays there the whole time. - A volcano is made by the moving of the Earth's tectonic plates. A volcanic eruption is caused by the same thing. - A tsunami slows down as it nears the shore - Iceland is one of the most volcanic countries in the world

__**WEEK 4**__ Q1. What do we use to classify disasters? Different scales are used to measure natural disasters, and depending on what the scale says affects whether or not it is classified as a disaster. A Richter scale is used to measure earthquakes. Richter scales were first made in 1935 by Charles F Richter. The higher the number on the scale the worse the earthquake is. If the number was something really low like 0.5 you may not even know an earthquake was happening. Hurricanes are measured on many scales. A Beaufort scale measures the storms based on their winds. The Saffir-Simpson scale was designed to measure hurricanes. They pick up where the Beaufort scale left off. The scale used to measure tsunamis is the Sieberg-Ambraseys scale. The Imamura-Lida scale is used for tsunamis in the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The magnitude of tsunamis is measured by the ML (Murty-Loomis). The Richter Magnitude Scale's ratings**
 * [[image:richter_scale.gif]]

Q2. How are they measured? An earthquake is measured by how much the Earth shakes. A hurricane is measured based on the wind speed, sea and land conditions and the way it looks. I am not quite sure about the rest as I found it very difficult to find the information I needed. I did look for information though, and I didn't find much.

What I have learnt this week Some things I have learnt this week are: - The Richter magnitude scale was named after Charles F Richter - There are many different scales used to measure hurricanes - Sometimes earthquakes happen, but they are so low on the Richter scale that you can't even feel them - I learnt that a Richter magnitude scale is used to measure earthquakes and has never reached 10, which is its highest measurement. __** WEEK 5 **__ Q1. What are the layers of the Earth's structure? The layers of the Earth's structure are: -The crust -The mantle -The inner core -The outer core

Q2. What resources do we get from beneath the Earth's surface? Some things we get from beneath the Earth's surface are: -Oil -Iron (and other metals) -Gas -Minerals -Bore water -Gold -Ore -Copper -Nickel -Tin -Zinc -Brown and black coal

What I have learnt this week - Hydrocarbon exploration is an expensive, high-risk operation that involves searching for hydrocarbon deposits (like oil and gas) beneath the earth's surface. Some things that you can see on the surface can provide evidence of hydrocarbon generation, but most exploration methods depend on technology to detect and determine the presence of these deposits deep within the earth. - All of our metal comes from underground - There are many layers of the Earth, not just two or three like I originally thought - The outer core is mostly made of liquid iron and nickel - The inner core is mostly made of iron ** __WEEK 6__ ** Q1. What are the different atmospheric layers above us? The layers of the Earth's atmosphere are: - Troposphere **FACT:** Weather occurs in this layer

- Stratosphere **FACT:** The stratosphere absorbs harmful rays of the sun

- Mesosphere **FACT:** Most meteorites and rock fragments burn up in the mesosphere before they can enter the Earth

- Thermosphere **FACT:** The thermosphere is where space shuttles orbit

- Ionosphere **FACT:** Some scientists call the ionosphere an extension of the thermosphere, and it isn't always regarded as a separate atmospheric layer.

- Exosphere
 * FACT: ** The exosphere is where atoms and molecules escape into space; this is the Earth's outermost layer.

Q2. What effects do the sun and the moon have on the Earth? **The Sun:** - The sun provides all the energy necessary for life on Earth - The Earth orbits the sun which causes the four seasons - The Earth spins around in a circle, so the area that faces the sun will be light (daytime) and the area that faces away from the sun will be in darkness (night time.) - Earth gets its energy from the sun - The sun gives warmth to planet Earth - The sun causes the Earth's weather - The sun gives some people happiness just by being visible, not hidden by the clouds - The sun is good for people on Earth because you can absorb vitamin D from being out in the sunlight - When the light of the sun is shining through rain it makes a rainbow. I'm sorry to break it to you, but yes, rainbows are only illusions. - While the Earth orbits the sun, the moon orbits the Earth. At night you can see the moon. The reason you can see the moon at night is because the sun's light is reflecting on it. - The moon is essential to intelligent life on Earth - It is because of the moon that people are able to retrieve metal from near the Earth's surface - Not all of the effects the moon has on Earth are scientific. Some of the non-scientific effects the moon has on the Earth are: the moon has inspired many artists, therefore creating master pieces; many stories and picture books are written about the moon, so it creates a lovely story for children to read before they go to bed; some people look at the moon and study it every night as a hobby: people have made up myths about the full moon which are fun to read, e.g. it is said that werewolves come out on the full moon - The moon and the Earth are attracted to each other, and this causes tides. The moon tries to pull things on Earth closer to itself and the Earth can hold on to everything except water. Since the water is always moving, the Earth cannot hold onto it and the moon is able to pull at it. There are two high tides and two low tides. The ocean is always moving between high tide and low tide.
 * The Moon:**

What I have learnt this week - Just like the Earth, the sun is made up of many different layers - The atmosphere is made up of many layers, but some of them are debated over because some people think that they are just an extension to a different layer - Not all of the moon's effects on the Earth and it's creatures are scientific - The moon is 384, 400km away from Earth - The Earth's moon is called Luna - Over the next 5 billion years the sun will grow brighter as more helium builds up in its core. As the hydrogen begins to run out, the sun’s core must keep producing enough pressure to keep the sun from collapsing in on itself. The only way to do this is to make the temperature higher. One day it will run out of hydrogen fuel. When that happens, the sun will most likely go through a huge change that will result in the Earth’s destruction. Q1. How can the things in our solar system affect Earth? - The sun and the moon are in our solar system. To see how they affect Earth, look in my work from week 6 - As well as physically affecting Earth, some things in our solar system simply provide opportunities to develop a hobby in stargazing, some people do this because they like looking at the stars every night, others closely study the night sky with a telescope. - Small pieces of rock and dust break off from asteroids and comets to produce meteoroids. Most meteoroid particles are quite small and most of them disintegrate in the atmosphere before they can reach Earth. Very rarely, a larger meteoroid survives and strikes the ground, creating a meteor crater and a huge explosion. This explosion often vaporizes whatever solid material is left of the meteoroid after its fiery flight through the atmosphere. If a meteoroid hit Earth, there would be many deaths. Sometimes, however, pieces of the meteoroid survive and are found in the crater or nearby. These chunks of rock or metal are called meteorites.
 * __ WEEK 7 __ **


 * Our Solar System **

What I have learnt this week - The planets were named after the Roman gods, e.g. Neptune is the Roman god of the sea and Venus is the Roman goddess of love, Neptune and Venus are both planets in our solar system - Jupiter has 63 moons - This year (2010) planet Neptune will complete its first orbit of the sun -The chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth are very small, but some do come close, like Hermes - Meteors are streaks of light which people often mistake as shooting stars, when really they are not stars at all. When they come into the Earth's atmosphere they shatter, transferring energy to atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, which then release the energy by glowing.

Things I learnt when the man from CSIRO came to talk to us - Pumice is the name of the rock that you get when runny lava cools and hardens - Basalt and obsidian rocks are what you will get when thick, gooey lava hardens - Volcanoes only appear around the edges of tectonic plates because lava can't get through the tectonic plates, it squeezes around the edges. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. The magma in those volcanoes can get through the Earth because the tectonic plate is so thin, scientists predict that soon it will break in half and form two tectonic plates - All of the Earth's tectonic plates fit together - There are three types of waves that can make the Earth move. Primary waves go up and down. Secondary waves go side to side. - To find the density of a rock, you have to first weigh it, then find its volume by putting it in water in a measuring tube/cup/jug and see how many millilitres it adds to how much water was originally in the container. The amount of millilitres it goes up is the same as the rock's volume. Lastly, you divide the rock's weight by its volume, and that gives you its density.

**__WEEK 8__** Q1. How do humans affect nature? Humans affect nature in many different ways, some good and some bad. Some negative ways humans affect nature are: - When humans chop down trees they release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere forms a blanket over the Earth, allowing sunlight to come in but not out. This is one of the things that makes climate change worse. - Littering. This is a big problem, especially when you litter in the sea. Most rubbish that is dropped onto the ground is not biodegradable, so it just stays there to dirty the environment and harm animals. If rubbish washes into the ocean, sea creatures will bite it or become strangled by it. Many penguins have been choked to death from the plastic container rings from beer bottles and lots of turtles have tried to eat plastic bags (because they mistake them for jellyfish) and, like the penguins, they have been choked to death. As well as damaging the environment, rubbish on the ground or in the sea is disgusting, so don't do it! - When humans chop down trees, they get rid of many animal habitats. Some animals in the world are close to extinction because of this. Walking on plants sometimes gets rid of animal homes too. - When humans do mining they dig up the ground, ruining this piece of earth. When they have finished mining in a certain area, the humans don't fix the earth up properly. In doing this, humans have just ruined a perfectly good bit of land and killed any plants that were growing in that area. ** The forest before humans get to it...................................................and after ** Some positive ways humans affect nature are: - By creating nature parks. In nature parks, humans let nature go around its business, but at the same time they preserve it, replant some plants and make it so humans can't harm this area of wilderness. - By putting in water tanks and planting gardens in their backyard. This doesn't do very much in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit helps and it would be great if everyone did this. - Trees and humans help each other live. The air that humans breathe in, trees breathe out and the air that trees breathe in, humans breathe out. - Some humans (e.g. RSPCA) look after injured animals and take care of them until they are well enough to take care of themselves.

Q2. How has human use of land caused problems? - Humans trying to take land from indigenous races has caused many arguments, many split families and many deaths - Humans demolishing land for building developments has also killed many animals or deprived them of their home. This has driven many animals to near extinction. - The way some humans have used the land they own, e.g. wasting water and electricity, has had a major effect on climate change. I don't understand why some humans do this, because as well as harming the environment it also wastes a lot of precious money. So how about you try using a timer in the shower and turning off the lights when you don't need them on? - Clearing land of trees causes soil to come loose so when it rains it causes erosion of the land. When it rains the soil runs into the rivers and streams, causing them to become dirty, muddy and clogged up.

What I have learnt this week - When hurricanes/cyclones/tornadoes occur, they are given names. The name of each twister goes in alphabetical order and //usually// alternates between male and female names. (E.g. Cyclone **Tracy** happened in Darwin in 1974 on Christmas morning) - If humans keep carelessly demolishing land, the only thing future generations will have of animals is videos because they will all be extinct. - Human activity has caused between 50 and 1000 more extinctions in the last 100 years than the amount that would have occurred if humans had left nature alone. - Erosion of land is when the soil runs away, causing the ground to collapse, making a big hole in the ground. - Shark fin soup. Humans kill sharks for their fins so they can make shark fin soup. Sometimes humans don't even kill the shark before they chop off its fins, they just pull the shark out of the water, chop off its fins and drop it back into the ocean. Killing the sharks in general is bad but chopping off its fins then throwing it back into the ocean while it is still alive is even worse because they're making the shark go through a long, painful death. It is really cruel and needs to stop.

** __F I NAL QUESTION__ ** Are humans more dangerous to the world than natural disasters? I am not sure. There are many reasons supporting both cases. Natural disasters sometimes come completely out of the blue, you never know when one is going to happen (well, sometimes you do because of all the new technology.) They are also unstoppable and can kill hundreds of people within ten seconds. Some natural disasters (like earthquakes) not only kill people, they also cut off access to food and water supplies, causing people to die even after the main event is over. There are two types of humans that harm the world. Murderers and thieves either steal things or kill people, either way they are ruining people's lives. The other way that humans harm the world is by destroying it. Chopping down trees, digging up land, exterminating animals by either killing them or taking away their homes, littering, wasting water and using too much electricity. All of these things are terrible ways humans are harming the world. Within the next 5 billion years, the sun will undergo a massive change that will most likely result in the Earth's destruction, but humans may have already destroyed the world before that happens. Listing all these reasons, I am starting to think that humans are more dangerous to the world than natural disasters. Unfortunately, natural disasters will continue to happen until the end of the Earth, but humans can change their ways. There are many reasons why humans are more dangerous than natural disasters, but also many reasons why natural disasters are more dangerous than humans. Which one do you think is worse?

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