1 ENVIR 215, EARTH, AIR, WATER: THE HUMAN CONTEXT www.ocean.washington.edu/courses/envir215 REVIEW OF COURSE ACTIVITIES P.B.Rhines 6 ii 2004 This course has been taught for the past two years as a core course in Program on the Environment, primarily for non-scientists, but using basic tools of science to illuminate the Earth’s air and water resources. The intensive use of laboratory experiments for teaching allows nonscientists to encounter problems as experiences, and to develop manual skills (‘hands-on, brain-on’ we like to say). Seeing natural phenomena in a controlled setting can be aesthetically rewarding as well. Calculations of a simple nature have to be made, and these arise with motivation from the experiments, lectures and text. The course is nominally set up for 32 students in two sections of 16. In 2002 we ended up with 27 after some dropouts (due in part to the mistaken identification of this as a ‘Population and Health’ course), and in 2003 with 28 students. One section is dedicated to the Honors Program. The format had two lectures per week and two 2-hour labs per week, for each section. The colecturers (William Wilcock and Peter Rhines in 2002, Fritz Stahr and Peter Rhines in 2003), lab engineer (Eric Lindahl) and TA (Dan Hayes in 2002, Ryan McCabe in 2003) were fully occupied with the process of leading the students into experiments, and helping them with much experimental detail. The 10 contact hours per week for the instructors was a significant load. Each student carried out 6 lab experiments (roughly 1 ½ weeks on each), working with a partner, (these were written up extensively in ongoing lab-books), built a solar box cooker, wrote 3 essays, did stand-up presentations for some of the labs, read the text and frequent hand-outs, and took 3 quizzes. In all there were 23 separate experiments, and each student was asked to look over the shoulder of the people doing other experiments, and also write up short descriptions in their lab books. In this way they experienced a broad range of physics, chemistry and a little biology of the environment. The 23 experiments were divided into three 3-week units, Energy, Water and Air and are detailed in the Appendix. ‘Energy’ was chosen first because we felt that it is both an underlying concept and a practical necessity. Most of our environmental science originates with the sun’s energy, and learning to do energy calculations starting there, leads naturally to heat engines, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, machines, power generation, fossil fuel and global warming. Thus energy is a very useful unifying thread. It also helps in learning basic quantitative ideas like fluxes and concentrations (students are not always quick to disentangle ‘power’ from ‘energy’). Lectures were complementary to labs and text; they involved both scientific ideas and techniques and also deeper roots of environmental science. For example, James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis was introduced, compared with Darwinian evolution, then leading into modern global change/global warming. Thus we talked about ‘deep time’ as well as ‘shallow time’. 2 Every attempt was made to relate the various elements of the course. Relating to Gaia we had a biological microcosm in the lab. Essays were assigned with a few choices of topic, and tended to be environmental case studies applying ideas from lectures, text and labs (for example, assess the energy usage profile of Tanzania, and the prospect for significant use of solar cookers there). Among the experiments (described in detail below) were some relating to technology (a working hydrogen fuel cell, reverse osmosis cell to desalinate water, a Stirling cycle heat engine), some basic physics (optics, waves, heat diffusion and convection, transformation of energy from chemical to heat to mechanical, or in our water flume, from electrical to mechanical, cloud chamber, sediment movement and shaping of riverbeds and beaches), some relating to atmosphere and ocean structure (tornadoes, hurricanes, weather, overturning circulations, circulations in ocean estuaries) and some relating directly to environmental pollution (experimental pollution inversion in a stratified atmosphere, observations of sub-micron particles in air). We had an instrumented biosphere, a closed system with growing algae and goldfish, with continuous monitoring of oxygen levels, and a sub-experiment using methylene blue to visualize on the uptake of oxygen by a water surface. Much detailed material is available on the class webpage, http://www.ocean.washington.edu/courses/envir215 but let me give one example of our approach. The solar box cookers were built from cardboard, aluminum foil and glass plates. Lab study of optics with a laser, prisms, lenses and mirrors had already introduced students to the idea of concentrating energy. A spectrometer was used to examine the solar spectrum in detail, and talk about absorption, black-body radiation and reradiation of infrared wavelengths. We had a precise radiometer to measure the sun’s output, and an ‘artificial sun’ in the lab for cloudy days. The cookers worked moderately well in the faint March Seattle sun, yet we also had an impressive parabolic mirror which, when pointed at the sun, could easily make a 2x4 piece of wood burst into flame. It was quite social outside there with all these devices (see web-site for photos). This work leads to a serious consideration of the natural constraints on energy generation, with essay and lecture material on 3d world opportunities for its application. Nandita Hazarika, who has visited Craig Zumbrunnen this year from India, has described her experiences in trying to apply solar cooking there. In some areas it is rejected for social/historical reasons (‘the food doesn’t taste the same as with a charcoal fire’) yet in other areas that may be an advantage (in Tibet it is successful, as the food no longer tastes of yak dung!). Finally, solar cooking leads to discussion of global warming. The cooker is a greenhouse, and the atmosphere is a greenhouse. We complete the discussion with the important gases blanketing the Earth, that trap infrared radiation from its sun-warmed surface. The sun is the ‘mother’ of all our energy on Earth (or most of it), and we take this concentrated, high-quality energy and degrade it to more dilute forms; how silly it is to take solar energy, concentrate it as fossil fuel, burn it to make electricity and then use the electricity in resistance heating to warm a cold house, while wasting most of it on the way and leaving trails of pollutants! To add insult to 3 injury there is likely a cold refrigerator inside the warm house, and inside the refrigerator a butter warmer! The class also incorporated some ‘basic skills’ (sessions in the COFS library on internet searching for environmental sciences), tours of the School of Oceanography’s 276’ research vessel R/V Thompson, and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics lab, working with laboratory instruments and building things, and work with computational skills (powers of ten, estimating fluxes and storages, power and energy). FUTURE We who taught the course had tremendous fun, in part because many of the experiments excite us and are quite beautiful to look at. The students seemed to react positively, even though most were non-science majors. The course could be shifted toward more lecturing and less lab time if we come up against a problem of financial support for instructors. Indeed, some students this year asked for more lectures to balance the labs. Lab experiments ‘scale’ well, allowing them to contribute in a variety of ways to undergraduate teaching: we (in the GFD Lab) can (and do) provide demonstrations for large classes, brief hands-on experiments for moderate-size classes, and extensive, almost research-level experiences for small classes. The lab and field resources in Oceanography are very extensive, and could be brought to bear on the fundamental problem of undergraduates at UW: engaging them in active, creative, individualistic instruction rather than restricting them to large lectures. Good TA support could provide for a modest increase in enrollment. The first time round with this course required an extreme amount of instructor input during experiments. Many of the 23 experiments were new to us as well as to the students! Now that these have been defined, a lab manual can readily be produced that should help make the students more independent. We are absolutely opposed to falling into the cookbook-lab syndrome however. The realities of instructor skill and time turn most undergraduate science labs into a sleep-inducing experience: following instructions ‘until one sees the brown residue in the test-tube and can go home’. APPENDIX: Menu of Experiments: Energy, Water and Air Students worked in pairs, spending about 1 ½ weeks on each of 6 experiments; in a addition each pair built and tested a solar box cooker. Emphasis was on the origin of almost all useful forms of energy in the sun, the several forms of energy and transformations between them, mechanisms that concentrate and store energy, and the contrast between rich, concentrated energy and poor, degraded forms and intensities of energy. ENERGY: • E1 solar spectrum A spectrometer splits the sun’s light into colors, with black aborption lines due to atmospheric gases and water vapor; idea of black-body radiation which describes stellar emission so well. Observing the spectrum and looking at scientific observations taken at the ground and above the atmosphere shows 4 • • • • • • the absorption, and trapping of energy by greenhouse gases. Applications: forms of energy, sensing radiant heat, reflection and absorption of solar energy (ultraviolet, visible, infrared), relationship of light to electromagnetic radiation. E2 optics of prisms, lenses and mirrors Tracing rays from a low-power laser, learning about focusing and refraction, focusing, and splitting of wavelengths (colors) by a prism; diffraction patterns (the rainbow seen as light reflects from a CD). Applications to solar cookers, power generation, measurement of particles in the atmosphere. ‘Seeing’ the wavelength of light in the laboratory. E3 energy in a flowing river The large racetrack flume is accelerated by a bank of propellers; the electrical power is measured and the rate of kinetic energy increase of the flume is calculated, giving both a feel for conversion of energy from one form to another, and a direct calculation of frictional heating (loss of mechanical energy). Applications to hydropower (most energy transformations can run either way!). Learning the difference between ‘power’ and ‘energy’. Application: hydropower in the northwest. E4 a working heat engine Using a glass sphere with a squeezy rubber bulb attached, show that compressing a gas raises its temperature, decompressing it lowers the temperature. Introduce the idea of mechanical work as force exerted times distance moved. Build this idea into a heat engine (Stirling cycle) in which a candle heats a volume of air, the air is allowed to expand and do mechanical work, the air is then cooled and compressed. Show the work done on a pressure-volume diagram. Estimate the efficiency (useful work done relative to heat flow through the system). Application: the closely related ‘work cycle’ of an internal combustion engine: diesel vs. spark-plug ignited. The enormous effect of intercombustion engines on the environment. E5 transformation of chemical energy into heat Burn a candle sitting on a sensitive scale. Record the rate of weight loss. Meanwhile use the heat to warm a soda can of water. Calculate the energy content (joules per kg.) of the candlewax and compare with look-up values (~ like oil) . Application: energy content of various fossil fuels. E6 convection and diffusion of heat A heated metal bar shows the movement of heat by conduction (diffusion), and the temperature wave is followed as it moves down the bar. Water heated at the top develops a similar temperature wave, as the heat moves downward. Yet water heated from below transports heat much more efficiently upward. Applications: fluid motion carries heat very efficiently, and this is the basis for atmospheric and oceanic circulation, as well as mechanical devices. Applications: conduction of heat vs. convection in natural systems; interacting conduction and convection: blowing on your soup to cool it. E7 fuel cell We are almost at the point where wind and solar power can generate an important fraction of our energy. Yet a ‘battery’ is needed so that we can store this energy and use it to fuel machines and cars. Hydrogen gas produced by electrolysis (splitting water apart) can be produce electricity in the reverse reaction. Using electrodes in a weakly conducting water solution we can run this reaction both ways, and 5 demonstrate the hydrogen fuel cell which is a key to our energy future. Discussion of ‘decarbonizing’ energy sources. Applications: potential energy/pollution savings for automobiles. • E8 solar pond Trap radiant energy in a salty pool beneath fresh water, and organize the distribution of salinity so as to maximize temperature of trapped hot layer. Relate to ideas of convection and conduction. Applications in Middle East power generation. •• Common Project solar cookers The entire class built solar box cookers, to explore the effectiveness of direct, focused solar energy. Principles of optics, energy conservation and calculation, and careful measurements of solar radiation accompanied this. An artificial sun was made with flood lamps for indoor work. Outdoor trials included solar observations (including spectrometry), and use of a true parabolic mirror to demonstrate extreme concentration of sunlight that is possible. Some food was cooked too, and a good time was had by all. Applications: 3d world use of fuel wood can effectively be replaced by solar cooking in many tropical and sub-tropical countries..yet not at all times, and not without social acceptance. There are many interactions between experiments; for example the heat content of candlewax or a candy-bar is roughly 40 million Joules per kg, yet the kinetic energy of the river flowing at 1 meter per sec. is ½ Joule per kg, showing the richness of chemical- and heat energy compared with mechanical energy (yet almost paradoxically Grand Coulee dam generates a huge 7600 megawatts of electricity which is 1/500 of the entire US energy usage). We try to develop facility in making basic calculations: global energy production is about 4x1020 Joules per year, or 1.3 x1013 watts; this averages about 2000 watts for each of 6 billion Earthlings (with Americans consuming ¼ of this, each averaging about 11 kilowatts!) A good daily diet of 2500 kilocalories represents 10 million Joules of energy per day, or about 120 watts of power, yet our useful work output cannot exceed about 15% of this. With all this fossil fuel each American has about 75 ‘energy slaves’, the fuel equivalent of that many human slaves to do their bidding. A convincing demonstration of some of these relationships was set up, with a bicycle powered generator lighting a 100-watt bulb, the work load being very large, and changing greatly with its brightness (a highefficiency fluorescent bulb showed its worth here). While photovoltaics were not emphasized we built ‘world’s simplest electric motor’ which is a coil of wire attached to a solar photovoltaic cell with the sun shining on it. The coil hangs on the tip of a ballpoint pen which acts as a low-friction bearing, and a permanent magnet is placed nearby. No commutator is needed, and the motor rotates at high speed as the sun-generated electromagnetism interacts with the permanent magnet. WATER: • W1 waves on water Waves are generated by wind and flow, and are involved in the flows of rivers and streams (where they can ‘stand still). This experiment involves finding the relation between frequency and wavelength, looking at the velocity of the fluid beneath the waves, seeing the great difference between waves in shallow water and in deep water, watching the increase in amplitude of the motion and refraction (as with 6 light) when waves approach a shore. Particle movement in the water is studied using digital photography, and movement of sand grains observed. Applications: beaches built and modified by waves; deadly tropical cyclones in Bangladesh (where the ocean surge causes most of the damage). • W2 ocean estuaries and tides Estuaries are formed where rivers spill into the sea. They are often regions of great biological productivity, with biological food chain active from microscopic plankton to large sea creatures and birds. At one end the ocean provides salty, dense water rich with nutrients; at the other, the river water is very buoyant and floats out over the salt water. What totally changes the circulation is the tides: these mix up the river water and lead to an ‘overturning circulation’ (seaward at the top, landward at the bottom) which far exceeds the simple river inflow. This overturning ventilates the estuary with oxygen and nutrients; yet it can fail (and become ‘anoxic’ or out of oxygen, killing the fish and animals) depending on the amounts of river flow and tidal mixing. Estuaries can easily become polluted or over-stimulated with nutrients from land. In this experiment we want to explore the overturning circulation, its dependence on tides and riverflow and other mixing. There may be ridges on the seafloor that are involved, and layering of the density is important to examine. Applications: what is the sensitivity of an estuaries ‘health’ (cleanliness, nutrient supply) to river flow rates and tidal mixing. Learn about invasive species that take over estuaries and the effects of global climate change on them. Find a schematic map of Puget Sound’s circulation and topography. • W3 circulation of the global ocean and climate change At a much larger scale than an ocean estuary, we find some similar events: the entire global ocean has a circulation that involves sinking at high latitude, and rising elsewhere. This kind of circulation, sometimes known as a ‘conveyor belt’, brings nutrients to the sea surface where in the sunlight they make very active growth. Phytoplankton..the ‘grass of the seas’ grows there and leads to a whole spectrum of animal life. A fundamental property is the ‘layering’ of the ocean, with dense (cold or salty) waters at the bottom and buoyant (warm or fresh) waters at the top. It is very difficult to move vertically against this density difference. In the experiment we want to observe the form of the ocean circulation when at the surface the water is made dense or less dense … by cooling and heating or by ‘rainfall’ and evaporation. Use floating ice to drive the circulation, and later with more control, heating, cooling, rainfall and evaporation. Applications: demonstrate that both heat and salt are crucial to controlling the ocean’s density and hence the layering of the oceans. Find the parts of the world where upwelling of deep water can overcome this stable layering and supply nutrients for major ecosystems. Show how global warming may slow down the ocean circulation. • W4 river flow and sediment erosion Working in the flume determine the minimum fluid velocity for sediment motion the flow meter will not work (for long) in sediment-rich water so you will have to time ping-pong balls. Observe how individual grains move. Why do ripples 7 (analogous to sand dunes on land) form – try leveling out a section of sand and see what happens. Study the patterns and rates of erosion around a pebble, a post, a curve (remove the baffles at one end of the flume, a spur or any object that interests you. Use time lapse video so study waves in the river bed and creation of meanders, bars and erosion behind bridge pilings. Applications: effect of flood control on river sediment transport and sediment outflow into Gulf of Mexico from Mississippi River. Natural history of meandering rivers. River flooding and its effects on farming and urban growth. • W5 evaporation, irrigation and salinization Using Petrie dishes and the sensitive Mettler AE163 scale measure the rates of evaporation from moist soil (watching its weight decrease with time). How do the rates of evaporation compare for a water layer (a lake), a water-saturated sand and a wet unsaturated sand. What are the effects of wind, sun (heat lamp), and humidity (close the door on the scales or place the Petrie dishes beneath an inverted fish tank? Use a wet and dry bulb thermometers and psychrometric tables to measure humidity. What are the effects of placing dissolved salt in the water? How is salt concentrated near the surface if the water is salty? Applications: document the salinization of farm fields in irrigated, dry regions of the American West. What remediation is possible, and how expensive is it? • W6 ground water flow – aquifers and pollution Ground water is a critical component of freshwater supplies. In many regions ground water is being withdrawn at unsustainable rates. In others groundwater is damaged by pollution that can be very difficult to remediate. Here we study the basic mechanism of groundwater flow through a porous soil, observing it through the glass sides of the experimental tank. A coastline is added with sloping shore, where the salty ocean water intrudes and puts well water at risk. Time lapse video shows the movement of dyes through with the ground water: some move freely while other ‘pollutants’ adsorb onto sand grains and soil, sticking in place. A vertical column filled with sand and water is used to relate the velocity of groundwater flow to the pressure driving it. Applications: review the history of the Ogallala aquifer in the central US, and its imminent destruction by center-pivot irrigation. Note the very slow flow rate and ancient glacial origin. Compare salinization effects of irrigation (exp. W5). • W7 desalination Using samples of dialysis tube, cap short lengths of plastic tubing. Fill with salt and sugar solutions and place in a beaker of water to measure osmotic flow – wait between class periods. Are the rise heights consistent with calculated osmotic pressures? Use the calorimetric apparatus (a glass bulb with an electrical heater, a thermometer and a stir plate) to measure the latent heat of melting and vaporization and the heat capacity of liquid water. Is desalination by boiling more energy efficient than by reverse-osmosis? Applications: cost and efficiency of desalinating ocean water; current costs per liter; compare with evaporation and freezing methods. 8 AIR: • A1. Weather, heat transport, climate on a rotating planet Using a rotating platform, create a model of the atmosphere's circulation, driven (as it is driven) by temperature differences between pole and equator). Jet streams, convection, westerly winds will appear. Measure temperature field and velocities. Note that the circulation about the cold North Pole is simple, with symmetrical rings of east-west winds if the planet’s rotation is very slow. At higher rotation the pattern exhibits ‘weather’, cells of high and low pressure, whirling storms. Underlying all this is always the need to carry heat from tropics to poles in a subtle ‘overturning circulation’, or Hadley cell. Applications: Global climate change, global warming, history of weather forecasting; satellite images of weather and circulation. • A2. Strong storms: hurricanes and tornadoes Make tornadoes with a fluid sink and hurricanes with heating plus rotation of the 'planet'. Study their size and intensity, and flow patterns within them (can tornadoes really lift trucks off the ground?). Note the sensitivity of their size to the planets rotation. Make a ‘bath-tub’ tornado in a tall plexiglass cylinder with continuously inflowing water and outflow at the bottom. Use dyes to trace the flow and pingpong balls to observe the speed of spin of the tornado. Applications: cyclones (hurricanes) in Bangladesh; why is that low-land country so vulnerable? , This is monsoon country, the annual rainy period stimulated by heating of the continent in summer (the rising air draws in low-level moist air from the sea, a roaring wind called the Somali Jet from the southwest of India, perhaps also up the Bay of Bengal). The monsoon rains have been strong in recent years, leading to many weeks of flooding. There is the chance that global warming may cause tropical cyclones to be stronger/more frequent though this is very uncertain. Use maps in this discussion, e.g. the cyclone tracks. Why do most tornadoes in the world occur in the central US? What is their history? What sort of weather produces them? Can they lift cows and trucks into the air? • A3. Particles in the atmosphere and the lungs: dust, smoke, raindrops Measure the falling velocity of spheres in fluids (air, water, syrup) to learn how quickly particles settle out of the atmosphere. Compare experiment with formula from theory for ‘Stokes flow’ falling spheres. See also A7 . Applications: submicron sized particles in air, health effect, inner lung. Geography of particles, 'Loess' or white soils from China raining out in Seattle, satellite survey of smoke and forest fires, vertical distribution of particles after a volcanic eruption. See A7 • A4. Stratified pollution layers/inversions driven by 'smokestack' source Make a turbulent plume entering a fluid; observe it create an 'inversion' where the air density changes abruptly, and a stratification (layering of density). Measure the dilution of trace chemicals (dye or salt) in the plume (when it is a pollutant source). View with light sheet, perhaps measure pollution level with radiometer. Spray water 9 droplets and see how rain can cleanse the air, possibly due to electric charges on the droplets. Applications: trapping of pollution by a density inversion above a city; air quality of LA, Denver, Seattle. What added factors make pollutant levels worse? Add chemical reaction, estimate photochemical effects (making smog). See A7 too What is the effect of mountains on urban air quality, it will help .What observations are there to describe the downwind development of a pollutant plume? How does its dilution develop in a variety of weather regimes (strong/weak wind; summer/winter..). Compare its horizontal and vertical spreading rates. • A5a Ice crystal growth, freezing of water The temperature of the atmosphere decreases rapidly with height above ground. Water vapor forms ice crystals there rather than rain drops. Above -40C temperature there has to be a dust particle or other nucleus for the ice to form on. Using a cold chamber cooled by dry ice, capture ice crystals on a soap bubble and watch them grow; find the dependence on temperature. There are relatively few because only one particle in 108 (100 million) is the right shape and size. On a thin layer of water observe freezing using polarized light. Ice crystal growth on a needle can also be observed. Applications: where are ice crystals found and what is their importance to clouds and weather, and to the chemical balances high in the atmosphere? Where are freezing levels geographically and by season? One could look at the distribution of snow and ice on Earth, and its relation to people and societies. Only after flying from Australia to Germany did I fully realize how little snow and ice there is on Earth. It is rare. Cold-adapted human societies (Inuit in Greenland and Canada especially) have lived successfully for many thousands of years (until the past 50 years), quite happily enduring the severe cold. Their hunting-based lives are only now becoming ‘modern’. In more temperate areas, for example Colorado, snow is important in retaining water through the summer; the water supply for Boulder CO is the Arapaho Glacier. Yet glaciers are receding throughout the world, due to global warming. • A5b Cloud chamber A companion to A5a is a classic experiment known as the cloud chamber, originally invented by CTR Wilson in 1894, to make a miniature rainstorm. Dry ice is used cool the bottom of a glass cylinder. A moistened cloth is at the top, producing water vapor. As the vapor encounters the colder temperatures below, it condenses into fine water droplets, observed with a sheet of light. Condensation into droplets requires a dust particle because ‘too-small’ droplets have ‘too much’ surface energy to form. But Wilson noticed something amazing: white trails zipping through the experiment, which are the tracks of single atomic particles. These may be single electrons (light, curvy tracked β particles), helium nuclei (heavy, straighter tracked α particles, or 2 protons plus 2 neutrons). Seeing a single atomic particle in the laboratory, like ‘seeing’ the wavelength of light, is a remarkable ability that we have. This demonstration thus tells us about rain, and dust, and atoms. • A6. A biological microcosm, and oxygen production and uptake by the ocean. 10 Oxygen moves from the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean and lakes; it is augmented by floating plant life which can make the oxygen levels very high. It is consumed by decaying (oxidizing) plant and animal life and animal respiration. In an estuary or lake, an excess of nutrients (perhaps from farms or sewage) can supercharge the biological growth, which then makes much decay. Following this oxygen levels can fall almost to zero in layers beneath the water surface. Using an electronic oxygen probe observe the oxygen levels in water in various biological states. Using methylene blue as an indicator in an alkalineglucose solution you can see oxygen entering water from the air above: what features of the fluid flow control this process, and how do the oxygen plumes mix in the fluid. Applications: oxygen balance and its relation to biological activity. Gaia, the living planet (compare Earth with Venus and Mars, dead planets with CO2 atmospheres). . The deep questions about how oxygen came to be on Earth are complex. So think more simply about the forms and distribution of oxygen storage (besides the atmosphere), and something about its movement through the system. It is rumored that the oceans may have been anoxic (no oxygen) for some periods (Cretaceous warm period) of the distant past, as we find small bodies of water can be anoxic today. Or, pick a single estuary and read about its oxygen distribution, sources of nutrients, problems of its ‘health’. Chesapeake Bay is one, and the estuaries in Georgia are others. Another area would be to investigate what has been learned by ‘microcosm’ experiments and how one scrubs the air to keep it oxygen rich and CO poor (say, on a submarine). The Biosphere in Arizona is an experiment in making a ‘big’ microcosm, a community of humans and plants totally isolated (air and all) from the world… which failed • A7. A layered atmosphere: inversions, waves, diurnal cycle of pollution We can use carbon dioxide as a laboratory gas…not so much a pollutant. It is denser than air, and can be produced from evaporating dry ice. A layer of it will be visible if moisture from the air is condensed by its coldness. We also can inject some candle smoke which is our ‘pollutant’. The smoke can be lit with a laser or a light sheet from the slide projector. Notice the fall-out rate of smoke particles which can be very slow (visit experiment A4). The rising sun both produces pollutants through ‘photochemical’ effects, and also affects the air density: this can be explored using a heat lamp. A laser beam is scattered by the smoke particles, and can be used to find their size. A white light appears colored…like smog. Applications: review diffraction and the way we can easily measure the wavelength of light in the lab; look on the web for information about particle sizes in air pollutants (lately, diesel fumes in Seattle and blowing dust in eastern Washington). Look at the daily air cycle in a city like Los Angeles, where there is confinement by mountains and hot sun. Describe the evolution of specific air pollutants (including fine particles) in an urban setting, and its variation with weather and seasons. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It was a very long haul (more than 2 years) establishing this course. We realize that we run against the grain of a large university experiencing a budget deficit. Our future will never be certain, but we are here now, and open for business. Much of the equipment used in the course was 11 borrowed from research-supported programs in the GFD lab and I am grateful for past support of NSF and ONR in providing this. My co-PIsWilliam Wilcock, Fritz Stahr, TAs and lab engineer/instructor Eric Lindahl all put enormous effort into teaching. Craig Zumbrunnen and John Palka are to be thanked for their initialencouragement. The students are to be thanked for effort, enthusiasm and insight: I hope they will remember the course with an artistic eye as well as a commitment to deeper understanding of their fragile (yet paradoxically robust) world. 12 13 14 15 16 Brief course description: Earth, Air, Water: the Human Context ENVIR 215 Spring 2002, Winter 2003, Spring 2004 www.ocean.washington.edu/courses/envir215 P.B. Rhines Purpose of the Course: In this hands-on course you will study the way our physical environment works and works with us. The context is a survey of 20th Century environmental change: air, water, earth and their inhabitants. Aimed at non-science majors, the format allows you to experience classical science "taken outdoors." This course will broaden your perspective on environmental issues and help you make informed choices as an active member of society. Prerequisites: There are no formal prerequisites. Students with a mix of backgrounds tend to do quite well with this format. An active interest about the natural world and human relationships with it is important. Course Description: The course will utilize lecture, reading, discussion, presentations, and lab experiments while focusing on three primary units: Energy, Air, Water. Additional topics, of which most fall into one or more of the primary units include transportation, food supplies, pollution, climate, land surface processes, global sustainability and others. Each unit will include readings from the text, which is basically historical. Lecture periods will develop the 'science core', and extend into ideas of the Earth system that border on philosophy. Evolution of life and evolution of our planet form the backdrop for our study of the current environment. During lab periods there will be a group of experiments for each topic. You will work with a partner carrying out about 6 distinct experiments during the term; meanwhile you will see what other 'teams' are doing with their experiments (which will differ from yours). You will present your experiment to your section at the end of each unit. Also there will be quizzes at the end of each of the three units. Each of the three units will have an also have an essay project that will require research outside of the text. Course Objectives: 17 • • • • • • Familiarize yourself with environmental issues from scientific and historical points of view, stressing the changes seen in the past century Learn scientific ideas that show how the Earth system works and help in assessing environmental problem areas (the many 'hot spots' that threaten ecosystems and humans). Energy, starting with the sun itself, and moving to the circulation of oceans and atmosphere and hence the creation of our Earth environment, is a focus of the course. Learn to explore ideas in the laboratory, both observing and building experiments, and understanding the great and small of the environment: problems as big as the Earth and as small as one molecule will be explored. Develop skill in observing, photographing and measuring, as well as in designing experiments to answer specific questions about the environment. Develop group problem-solving skills ('a railway tank car filled with sulfuric acid has overturned near a small town on a river: you are called in to decide what to do...') Improve oral and written communication skills Develop a collection of experiment-, library- computer- and web-searching skills relating to the environment Course Requirements: • • • • • You are expected to attend lecture and lab periods and to be an active participant (inquiryand experiment based science requires your presence!) Reading: from the text and handouts as assigned and as needed for your research essays. Lab projects: ideas, set-up procedures, measurement procedures and recording, analysis, and conclusions, finding sources of information. Each student, with one lab partner, will choose from a list of experiments and work on two such experiments during each of the three units. In addition to these 6 experiments every pair will build and test a solar box cooker and study the experiments carried out by others. A key requirement is in keeping a complete account of your experiments and lecture notes in a bound lab-book, which will be read and graded frequently during the course of the term Essays: for each unit, you will choose from a list of topics provided. There will be a rough draft due date, and a final due date. The essays will require reading outside of the text. Topics may include social, economic, historic, political aspects of the environment as well as the lab experiments themselves. Evaluation and grading: • • • Participation (25%) will be evaluated by observing your contribution to in-class activities and your oral presentations, which will follow labs and discussion groups. Quizzes (25%) will be given at the end of each unit covering the science core, reading and lectures. Lab books (25%) will be collected at the end of each unit. Guidelines will be provided for successful lab books, but will contain an extensive diary on lab projects (procedures, tables, sources). We urge you to write rough records of your experiments in your books, plus a 18 • • • summary and analysis afterward. Include notes from your observation of other experiments. Essays (25%) will take you from the science in the lab to the analysis of real-world situations. Using library and web resources, rather specific environmental questions will be addressed. Length will be approximately 5 pages (1.5 line spacing). There is no final exam, and the class will not meet during exam week. The course will be graded on a curve (i.e., competitively). The mean will be set ~3.0. We will post the class mean and standard deviation of grades for each essay and quiz. Textbooks: Something New Under the Sun: an Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World, by J.R. McNeill, W.W. Norton Co., NY, 2000. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawkins, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins; Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado, 2003. Reading assignments: • • • • • • Week #1: McNeill, Preface and Prologue (through pp. 20) and Chapter 10 Week #2: Amory Lovins, Natural Capitalism, Chapter 1 (linked here) and/or radio talk on KUOW (linked here) Week #3: Bjorn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist, B. Lomborg, Chapter 11 on Energy. Visit his website, and an anti-Lomborg site. Weeks #4 & 5: McNeill Chapters 3 and 4 (Air); Lovins' Chapter 12 (Climate). Weeks #6 & 7: Lomborg, Chap 15 on Air pollution Weeks #8 - 10: McNeill Chapters 5 and 6 (Water); Lovins' Chapter 11 (Aqueous Solutions) Lectures 2003: (note that all these files are available on the website as Acrobat pdf files unless otherwise specified) • • • • • • • Energy lectures: notes for all of Peter's talks Energy lectures: outline & graphic from Fritz' lecture 1/21, Energy & Transport; link to where people live through Earth at night image, (and other great images of this "Blue Marble" courtesy of NASA) Energy lectures: outline & graphics from Fritz lecture 1/23 - World energy supply, demand, conversions, usage Energy lectures: outline & graphics from Fritz lecture 1/30 - Hydrogen fuel cells and tranportation implications; link to great fuel-cell animation and other info (like a complete hydrogen vehicle program) from Schatz Energy Research Center, Humbolt State Univ, CA Air lectures: notes #1 from Peter Air lectures: notes #2 from Peter -- large file (3.6 Mb) or small file (2.3 Mb) Air lectures: notes & figures #3 from Peter 19 • • • Air lectures/labs: brief review from Peter Water lecture #1 by Fritz: a) html of slides or b) Powerpoint file Water lecture #2 by Fritz a) outline & notes b) html of slides c) Powerpoint file Lab materials (available on the website as PDFs): • • • • • • • Energy labs: getting started Energy labs: descriptions with tutorial on science background Solar cookers newsletter. Link to solar cooker construction plans (click on any one to expand). Air labs: getting started. Air labs: an essay about microcosms (self-contained biological systems) by Carl Sagan. Water labs: getting started. Water labs: science background (handed out 3/11/03 - reviewed by Fritz in lecture) Essays assignments (available on website as PDFs): • • • Energy Unit essay assignment. Rough draft due Thur Jan 23rd, complete essay due Thur Jan 30th. Air Unit essay assignment. Rough draft due Thur Feb 13th, complete essay due Tues Feb 25th. Water Unit essay assignment. Rough draft due Thur Mar 6th, complete essay due Fri Mar 14th, 5 p.m. Quizzes: Quiz on Energy Unit. Tues. Jan 28: Includes readings in MacNeill's book, Amory Lovins Natural Capitalism (chapter 1) and Bjorn Lomborg's Skeptical Environmentalist (chapter 11). This will be a 30 minute closed-book quiz involving basic ideas, not memorization of numbers. To prepare, review the reading, your lecture notes and lab-books. Quiz on Air Unit. Thur. Feb 27 (note change, see Calendar for more detail) Quiz on Water Unit. Thur. Mar 13 (last day of class) Guidelines for a Successful Lab Notebook: Environment 202B, Winter 2003 Earth, Air, Water: the Human Context Notebooks (a.k.a. lab-books) are to be kept by each person and will be evaluated as an individual effort for 25% of your course grade. Keeping your book current is important to keep your thoughts and experiments progressing forward. They will be collected and graded at the end of each module (at the same time as the essays). Grading will be based on clarity of activities and thoughts, completeness (include as much detail as you can), and organization (so we know what part we're reading). Some sample pages from last year's class will be handed out in class with this. 20 • The Cover or Title Page must have the following: Name, Course #, Beginning date (and end date) For each experiment, label a new section and date each page when you start write on it. Within each experiment section should be (at least) the subsections listed below. You don't have to answer all the questions in these subsections explicitly, but it's best if the answers are at least implicit somewhere in your records (you should read this and your book over before you turn it in and if these questions are not answered, add material where necessary). You may repeat subsections as needed (maybe you discovered a new method to try, with new results) and do not be afraid to start over if necessary, just record it all. Use pages liberally; very few will be able to fill a notebook during the quarter. • • • • • Introduction: What is the issue or question? Why is it relevant to the environment? What do I know about it or what can I hypothesize about it? Methods: How can I address the issue/question? What specifically will/did I do and why? What materials are/were needed and how are/were they used? Diagram of the set-up? Details. Results: What happened when I did certain things? Was data generated? Tables, graphs. More details. Conclusion: What do the results (of all forms) tell me about the main issue/question, or related sub-questions? How does this scale up (or down) to the real world? How does explain a part of the environment? Further investigation: What do various outside sources have to say about the issue/question? Attach relevant photos, graphs, articles, etc. here and be sure to cite anything you include. Also, somewhere in each general unit of your book (Energy, Air, Water), you need to have the following sections: • • Others’ experiments: Visit other lab groups' experiments (perhaps while you're waiting to start another) and find out what it's about, how they're addressing the issue/questions and how their experiment is applicable or relevant to the real world. Essay development/draft notes: Record which topic you chose and your outlines, ideas, sources used, and anything else relevant.