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Halema‘uma‘u lava lake depth compared to Empire State Building
Halemaʻumaʻu (six syllables: HAH-lay-MAH-oo-MAH-oo) is a pit crater within the much larger Kīlauea Caldera.
This is located at the summit of Kīlauea, an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands.
How much lava can pour out of it during an eruption? Let’s find out.
This is part of that volcano erupting back around 2020.
Lava fountain of the Pu`u `O`o cinder and spatter cone on Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/volcanoes2/en/
A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption
Image from Teacher’s Guide to Valles Caldera: The Science
A caldera collapse would look like this:
So how much lava poured out of it from 2020 to 2021? We find out from this USGS (U.S. Geological Survey,) U.S. Department of the Interior press release:
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Halema‘uma‘u lava lake depth compared to Empire State Building
On September 29, 2021, fissure vents opened in Halema‘uma‘u crater.
A new lava lake began to form on the one previously active from December 2020–May 2021.
How much lava has filled Halema‘uma‘u crater?
If the Empire State Building, in New York City, was placed at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater, we estimate the lava lake level could already be as high as the 70th floor!
USGS graphic by J. Bard.
For reference, the base of Halema‘uma‘u crater after the 2018 collapse was 517.4 m/1698 ft above sea level (asl). A water lake occupied the base of the crater from July 2019–December 2020, to a depth of 50.9 m/167 ft (equal to an elevation of 568.3 m/1865 ft asl).
The water lake was evaporated when an eruption began in Halema‘uma‘u crater in December 2020. That eruption created a lava lake that reached a depth of 158 m/518 ft (equal to an elevation of 675.4 m/2216 ft asl) by December 23, 2020. By the end of that eruption in May 2021, the lava lake had reached a depth of 223 meters/732 ft (equal to an elevation of approximately 741 meters/2431 ft above sea level).
The eruption that began on September 29, 2021, continues to fill the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater and by October 6, had reached a depth of 256.6 m/842 ft (equal to an elevation of 774 m/2539 ft asl) above the former base of the crater after it collapsed in 2018. For comparison, the height of the Empire State Building is 443.2 m (1454 ft).
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Analyzing the science of San Andreas (2015 movie)
Analyzing the science & physics in films: San Andreas.
San Andreas is a 2015 American disaster film directed by Brad Peyton and written by Carlton Cuse. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi, and Paul Giamatti. Its plot centers on an earthquake caused by the San Andreas Fault devastating Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Geography
The San Andreas Fault is a strike-slip fault. It marks the boundary between the North American Plate on the east and the Pacific Plate on the west.
It was the cause of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
It developed about 20 million years ago. It extends roughly 1,200 kilometers (750 miles.)
A great view of the fault.
Another great view.
Slippage along the Imperial fault caused an offset in this orange grove, east of Calxico CA.
Earth Science, Tarbuck & Lutgens, Chapter 8
Articles
Back to the Future on the San Andreas Fault, USGS
Extreme Science: The San Andreas Fault. How California is predicting and preparing for the inevitable.
Mary Beth Griggs, 8/19/2015
How scientifically accurate is San Andreas? Rock solid or a bit faulty?
San Andreas – The Scientific Reality, RMS, Justin Moresco May 29, 2015
“To figure out what could realistically happen when the Big One finally strikes, a team of earthquake experts sat down several years ago and created the ShakeOut scenario. Seismologists modeled how the ground would shake and then other experts, including engineers and social scientists, used that information to estimate the resulting damage and impacts. The detailed report examines the effects of a hypothetical 7.8 quake that strikes the Coachella Valley at 10 a.m. on November 13, 2008. In the following minutes, the earthquake waves travel across California, leveling older buildings, disrupting roads and severing electric, telephone and water lines. But the quake is only the beginning.”
What Will Really Happen When San Andreas Unleashes the Big One? Sarah Zielinski, May 28, 2015
The ShakeOut Scenario, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2008-1150
This is the initial publication of the results of a cooperative project to examine the implications of a major earthquake in southern California.
Files
Open this Word file: San-Andreas-movie-analysis
Why use clips from sci-fi and disaster movies in the classroom?
C. Efthimiou and R. Llewellyn write
Over the past year and a half we have developed an innovative approach to the teaching of Physical Science… [it] uses popular movies to illustrate the principles of physical science, analyzing individual scenes against the background of the fundamental physical laws. The impact of being able to understand why, in reality,
• the scene could or could not have occurred as depicted in the film,
• what the director got right and what he got wrong,
• has excited student interest enormously in a course that, when taught in the traditional mode, is usually considered to be ‘too hard and boring’.
The performance of students on exams reflected the increased attention to and retention of basic physical concepts… Following the first offering of the revitalization of the Physical Science course, in which action and sci-fi films were the primary source of the scene clips used in class, the instructors have demonstrated the versatility of the approach by building variations of the course around other genres, as well – Physics in Films: Superheroes and Physics in Films: Pseudoscience.
“Physics in Films” A New Approach to Teaching Science, C. Efthimiou and R. Llewellyn
Also see Intuitor.com, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics by Tom Rogers.
Learning Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
| 4-ESS2-2. | Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features. [Clarification Statement: Maps can include topographic maps of Earth’s land and ocean floor, as well as maps of the locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes.] |
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| 4-ESS3-2. | Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of solutions could include designing an earthquake resistant building and improving monitoring of volcanic activity.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.] |
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth forces, such as earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed. (4-ESS1-1)
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different land and water features areas of Earth. (4-ESS2-2)
ESS3.B: Natural Hazards
A variety of hazards result from natural processes (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions). Humans cannot eliminate the hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts. (4-ESS3-2)
Next Generation Science Standards: Science & Engineering Practices
● Ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, or unexpected results, to clarify and/or seek additional information.
● Ask questions that arise from examining models or a theory, to clarify and/or seek additional information and relationships.
● Ask questions to determine relationships, including quantitative relationships, between independent and dependent variables.
● Ask questions to clarify and refine a model, an explanation, or an engineering problem.
● Evaluate a question to determine if it is testable and relevant.
● Ask questions that can be investigated within the scope of the school laboratory, research facilities, or field (e.g., outdoor environment) with available resources and, when appropriate, frame a hypothesis based on a model or theory.
● Ask and/or evaluate questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of the design
Next Generation Science Standards
7.MS-ESS3-2. Obtain and communicate information on how data from past geologic events are analyzed for patterns and used to forecast the location and likelihood of future catastrophic events.
8.MS-ESS2-1. Use a model to illustrate that energy from Earth’s interior drives convection that cycles Earth’s crust, leading to melting, crystallization, weathering, and deformation of large rock formations
Appendix III Disciplinary Core Idea Progression Matrix – Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains movements of rocks at Earth’s surface and geological features.
College Board Standards for College Success: Science
Objective ES.1.3 Tectonism – Students understand that tectonic plates interact along their boundaries, resulting in folding, faulting, earthquakes and volcanoes.
ESM-PE.2.3.2 Analyze earthquake and volcano location data on a map or a globe to find global patterns and to relate these patterns to tectonic plate boundaries, interactions and hot spots.
Objective ES.3.2 Rock and Fossil Records
Essential Knowledge: Changes in Earth’s environment occur in both short and long time intervals. Large changes are relatively infrequent, and small changes are relatively frequent. Infrequent global catastrophic events, such as impacts from bolides or periods of widespread volcanic activity, leave evidence in the geologic record.
ESM-PE.5.2.2 Use a geologic map of the world to predict areas that are at risk due to geologic hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.
We Are What We Eat
“You are what you eat.” We hear that all the time. And it is literally true. Today we’re going to consider exactly what it is in food that we need, and what our body does with it. Let’s start with a classic PSA that was shown on TV in the 1980s. Let’s view
You Are What You Eat animated PSA
Alrighty then, we clearly need to eat in order to get organic molecules.
What molecules do we need to eat? Here’s a brief overview – Molecules that cells need
Now let’s look at what we need in more detail.
Oxygen
We of course need oxygen gas – but we get that from breathing. What exactly are oxygen atoms and molecules? – Oxygen atoms and molecules
Salts
Our body requires several types of salts in order to function. Sodium chloride (table salt) as well as magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and potassium chloride.
The nerves in our brain, and throughout our body, absolutely require dissolved salt ions in order to work. If we didn’t have these ions in our body then life would cease instantly. For details you could look at Action potentials.
Most of the salts that we need are obtained from eating plant and animal based foods.
We could also ingest salt right from solid salt crystals. While cooking people often add these to the foods being prepared.
Salt dissolved in water – Salt molecules dissolved in water
Fats
Our body uses fats in two ways:
Some fats are building materials for many parts of all our cells
Fats are used as a source of energy. Fats store chemical energy in their molecular bonds.
Here are some common fats found in many foods, and in healthy people.
Important: Fat, in of itself, is not bad for you. Never was. Rather, too much fat, or the wrong kinds of fat, become bad for you.
Here are some healthy sources of fats.
(Note the red meat: Most doctors believe that it is healthy for us to get some fats from a diet with small amounts of red meat. Larger amounts of meat present a problem; processed meats present a problem.)
from doctorkiltz.com
Proteins
Why do we need “protein?” Protein is a chemical found in all plants and animals. We eat the food, digest it, and the protein breaks down into small pieces – amino acids.
Our cells pick up these individual, digested amino acids – and then stitch them together into a new, three dimensional shapes.
These shapes aren’t just interesting or pretty: They are literally machines.
Consider your muscles. Here we look at a muscle, and keep zooming in with higher magnification.
GIF made by SSACC and hosted on imgur.com
How do we contract our muscles? When we look deep inside them, we see fibers moving past each other.
What makes these fibers move?
This unit of muscles fibers is called a sarcomere.
TBA
Image from Mohammad Attari and Hossein Khadivi Heris at the McGill Univ Bio Active Materials (BAM) Lab
Or consider the mitochondrial in our cells. Details aside, mitochondria also have proteins that are basically little machines.
What foods are good sources of protein? Not just meat.
Meat itself can also be a good source of protein.
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Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are found in all plants and animals. We eat part of a plant (or plant based food,) digest it, and break the carb down into smaller pieces – sugars.
Our cells pick up these individual, digested sugars. They break them down to release the chemical energy stored inside them.
There are many sources of carbs but some are healthier than others. Complex carbs have a low impact on our blood sugar level. Simple carbs have a large impact on our. blood sugar level.
tba
DNA bases
Humans, like all life, need DNA. Our chromosomes are made of DNA.
These chromosomes are in turn made of smaller units called nucleotides bases. There are four types. (Shown here.)
Does our body use DNA like the other nutrients?
When we build proteins, we first need to eat food with protein. We break it down into monomers and then rebuild those into human proteins. Is that true for DNA?
Sure, DNA is in every food we eat. Strawberries, apples, chicken, tuna, green beans, blueberries, all of these are living organisms with DNA. We eat them, and our intestines digest all of that DNA. Those digested DNA parts them circulate in our body, and can be taken up by other cells.
Does our body then
(a) salvage those solitary DNA pieces, and stitch them together into human DNA?
(b) create new DNA bases from scratch (de novo synthesis), and then stitch those together into human DNA?
(c) Or a bit of both?
Turns out that in a healthy person it is mostly (b.) Our cells usually take small molecule fragments and synthesize those directly into DNA bases.
Although we can do (a) when necessary.
Learning standards
NGSS
MS-LS1-3. Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells. Emphasis is on the conceptual understanding that cells form tissues and tissues form organs specialized for particular body functions. Examples could include the interaction of subsystems within a system and the normal functioning of those systems.
MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism. Emphasis is on describing that molecules are broken apart and put back together and that in this process, energy is released.
DCI – LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
As matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of living systems, chemical elements are recombined in different ways to form different products. (HS-LS1-6),(HS-LS1-7)
Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework
HS-LS1-6. Construct an explanation based on evidence that organic molecules are primarily composed of six elements, where carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms may combine with nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus to form monomers that can further combine to form large carbon-based macromolecules.
Clarification Statements:
• Monomers include amino acids, mono- and disaccharides, nucleotides, and fatty acids.
• Organic macromolecules include proteins, carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids, and lipids.
State Assessment Boundary:
• Details of specific chemical reactions or identification of specific macromolecule structures are not expected in state assessment.
National Science Education Standards
Most cell functions involve chemical reactions. Food molecules taken into cells react to provide the chemical constituents needed to synthesize other molecules. Both breakdown and synthesis are made possible by a large set of protein catalysts, called enzymes. The breakdown of some of the food molecules enables the cell to store energy in specific chemicals that are used to carry out the many functions of the cell.
National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/4962.
One-page notes/posters
Idea: Students show what they learn by creating a large, colorful single page poster with graphics and text. Why? One-pagers are visually attractive; help students organize their thoughts; give students an opportunity to show originality & creativity.
Materials: Large pieces of paper (art pads/newsprint pads.) e.g. 18”x12” or 18”x24”; colored pencils, markers, pastels, pens, etc.
Who this project typically appeals to: Students comfortable with art. They want to create their own unique layout and drawings from scratch. Challenges: Some students don’t feel comfortable with their artistic skills. These students will benefit from us providing templates to choose from.
This kind of project will be new to many students: we need to show them a few examples.
Rubrics/parameters (possible ideas)
English Language Arts/Literature
• Create a drawing or icon which represents the theme.
• Create a sketch (or decoupage a photo) showing the setting (location/time period.) Have a couple of sentences describing this.
• Include quotations
• Describe main characters; info about a character arc.
• Describe themes; questions that the author is asking us; responses.
• Write something that they personally connected with.
History/Social Studies
• Create a drawing or icon which represents the theme.
• Make connections between the text and current events
• Create a sketch (or decoupage a photo) showing the setting (location/time period.) Have a couple of sentences describing this.
• Include quotations from related primary sources.
• Examine several historical figures in this unit and their impact on history
• Write something that they personally connected with.
Science
• Create a drawing or icon which represents the main ideas
• If about the discovery of a law of physics or chemistry, create a sketch (or decoupage a photo) showing the setting (location/time period.) Have a couple of sentences describing this.
• Relevant equations
• Examples of how this scientific principle operates in the real world.
External resources
We Are Teachers – One-pager-examples ELA
cultofpedagogy.com – One pagers
Colonialsd.instructure – Sample instructions and rubric
Alvord Schools – Sample one pager instructions (PDF)
Learning Standards
Common Core ELA Science
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text’s explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7
Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Communicate scientific and technical information (e.g., about the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including oral, graphical, textual and mathematical).
NGSS Evidence Statements – Observable features of the student performance by the end of the course: Students use at least two different formats (including oral, graphical, textual and mathematical) to communicate scientific and technical information, including fully describing the structure, properties, and design of the chosen material(s). Students cite the origin of the information as appropriate.
Essential Knowledge and Skills Statements (ESS)
National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) 2008
Communications: Use oral and written communication skills in creating, expressing and
interpreting information and ideas including technical terminology and information.
Mechanical equilibrium lab
This introduction comes from Being Brunel: Notes From a Civil Engineer
What is mechanical equilibrium? Why do we study it?
This introduction comes from Being Brunel: Notes From a Civil Engineer
If civil engineering was religion (and in a way it is; institutionalised by men in funny hats), the first commandment would be: “Thou shalt always have static equilibrium”
The principle is easy: the sum of all the actions acting on a structure should come to zero….
The logic goes as such:
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Structures neither move, nor do they accelerate
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Therefore the ‘velocity’ of the structure, and all of the components that make it, is always zero.
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That means that the net force on the structure is zero (Newton’s first law)
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All forces applied to a structure are due to accelerating masses (Newton’s second law)
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At a global level these actions on the structure are resisted by the reactions of its supports (Newton’s third law)
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This is going to have to be true with anything we safely build, for instance:
In this lab we will see that the Σ F (the sum of all forces) equals 0.
Mechanical equilibrium lab
Equipment
Meter sticks, spring scales
table clamps, rod clamps, collar hooks, metal rods (crossbars)
string
More about this and related labs
Inertia and Mechanical Equilibrium labs
An elegant experiment in mechanical equilibrium, J N Boyd and P N Raychowdhury, Physics Education, Volume 20, Number 5, 1985
Walking the plank lab
Concept Development Practice Page Static Equilibrium
Equilibrium and Statics, The Physics Classroom
Biology Weekly Guide 2021-22
How to take notes (various methods, journaling, etc.)
Week 1 – Back-to-school activities and events.
First day of class never should focus on “syllabus, standards, policies, etc.”
21st Century Problems – students work in small groups
Classroom behavior expectations
Especially in the first week, don’t “tell” students note-taking expectations. Instead model note taking & journaling.
Note taking and note journaling
Discussion: What is Biology? In what ways does this topic overlap Chemistry, Ecology, and other sciences?
School, homework, grading policies.
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Week 2- What is life made of?
Discuss note taking expectations
phenomena
Elements Infographic What’s It All Made Of Earth Humans, and Universe , image 2
What are elements, in general?
Elements manipulatives and cards, “Building the periodic table” handout
How atoms make up molecules, organelles, cells, and tissues
Tissues of the human body
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Week 3 –What is life made of?
phenomena – You Are What You Eat!
You Are What You Eat classic PSA (1983), Time for Timer classic public service announcements
You Are What You Eat video
Elements necessary for life – Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorous, Sulfur, and trace elements
“Molecular model lab: lesson plan
Claims Evidence Reasoning (CER) assignment
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Week 4 – Major building blocks of life
phenomena – tbd
Synthesizing organic molecules
2D and 3D shapes of molecules
PhET Molecule shapes
Major families: Carbohydrate, Lipids (“fats”), Protein, Nucleic Acids – their role in living things.
Labs: Build monomers of each; then connect monomers to make polymers. Monomers may be made of colored construction paper cutouts; Legos; or other linkable manipulatives.
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Week – genetics
phenomena – tbd
Gregor Mendel and origin of genetics
Human phenotypes that show Mendelian inheritance
For the simplest of traits
Punnett Squares. How likely is it that a trait will be inherited?
Punnet squares Monohybrid, Dihybrid, and Trihybrid Crosses
Build large colorful posters to hang on the walls
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Week – Genetics
For more complex traits
Punnet squares Monohybrid, Dihybrid, and Trihybrid Crosses
What exactly ARE the things inside cells that are being passed down?
What is genetic material?
What are chromosomes?
Typical number of chromosomes in cells, haploid/diploid
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Week making sex cells and their connection to DNA
Meiosis: How do women make eggs? How do men make sperm?
DNA bases, nucleotides, and how they wind into a helix.
Analogies: DNA is like an alphabet, a word, a sentence or a book.
Lab: Create genes and do meiosis with hands-on Lego manipulatives
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Week DNA
DNA replication
Students model DNA replication with manipulatives
DNA transcription (make mRNA copy of the DNA)
Students model this with manipulatives
DNA translation and the genetic code: mRNA into protein
Students model this with manipulatives
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Week – More on genetic
More videos and apps on DNA translation and the genetic code: mRNA into protein
Teaching protein translation with manipulatives: Hands on!
Mutations (errors)
Students model mutations with manipulatives
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Week – Genetic engineering and genetic diseases
It is not always so simple! Non-mendelian inheritance.
Genetic engineering
Genetic diseases
Claims Evidence Reasoning (CER) assignment
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Week – How do we build and repair tissue?
phenomena
Babies starts off with small hands, arms, etc. How do they to full size?
We might injure ourselves – how do we heal cuts?
How do we heal broken bones?
The cell cycle (M, G1, S, and G2 phases)
How a scab forms
How torn muscles or tendons repair themselves
How we build new bones: Remodeling Osteoclasts and Osteoblasts
__________________________
Week – Body systems
Circulatory, Heart
Lungs
How do oxygen and CO2 molecules diffuse through small blood vessels? In the lungs, and in the rest of the body
(a) short videos, Socratic discussion, animations; (b) students create a posterboard subway-style map (markers, pencil, or website/app)
__________________________
Week – components of blood
Digestive system
Excretory system
(a) short videos, Socratic discussion, animations; (b) students create a posterboard subway-style map (markers, pencil, or website/app)
__________________________
Week – Sending and receiving signals
The brain and CNS
myths about the CNS
nerves, nervous system
__________________________
Week Homeostasis
What are hormones
endocrine system
Homeostasis and feedback
__________________________
Week a
How are cells powered
cellular respiration
photosynthesis
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Week – Diversity of life on Earth – week 1
Animal kingdom
Plant kingdom
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Week – Diversity of life on Earth – week 2
Fungi kingdom
Bacteria Kingdom
Archaea kingdom
Protista – a super group of several different kingdoms
Viruses
__________________________
Week – tbs
populations, communities, ecosystems, biomes.
Biomes
Population interactions and diversity – Limit factors and ecological niches
Claims Evidence Reasoning (CER) assignment
__________________________
Week a
Population limits and species interactions
Claims Evidence Reasoning (CER) assignment
__________________________
Week tbd
Symbiosis: (A) Autotrophs and Heterotrophs, (B) mutualism, commensalism, parasitism
(a) short videos, Socratic discussion, animations; (b) students create a posterboard subway-style map (markers, pencil, or website/app)
__________________________
Week – Ecological succession
Succession CK-12
Henry Chandler Cowles, one of the founders of the field
Primary and secondary succession
Claims Evidence Reasoning (CER) assignment
__________________________
Week tbd
Matter cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Water, Hydrogen
__________________________
Week Evolution by natural selection
Charles Darwin’s Voyage of Discovery
Darwin’s finches
Fossils: Evidence of evolution over time
__________________________
Week Evolution
Convergent evolution – analogous features
Homologous structures – organisms inherited the same basic design from a common ancestor.
Turning sequences of fossils into stories
__________________________
Week tbd
Natural selection
Artificial selection
__________________________
Week – Creating cladograms (family trees of life)
clades & phylogenies
clades rotate = equivalent phylogenies
__________________________
Week tbd
evolution of Dinosaurs
evolution of whales
Evolution of humans
__________________________
Week – Global warming
Global warming and greenhouse gases
The Ozone layer and CFCs
Global warming has not stopped
Global warming Industry knew of climate change
Yes, the climate has always changed. But this shows why that’s no comfort: XKCD infographic
What is a chemical?
What is a chemical?
Many people think that a chemical is a man-made (artificial) molecule.
Others say that some chemicals are man-made, while others are natural, but they often don’t have specific definitions.
On top of that, many people feel that “chemicals are bad for you.”
The confusion likely exists because – as surprising as it sounds – until recently there never has been an exact definition of the word.
We can’t do anything in science, or communicate anything that we have learned, without specific and exact definitions. So in science we do have specific definitions for atoms, elements, compounds and molecules.
But although the word “chemical” is widely used, until recently no attempt was made to precisely define it. What we can do is look at scientific papers and see how the word has been used:
A chemical is any substance consisting of matter.
This includes any liquid, solid, or gas.
A chemical is any pure substance (an element) or any mixture (a solution, compound, or gas).
They can either occur naturally or can be created artificially.
What Is Not a Chemical?
If anything made of matter is made up of chemicals, which means that only phenomena that aren’t made of matter are not chemicals: Energy is not a chemical. Light, heat, and sound are not chemicals—nor are thoughts, dreams, gravity, or magnetism.
What Is a Chemical and What Isn’t a Chemical? By Anne Marie Helmenstine, ThoughtCo, 12/7/2019
Surprising, eh? You’re made of chemicals! All trees, plants, and grass are made of chemicals. The Earth, moon, asteroids, and everything we can touch is made of chemicals. A single atom of gold, a sodium ion dissolved in our blood, a molecule of Vitamin C, are all chemicals.
At this point please see Every food we eat is made of nothing but chemicals!
Ore genesis (how ore deposits are created)
Main idea:
In previous units we have learned about metals and gems.
We further learned about ores (rock that contains valuable minerals that can be mined and sold at a profit.)
In this unit we learn several ways that ore deposits were created in the first place.
These processes are called ore genesis. (Not to be confused with the similar-sounding, but completely different, orogenesis.)
Pre-loading vocabulary
deposit (verb) – to put something down (e.g. money in a bank, or particles in a riverbed)
deposition (noun) – the process of silt and sediment building up in an area.
Here we see a GIF of particles moving through water, and eventually being deposited on the sea floor (deposition.)
Over long periods of time, this deposited material can be chemically cemented together into sedimentary rock. This is term sedimentation.
sedimentation (verb) – the process of particles settling or being deposited.
sedimentary rock (noun) – rock formed from fragments of other rocks or the remains of plants or animals.
element (noun) – Elements are pure substance made from a single type of atom. For all practical purposes, an element is something that cannot be broken down into anything simpler. Examples: Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Gold, Iron, etc.
Microbial Genomics and the Periodic Table, Lawrence P. Wackett, Anthony G. Dodge and Lynda B. M. Ellis
hydrothermal vent (noun) – An opening on the seafloor that emits hot, mineral-rich solutions.
GIF from gfycat.com
mid-ocean ridge (noun) – underwater mountain range.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ETOPO1 Global Relief Model,
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/rocksdui4.html
ore (noun) – deposit in the Earth of minerals containing valuable metal.
ore body (noun) – a well-defined mass of ore-bearing rock
from Applied Geochemistry
Advances in Mineral Exploration Techniques, Macheyeki et al.
subduct (verb) – When one tectonic plate hits another, and one of the plates is forced below the other. The subducted plate is the one going deeper into the mantle.
subduction zone (noun) – An area where one tectonic plate slides under another.
Deep versus surface processes
Sometimes we classify ore producing processes as either
supergene – those that occur near the surface.
hypogene – those that occur deep under the Earth’s surface.
Ways that ore deposits form
A National Geographic infographic describes three ways that ore deposits form:
(1) Ore deposits created underwater, within sedimentary rock like shale.
The rock/shale forms from nearby volcanic arc, settles on seafloor in layers. This sediment is rich in minerals that contain lead, silver, zinc.
As layer after layer of sediment build sup, the pressure on lower layers increases. The temp increases. The lower layers then begin to melt.
When sea water seeps in through cracks in the crust, the rocks expel these metals, which form ore bodies. Usually occurs within subduction zones.
(2) Subduction zone ore deposits.
Tectonic plates contain large quantities of water. As a tectonic plate is subducted into the mantle it heats up and releases this water. The resulting fluid travels up to the rocks above the subduction zone.
Combined with significant heat, this fluid-filled environment can create the right conditions for ore deposits to form. Includes Gold and copper.
(3) Hydrothermal vent ore deposits.
Deep sea hydrothermal vents line mid-ocean ridges. These vents spew incredibly hot water, which contains dissolved metals like copper, lead, zinc, and iron.
When this super heated liquid hits cold ocean water, the metals become solid and settle onto the ocean floor. Over time they build up on the seafloor near these vents, creating ore bodies than can be minded.
Looking on a global view, where do these processes occur?
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See Compare and Contrast: Ore Deposition Infographic
Ores from hot water
This text is from the American Museum of Natural History
‘”Driven by heat from bodies of molten rock in the crust, hot water circulates through cracks, dissolving minerals in the rocks through which it passes. As the water moves into cooler rocks, the dissolved minerals precipitate and accumulate in fractures and cavities. Many metallic ore deposits, such as those represented in the samples shown here, form in this way.”
How weathering can produce ore deposits
Here are two examples of how weathering creates ores from Earth Science (Tarbuck, Lutgens, Tasa) This process is called secondary enrichment.
(A) Chemical weathering coupled with downward-percolating water removes undesired materials from decomposing rock.
This leaves the desired elements enriched in the upper zones of the soil.
(B) The second way is basically the reverse of the first. Desirable elements that are found in low concentrations near the surface are removed and carried to lower zones, where they are redeposited and become more concentrated.
Learning Standards
MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how these resources are limited and typically non-renewable, and how their distributions are significantly changing as a result of removal by humans. Examples of uneven distributions of resources as a result of past processes include but are not limited to petroleum (locations of the burial of organic marine sediments and subsequent geologic traps), metal ores (locations of past volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with subduction zones), and soil (locations of active weathering and/or deposition of rock).]
Disciplinary Core Ideas – ESS3.A: Natural Resources
Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes.
Crosscutting Concepts – Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World
All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.
HS-ESS3-2. Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the conservation, recycling, and reuse of resources (such as minerals and metals) where possible, and on minimizing impacts where it is not. Examples include developing best practices for agricultural soil use, mining (for coal, tar sands, and oil shales), and pumping (for petroleum and natural gas). Science knowledge indicates what can happen in natural systems—not what should happen.]
4-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems
[Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.]
Ores and ore deposits
What are ores?
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.
The societal importance of ores
Mark Hoggard writes
Copper, lead, and zinc form three of the four base metals (the other being nickel) and are heavily relied upon by modern society. Copper’s high electrical conductivity means that it is utilised in virtually all electronics and wiring. Lead is used in photovoltaic cells, high-voltage power cables, batteries, and super capacitors. Zinc is used in batteries and paints, but also in agricultural fertilisers and fungicides since it is a limiting micronutrient in many of the world’s crop soils.
from Treasure maps, sustainable development, and the billion-year stability of cratonic lithosphere
Many minerals are used in our smartphones, tablets, computers, and all home electronics:
Some thoughts to ponder!
How many pounds of minerals are required by the average person in a year?
How large is a lifetime supply of minerals for the average person?
How do we find ores? Prospecting
Classically, people would walk around and dig into the ground. They’d examine the soil and rocks to see if there were any significant amounts of important minerals, metals, gems, etc. This was called prospecting. Even 2000 years ago people in many civilizations had simple ways of doing this.
By the time of the industrial revolution (1780s to 1830s) most easy surface deposits had been used up. From here onwards, corporations needed to employ many scientifically literate explorers to systematically dig and drill into many places all across the globe.
Chemists and geologists would carefully examine samples, determining if there was enough ore to make it economically worthwhile to mine that area.
To some extent this also happens today. Here we see geologists from the USGS and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources examining a carbonatite dike in the Lemitar Mountains, New Mexico.
Geologists examining a carbonatite dike, USGS
However, that kind of prospecting is less common today. We have to come to rely on various high tech strategies that let us find ore deposits that otherwise are more difficult to find.
There are now ways of Finding ores in underwater ocean deposits
Marine self-potential survey for exploring seafloor hydrothermal ore deposits, Yoshifumi Kawada & Takafumi Kasaya
We have remote sensing from airplanes flying overhead. Airplanes carry sensors which look at the ground with in visible and infrared light imaging spectrometers.
For instance, APEX is an airborne imaging spectrometer developed by a Swiss-Belgian consortium on behalf of ESA
APEX consortium, apex-esa.org
In our generation we use explore Earth for minerals deposits using remote multispectral imaging; these sensors are on satellites in Earth orbit.
Read about Mineral Exploration of Earth from Satellites in Space.
One such example is Terra (EOS AM-1.) This is a multi-national, NASA scientific research satellite. And below we see the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite from the ESA (European Space Agency.)
Image from Astrium GmbH. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Spotlight_on_Sentinel-2
Mining: How do we remove mineral from the Earth?
Prospecting is all about finding the right places to find ores. The next challenge is mining, getting these materials out of the Earth, grinding them up, and then transporting them off to factories.
In some locations there are great, open wounds on the fact of the Earth, where we see giant machines slowly digging into the Earth, in ever-wider and ever-deeper areas. Over a period of years tremendous amounts of materials ate pulled out of the Earth.
The advantage is that we obtain the minerals we need or want for our society.
The disadvantages are that badly damages the local environment and ecology. This often has deleterious side effects for people who locally. This is why we need people educated in geology, the scientific method, philosophy and ethics to be a part of this process.
Refining the ores
Next is refining (separating the metal from the other materials that it is mixed in)
Here are metals once they are refined, but before they are made into useful products.
Finally one will form the metal into an industrial product.
There’s quite a separate process, of course, for removing gemstones from the ores that they are found in.
Gem-containing ore are valuable and highly sought after:
The five cardinal gems of antiquity. Clockwise from top: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, Diamond. (Cardinal gems, Wikimedia Commons)
Examples of ores
Oxide mineral ores
https://openpress.usask.ca/physicalgeology/chapter/5-3-mineral-groups-2/
and
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How are ore deposits created?
Weathering creates many important mineral deposits by concentrating minor amounts of metals that are scattered through unweathered rock into economically valuable concentrations.
Called secondary enrichment:
(A) In one situation, chemical weathering coupled with downward-percolating water removes undesired materials from decomposing rock, leaving the desired elements enriched in the upper zones of the soil.
(B) The second way is basically the reverse of the first. That is, the desirable elements that are found in low concentrations near the surface are removed and carried to lower zones, where they are redeposited and become more concentrated.
Ores from hot water, American Museum of Natural History
Some ore deposits are formed through hydrothermal/plutonic intrusions.
Some Caribbean have such deposits – Jamaica and bauxite
Some ore deposits in western states (copper, iron) may have been originally formed in deep sea hydrothermal vents that were scraped or accreted from the edges of various terranes that make up those states.
External reading
Evolutionary and Revolutionary Technologies for Mining, Technologies in Exploration, Mining, and Processing
Learning Standards
TBA
Glaciers
Glacier ice is actually a mono-mineralic rock (a rock made of only one mineral, like limestone which is composed of the mineral calcite).
BEAR GLACIER, KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA. US NPS PHOTO
The mineral ice is the crystalline form of water (H2O).
Glacier ice forms through the metamorphism of tens of thousands of individual snowflakes into crystals of glacier ice.
Each snow flake is a single, six-sided (hexagonal) crystal with a central core and six projecting arms.
FROM POLARTREC.COM
The metamorphism process is driven by the weight of overlying snow.
During metamorphism, thousands of individual snowflakes recrystallize into much larger and denser individual ice crystals.
Some of the largest ice crystals observed at Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier are nearly one foot in length.
(USGS)
Use PowerPoint presentation from Earth Science (Tarbuck, Lutgen, Tasa) It covers the topics mentioned below.
Types of glaciers
Valley Glaciers
Ice sheets
Where glaciers exist today
Cover most of Iceland, most of Antarctica
some other locations
How glaciers move
(from Earth Science Tarbuck, Lutgens)
The movement of glaciers is referred to as flow, and it happens in two ways.
1. Plastic flow—involves movement within the ice
2. Basal slip—slipping and sliding downward due to gravity
The glacial budget
The balance, or lack of balance, between accumulation of ice at the upper end of a glacier – and the loss, or wastage, at the lower end of the glacier.
Calving
tba
Glacial erosion
Many landscapes were changed by the widespread glaciers of the recent ice age.
• Plucking—lifting of rock blocks
– Rock flour (pulverized rock)
– Striations (grooves in the bedrock)
How glaciers shape the land
As glaciers move they can break up the ground underneath them. They then pluck, or pick up, big chunks of rock, and began to carry them downhill.
Glaciers are responsible for a variety of erosional landscape features, such as glacial troughs, hanging valleys, cirques, arêtes, and horns.
Glaciated valleys – A glacial trough is a U-shaped valley that was once V-shaped but was deepen by a glacier.
A cirque is a bowl-shaped depression at the head of a glacial valley.
Arêtes and Horns
Snaking, sharp-edged ridges called arêtes and sharp pyramid-like peaks called horns project above mountain landscapes.
Types of Glacial Drift
• Glacial drift applies to all sediments of glacial origin, no matter how, where, or in what form they were deposited.
1. Till is material deposited directly by the glacier.
2. Stratified drift is sediment laid down by glacial meltwater.
Depositional features
Glaciers are responsible for a variety of depositional features, including
Moraines—layers or ridges of till
outwash plains—sloping plains consisting of deposits from meltwater streams in front of the margin of an ice sheet
kettles—depressions created when a block of ice becomes lodged in glacial deposits and subsequently melts.
drumlins—streamlined, asymmetrical hills composed of glacial dirt.
eskers—ridges composed largely of sand and gravel deposited by a stream flowing beneath a glacier near its terminus.
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KaiserScience 
