Linggo, Oktubre 9, 2011

Earth.. Do You Have Some Friends?

Well Here I am Again. Today my blog is all about the planets in the solar system. As what we have known there are 9 planets in the solar system but as what scientist say. There are only 8 planets in the solar system and the 8 planets in the solar system are the Mercury,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Now I am going to explain each planet 1 by 1.
Mercury
As you travel outward from the Sun, Mercury is the closest planet. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 58 million km. Mercury is airless, and so without any significant atmosphere to hold in the heat, it has dramatic temperature differences. The side that faces the Sun experiences temperatures as high as 420 ºC, and then the side in shadow goes down to -173 ºC. Mercury is also the smallest planet in the Solar System, measuring just 4879 km across at its equator.
Mercury has only been visited two times by spacecraft. The first was Mariner 10, back in the mid 1970s. It wasn’t until 2008 that another spacecraft from Earth made a close flyby of Mercury, taking new images of its surface.
Venus
Venus is the second planet in the Solar System, and it’s an almost virtual twin of Earth in terms of size and mass. Venus orbits at an average distance of 108 million km, and completes an orbit around the Sun every 224 days. Apart from the size, though, Venus is very different from Earth. It has an extremely thick atmosphere made almost entirely of carbon dioxide that cloaks the planet and helps heat it up to 460 °C. If you could stand on the surface of Venus, you would experience 92 times the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere, with incredibly high temperatures, and poisonous clouds of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid rain.
Several spacecraft have visited Venus, and a few landers have actually made it down to the surface to send back images of its hellish landscape. Even though there were made of metal, these landers only survived a few hours at best.
Earth
Earth is our home; the third planet from the Sun. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 150 million km. Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to support life. This is because our atmosphere keeps the planet warm from the vacuum of space, but it’s not so thick that we have a runaway greenhouse effect. The Earth has a solid core of iron surrounded by a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field that also helps protect life on Earth from the radiation of space.
No planet in the Solar System has been studied as well as Earth, both on the ground and from space. Thousands of spacecraft have been launched to study the planet, measuring its atmosphere, land masses, vegetation, water, and human impact.
Earth has only a single moon… the Moon.
Mars
The 4th planet from the Sun is Mars, the second smallest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at an distance of 228 million km. You might think Mars is large, but it’s a tiny world, with about half the diameter of Earth, and just 1/10th the Mass. If you could stand on the surface of Mars, you’d experience about 1/3rd Earth’s gravity. Mars has almost no atmosphere to help trap heat from the Sun, and so temperatures can plunge below -140 °C in the Martian winter. Even at the height of summer, temperatures can get up to 20 °C in the day – just barely shirt sleeve weather.
Mars has been heavily studied by spacecraft. There are rovers and landers on the surface, and orbiters flying overhead. It’s probably the likeliest place to search for life in the Solar System.
Mars has two tiny asteroid-sized moons: Phobos and Deimos.
Jupiter
Mighty Jupiter is the biggest planet in our Solar System. It’s so large, in fact, that it has 2.5 times the mass of all the rest of the planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter orbits from the Sun at an average distance of 779 million km. Its diameter at the equator is 142,984 km across; you could fit 11 Earths side by side and still have a little room. Jupiter is almost entirely made up of hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of other elements.
Jupiter has been visited by several spacecraft, including NASA’s Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft; Cassini and New Horizons arrived more recently. Only the Galileo spacecraft has ever gone into orbit around Jupiter, and it was crashed into the planet in 2003 to prevent it from contaminating one of Jupiter’s icy moons.
Jupiter has the most moons in the Solar System – it has 63 moons at last count.
Saturn
Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun, and the 2nd largest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 1.4 billion km. Saturn measures 120,000 km across; only a little less than Jupiter. But Saturn has much less mass, and do it has a low density. In fact, if you had a pool large enough, Saturn would float!
Of course, the most amazing feature of Saturn is its rings. These are made of particles of ice ranging in size from a grains of sand to the size of a car. Some scientists think the rings are only a few hundred million years old, while others think they could be as old as the Solar System itself.
Saturn has been visited by spacecraft 4 times: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 were just flybys, but Cassini has actually gone into orbit around Saturn and has captured thousands of images of the planet and its moons.
And speaking of moons, Saturn has a total of 60 moons discovered (so far).
Uranus
Next comes Uranus, the 7th planet from the Sun. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 2.9 billion km. Uranus measures 51,000 km across, and is the 3rd largest planet in the Solar System. While all of the planets are tilted on their axes, Uranus is tilted over almost on its side. It has an axial tilt of 98°. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope; it was first recognized as a planet in 1781 by William Herschel.
Only one spacecraft, Voyager 2, has ever visited Uranus up close. It passed by the planet in 1986, and captured the first close images.
Uranus has 27 known moons.
Neptune
Neptune is the 8th and final planet in the Solar System, orbiting at an average distance of 4.5 billion km from the Sun. It’s the 4th largest planet, measuring about 49,000 km across. It might not be as big as Jupiter, but it’s still 3.8 times larger than Earth – you could fit 57 Earths inside Neptune. Neptune is the second planet discovered in modern times. It was discovered at the same time by both Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams.
Neptune has only ever been visited by one spacecraft, Voyager 2, which made a fly by in August, 1989.
Neptune has 13 known moons.
And those are the planets in the Solar System. Unfortunately, Pluto isn’t a planet any more. Well that's it for now. God Bless! =)

Universe.. Where Did You Came From?

The topic for my today's blog is all about the origin of the universe. As what I know there are 6 theories of how the universe came to existence. My 1st theory that I want to explain is the Steady State Theory. The Steady State theory (also known as the Infinite Universe theory or continuous creation) is a model developed in 1948 by Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi and others. In steady state views, new matter is continuously created as the universe expands. The theory requires that new matter must be continuously created (mostly as hydrogen) to keep the average density of matter equal over time. The amount required is low and not directly detectable: roughly one solar mass of baryons  per cubic megaparsec  per year or roughly one hydrogen atom per cubic meter per billion years, with roughly five times as much dark matter. Such a creation rate, however, would cause observable effects on cosmological scales.The 2nd theory  is the Big Crunch Theory. The Big Crunch Theory is made possible by Big Bang cosmology, which states that all matter in the universe is now racing away from all other matter. If there is enough matter in the universe to create a gravitational force sufficient to bring this movement to a halt and to reverse its direction, then at some point in the remote future all matter in the universe will converge into an infinitely dense point in space, resembling a massive black hole. The end of the universe would then resemble its beginning—a singularity at which the laws of physics as we know them no longer apply. Such a universe is called a closed universe. The 3rd theory is the Chaotic Inflation Universe. Chaotic Inflation, proposed by physicist Andrei Linde, models our universe as one of many that grew as part of a multiverse owing to a vacuum that had not decayed to its ground state. In this theory, the peaks in the evolution of a scalar field (determining the energy of the vacuum) correspond to regions of rapid inflation which dominate, creating "bubble universes", making the structure of space fractal on the very largest scales, likely at scales larger than the observable universe. The 4th theory is Big Bounce Theory. The Big Bounce Theory combines the big bang and big crunch theories to create a vision of an endless, cyclical cosmos in which the universe repeatedly expands from a singularity only to eventually collapse back in on itself -- before doing it all over again. In other words, a big bounce universe would continuously expand and contract. the 5th is the Cyclic Universe Theory. The cyclic theory of the universe is a radical alternative to the standard big bang/inflationary scenario that offers a new approach for resolving the homogeneity, isotropy and flatness problems and generating a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of fluctuations. The 6th Theory is The Big Bang Theory. The Big Bang Theory is the prevailing cosmological model of the early development of the universe. The major premise of the Big Bang theory is that the universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state that expanded rapidly (a "Big Bang"). This rapid expansion caused the young universe to cool and resulted in its present continuously expanding state. According to recent measurements, scientific evidence and observations, the original state happened around 13.7 billion years ago which can be referred to as the time that the Big Bang occurred. As for now this is what I can say. God Bless!

Linggo, Setyembre 4, 2011

Importance of Coral Reefs and Mangroves

1st lets talk about coral reefs, when we say coral reefs what comes into our mind? mostly of us think of it as a rock in the sea in the sea but the fact is coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps are like tiny sea anemones, to which they are closely related. But unlike sea anemones, coral polyps secrete hard carbonate exoskeleton which support and protect their bodies. Reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters. coral reefs are important not only biologically rich and a source of beauty but they also provide many services. When coral reefs are degraded, destroyed or bleached, those services will be impacted. Some of the services that coral reefs provide are preventing big waves to hit the seashores, tourist attraction, home for small fishes and many more.. We should help our society protects our coral reefs because Coral reefs have been used in the treatment of cancer, HIV, cardiovascular diseases, ulcers, and other ailments. At least 500 million people rely on coral reefs for food, coastal protection, and livelihoods. Coral reefs are among the oldest ecosystems on Earth.But as far as we know Estimates are that 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been effectively destroyed in the last few decades and an additional 20% or more are severely degraded, particularly in the Caribbean Sea and Southeast Asia.

Now lets talk about Mangroves. Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics.Mangroves is just like coral reefs when we talk about there services that they have made in the society. But the only difference is that corals are tiny living animals while mangroves are various kinds of trees. Mangroves protect shorelines from damaging storm and hurricane winds, waves, and floods. Mangroves also help prevent erosion by stabilizing sediments with their tangled root systems. They maintain water quality and clarity, filtering pollutants and trapping sediments originating from land. Mangroves also serve as nursery areas for animals like shrimp, crustaceans, mollusks, and fishes. Mangroves also provide support for threatened and endangered species. the threatened species includes American alligator, green sea turtle and loggerhead sea turtle while the endangered species includes American crocodile, hawks bill sea turtle, eastern indigo snake, southern bald eagle, peregrine falcon, brown pelican and many more.. In other parts of the world, people have utilized mangrove trees as a renewable resource. Harvested for durable, water-resistant wood, mangroves have been used in building houses, boats, pilings, and furniture. The wood of the black mangrove and buttonwood trees has also been utilized in the production of charcoal. Tannins and other dyes are extracted from mangrove bark. Leaves have been used in tea, medicine, livestock feed, and as a substitute for tobacco for smoking. In Florida, beekeepers have set up their hives close to mangroves in order to use the nectar in honey production.

In Generallization:
     We Should Help Our Environment In Our Own Little Way So That We Can Help Our Mother Earth Restore Its Beauty and To Preserve Everything That We Still Have Now Before Its To Late!

Linggo, Hulyo 31, 2011

The Hydrosphere

As far as we all know, the Earth that we live on is the 3rd planet on the solar system and it is the only planet that is able to support life.  Earth is just the right distance from the sun to have temperatures that are suitable for life to exist. Our planet also has water on its surface, which is something very unique. In fact, Earth is often called the 'Blue Planet' because most of it is covered in water. This water is made up of freshwater in rivers and lakes, the saltwater of the oceans and estuaries, groundwater and water vapour. Together, all these water bodies are called the hydrosphere.
The Hydrosphere or water is an important factor in our daily life because, when water is heated it evaporates and forms water vapour. When water vapour cools again, it condenses to form liquid water which eventually returns to the surface by precipitation like rain or snow. This cycle of water moving through the atmosphere and the energy changes that accompany it, is what drives weather patterns on earth and land plants absorb water through their roots and then transport this through their trunk, stems and leaves. This water is needed in photosynthesis, the food production process in plants. The large amount of water on our planet is something quite unique. In fact, about 71% of the earth is covered by water. Of this, almost 97% is found in the oceans as saltwater, about 2.2% occurs as a solid in ice sheets, while the remaining amount is available as freshwater. So from a human perspective, despite the vast amount of water on the planet, only a very small amount is actually available for human consumption or drinking or what so ever. Water is a part of living cells
Each cell in a living organism is made up of almost 75% water, and this allows the cell to function normally. In fact, most of the chemical reactions that occur in life, involve substances that are dissolved in water. Without water, cells would not be able to carry out their normal functions and life could not exist. Humans use water in a number of ways. Drinking water is obviously very important, but water is also used domestically like washing dishes, cleaning, etc. and in industry. Water can also be used to generate electricity through hydropower like what we can found now in Maria Christina Falls. Water have also a bad effects in our society because it can cause damage and it can also kill people like floods and tsunami.

 
The Hydrosphere is also an important part of weathering beacause it helps to break rock down into rock fragments and then soil and soil is the place where we live on and plant trees. That's why without water I can only say that we are not in this world now!

Let's start conserving water now and try to appreciate the things that we can found in our surroundings because every little thing that we can found in our environment is indeed in fact depends on water specially people, animals and plants.

Linggo, Hulyo 3, 2011

Advantages and Disadvantages of Science and Technology

The Science and Technology have great effects in our society.



Globalization is such a commonly used term in the twentieth century. It simply means that the world has become affected economically, socially, politically and culturally through the advances of technology, transportation and communication. We cannot deny the facts that Science and Technology have positive and negative effects in our Society.
To begin with, globalization has contributed to the world's economies in many beneficial ways. The Advances in science and technology are allowed businesses to easily cross over territorial boundary lines, makes our life easier, it helps us organize our daily activities, our job can be done faster, easier to communicate other people in other places in just a second, helps us to understand other culture and society better and lots more and the Disadvantages of Science and Technology are can be easily manipulated by irresponsible persons, we'll be too independent in technology and without it we will fell hopeless, it affects our health and lifestyles, sometimes people can easily invade our privacy like hacking the systems and many more. The vast improvements made in the field of medicine have served to lengthen our life expectancy and to reduce the rate of infant mortality. The discovery of mechanization, in transportation, trains, planes and motor vehicle makes us easily go to other places easily. The invention of computers has assisted the process of calculation in laboratories but science has been responsible for pollution and has given us the nuclear bomb which threatens our very existence like what happened in nagasaki and hiroshima in world war 2. But what i can say is that the science is not the fault of all of that but what are the people's intention to use science in their bad motivation in their lives. In generalization, as far as what I learned or I should say as far as what I know Science and Technology have great affects in our society and community like advantages and disadvantages of our society but it can only occur when a person using it use it in good purposes or bad purposes. Just always remember that we people have the responsibilities in our own society and community.