December 12, 2014

Weather is the most powerful force on earth. It can change our world for the better. Or for the worse. It can cause devastation in the blink of an eye, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Or do good with summer, rain, and sunshine, factors that maintain life on earth.

                                                                     (Weather)

As I did my observations for our "Knowledge Collides With Art Project" I noticed that on a daily basis we don't take into consideration the bright sun that brings us warmth everyday. Or the beautiful sceneries that we have during its rise and set.

(Sunset)

We only notice the out of the ordinary days, when it's raining, snowing, or just plain colder than usual. We tend to underestimate the power of weather unless we have had a personal experience with it. For example, people in Japan have this experience, in 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake 231 miles northeast caused 30 ft waves to head towards them, about 15,884 people died. Or Hurricane Katrina in 2005 killing about 1,800 people in east North America (CNN).These are just two examples of the power weather has, it's so strong that we are its puppets. 

(Japan, Tsunami)

On the other hand weather doesn't only cause fear, it can cause happiness and with it life exists to the fullest. It keeps our plants alive and healthy with its sun and rain, "Weather is the driving force behind life on this planet. Without it, we would cease to exist."(Weather). Another huge effect of weather, is food! We all need food to survive and most of that comes from places where weather is good, like central or south america where it is hotter.Weather has been around forever even ancient civilizations had to deal with the effects in order to grow crops and have a living.

                                                                        (Forbes)

We all see and feel weather everyday even if it's just looking outside a window or feeling the wind on your body. We also might not praise the sun everyday when it comes out but i'm 100 percent sure everyone is happy it's there. So, like a sunset ends a day, this blog ends my journey with weather. we both started off shining bright but eventually your time to leave comes as time goes by.

                                                                 (Goodbye Sun)























Work cited:
Weather. Wallpapers Resource. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://www.blirk.net/weather-wallpaper/1/1920x1080/>.

Torres, Strait. Sunset. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://www.visualobsession.com.au/services/photography/sunset-weather-photos>.                                                                  

Japan, Tsunami. Photograph from Miyako City Office via Reuters, 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/pictures/120309-japan-tsunami-earthquake-anniversary-fukushima/>.

Goodbye Sun .2. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/307248232?view_mode=2>.

Why Are Food Prices so High? Web. 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveodland/2012/03/15/why-are-food-prices-so-high/>.

Weather. National Geographic Society. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/weather/?ar_a=1>.

November 15, 2014

Why do leaves change color and fall off trees?

This is a question I would always ask myself as fall came around, but I would never worry too much about the answer. As I was walking around my neighborhood this week all the leaves on the road got me thinking again of this old question. So I thought this time, why not find out the answer already! Before I actually got to the answer I observed a small bush close to my house that had exactly what I was looking for. This bush had a mixture of different colored leaves with some already fallen off.

       

                                                   

As you can see the leaves on this bush were originally green but the fall season slowly turned them yellow. So I made my own hypothesis, maybe the leaves were changing color because they were dying. I thought of this because, why would a strong leaf change color and fall off of its lifeline if it still has energy to hold on. The only reason it would fall and change color is because its weak and just wants to let go. Just like a human, we’re strong and try to hang on but when we get sick and weak our skin color doesn't change but it does get paler than usual.

After observing the bush and its leaves for five more minutes I finally looked up the answer to my question. Why do leaves change color and fall off trees?

-“When leaves appear green, it is because they contain an abundance of Chlorophyll. There is so much chlorophyll in an active leaf that the green masks other pigment colors. Light regulates chlorophyll production, so as autumn days grow shorter, less chlorophyll is produced. The decomposition rate of chlorophyll remains constant, so the green color starts to fade from leaves.”

-“When winter approaches, our part of Earth receives less sunlight, and the air grows colder. When these changes happen, trees prepare for winter. Trees that drop their leaves seal the spots where the leaves are attached. Then fluids cannot flow in and out of the leaves, which change color and fall off.”

So just like the leaves we can fall off of our lifeline at a certain point in our lives but we will always have a chance to come back and be ready for it to happen again because it's just "Human Nature".

Work cited: 

Helmestine, Anne Marie. "Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?" About.com, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. <http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingsworkfaqs/f/fallleafcolor.htm>.

"How and Why Do Leaves Fall off Trees?" Highlight Kids. Web. <http://www.highlightskids.com/science-questions/how-and-why-do-leaves-fall-trees>.

November 9, 2014

Does weather affect our mood?

I decided this week to observe what the weather makes myself and others feel like. Do our attitudes change when the weather changes without us realizing it? I will keep a close eye on how I and other people feel throughout the week. This experiment will be from Monday November 3rd to Friday November 7th.

Most days of the week in fall start off kind of cold being around 65 degrees. Cold weather to me makes me feel calm as long as I have some type of warmth that can make me feel secure. Without this warmth and security, I feel awake and full of energy like if someone dumped ice cold water on me. Afterwards, when I got to school I started to observe the people around me. Most of them were wearing jackets and sweaters, probably also looking for that warmth and security I like. A thing I noticed was that the people with some type of warmth were calm and still sleepy from waking up early and the people with only a t-shirt were moving a lot trying to keep warm.

In the afternoons, when the sun comes up during fall it still gets hot but not as hot as summer. By this time most people don't have their jackets or sweaters anymore and everyone looks more relaxed and outgoing. I also felt more outgoing, probably because that warmth was everywhere. If I compare the cold to the heat more people act like themselves when they feel like the weather is right, and that right weather is usually above 80 degrees. 

Now back to my question, does weather affect our mood? After doing my experiment, I don't feel like I know the answer because I only observed people in two different climates, hot and cold. As a result I went online and tried to find the answer. I came up on a certain website where they did a experiment on personality types and weather.

"The Impact of Weather May Depend On Your Weather Personality Type"

• "Summer lovers (17 percent) – Happier, less fearful, and less angry on days with more sunshine and higher temperatures. More hours of precipitation was associated with less happiness and more anxiety and anger.”
• "Summer haters (27 percent) – Less happy and more fearful and angry when the temperature and the percentage of sunshine were higher. With more hours of precipitation they tended to be happier and less fearful and angry.”
• "Rain haters (9 percent) – Angrier and less happy on days with more precipitation. By comparison, they were more happy and fearful, but less angry, on days with more sunshine and higher temperatures.”
• "Unaffected by weather (48 percent) – Largely unimpacted by changes in the weather."

As you can see, there are people who act differently in different weather and climate conditions. The majority doesn't really care about the weather, but for some people weather is a huge factor that controls your mood.

Work cited:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/08/29/can-weather-affect-your-mood/

October 25, 2014

Reno, Nevada has bipolar weather! It can be a sunny day while it's snowing or a cloudy day with the temperature over 105 degrees. Those of us who live in Reno know this from experience. I decided to talk about this because as I observed the weather this week I came upon a perfect example.

It was Saturday (October, 25) and I woke up at 8:00 a.m. to a pleasantly good day. The temperature was around 85 degrees, to me that’s regular Saturday temperature. As I walked outside I could feel the heat of the sun bearing down on me, and as I looked up the sky was clear as can be. So I thought to myself it’s a perfect day like any other.

                                    

As my Perfect day went on I noticed the sky started to darken at about 11:00 a.m. and clouds were suddenly appearing. The more the day went on the worse the sky got and the temperature was also dropping rapidly. It dropped to about 65 degrees, which is a huge drop from 85 degrees.

                                                

 At 11:30 a.m. it started to pour rain for about 12 minutes. During that time you could hear the soothing noise of rainfall and feel the weight of the humidity in the cold air against your skin. Just as fast as it started, it ended and the day goes on like nothing happened.

October 14, 2014

I woke up at about six in the morning today to get ready for another day of school. As I walked to school I noticed it was a bit more cold than other days but I didn't think much of it because usually it always gets hotter as the day goes on. It turns out I was right about it getting hotter, as I was walking towards the school cafeteria. I noticed the temperature changed dramatically since the morning and the sky was clear as can be. So I thought it was going to be a normal day like any other, but I have never been more wrong. When I got home from school at about three in the afternoon the sky wasn't clear anymore.

 Big dark clouds surrounded me from above.The smell of rain was present, and there were small gusts of wind blowing against me. At first I was happy it was going to rain because Reno, Nevada isn't known for rain and we have been in need of water for a long time because it hasn't snowed like it should of for the past two years. Again I was proven wrong when I woke up the next morning and found out it didn't rain. What we did get was a lot of wind, I realized this as I was going to sleep. I heard the wind crashing into the side of my house, the leafs on the trees outside being pushed around ferociously, and my house windows vibrating slightly as each gust of wind tried to get inside.

October 3,2014

First of all I would like to explain why I chose to observe the weather for our Knowledge Collides With Art Project. I chose weather because it always changes and is constantly interesting to observe. Another reason I chose the weather is that I could use all of my senses; smell, sight, touch, hearing, and taste. The reason I said could is because you can't always taste the weather unless it rains or snows and you can't necessarily smell weather unless it's humid.

I live in Reno, Nevada, very close to the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. If you live in Nevada you know we live in a desert. Today I sat outside in my backyard and used most of my senses to observe the weather. I started to observe the weather at about six p.m. for about 5 minutes. In those five minutes I noticed that there was very little wind. The only way you can feel the wind is if you pause and just notice the wind merely brushing on your skin. As the wind lightly passed by I looked up at the sky and there was no sign of any clouds. Finally, I looked up the forecast for today and the temperature was 75 degrees, that's no surprise knowing fall has already started.