Reflection:
This week I learned a lot, I learned about natural landscapes in California, California history, and how to make hydrogen. I also developed another photo with the silver emulsion. I really liked learning about the Salton Sea. It really got me more interested in the water crisis of California. Humanities: Salton Sea: What Happened: In the early 1900s a bunch of water from the california river flooded an empty lake bed and it became the salton sea. People thought it was going to just dry up right away. It didn't because of all of the farmers water flowing back into it. With that water came pesticides. The pesticides filled the bottom of the salton sea with toxic chemicals. As Southern California grew the amount of water going into the Salton Sea depleted. Because of the Parker Dam which limits the water that flows to the salton sea and instead gives water to cities like Los Angeles and San Diego When the wind blew the toxic chemicals from the bottom of the Salton sea got in the air. Did we need to do it: We do not need the Parker Dam. The cities it supplies with water should have never grown to the size they are today. San Diego is basically a desert next to the ocean. All the green grass comes from the water we are supplied from the Parker Dam. Without the Parker Dam we would have a little less water but the Salton Sea would not have the problems it has today. The water would flow into the Salton Sea and proceed to flow into the Sea of Cortez. What is the water rights impact: Due to there being no outflow the Salton Sea is getting a higher and higher amount of Salinity. Which means that a lot of fish are dying because the salt levels are too high in the water. What is the environmental impact: Since there is not an outflow in the Salton Sea it is getting lower and lower. Fish are dying and people are dying. The pesticides that the farms use are flowing into the salton sea and as the Salton Sea lowers and the harsh winds blow those chemicals are being blown into the air and going into the people's lungs. Hetch Hetchy: Should we have dammed the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy? At that time San Francisco was in peril the great earthquake hit and absolutely destroyed the city that shouldn't have even been there in the first place. They were in a hurry to rebuild and I think they didn't do a good job looking for a water source. They could have found another site down river or at another spot in central California. Was California meant to support this many people? I think it was made to support this many people however the places where all the people are like San Francisco should not be there. San Francisco was essentially built on top of a rock. You can tell this by all of the hills in the city and how small packed it is. If the people were to disperse into the central valley there would definitely be enough space for them. Are our landscapes worth saving? Why? Our landscapes need to be saved or else we would all be dead. If you've ever read the Lorax you would know why this is very important. Our landscapes are what makes our world beautiful. I'm not saying we should not get rid of everything but we should learn to give back as much as we take from the land. How should water be managed in California? By taking people out of California we use less water. Which means more water for everyone. Chemistry: Hydrogen Lab By Pablo Robin I walked into Andrew's class and I noticed some new tools on the table. There was a flask on the table that had a long skinny neck and a fat circular bottom. The circular part was filled with water. I also saw a piece of thin metal. That metal ended up being magnesium the whole time. I then saw a bag of citric acid on Andrew's desk that was not there before. He came around pouring the citric acid into everyone's flask. He also gave us an uninflated balloon. Andrew gave us directions to mix the citric acid in the water and make it dissolve. After we did that we put the magnesium in the flask. Very quickly it started to bubble. It was creating hydrogen. I put a balloon on top of the flask and it started to fill with the hydrogen. I took off the filled balloon and tied it. I looked around the room and everybody else's balloon was floating and their balloons were more filled than mine. My balloon kept falling, I cut off the end of the balloon which is the heaviest part. Sure enough it floated, I had to hold onto it so it didn't float away. Andrew said turn off the lights, the lights went off and Andrew lit a candle. He grabbed the a balloon and attached it to a stick. He put the balloon on the fire and BOOM. The balloon exploded. Everybody took out their phones to video it. I was able to get it on video so now I can inspect it frame by frame.
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AuthorPablo Robin Archives
May 2017
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