Jason S -- Blogmeister

Lately, there has been a lot of news about Japan. Unfortunately, it's not about their robots or their creative gadgets. It's about two natural disasters that led to over 10,000 deaths, started many fires, placed cars on rooves, and is leading people into thinking that the nuclear reactors in Japan will explode right on the spot. It's none other than the.... TSUNAMI!

But first, what is a tsunami? It's unique name comes from two words : tsu (harbor) and nami (wave) which are loosely translated to "wave in the harbor".

A common misconception of the tsunami is that it's a tidal wave, but the tsunami is not even related to the tidal wave. The key ingredient for a tsunami to occur is a VIOLENT change in the Earth, for example, the earthquake that happened in Japan. That tsunami was the result of a underwater earthquake in a subduction zone (continental plates). The cause of the earthquake was the slipping and sliding of continental plates and oceananic plates.

When the earthquake occurs, an event occurs underwater. Part of the ocean floor suddenly flies up while the other stays down. A huge bulge of water (wave) suddenly pops up. Gravity acts quickly to even out the water. But what created the wave?

Seismic energy is the main ingredient in the creation the wave and it never,ever goes away. Even when the ocean is calm, huge wavelengths of S.E. are blasting through it at less than or equal to 970 kph. Because of this, tsunami waves are way deep into the ocean compared to surface waves since they carry tons of energy.

Finally, the tsunami waves reach land. They get much slower and the waves get shorter. Now the wave forms, equipped with tons of energy. When all of the water is unleashed on land, annihilation follows. Since the earthquake in Japan was more than a Richter scale reading of 7.5, the result was a massive wave. Not only that, but smaller earthquakes can make tsunamis that destroy a lot as well.

See the Brainpop movie about Tsunamis :http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/tsunami/

Which of the following are affected by the Coriolis Effect?

1. Tornadoes

2. Water in a pan

3. Baseball games

4. Cyclonic systems

5. Weather systems

6. Planes

7. Missles

8. Wind

9. Ocean currents

Identify the clouds below. Good Luck!

RIght about now, we are faced with a huge dilemma. Scientists are arguing whether or not global warming is on the rise and what the fate of the world is. Luckily, we can always look on the "bright side" (hint) and come up with some alternate energy sources to substitude for limited sorces (i.e. coal, oil, etc).

Solar energy (a.k.a energy that comes from the sun) is only one form of energy that scientists are tinkering with. Besides making tea for Bob the Lab Rat at Brainpop (http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/formsofenergy/experiment/) without a stove or getting water in the middle of the Sahara (http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/solarenergy/fyi/), scientists are thinking of harnessing it to make electricity-enough electricity to power cities!

It is a renewable energy source, which means that it is not only natural but also ongoing. Scientists don't only intend to use it to make electricity, but they also use it in thermal collectors (warming houses) and using sunlight's force to convert it to motion. However for the scientists who use it to make electricity, they use photovoltaic (solar) cells, which are used in those solar powered calculators in order to turn it into electricity.

Unfortuanatley, solar energy has its drawbacks. The photovoltaic cell that you were probably hoping to install right away, is only 15 to 20 percent efficient ( it powers only one calculator). For a home, you'd need to cover the whole roof in panels. Another setback is the weather. Since the sun isn't always shining, you'd have to store up energy, which is expensive (six times more than buying electricity from the power company). However, that doesn't mean solar power isn't cool. New technology such as concentrating solar power plants are on the rise and are in places with sunny climates. Hopefully, people will create a more perfect type of way of solar energy so that we don't have to switch back to candles for light.

It has been long awaited....It was the challenge of the century!.....It's no other than the answers to the photo challenge!

1. Sun

2. Uranus

3. Exoplanet

4. Jupiter

5. Saturn

6. Venus

7. Mercury

8. Mars

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.....(drumroll)

9. Earth

Congradulations to those who won and especially to those who participated! GREAT JOB!

HELLO

my name is

ROY G. BIV

Greetings bloggers! I am Roy G. Biv and I will introduce you to a couple of my friends, EMily and Ray D. Ayshun.All my friends may just intensify your mind but once you get to know them all, I guarantee it'll be easier to understand their meaning of exsistence. Here are a couple of mnemonics to remember their whole names.

1. Green Xylophoneloving Umbrellas Ride Orange Yodeling Grumpy Buses In Vigourous

a r l e r e r l n i

m a t d a l e u d o

m y r n l e e i l

a s a g o n g e

R v e w o t

a i

y o

s l

(Mnemonic #1 continued below.

Midnight Runs

i a

c d

r i

o o

w w

a a

v v

e e

s s

Here is another mnemonic (This one describes EMily and Ray D. Ayshun when they're in the enviornment)

2. R (is for) R A T S

e e b r c

f f s a a

r l o n t

a e r s t

c c b m e

t t e i r

i i d t e

o o t d

n n e

That's all for now.... with Roy G. Biv!

When: December 21, 1:00 AM. Where: East Coast of America. How: Moon is "covered" in Earth's shadow. Why: The Sun, Moon, and Earth are perfectly alligned What: Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice...ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Thanks to a couple of good friends (Mr. Ullrich and Bernadette H.), I was able to take a couple of photos of the lunar eclipse that occured on the winter solstice. Even if most people were having our siestas, some of us were bundled up and snapping pictures of the rare event. In fact, a lunar eclipse on the East Coast is so rare, that the pilgrims coming to America saw one! Lunar eclipses are so rare in places like New York or Long Island, but all the people in faraway places like India or South Africa get to see one practically every year. In fact, there will be a lunar eclipse on January 2011 seen by the Eastern Hemisphere. This eclipse was seen by parts of Europe and Asia and most of America. Here are some pictures of the eclipse that I took. I hope you like it!

You must have Powerpoint 2007 to watch and hear.

Here is my website that I put it on.

www.earthsciencerocks.com

So I was on my blog one day and I was hunting down something related to science. So I've found it. It's right here on my blog right now. It's not any article but it's a parody of a song you might know.

Click here to hear SOULJA SCIENCE (parody)

http://www.youtube.com/v/lOJJEjKClJQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00

It might take a while for the song to come, so just be patient