Earth Science

Rocks form in three main ways. These processes result in three kinds of rocks, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are born in fire, or at least in great heat. Sedimentary rocks are built up from sediment. Metamorphic rocks have…
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The solar wind is a phenomenon that occurs in space. The wind originates on the surface of the Sun when energy escapes the corona and is blown through space to the Earth’s atmosphere. The particles are strongly charged from the…
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“What difference will it make if a few people turn off the water when brushing their teeth?” you say. “How could that save the planet and affect the availability of drinking water throughout the world?” Well, if everyone had that…
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Environmental forensics is mainly about chemistry. Chemists combine the study of chemistry and environmental issues in an analytic process. Environmental forensics is mainly about the courtroom, where one side or the other is arguing a legal, criminal or civil litigation point…
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Simple human psychology dictates that people do not cope well with bad news.  Since the death of planet earth is the worse possible news anyone could ever hear, there will be those with sufficient defense mechanisms, to deny it.  Defense mechanisms…
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The German ship Meteor accomplished a three-year mission of measuring the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Their assumption was that the level of the ocean was uniform, and so depth measured only one thing-how deep the ocean…
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The bright form of lighting used in stadiums, road ways and in some luxury cars must have caught your eye. If you are curious enough to go near them, you might have noticed that they also emit low heat and…
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An air mass is a large body of air with a generally uniform temperature and moisture level.  Such a mass can extend over 100 miles or more horizontally and have a height of between 9,000 and 16,000 kilometers (5600 –…
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While the thought of forest fires is anathema to many, especially environmentalists, the fact is that in forested areas, fires are a natural part of the environment.  Forest fires are neither innately destructive nor beneficial; it depends largely on where…
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There are three major temperature scales: Celsius, Kelvin, and Fahrenheit. It’s easy to convert between them. All you need is a few simple tricks. Celsius and Kelvin degrees measure exactly the same temperature difference. The scales are different only because…
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