Sunflower

The sunflower did sprout when I planted it two days after the class the seeds were handed out. The plant has steadily grown since and has not wilted significantly once(so far).

Here is the first picture taken on February 18. This is right after the plant had sprouted.

This was taken 2 days later on February 20th. The plant was 2.5 inches tall. From this point on the plant was constantly rotated to avoid bending too much to one side, since it grew towards the sunlight like all plants do.

Here is the most recent picture. a pin had to be placed in the soil so it would grow up rather than out. It is about a foot tall now and has survived spring break with out me.

Homemade barometer

This lab used household items to create a barometer. The homemade barometer consisted of the following materials: a balloon, a small glass bowl, a small piece of tape and a straw. The balloon was cut in half ant stretched over the top of the bowl. Then the straw is taped in the center of the balloon membrane. Periodically the height of the tip of the straw was measured and recorded with the affiliated pressure published by the weather channel.

The barometer was very simple to construct, even though stretching the balloon was rather annoying. The calibration process required the use of excel to calculate a trend line. This lab showed how easy it is to make a homemade barometer, and showed what steps were necessary to calibrate it. Plotting the data gave me with a better understanding of excel and how to properly format the tables and graphs. The additional exposure to excel should help me present technical findings in a more professional manner. 

Wind rose plots for Atlanta airport

Here are the airport's wind rose plots from 1992 for the four seasons. The plots show which way the wind is going, not where the winds are coming from. One of the major concerns in Macon is air pollution. While Macon produces pollution on its own, part of the pollution seen in our area is pushed down from Atlanta. As  you can clearly see in the spring wind rose plot, air movement can tend heavily south, which would move Atlanta's heavy air pollution into the Macon area. The wind rose plots vary drastically from season to season and show how the seasons influence weather patterns.

Sun Position and Seasonality

During the winter seasons, the sun resides in the southern portion of the sky for the entire day. This is due to Earth's tilt. So even at noon, the sun is not 90 degrees from the horizon. The highest number I recorded was at 1:00 pm, with an angle of 39 degrees from the horizon. Between the shortened daylight hours and lack of direct sunlight, the average temperature plummets for the months of winter. Eventually Earth will reorient itself with the sun to provide the northern hemisphere with some more spring and summer sunshine to warm back up our region.

Time	Horizontal angle	Vertical angle
9 am	325	15
11 am	310	32
1 pm	280	39
3 pm	250	30
4 pm	230	23

Willet Science Center Parking Lot and Rain Accumulation

When dealing with large surfaces that are impervious to water, it is important to consider the effects of a large rainstorm in a relatively short time. If the parking lot is not set up to drain properly or has lots of irregularities in the surface, there will be large pools of water. These reservoirs of water can range from being a slight nuisance on the way to your car to rendering a lot useless. Drainage systems are usually setup to avoid problems. I have seen water pouring out the entry roadway to the lot several times while heading to class on particularly rainy days. Wide but shallow puddles do develop in the middle, but none the hinder the function of the parking or or impede Mercerians from getting to their cars. Infrastructure must be set up that can handle the flow rate from the large surface. I am guessing that this lot can dump out several hundred gallons per minute when absolutely necessary.

First Blog: John Muir

So this is my first blog, and I am a junior mechanical engineering student... So this is a bit of stretch for me. But I can guarantee this will be much more enjoyable than a heat transfer homework assignment for as much as that is worth. So hopefully you like hearing an engineer try to blog.

Since I am starting my first environmental science class, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about the earliest person in the environmental movement on the list, John Muir. Credited with starting the United States national park program, John Muir was an incredibly influential figure in the late 1800's and early 1900's. He was born in Scotland and had a reputation for getting into trouble apparently. His family immigrated to America and he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a work experience that almost left him blinded, Muir headed out to nature to follow his passion that he discovered during his studies in college. 

John become quite the environmental advocate once he entered the field. He walked from Indiana to Florida and visited Cuba to explore nature. These are minor events compared to what happened after he headed out west. After seeing the beauty of Yosemite, Muir convinced a man of political influence to preserve the area as a national park to protect it permanently. He co-founded the Sierra club, which is still active in wildlife preservation today.  He opposed a major dam for years that was eventually built by San Francisco. From what I gathered from the web page I read about John Muir, he really got America to start thinking about trying to save some of the country's natural beauty. This would be a difficult task in the midst of a rapidly developing nation during or right after the industrial revolution. His passion allowed him to see what other people destroyed in order to achieve "progress". I am certain many viewed him as a crazy environmentalist who  was just standing in the way of things that needed to be done, but society needs people like this to hold onto natural beauty. Hopefully when I get angry with one of these people in the future for impeding my "progress" as an engineer, I can remember to come back to read this blog... Thank you John Muir.