The Detrimental Effects of Water Pollution

Water is one of the most abundant and necessary substances on earth. It is necessary for all life forms, and thus plays a key role in our world. Water not only covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, but also makes up 50-75% of the human body. What’s important to us is freshwater—the water that is safe for us to drink. Freshwater provides water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, transport, electricity generation and recreation. We cannot live without freshwater. Freshwater makes up only 2% of all water on Earth, and majority of that—say 98.8% of that water—is unattainable. This means that the majority of the water that we need to thrive and survive is stowed away in ice, groundwater, or deep within the Earth. While access to safe drinking water has greatly improved world-wide over the last decade, there is still approximately one-seventh of the entire world that still relies on unsafe drinking water. In addition to that, over 2.5 billion people still lack effective sanitation tactics, meaning they get their drinking water from wells or public tap. This is a serious problem. Dirty water is the world’s largest health risk, and threatens the quality of life and public health. When it rains or snows the water runs off roofs and roads into our rivers. During this run-off time, it picks up toxic chemicals, dirt, trash and disease-carrying organisms along the way. This makes unsafe drinking water which can result in symptoms ranging from unpleasant to sometimes fatal. Thus, a major contributor to unsafe drinking water—often by human accounts—is pollution. But, DON’T FRET! There are several things you can do to help prevent water contamination.

• AWARENESS! Educate people, do beach clean-ups, fight against factories that pollute our waters, and get familiar with the law (Clean Water Act; Safe Drinking Water Act) and enforce it!
• Don’t litter! Look for ways to recycle and correctly throw out waste.
• Use water with care. Don’t keep water running when not in use. Reduce consumption when cleaning and bathing. Buy environment friendly cleaning supplies.
• Never throw medicine or chemicals down the drain!
• Drive less and Use less plastic

It is now your job to do your part as a global citizen. Try to figure out which ways you can help. Remember: “Water is life. It’s vital. It supports the immense diversity of life on Earth. It’s a source of food, health and energy. Fresh water makes civilization possible.​ But fresh water, in turn, isn’t possible without a healthy planet — and human actions are putting a healthy planet at risk.” -Conservation International

BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION NOT POLLUTION.

WORKS CITED

Perlman, Howard. “The Water in You.” Water Properties: (Water Science for Schools). USGS, 27 July 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

“Conservation International.” Conservation International. Conservation International, 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

“Water.” Pollution Facts, Effects of Pollution, Clean Act. Natural Resources Defense Council, 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

Images:

http://www.eoearth.org/topics/view/51cbfc84f702fc2ba812bc31/

http://waterliberty.com/news/2014/10/20-water-pollution-facts-for-the-u-s-and-throughout-the-world/

 

Water is one of the most abundant and necessary substances on earth. It is necessary for all life forms, and thus plays a key role in our world. Water not only covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, but also makes up 50-75% of the human body. What’s important to us is freshwater—the water that is safe for us to drink. Freshwater provides water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, transport, electricity generation and recreation. We cannot live without freshwater. Freshwater makes up only 2% of all water on Earth, and majority of that—say 98.8% of that water—is unattainable. This means that the majority of the water that we need to thrive and survive is stowed away in ice, groundwater, or deep within the Earth. While access to safe drinking water has greatly improved world-wide over the last decade, there is still approximately one-seventh of the entire world that still relies on unsafe drinking water. In addition to that, over 2.5 billion people still lack effective sanitation tactics, meaning they get their drinking water from wells or public tap. This is a serious problem. Dirty water is the world’s largest health risk, and threatens the quality of life and public health. When it rains or snows the water runs off roofs and roads into our rivers. During this run-off time, it picks up toxic chemicals, dirt, trash and disease-carrying organisms along the way. This makes unsafe drinking water which can result in symptoms ranging from unpleasant to sometimes fatal. Thus, a major contributor to unsafe drinking water—often by human accounts—is pollution. But, DON’T FRET! There are several things you can do to help prevent water contamination.

• AWARENESS! Educate people, do beach clean-ups, fight against factories that pollute our waters, and get familiar with the law (Clean Water Act; Safe Drinking Water Act) and enforce it!
• Don’t litter! Look for ways to recycle and correctly throw out waste.
• Use water with care. Don’t keep water running when not in use. Reduce consumption when cleaning and bathing. Buy environment friendly cleaning supplies.
• Never throw medicine or chemicals down the drain!
• Drive less and Use less plastic

It is now your job to do your part as a global citizen. Try to figure out which ways you can help. Remember: “Water is life. It’s vital. It supports the immense diversity of life on Earth. It’s a source of food, health and energy. Fresh water makes civilization possible.​ But fresh water, in turn, isn’t possible without a healthy planet — and human actions are putting a healthy planet at risk.”

WORKS CITED

Perlman, Howard. “The Water in You.” Water Properties: (Water Science for Schools). USGS, 27 July 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

“Conservation International.” Conservation International. Conservation International, 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

“Water.” Pollution Facts, Effects of Pollution, Clean Act. Natural Resources Defense Council, 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

 

Chapters 20 and 21

In chapter 20, Sacks allows us to see his first encounter with and understanding of cathode rays. He expresses how his Uncle would show him how to create these and he even gets personal admitting that he was a little afraid of them. Then his Uncle tells him about the enticing discovery of X-rays which a scientist named Wilhelm Roentgen discovered by experimenting. We also see a continuation of Sacks and his uncle’s bond. He tells Sacks about Becquerel’s ‘uranium rays’ and even encourages Sacks to test it out himself. Of course Sacks does and he even goes to say that “Becquerel’s discovery of uranium rays was virtually ignored.”

In chapter 21, we see Sacks and his mother bond through Marie Curie. He discusses their discovery of Polonium which wasn’t quite a new element, but lead Marie Curie to the discovery of the element Radium which she spent much time trying to prove it to be separate from Barium. She found that it was actually very radioactive, more than Barium, and it took a place on the periodic table.  At the end of chapter, Sacks allows us to explore his thoughts as he makes sense of all that he’d learned.

 

Questions:

1. Do you feel that Becquerel’s discovery went unnoticed? Why or why not?
2. Are there any other scientists that you feel have gone unnoticed?
3. Marie Curie displayed the epitome of determination and passion. Do you think you could do what she did to prove her hypothesis?

Uncle Tungsten Chapters 4-5

Discussion Blog:

The next few chapters of the novel we are post WWII, and we are introduced to Uncle Tungsten—also known as Uncle Dave. Oliver spend majority of his time after WWII keeping up with Uncle Dave mainly because it’s one of the main things that hadn’t changed since. Uncle Tungsten teaches Oliver about Tungsten and his obsession with it, ultimately intriguing Oliver in the same instance. Oliver learns that tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal, it is tougher than steel, and it keeps its strength at high temperatures-an ideal metal. His evident interest in this leads to Uncle Tungsten sharing his love for metals as well as the many discoveries his hero, Scheele, made. In the later chapter, Uncle Tungsten dives deep into the topic of light and how it transformed from candle to light bulb. He expressed exceptional interest in Thomas Edison and Tantalum in this chapter, but remains loyal to his love for Tungsten when he reveals it works better in lightbulbs. In the end, we are left with Oliver and his undeniable love and excitement for chemistry, as well as a desired for create a lighting system.

Discussion Questions:
1. Uncle Tungsten was named for his love of Tungsten. If you could be named after an element what would it be and why?

2. Please describe the person who’s been your ‘Uncle Tungsten’.

3. In the end of chapter 5 we see Oliver in a dark cupboard setting up a lighting system. Tell us about the first time you explored on your own with science.