How to Make Bio-Diesel at Home

Biodiesel is a clean burning fuel that can be made at home from renewable resources. Biodiesel can be made from cooking oil. You will need four things to make biodiesel: waste vegetable oil, methanol, household lye, and water. Your first step should be to find a source of waste vegetable oil. The ingredients in biodiesel are dangerous, so be sure to educate yourself on the hazards. Methanol is flammable and does not have visible flames when it burns. Lye is dangerous to your skin. When the two are combined together its vapors are dangerous to breathe. Always have a fire extinguisher and a water hose at the ready. So, when making your biodiesel always use extreme caution. 

Kits are sold that allow you to make the biodiesel. You can use a water-heater type mixing tank or a polyethylene funnel-bottomed mixing tank. The methanol and lye will start in the smaller tank and transfer to the larger tank containing the cooking oil. The mixing takes about one hour and the chemical process take about 24 hours. In order to determine how much lye is needed for the chemical process, titration must be done on the cooking oil. PH tests are sold that allow the titration process of cooking oil to take place. The water is added to the mixture after the chemical process has taken place. Water removes any waste products in the mixture. This is just a general overview of how biodiesel is made. If you click here you can watch a video of biodiesel being made. 

 

Soil Types

   12 Soil Types of the World

1. Gelisols: soils with permafrost within 2 m of the surface.

2. Histosols: organic soils

3. Spodosols: acid forest soils with a subsurface accumulation of metal-humus complexes

4. Andisols: soils formed in volcanic ash

5. Oxisols: intensely weathered soils of tropical and subtropical environments

6. Vertisols: clayey soils with high shrink/swell capacity

7. Aridisols: CaCO3- containing soils of arid   environments with subsurface horizon development.

8. Ultisols: strongly leached soils with a subsurface zone of clay accumulation and <35%base

9. Mollisols: grassland soils with high base status

10. Alfisols: moderately leached soils with a subsurface zone of clay accumulation.

11. Inceptisols: soils with weakly developed subsurface horizons.

12. Entisols: soils with little or no morphological development.

 Follow this link to read more detailed summaries of each soil type: 

http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm

Types of Soil in Georgia

            Georgia soil types include clay, sand, loam, and silt. These are the main soil types, but there are combinations of these with additives. The additives can include, but are not limited to salt, rock and other sediments. If you are wanting to determine your exact soil type a sample should be taken to your local extension service. Click here to learn how to do at home soil identifications. 

Micaceous Schist

            Micaceous Schist is a metamorphic rock composed of 50% tabular and elongated minerals. The crystals in this rock are larger than slates, but smaller than gneisses. They come in green, gray, dark brown, and silver. 

Urban Community Gardens

Urban community gardens are becoming more popular in the United States. Community gardens can help provide healthy and affordable food for low-income families. Not only do the low-income families have access to food, but they also have the opportunity to lead healthier lifestyles. Some of the gardens can provide jobs, volunteer opportunities for students in the community, and the opportunity to reconnect communities.

            Community gardens can be created anywhere, allowing vacant land to be put to good use. The gardens are a great way to help underprivileged people of the community. It is an activity that everyone can help with. People of the community will need to upkeep the garden, plant the seeds, water the plants, and distribute the food.

            The concept of community gardens is not new, it is a fad that is returning. During WWII, millions of people planted “victory gardens” to help with the food shortage that the war placed on the food industry. Americans planted these gardens everywhere- empty lots, backyards, and rooftops. The movement for community gardens started up again when Michelle Obama planted a garden at the White House. You can read more about the victory gardens and the increase in popularity at this website.

Tree Identification Across Campus

Mercer University is home to a variety of different trees and shrubs. Macon's mild climate allows many different types of tree to thrive. As a class, we toured campus identifying different trees and shrubs. It was not until we started the tour that I realized how many different types of trees Mercer had. By the end of the lab, the whole class was exhausted from all the writing and photographs we had to take. However, I enjoyed learning another unique thing about Mercer and now I can impress my friends by identifying different types of trees while walking around campus.

In front of MEP, there are many different trees. One of the most unique is the Weeping Mulberry. The Weeping Mulberry is easy to spot, because the leaves and branches grow downward. The branches grow up and out, bending towards the ground eventually creating shade. Weeping Mulberries should not be planted near homes or sidewalks, because the roots can lift and cause the concrete to crack and damage the property. These trees can be found in North America and Asia. This type of tree is food for silk worms. The Weeping Mulberry can be found in several places at Mercer. It is outside of MEP, Plunkett, and outside some of the building on the Quad.

Outside of MEP there is also a large Southern Magnolia Tree (Magnolia Grandiflora). The Southern Magnolia can be identified by its large evergreen leaves and large white flowers. This type of tree can only be found in the Southeastern United States (Virginia- Central Florida-Oklahoma). During the spring and summer, the flowers from the tree release a pleasant odor, resembling lemons. Just like the Weeping Mulberry, Mercer has many Souther Magnolia trees. They can be found outside of Penfield and MEP.

Crepe Myrtles are common to see on Mercer's campus. Crepe Myrtles have been nicknamed the lilac of the south. These trees can grow from 10-30 feet tall. During the summer, they bloom flowers that can be red, lavender, white, or pink. Crepe Myrtles are drought tolerant, which makes them ideal for Georgia weather. They need to be planted somewhere with full sunlight and good air circulation. In addition, the flowers on the tree collect pollen during the spring months, often times preventing flowers from blooming.

River Lab at the Ocmulgee

This week for Environmental Science, we ventured off campus to the Ocmulgee River. At the river, we measured the flow rate, elevation patterns, and also attempted to go noodling. The Ocmulgee Heritage Trail (where we completed the lab) is the largest riverside trail and park system in Middle Georgia. The Ocmulgee Trail is important, because it allows the community of Macon to come together and enjoy the fresh air. The trail is a friendly atmosphere where people can walk their pets, bring their children, and just enjoy the river. Learn more about Macon and the Ocmulgee River Heritage Trail by following the hyperlink. Below is a picture of the Ocmulgee Greenway and where my class completed our lab.

Nova: Mystery of the Megaflood

     Last week during lab time we watched the PBS documentary on the Megaflood. The Megaflood took place during the last ice age in Washington state. Scientists consider this 'Megaflood' to be one of the most perplexing geologic mysteries. In the Scablands there are large granite boulders that are not native to the area and large pot holes.

     One of the first predictions on the cause of the strange topography of the scablands was gradual river erosion. Scientists asked the question: How could a river create these features? The only river close enough to the Scablands is the Columbia River. However, no river can form pot holes or carry large boulders. There was also no proof that the Columbia River ran through the Scablands. 

     The next theory to come along was ice and glaciers. Scientists believed that the only force that could have placed the boulder in the area was ice. Ice would have carved through rock to build mountains. Glaciers would have worked over 1,000 years to create the strange land formations. The theory of ice was improving, but there was no proof that glaciers actually reached the Scablands. 

     The final theory to come along took a long time to prove and be accepted by scientists. A man named Jay Harlen Bertz researched and came to believe that the Scablands were not a result of gradual erosion, but rather a significant event that happened overnight. Bertz believed that a massive flood created the Scablands. At first, Bertz's theory was shut down and turned away. One of the main questions scientists asked were where did the water come from? Bertz had the research and answer to their question.

     Bertz had evidence that water had been in the Scablands at one point. The rippling action of water is present in the ground proving that water had been in the area. The ripples range from 20-40 feet. The water that came into the area was from Missuola (250 miles east of the Scablands). A glacier created a lake by damming the river. Scientists refer to the lake as 'Glacier Lake Missoula.' River water built up behind the dam. Eventually the weight of the water was too much to bear for the glacier and it exploded. The 'Megaflood' carved valleys and canyons in the Scablands. Glacier pieces went flying with the pressure, carrying boulders and randomly dropped them in the Scablands. Underwater tornados created the massive pot holes. The water from behind the dam would have been traveling 60 miles per hour towards the Scablands. It would only have taken a few hours to reach the Scablands. 

     Today, scientists believe that there may have been more than one giant flood. The KT Boundary has multiple layers that hold evidence of a flood, an ash layer (Mt. St. Helen's would have erupted at about the same as the Megaflood), and another flood. There is a 20,000 year difference between the first and third layer of floods. The Megaflood is something that will always intrigue the field of science. The fact is that the truth probably lays in between many theories.
Below are pictures of the Scablands today:

My Adventures with Google Earth

     This week i created contour lines on Google Earth for my Environmental Science class. Google Earth intrigues me every time i open the application. Before i began creating contour lines, i looked at my family's houses in Gwinnett and in Panama City Beach. I really enjoyed playing around, i probably could have spent hours looking at places around the earth, but i needed to get to work.
     I choose Stone Mountain to do my contour lines. As a kid, i used to love Stone Mountain. Just like with my houses, it was really neat to see the satellite image of Stone Mountain. It is amazing how you can zoom in and see the small details of the mountain. Since Stone Mountain is not as tall as other mountains, my increments of contour lines were smaller. My increments were 1,000, 1,100, 1,200, 1,300 and 1,400 feet. The most difficult part of this exercise was getting all my lines to be exactly the height it needed to be. I ended creating a decent set of contour lines (as you can see below).