Aug 24, 2012
In class today we did the following:
1. Dr H reviewed some points from Topic #1 and Topic #2
which we covered on Monday & Wednesday . . . then
gave a presentation on
Topic #3 Quantifying Global Change.
Topic #3 On Quantifying Global Change: Scales, Rates & Time Series [ PDF]
2. As part of the presentation we watched a You Tube video from the 350.ORG website: http://www.350.org/mission
3. We also watched part of the classic POWERS
OF 10 VIDEO.
See the entire film here:
http://www.powersof10.com/film
Also visit the
Powers
of 10 website - is a companion to the classic video by Charles & Ray
Eames - has a blog
See additional Powers of 10 links on the GC 170A Webpage under GLOBAL CHANGE LINKS.
4. Lastly we began a class activity on Plotting Change over Time, Recognizing &
Describing Different Types of Change as Depicted in Time Series Plots (on
page 15-16 of CLASS NOTES).
We started by drawing in the
"mean line" for each type of plot -- finish it up on
your own and we'll wrap it up in class on Wed.
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P.S. SCIENTIFIC NOTATION REVIEW: Students were urged to
"brush up" on the scientific notation rules on the bottom of p
14 of
CLASS NOTES.
SGC-E-text Chapter 2 on Atoms also has a review and some practice questions.
Here are some more questions to brush up on your Scientific Notation (see bottom of p 14 in Class Notes and the chapter on Atoms in the SGC E-test for review)
REVIEW
Scientific Notation: (Brief review of the rules for those who need a "brush up")
Any large (or small) number can be expressed as the product of two terms.
A number with a value between 1 and 10 (the prefactor) that gives the precision or accuracy of the original number.
A power of 10 (i.e. an exponent, the exponent is the “power”
To multiply numbers in scientific notation, multiply the prefactors and add the exponents (e.g. the powers of 10)
To divide numbers in scientific notation, divide the prefactors and subtract the exponent of the number in
the denominator from the exponent of the number in the numerator
Examples:
10 4 = 10 x 10 x 10 x 102, 578,000 = 2.578 x 10 6
0.000002578 = 2.578 x 10 –6
(2.5 x 10 6 ) x (3 x 10 -4
) = 7.5 x 102PRACTICE QUESTIONS
#1 (7.5 x 10 5) / (2.5 x 10 2 ) = 3.0 x 10 <=== what is the exponent?#2 The wavelength of ultraviolet radiation is 10 -7 meters = _____________ m
#3 The population of the world is ~ 6,000,000,000 people = _____________people
#4 The ratio of the diameter of the Earth (use “whole globe” on the Powers of Ten chart) to the diameter of a carbon atom (use “outer electron shell of C atom” in chart) is: ____________
Click HERE for the answers
ALSO:
Be sure you've filled out and turned in your short
background form. You will be administratively dropped from the course if I
don't get your form in soon.
See previous Class Follow Up links for access
to the background form.
IF YOU MISSED CLASS TODAY:
Review the presentation for Topic #3 that you missed (by clicking on the presentation link above) & view the 350.org video (linked above) and the entire Powers of 10 Video (also linked above).