Earth is the
third planet from the Sun.
It is the only planet known to support life,
although some of the other planets have atmospheres and contain water.
Earth is habitable because it sustains life of millions of living species
including human. Earth’s only known natural satellite, Moon, provides ocean
tides. Meanwhile, photosynthesis harvested Sun’s energy that resulted in
accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere and formed a layer of ozone. Earth
provides resources such as water, plants, animals and minerals that are
exploitable for useful purposes. Human depends on these resources for food,
wood, shelter, pharmaceuticals, oxygen and others. The land ecosystem
depends upon topsoil and fresh water while oceanic ecosystem depends upon
dissolved nutrients washed down from the land. We could probably use up our
natural resources in a very short time. Not only do all living things depend
on these resources, but each living thing in the food chain depends on the
other to survive. That is why it is important that we take care of our
planet and everything in it.
Generally,
4 spheres are inter-connected. Their names derived from the Greek words for
stone (litho), air (atmo), water (hydro), and life (bio).
Read more...
Lithosphere - The lithosphere
is the solid, rocky crust covering entire planet.
Atmosphere - The atmosphere is
the body of air which surrounds our planet.
Hydrosphere - The hydrosphere
is composed of all of the water on or near the earth.
Biosphere - The biosphere is
composed of all living organisms.
The
biosphere is all about life. It is a term to describe our living world. This
is where all of the trees, bugs, and animals live. The biosphere extends to
the upper areas of the atmosphere where birds and insects can be found. It
also reaches deep into the ground at a dark cave or to the bottom of the
ocean. The biosphere extends to any place that life (of any kind) can exist
on Earth.
The biosphere is where all of
the other spheres of the planet work together. The land interacts with the
water (hydrosphere). The land interacts with the air (atmosphere and
climates). The land even interacts with forces deep inside the Earth and the
energy coming to the Earth from space. All of those forces work together to
create our living world.
Energy on Earth
1. Tide -
Tides are the rising and falling of
Earth's
ocean surface caused by the
tidal forces of the
Moon and the
Sun acting on the oceans.
Over several hours the water rises or
advances up a beach
The water reaches its highest level and
stops at high water. Due to tidal currents cease, this is also known
as slack water
or slack tide. The tide reverse and is said to be turning.
The sea level recede or falls over
several hours during the ebb tide.
The level stops falling at low water. This
point is also described as slack or turning.
Spring tide
Neap tide
Question 1:
How tides influence our living?
2. Current
Surface
current – blown by wind, the surface water moves heading where the
wind blow, thus create current
Tidal current
– when tide rises or falls, sea water move from 1 area to another
area, causing tidal current. The direction of the current is
predictable.
Ocean current
– caused by different seawater density which resulting in the water
sinking (colder, denser water) or floating (warmer, less dense water)
action, that forms current
Rip current –
When water flow from broader area to narrower area, the current is
strongest because of the accumulated force
Down / up tow
current – When water (surface or different water density) flow from
lower to higher level, or vise versa, it will create the current.
Question 1: How you encounter any
current phenomena while snorkeling?
Question 2: How to get out when
caught in the current? Or hide from current?
3. Wind - Wind is the
flow of
air. Simply it occurs as air is heated by the sun and thus rises.
Cool air then rushes in to occupy the area from which the hot air has
now moved. Forces which drive wind or affect it are the
pressure gradient force, the
Coriolis force,
buoyancy forces, and
friction forces. When a difference in
pressure exists between two adjacent air masses, the air tends to
flow from the region of
high pressure to the region of
low pressure.
Question 1: Have you
see any usage of wind around you?
4. Wave - When wind
blow across the surface of the water, it causes friction on the surface
of the water, causing the water to form into swells. As the swell enters
shallow water, the compression of the swell forces the water to rise up
until it reaches a point where the top throws over as a breaking wave.
Strong Ocean current may create wave too. When Ocean current accumulated
it force over long distance flowing towards a direction (especially
upwelling current), it forms swell that is big enough to create wave by
reaching shallower area.
Question 1:
When you traveling with boat from jetty or
around the island, why are certain areas calmer than other?
Question 2: How to seek protection
when encounter with big wave?
5. Heat - Heat is
energy transferred from one body or
system to another due to a difference in
temperature. Heat tends to move from a high-temperature region to a
low-temperature region. This heat transfer may occur by the mechanisms
of
conduction and
radiation. Heat transfer 20x faster in water than air. 90% of human
body heat lost through head and joins (such as spine cord). Heat that
trapped in Carbon particles (carbon released by burning fuel, etc)
causes green house effect that contributes to natural disaster.
Question 1: How to prevent losing
too much heat underwater?
6. Fuel (Bio-) - Fuel is any
material that is burnt or altered in order to obtain energy. All
carbon-based life forms—from
microorganisms to
animals and
humans—depend on and use fuels as their source of energy. All
currently-known fuels ultimately derive their energy from a small number
of sources. Much of the chemical energy produced by life forms, such as
fossil fuels, is derived from the utilization of solar energy
through
photosynthesis.
Question 1: How long can we sustain
on existing fuel stock in our Biosphere?
Question 2: How to effectively use
and minimize waste of fuel?
Question 3: What to replace fuel on
providing energy to us?
What sort of
other energy do you observe around you?
Carbon - the biosphere
What is carbon? The pencil we use is made of carbon. The air in the
atmosphere contains carbon. All living things are made up of carbon. And
that means you and me.
Where to find carbon? Look at the list below.
1. lithosphere - fossil fuels, limestone, dolomite and chalk
2. atmosphere - carbon dioxide
3. hydrosphere - dissolved carbon dioxide, shell and marine organisms
4. biospshere - all living and dead organisms (not yet converted into
soil organic matter)
How much carbon? The amount is fix. It is constantly recycled and reused
in different forms.
Take a look at this interactive animation to get an idea of
carbon recycling.
You are invited to come to Bubbles Resort and find the carbon on the
island.
A walk through Coral Reef - Rainforest
What can you find and learn
from Perhentian Island? If you are walking along forest trail,
snorkeling in front of the resort, or walking during low tide, make
yourself busy by spotting and observing the things around you. But be
careful and do not touch them!
Sand star
Carpet anemone
Sea cucumber
Colourful sponges
Seahorse
Flatworm
Question 1: Do you think you will be seeing the same thing in
Perhentian Island or would you be able to discover more?
New World and Old World
The Old World consists of
those parts of
Earth
known to
Europeans,
Asians, and
Africans
in the 15th century before the voyages of
Christopher Columbus; it includes
Europe,
Asia, and
Africa
(collectively known as
Afro-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands. The term is in distinction
from the
New
World, meaning
the Americas and
Australasia. Although the interiors of Asia and Africa were not well
known to Europeans at the time, their existence was known.
Oceania
and
Antarctica are neither definitively Old World nor New World, since
the terms "Old World" and "New World" predate their discovery by
Europeans. Meanwhile, New World is one of the names used for the
non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the
Americas. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the
Americas were new to the
Europeans,
who previously thought of the
world as
consisting only of Europe,
Asia, and
Africa
(collectively, the
Old
World). The term "New World" should not be confused with "modern
world"; the latter generally refers to a historical period, not a
landmass.
Before the end of the Palaeozoic,
the supercontinent Pangea once existed as a huge landmass, that embraced America,
Africa, Asia and Europe. Now watch the following video to find out how
the landmass evolved.
