Mother Nature’s Abundance

Let’s take a walk down the aisles of the fresh produce section of a supermarket. There are fruits; such as apples, oranges, watermelons, mangoes, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, papayas, - vegetables; such as spinach, mustard, convolvulus, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, - mushrooms; such as shiitake, button, oyster, Portobello, - bulbs and tubers; such as carrots, horseradish, potatoes, onions, turnip, tapioca, ginger, galangal, - and nuts, grains and seeds such as; rice, barley, wheat, green peas, soybeans, dhal, cashew nuts, almonds, chickpeas, lentils. They come in a variety of shapes, textures, sizes, and colors!

These types of fresh produce are enough to feed the mouths of the seven billion people on planet Earth today. And what do they have in common? They need soil to grow.

The soil is found on the upper most layer of the Earth. The soil consists of a mixture of weathered rock, finely ground into powder, minerals, and a variety of living and dead life forms. This nutrient rich layer typically only extends downward a few feet, about as deep as plant roots extend.

Soil contains all the nutrients needed by plants to survive. Some areas, such as deserts, have very poor soils; in these locations, it is difficult for complex plant life to take hold. An important part of soil is the part that is alive. Many different bacteria, algae, and fungi do important jobs that make life possible. Without these basic life forms performing these important roles, more complex life forms could not survive.

And earthworms are a farmer’s best friend because they make soil healthier by fertilizing and aerating it. Only 3% of the Earth’s landmass is available for growing food; therefore soil needs to be conserved to continue to support life.

Experiment: 

To learn about the small fraction of the planet available for growing food

Materials: 

an apple and a knife.

Steps:

1. Cut an apple in half lengthwise, then half again.

2. Take one of the four 1/4th of a piece and cut it in half lengthwise so that you have 1/8th.
3. Next, slice the 1/8th lengthwise into
four equal parts to give you four 1/32 sections of apple.

4. Take one of the 1/32 section and peel the skin.
5. This skin represents all the soil on the planet where food can be grown.

Glossary of Terms:
Fertilize [fur-tl-ahyz] to make productive; enrich.
Nutrient [noo-tree-uh nt] nourishing; providing nourishment or nutrient.

Shared by Surain A. Victor

Guest Blogger

Stopping Light

As long as the sun shines, it’s always there following you around to wherever you go. You can see it, but you can’t touch it. What is it?

We have shadows because light moves in a certain way. It travels outward from its source, like the sun or torch light. As long as nothing is in the way, the light waves move in one direction at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second. 

That is like traveling around the world seven times in one second! Nothing travels faster than light waves. But when some of the light waves hit something – you, or a tree – they are stopped. Then, on the other side of the thing that stopped the light waves, there is a dark space – a shadow. 

Things in a dark room have no shadows because there are no light waves traveling through the room. And on cloudy days, things have no shadows because the clouds break up the light waves from the sun. The clouds soak up some of the waves and scatter the rest of them in all directions. When the light waves scatter and bounce instead of moving in one direction, no shadows are formed. 

You can see things in your room at night because of the light from the bulb. Try being in a thick jungle in the middle of the night, and you’ll realize the importance of light for our sense of sight. That is why some species of fish very deep down in the ocean do not have eyes because the sunlight doesn’t reach those depths.

Experiment: Make a shadow clock 

Materials: 
paper plate, spool, pencil

Steps:
1.    Glue the spool to the center of the paper plate.
2.    Place a pencil in the hole of the spool, with the point up.
3.    Place the paper under the sun early in the morning.
4.    Draw a line down the shadow the pencil makes on the paper plate.
5.    Write the hour next to the line you traced.
6.    Repeat steps 4 and 5 after every hour until the sun goes down.

Shared by Surain A. Victor

Guest Blogger