Are Electric Cars the Future?

Anysha 

Automobile emissions are responsible for half of urban pollution and a quarter of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. In the early 1900’s electric cars out sold gasoline fueled cars. Then they slowly began to decline due to the fact that gasoline powered cars could drive faster. In the early 1980’s the electric car could only go 60 mph. Now in 2013 they are able to go 200mph. Electric cars are powered by battery only. When the car is charged fully you will be able to drive for 250 miles. It only cost $300 a year to maintain the battery of an electric car. However the cost of gasoline in a regular car is about 2,500 gas a year. Which is almost 10 times the cost of an electric car. Although the electric car has many positives it also has negatives. Since the car is emission free and runs on batteries, many people believe that batteries contain harmful substances that could enter into the ground water.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm

http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/sp/HZ1PE419.PDF

What are the specific ways to treat and purify water? Which is the best method?

Moira Laughlin

There are many ways to purify water, twenty-four ways to be exact. Which all fall under four categories, separation, chemicals, filtration, and oxidation. When performing separation methods it consists of separating the bacteria through heat, light, and gravity. The methods of separation are as follows, sedimentation, boiling water, distillation, and ultraviolet light. Chemicals can also be used to purify water but is not usually considered as the best method being that if used in the incorrect way the chemicals can be harmful. Some of the chemicals used to purify water are chlorine, bromine, and iodine just to name a few. Then you have the filtration methods which consist of paper or cloth, charcoal, reverse osmosis, as well as enzymes and bacteria, and many more. Last but not least there are oxidation methods which are aeration, ozone, and electronic purification and dissolved oxygen generation.
The best method all depends on what type of water you want to be purified. Drinking water is best filtered, while pool water is best purified with chemicals.

Citations:
Etrich, P. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.enviroalternatives.com/watermethods.html

Is there a place in the world that is considered to be the cleanest/ most environmentally friendly and most environmentally harmful/dangerous?

Renee Neltner

There are places on Earth that are considered to be the the cleanest and the dirtiest.

According to the World News, "The air quality at Cape Grim in Tasmania is officially the best on the planet". They also talk about how the filthiest place to live is in China i a town called Linfen.

This picture shows the difference between Cape Grim (on the left) and Linfen (on the right).

Linfen was named last year by the World Bank as having the worst quality air on Earth."In contrast, Cape Grim, at the north-western tip of Tasmania, lays claim to both the cleanest air and water in the planet, largely due to the Roaring Forties, the winds that sweep in over the Southern Ocean. It is home to the Australian government's baseline air pollution station, whose unique "Air Library" collects samples as a "pure air" yardstick for scientists worldwide".

Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jul/09/australia.china

Are Americans getting better or worse about using alternative forms of transportation in contrast to driving?

I wasn't able to find a clear answer to this question. I found a website that showed a map of the United States that had markers where cities were and you could click on it to see the statistics of peoples forms of transportation.  In cities in the North East and California, people used more alternative forms of transportation rather than driving.  In cities in Kentucky, driving was a primary source for transportation.  This is probably because their public transportation system is a lot better and the cities are a lot bigger.  Cities in Florida also rely on mainly driving for their form of transportation.  The website where this map can be viewed is governing.com

Kathleen Kimmell
 http://www.governing.com/gov-data/transportation-infrastructure/alternate-modes-of-transportation-to-work-map.html.

How Can Teens Develop A More Healthy Relationship With Their Parents?

Parents – if they want to maintain a healthy relationship with their teens – must rethink their personal values, question their own authority and even reexamine their own unresolved childhood issues with new intensity. Parents should take time each day to see their teen as an amazing and precious human being. Accept and appreciate the beauty of what is, even when it is not always pretty. Parents should treat their child as if this were their last day on earth. Parents should respect themselves and the child. They should provide appropriate boundaries and limits, and allow for natural and logical consequences. Parents need to set their child up for success and not failure. They should definitely plan ahead for the success of their child. While maintaining their role as the parent, they should treat the teen the way that they would want to be treated. They should be honest, rational and proactive. All of their parenting should seek to build self-esteem. Parents shouldn't be judgmental towards their child. They should faith in positive outcomes for them. Parents should allow teens to take safe risks and make their own mistakes. Because if not then the child won't learn anything from their mistakes. Parent's also shouldn't over-involve themselves in their teen's life. Although they raised their teen, the teen is not theirs. Teens have their own paths to follow.

Source:http://family.go.com/parenting/pkg-teen/article-774171-develop-a-positive-relationship-with-your-teen-t/

Angel Morrisey

What is a method to purify ocean water so it can safely be consumed?

Luke Newman

            As we discussed in class, only a very small proportion of the water on the Earth is drinkable water.  Most of it is either sea/ocean water or non-consumable fresh water.  So, what’s one way we can convert our most abundant water source (the ocean) into a pure, consumable type of water?  Researchers at MIT have found a way to use graphene, which is a one-atom thick sheet of carbon, to efficiently (and possibly cheaply) desalinate ocean water.  When water molecules mixed with sodium and chloride ions (salt water) encounter the graphene sheet that is perforated with very small holes, the water molecules are able to pass through, while the ions are filtered out.  Researchers say this technique works hundreds of times faster than currently employed techniques.  The most important part of the process is getting the perforations to be the perfect size.  The ideal size is one nanometer.  If the holes are 0.7 nanometers, even the water won’t be able to pass through.

Chandler, David. "A New Approach to Water Desalination." MIT's News Office. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/graphene-water-desalination-0702.html>.

Is it possible to overdose on Psychoactive Mushrooms?

It is not possible to overdose physically on Psychoactive Mushrooms. However, it is possible to have panic attacks or acute psychological collapses triggered by particularly high doses. This is more likely in users with a personal or family history of mental illness.

Eating unidentified or misidentified mushrooms can result in poisoning and even death.

Also psychooactive mushroom are not considered to be addictive physically or psychologically