My Favorite Lake: Plitvice Lakes

This is a set of natural features I would actually go to Croatia to see: the Plitvice Lakes!

They're a large set of lakes interconnected by waterfalls. It's in the center-western section of Croatia.

Lab 4: Ocmulgee Indian Mounds: Who were the Mound-Builders?

The Ocmulgee National Monument represents over 17,000 years of human habitation in the Macon area. Many different people lived, farmed, traded, and fought on these lands, all the while forming a great civilization as evidenced by the earthworks still around today. The Mississippians Culture is responsible for the cultivation of this land and the creation of one of the largest trade networks in the ancient world, but who were the Mississippians?

The Mississippian Culture originated in the Mississippi River valley, with their oldest discovered earthwork dated at around 3500 BCE. The people moved and spread, forming small villages and cities all around the Southeastern United States. They built large earthwork fortifications against enemies, as well as temples and earth lodges for spiritual and political affairs.

The cultural history of this place is vast, with inhabitants from  900-1150 BCE they left a large number of artifacts behind to tell their story. Arrowheads, work tools, jars and other pottery all have been discovered within the park and point to a long scale habitation. The Ocmulgee National Park has given us modern day people a glimpse into the past, at how people used to live and their beliefs and practices. By looking into the past we can attempt to find out more about what it means to be a human in the here and now, and the Ocmulgee National Monument makes a profound statement about the longevity of Humanity and how even with the most basic tools and practices can create sophisticated works of architecture.

Negative Feedback Loops: Matter and Anti-Matter

A negative feedback loop is when the output of a system acts to oppose the input of a system, forcing the system  back to it's original state. This is extremely important for the preservation of natural systems on Earth, such as the  Nitrogen Cycle or the Water Cycle.

Another, albeit much stranger, feedback loop doesn't occur on Earth at all. It occurs only in the deepest vacuum, when there are no other particles.

Virtual Particles are the manifestations of "vacuum energy" that is found in the space where the vacuum is. Because energy can turn into matter, via Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the vacuum energy turns into two opposing Virtual Particles: A piece of Matter and Anti-Matter. The two particles have a mass, exist in time, and once are created destroy each other and return to being energy.

This can be tested in a lab using a vacuum and two metal plates parallel to each other. When the vacuum is created, the vacuum energy begins to form into virtual particles. The visual effect is that the two metal plates will slightly bend away from each other as the force of the Virtual Particles coming into and leaving existence push the bars apart.

Virtual Particles are a great example of a negative feedback loop because it demonstrates a return to the original form that the system starts in. First we have a vacuum, followed by the creation of particles, the destruction of particles, and then a return to a pure vacuum state again.

These virtual particles are the same as described in Stephen Hawking's Black Hole Theory and the presence of "Hawking Radiation". Hawking described Black Holes as having a spout of particles coming out of it from both sides even though a Black Hole is supposed to absorb everything. What Hawking deducted was that these virtual particles were forming at the event horizon, or 'Point of No Return', of black holes. One of the particles formed would be sucked into the black hole, while the other would be shot away thanks to the myriad of forces surrounding a Black Hole. This is what he hypothesized was making the spout out of the Black Holes he was describing.

Although quantum physics doesn't always adhere to the normal Natural Laws that macro-organisms and other bodies have to obey, it is still an important part of nature and helps to drive many of the important mechanisms of Life and the Cosmos at large.

Ultisol: The Soil of the South.

There are 12 soil types around the world. Each type has a very special role to play in the ebb and flow of materials around the world. My favorite soil would have to be one that I interact with fairly regularly, that helps me to get most of my food intake, and that I've at least dug into once in my life. That soil would be Ultisol.

Ultisol is a soil type that covers most of the southern United States. It is an acidic forest soil with low amounts of Potassium, Carbon, and Magnesium. This soil type is usually indicative of old stable climates since it's been leeched of K, Ca, and Mg, and is usually found in tropical climates. It has a layer, or horizon, of clay that is very thick and of various colors between grey and red with the red being indicative of Iron oxides in the soil.This type of soil is good for forests, as the soil is rich. The soil isn't as good for sustained agriculture without fertilizers because of the nutrients being leeched from the soil, but this can be corrected with adequate fertilizer use. Georgia and China have many things in common in the natural world due to having similar latitudes, and can share certain plant species. Georgia and Southern China also share the Ultisol soil type, which is also prevalent in parts of Africa and South America.

Soil, Gardens, and the people who love them.

This past lab was an introduction into the world of soil science, and to do this we went to the Centenary United Methodist Church across the street from Mercer University.

With a few soil sampling tools, we headed to a small grassy field covered in red ants to dig some holes and take some soil samples. Using our soil consistency chart, we were able to determine the overall sand-clay-soil content, we dug down to the clay layer, and we took some core samples with a "Split Spoon Corer" of the field in order to better view the various layers. The field itself was of very rich soil with a thick clay deposit about a foot underneath. *I haven't been given pictures of that day from my classmates yet, so no fun pictures*

After we were done exploring and sampling the soil, we put it into a Sieve to learn about grain size in soil. A sieve is a tool used to separate different soil particules using mesh screens. The screens are numbered Dxx, where the xx is equal to the percentage of soil that will pass through the sieve. Unfortunately when we went to dig it had just rained, so a lot of the soil we attempted to sift through just clumped into little balls at the top and very little of it made it to the bottom tiers.

After our sieving we took a quick trip to the conveniently placed community garden nearby, where we talked about a few of the challanges facing community gardens. One of the major challanges is Lead, which is a common contaminant in the soil of urban areas. For this reason, the community garden had raised beds for their plants, effectively separating their plants from the lead contamination. Another round with the split spoon corer revealed an extremely thick soil that a few people had trouble getting all the way through. The difficulty was revealed after I was able to actually get the corer down in to the ground, as I brought up my core tool I realised we had a white layer that was thick and difficult to get through. Dr. Rood revealed it to be kaolin, an essential trade mineral here in Georgia thats used for a plethora of things. *More pictures of us with our core samples*

Overall this was a great foray into the world of soil sciences, and as always with Dr. Rood we made sure to get our hands dirty.

Lab 3: Shrubs and Such

For this lab we ventured out into the wilderness known as Mercer University Campus to learn about our leafy neighbors, the plants and trees. I'll detail some of the species we saw on our trek.

Yoshino Cherry Tree, Prunus Yeodoensis

This tree grows mainly in Japan, Washington D. C., and here in Macon. It's a flowering tree with beautiful red to white blossoms.

Sycamore Maple tree, Acer Pseudoplatanus

One of the many various Acer genus trees that are across Mercer. This tree has a characteristic leaf pattern and is common in Europe, Asia, and North America with about 129 species of the Acer genus around the world.

Oak, the genus Quercus (Quercus Robur shown in picture)

The oak genus is extremely expansive with about 600 species, many of which are in the Northern Hemisphere. It has various leaves although the picture above shows the average oak's leaf shape, and they drop acorns to propagate.

Chinese Chestnuts, Castanea mollissima

The chinese chestnut is, well, from china and was brought here to North America after the fungal disease chestnut blight killed almost all of the chestnut trees here in Macon. They drop their chestnuts inside of spiney skins and the nut isn't as desired as the American Chestnuts' due to the nuts not being as sweet.

Larch Pine, genus Larix

The Larix genus is a coniferous tree similar in shape to what westerners think of as a "Christmas Tree".

Ageratum, genus Ageratum

While beautiful, the genus Ageratum is considered to be an endemic weed in the East United States, and can be toxic in large quantities to farm animals. It hosts a flurry of different colors that can be cultivated and used as garden flowers or decorative flowers.

Elephant Ear, Angel's Wings, Heart of Jesus, etc : genus Araceae

This decorative plant has been used to spruce up gardens and fence lines since the 18th century. Its colors can vary from red to white to green and are very common.

Holly, genus Ilex

Hollys are of the genus Ilex and range from 400 to 600 species of plant. Many have barbed leaves and small berries that grow on them.


Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans

This innocuous plant is the bane of many a suburban mom's lives. Poison ivy delivers a toxin called urushiol that causes break-outs in other animals. This is a mechanism for protecting the plant against deer and other plant predators.

Hydrangea, genus Hydrangea

Hydrangeas are a genus of about 70 different species, from trees to shrubs to flowers to climbing vines. They have a myriad of colors and come in two main flower varieties. The one pictures is the lacecap flower style, while there is another called the mophead style where the flowers are poofy and bundled close together to resemble a common household mop.