As I was thinking of what to write for this blog post, I encountered a massive bit of writer's block. How can I continually come up with quality posts, interesting topics, and useful tidbits on a regular basis? Post my essays that I write for school

This whole essay thing came into begin after I got some writing assignments for one of my classes. After I got the first one written, I noticed that it was more than just an essay. I wanted to share it with the world. After that, I just kind of started posting the rest pf my essays to this blog. so, in the space of a month, my blog turned from an infrequently updated, geeky, tech-oriented blog to an infrequently updated environmental/literature/thoughtfull thing.

Since I started posting essays, I have ben surprised how many visits I got from college towns. I know people are using my essays- I just have one thing to ask. Tell me what grade you got. I'm curious. Tell me what you got. I won't be embarrassed.

In our solar system, the Sun is the most important of all the celestial bodies. It provides heat, energy, matter, and almost everything else for us. The building blocks of the solar system were produced inside the sun and it's predecessors, and the active transfer of matter continues to add to the solar system. Somehow, it manages do do this with an extremely simple structure.

Starting with the center of the sun, there is a core of superheated hydrogen and other elements. This core is actively undergoing nuclear fusion, and the heat generated is upwards of 13,000,000 degrees kelvin. This heat warms the entire sun, and in turn, provides energy to the entire solar system.

Outside of the core, the immediate area of the sun is called the radiative zone. This part of the sun transmits heat directly by thermal radiation, and has no convection currents. Because of the relative stability of this region, there is a large area of disturbance when this section reaches the next layer, the convective zone.

The Convective Zone is where all of the sun's internal movements take place. This is the thickest layer of the sun, extending between the radiative zone all the way to the surface. Inside this very thick layer, the solar plasma is not dense enough to conduct heat by radiation alone, so large convection currents develop. These varied convection currents are responsible for the mottled appearance of the sun's surface, as it creates temperature differences in the next layer, the photosphere.

The photosphere is the layer of the sun that is considered the surface, and is one of the most dynamic areas of the sun. Sunspots move across the surface, their movements controlled by 11-year long magnetic cycles, solar flares eject millions of tons of plasma into space, and currents move across, disrupting the magnetic field. This layer is where all of the sun's energy is emitted into space, and is the brightest part of the solar system.

Just like a planet, the sun also has an atmosphere. Composed of two parts, the first layer is the most well known. Called the chromosphere, it can be seen as a colored flash during a total solar eclipse, with a special filter for a telescope, or various types of instruments. It contains superheated and ionized gas, and is actually hotter than the surface of the sun. Above that atmospheric layer is the corona, which by volume is actually larger than the sun. It extends from the chromosphere until it merges with solar wind that travels throughout the solar system. This area that is effected directly by the sun is called the heliosphere, and comprises most of the solar system.

The sun's composition is also relatively simple. The inside areas of the sun contain almost exclusively hydrogen and helium, but the radiative zone and outside of the core contains many heavier fusion by-products. This forms a small layer of heavy elements around the core, and they are distributed throughout the sun due to currents. The photosphere also contains heavy elements that are thought to be similar to the original composition of the solar system. Almost all elements in the universe besides hydrogen are created inside stars, and their supernovas distribute that matter around the universe.

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Why?

It's a very deep question. Parents answer it with "because I said so." Religion answers it with "because God made it that way." Scientists answer it with "I don't know. Lets find out." Philosophers answer it with "why not?" The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy answers it with "42." Which is the best way to answer it?

The world is a complex place, and cannot be completely explained by anyone. I ask a simple question: Why do we have to know? Is it somehow 'required' that people completely understand their universe? I take comfort in the fact that we don't know everything. There is no need to, no pressing reason that we must understand everything. It's just human nature pushing us forward.

I personally am happy that humans don't know everything. If we understood the universe, where would the interest be? There would be no discovery, no progress, no innovation. The world would be stuck in it's place in time, and people would just plod along, doing menial tasks and just trying to survive.

Discovery is one of the most important traits of the human race. It gives people something to do, makes them feel as part of something bigger than themselves, and provides something to work towards. This force is the reason people get up in the morning, work hard, and enjoy life. Where would people be without the thrill of discovery? Everyone has felt the feeling of truly learning something. Of exploring the world as a child, of working hard and completing a task, and coming up with a solution to a difficult problem. It is what makes life worth living and keeps people going.

Topic: How has the auto industry changed to go along with environmentalism?

Since 1994, the auto industry has come a long way. New technologies are constantly being put into use, and the entire concept of vehicles is radically different from what it used to be. Instead of being simple transportation devices, cars and other vehicles have focused on comfort and convenience. The interior of cars has become a place that can be utterly controlled, a small piece of the indoors filled with entertainment and other amenities.

In addition to the inside of the car, much of the mechanics of cars has changed. The invention of computers revolutionized the auto industry, and has made total control available at the push of a button. Cars have also shifted towards more fuel-efficient models, with smaller engines and reduced size.

Even with all of these changes, the auto industry is not doing enough to help eliminate the problem of air pollution. Very few companies have worked hard to come up with alternative fuels and engines. However, there has been significant effort made- engines burn fuel much cleaner than they used to. Other emissions control systems and yearly testing has helped to make cars much cleaner than they used to be. However, while fossil fuels continue to be used, air pollution will remain to be a problem.

I was just feeling a little nostalgic about pencils, so I decided to write a letter to the company telling them that.

To the makers of Ticonderoga Pencils:

I am a high school student, and I have been using Ticonderoga pencils for many years now. I must say, I thoroughly enjoy using them, as they are much better than all other competitors’ products.

When I was in first grade, one of the first pencils that really stands out in my mind was my trusty Ticonderoga Number 2 pencil. I remember using it until it was less than an inch long, and I was sad that I had to get a new one.

One attribute of your pencils that I really like is the ease of sharpening. So many other pencils break when being sharpened, and some even leave that annoying ‘fur’ around the tip. Ticonderoga pencils always sharpen beautifully, leaving the lead in a needle-sharp point perfect for all tasks.

The erasers on Ticonderoga pencils are perfect as well. So many other pencils leave annoying smudges when erasing is performed, but not the Ticonderoga. All erasings are perfect, and sometimes, it does not even look like anything is erased!

On standardized tests, your pencils are a cut above the rest when it comes to tip breakage. Many times, I have had the tip of my pencil break off when about to answer an important question. This is not so with the Ticonderoga, which I have never had a problem with.

As I stated before, I truly appreciate the care that you take when making your pencils. They have never failed me, and I hope that they will continue to make all of my educational experiences more positive. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
Anonymous

When scientists divided the earth's atmosphere into layers, they looked at the average temperature, gas composition, and air pressure. This allowed scientists to break up the atmosphere into six different layers: the exosphere, the thermosphere, the mesosphere, the stratosphere, and the troposphere.

Each of these atmospheric layers has different characteristics. Starting from the top, the exosphere starts about 480 km above the planet, and gradually fades off into outer space. this layer contains very little gas molecules, and constantly looses what little that it has to solar wind. The Thermosphere,starting at about 85-85 km from the earth's surface, gradually increases in temperature as the altitude gets higher. This section of the atmosphere also contains the ionosphere, which plays a key role in hf radio wave propagation.

Below the thermosphere lies the mesosphere. This layer begins at about 50 km from the surface and terminates at the menopause, the boundary between the mesosphere and the thermosphere. This is the coldest layer of the atmosphere, with some of the coldest temperatures near the earth occurring here. This layer is also where most meteors burn up.

Below the mesosphere, one of the most important layers of the atmosphere exists. The stratosphere contains the ozone layer, the narrow shield that protects the earth from much of the sun's radiation. The stratosphere begins at about 10km from the earth's surface, well within the reach of commercial airliners. Because the stratosphere contains very little humidity or air movement, this makes for the smoothest ride possible.

The lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, contains all of the earth's clouds and weather patterns. Because the troposphere is at the highest pressure of all the layers of the atmosphere, it contains about 80% of the atmosphere's mass. It is also a very turbulent layer, which is why large aircraft typically travel in the stratosphere. Almost all clouds formed in the atmosphere exist in this layer, except for a few high-altitude, rare cloud formations.

Many people don’t think that we should hurt our economy by trying to protect our watersheds, but they are mistaken. The reasoning behind this can be answered with a simple look at the facts. The earth is made up of almost 71% water. Out of that, only 3% of that is fresh water fit to drink. Most of the earth’s fresh water, 69%, is stored in the icecaps at the poles. 30% of the liquid fresh water on earth is below the ground, and 0.9% has been evaporated into water vapor. this means that only 0.3% of the earth’s fresh water is easily usable by humans, .008% of the world’s total water supply. When you have over 4 billion people constantly using this water, it becomes one of the most valuable and essential resources around. It is one of the most important things necessary for our survival, more important than food.

Due to human actions, one of the most important sources of this fresh water, rivers, is being rapidly destroyed to sustain or modern life. The problem quite literally stems from the source. Rivers are fed by massive areas of tributaries, swamps, springs, and runoff. This section of the land is called the watershed. Anything that gets into the watershed has the potential to cause damage to the main river. The watersheds of rivers can also be clogged by excess silt.

The river itself is not without dangers; pollution causes many rivers to become unfit for human use. Because of its ease of access, much of the world’s water supply comes from rivers. They are dammed to provide electricity and recreation, they are used for transportation, and they are also sucked into the municipal water systems of countless cities. Logging allows silt to be washed into the rivers, and dumping makes them too toxic for drinking. Unfortunately, this overuse and pollution has taken it’s toll, there is now not enough water to go around, especially in the populated places of the world.

In the United States, there are many environmental protection laws, including agricultural regulations, water consumption restrictions, and pollution ordinances. However, many people do not think that they are necessary, and are a strain on the economy. Yes, the implications of restricting water use could cause economic problems for the largest consumers of water, but that should be encouraging better technologies to be developed. The government needs to enforce many new restrictions on logging, on pollution, and water consumption. If the human race is desiring to survive, saving the little water that we have is our only option.

Fact source: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

Plate tectonics, the study of how the earth’s crust moves, is a very important branch of earth science. Plate tectonics comprises many theories about how the earth is being shaped, including continental drift, seafloor spreading, and mountain formation. Because of it’s power, continental drift is what causes both seafloor spreading and mountain formation. As the tectonic plates drift around, floating on the viscous mantle of the earth, they occasionally collide. Where they push together, one plate is shoved under the other. This causes large mountain ranges to form, as the top plate is pushed upwards. On the other side of the plate, a gap is formed between the two plates, which is then filled up with newly solidified rock. Many of these gaps are forming under the world’s oceans, which causes seafloor spreading. Because of the similar results of these related processes, they have been incorporated into the unified theories of plate tectonics.

Continental drift is the most powerful force on the planet, and this is evident when the features of the landscape are examined. If the crust on the earth was a single piece, the world would be very different and alien. Without the forces of continental drift, all landforms on earth would have long since succumbed to erosion, resulting in perfectly smooth land. The landscape would be flat and featureless, devoid of all mountains and hills. Instead of oceans, there would be many wide and shallow lakes, and the water table would be very close to the surface. There would not be many types of rocks on the earth’s surface, as there would be no volcanos or other crustal processes to redistribute minerals.

Due to the flatness of the land, the environment would be mainly composed of arid grasslands, with desert areas near the equator and tundra near the poles. Precipitation would be infrequent, as there would not be plentiful water on the surface to evaporate. It is possible on a world like this that life never evolved.

Without oceans to provide the necessary nutrients for life, animals may have never developed. The lack of shelter, water, and food would have rendered terrestrial life very difficult, and prohibit the evolution of intelligent life. It is reasonable to assume that in a world like this, humans would not have evolved at all, or may have taken a completely different evolutionary path.

Picture a different scenario: a world where the plates suddenly stopped moving. The processes that were previously forming new earth will stop, and erosion will begin to take it’s toll. Volcanoes will stop erupting, and will become sealed. Their craters may become filled with water, creating beautiful lakes and streams flowing down the sides of the mountains. Mountain ranges around the world would stop growing, and would be steadily rounded by wind ant water erosion. After eons of this gradual wearing away of the land, the oceans would become filled with silt and become very shallow.

If the human population lasted at an unchanged rate, these processes would become evident within a few thousand years. As low areas and oceans began to fill with silt, water transportation would start to become restricted. The lack of earthquakes and other tectonic processes would allow cities to be built in places that were to dangerous to be used before. As the earth gradually was worn down, humans would tighten their grip on the planet, using the fertile land of the filled oceans to grow necessary food. As our species has become self-sufficient enough to avoid being destroyed, humans would continue on. Life on this bleak, flat world would be difficult, but possible. The human spirit would persist, and cause humans to strive even more bravely towards the end of time.

The story of Lord of the Rings is put into the realm of the fantastic by many methods. All of the methods used come together to make this story fantastic. The Fellowship of the Ring is a quest, and a fantasy story at heart. The methods used are widely varied, including the species of characters, architecture, a fantasy world, and the scale of the story. None of these elements would make the story fantastic on their own, and they cause the store to become much richer and more dynamic.

One method used is the prevalence of fantastic elements. Fantastic elements are beings, items, or powers that do not exist in the real world, like wizards, dragons, and magic. Most fantasy stories contain at least one of these elements, as they are the first images that come to mind when readers imagine fantasy. In The Fellowship of the Ring, magic, including light and dark forces, is very prevalent. The Dark Lord Sauron is a force of pure evil- able to wield magic and control the elements. His allies are fantastic beasts, including Orcs and RingWraiths. The wizard Gandalf is a force of pure good, and without his help the story would be less fantastic.

Another method used in conjunction with the previous method is the medieval fantasy world of Middle-earth. The medieval time period is used very frequently in fantasy literature, mainly because it was a time that magic was still very real in the minds of the people. Many romanticize the middle ages, thinking that it was a simple time where anyone with a sword could make something of themselves, and everything is perfect. In many of those stories, they all end happily ever after or with a bittersweet ending. Without this medieval fantasy world, the fantastic elements of The Fellowship of the Ring would seem out of place. The Fellowship of the Ring is placed in a medieval world because of the culture and technology and living conditions. Much of the population of Middle-earth is peasant class, rural people. There are great kings, wise old men, grand castles, and unspoiled wilderness. Even with the proliferation of various cultures, the world has not succumbed to the grip of technology. Life is much simpler in a culture such as this, and the atmosphere is much more suited to a fantasy story because of this.

A quality of fantasy that is easily noticeable about The Fellowship of the Ring is the age of the story. This is truly an ancient tale, as is indicated by remnants of previous cultures, ancient religions, and ruins. Because of all of the ancient ruins, there is the feeling that the world of Middle-earth is much deeper than just the little glimpse provided by the book. Many of the places visited in The Fellowship of the Ring are remnants of ancient cultures, long since abandoned or repopulated with different races. The age of some of the characters helps to give the story a timeless quality, and makes the reader realize that the world is a very old place. The Elves, immortal beings that are very similar to the druids and celts, have very ancient rituals and cultures, showing how the spirit of good has been carried throughout the centuries.

Having many races of sentient beings places this story firmly in the realm of fantasy. In just the first book, there are Humans, Wizards, Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs, Ringwraiths, Orcs, Uruk-hai, and many others. The relations between these races seems commonplace, and they are not usually discriminated against. The inhabitants of Middle-earth are quite accustomed to many races, so they do not show surprise when seeing races that are not normal to the readers. Each race also adds a piece to the story, helping it to be complete. The Hobbits add the down-to-earth, rustic, and innocent elements of the story, the Elves add a grand and ancient culture, the dwarves add their power and greed, and the men add the desire power.

The Languages of Middle-earth help to show that it is a different world, with a different set of cultures and people. Elvish is a beautiful language that is used for pure good; it can only be spoken by those containing no evil. In contrast, The Black Tongue, Tengwar, can only be spoken as a curse. It’s very sound is deadly and corrupt, causing men to go insane and become murderous. These differences between languages that have no real world counterparts help to prove that Middle-earth is a fantasy world.

The architecture of Middle-earth is very different from that of the real world. The first few lines of The Hobbit help to prove this: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” Every race has it’s own type of architecture, all of them very different. As mentioned above, hobbits live in luxurious underground houses. This suits them very well, as they are very down-to-earth and rustic people. In contrast, the elves live in soaring, majestic houses, some on the edges of cliffs or up in trees. The dwarves, being naturally greedy and decadent people, have vast underground cities with many luxuries. Kings live in large castles, and evil beings live in massive, un-natural towers. All of these forms of housing are exactly what most readers would expect from a fantasy book.

Overall, there are many elements of The Fellowship of the Ring that help cement it fully into the genre of fantasy. The scale of the story, the architecture, the language, the fantastic beings, and the many races help with this task. The story is incredibly vivid and dynamic because of the constant interplay between all of these elements, and could not be the same without them.