taskU3.html

Your task for this unit is to explore how energy travels through the Earth System. You will learn some physics laws that describe the behavior of energy, and sort out what happens to all the energy that arrives on Earth (as much as scientists know). Your own investigation will lead you to hypothesize about how much of the Sun's energy actually gets through the atmosphere to the ground, measure it in your school yard, and compare your measurements with the other SOAR-High schools.

The Task is your overall goal for the Unit. A series of Activities will help you accomplish the Task.
The Rubric's Cube symbol suggests the task provides a challenge for you to deepen your understanding of science.

Ancient sun, eternally young,
giver of life and source of energy,
      In coal and oil, in plant and wind and tide,
      in spiritual light and human embrace,
You kindle the heavens, you shine within us
(for we are suns with hearts afire -
    we light the world as you light the sky
    and find clouds within whose shadows are dark),
We give thanks for your rays,
    and the clouds your rays draw up.

- Congregation of Abraxas

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument,
Arizona USA

Sunset Crater appeared at the end of the year
1064 when molten rocks sprayed out of a
crack in the ground high into the air, solidified,
then fell to earth either as large bombs or
smaller cinders. Periodic eruptions continued
over the next 200 years smothering 800
square miles of northern Arizona with ash. The
bright red and yellow oxidized particles of the
final burst of activity around 1250 fell back onto
the rim of the crater creating a permanent
'sunset'.

Volcanos supply a tiny fraction of the Earth's
energy. Our most important source of energy
the Sun.

yab@yannarthusbertrand.com
www.yannarthusbertrand.com
Used with permission