Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Water abstraction
Water abstraction, or water extraction, is the procedure of taking water from any source, either temporarily or permanently. Most water is used for irrigation or treatment to produce drinking water. Depending on the environmental legislation in the relevant country, controls may be located on abstraction to limit the amount of water that can be removed. Over abstraction can lead to rivers drying up or the level of groundwater aquifers reducing inappropriately. The science of hydrogeology is used to assess safe abstraction levels.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Vanilla orchid
The main type harvested for vanillin is Vanilla planifolia. Even though it is native to Mexico, it is now extensively grown throughout the tropics. Madagascar is the world's largest producer, Additional sources include Vanilla pompona and Vanilla tahitiensis (grown in Tahiti), though the vanillin satisfied of these species is much less than Vanilla planifolia.
Vanilla grows as a vine, mountaineering up an existing tree, pole, or other support. It can be full-fledged in a wood (on trees), in a plantation (on trees or poles), or in a "shader", in increasing orders of productivity. Left alone, it will produce as high as possible on the support, with few flowers. Every year, growers fold the senior parts of the plant downwards so that the plant stays at heights accessible by a standing human. This also very much stimulate flowering.
Vanilla grows as a vine, mountaineering up an existing tree, pole, or other support. It can be full-fledged in a wood (on trees), in a plantation (on trees or poles), or in a "shader", in increasing orders of productivity. Left alone, it will produce as high as possible on the support, with few flowers. Every year, growers fold the senior parts of the plant downwards so that the plant stays at heights accessible by a standing human. This also very much stimulate flowering.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Troposphere
From the Greek word "τρέπω" importance to turn or mix. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere; it starts at the surface and extends to between 7 km (23,000 ft) at the poles and 17 km (60,000 ft) at the equator, with some distinction due to weather factors. The troposphere has a enormous deal of vertical mixing due to solar heating at the surface. This heating warms air masses, which makes them less intense so they rise. When an air mass raises the force upon it decreases so it expands, doing work against the contrasting pressure of the surrounding air. To do work is to use energy, so the temperature of the air mass decreases. As the temperature decreases, water vapor in the air mass may concentrate or solidify, releasing latent heat that further uplifts the air mass. This process determines the maximum rate of refuse of temperature with height, called the adiabatic lapse rate.
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