I read the article about the devastating tornado in Joplin, Mo. The main point of this article, I feel, were to inform people about just how much of an impact tornados can make. Just in one town 30 people were killed. This tornado had brought on the worst damage so far in this string of tornados, which have been occurring all spring. A meterologist said from a scale of 1-10 it was a 8-9. Tornados are very powerful forces of nature and people should be taking precautions, especially this time of year in the midwest.

I think that it’s really scary that there’s almost nothing you can do but wait it out and hope for the best. Especially if it’s surrounded by rain than you can’t tell how bad it really is. I have sympathy for people who were killed, injured, or lost everything to this tornado.

1.) List a few of the gases which lead to acid rain.
Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which are produced when fuels burn.



2.) What is the source of much of the acid rain producing gases in Pennsylvania?
The source of most sulfur dioxide is high-sulfur coal burned in power plants.


30 percent of the nitrogen oxides comes from power production. Automobiles generate another 30 percent, and  an additional 25 to 30 percent is caused agriculturally.



3.) Briefly explain how acid rain forms
Acid rain forms when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere combine with water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid. With these acids that are mixed with rainwater, fall to Earth as acid rain, snow or fog and can acidify lakes and streams in the Northeast. 

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The natural factors causing mudslides in Guatemala is that there are frequent earthquakes, hurricanes and heavy rain that makes the mountain terrain muddy. Some factors caused by humans are deforestation. What they're now realizing is that planting trees can reduce the amount of mudslides. "Pine trees have long, anchoring tap roots that can extend 6 meters below the soil. When they are planted in slopes above residential areas, Hallum explained, heavy rains are unlikely to loosen their grip on the soil."

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This graph represents the temperature over the time spand of 110 years. The vertical axis is the temperature in celsius and the horizontal axis is the years from 1880 to 1990.

 

Forest soils form in temperate regions that receive enough rain to support the heavy growth of trees. Rainfall is important for the grassland soils because it needs a wet and warm environment so it breaks down rock and turns into soil. Both kinds of soil it's important to have large amounts of rainfall in order to produce the classification of soil. It just works differently to the way it is used to create soil.

Avalanche- a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, due to natural triggers or human causes typically occurring on mountains. 

There are a few parties at fault for the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. When news broke out in April 2010 that the semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig exploded and around 60,000 barrels of oil was flowing into the Gulf of Mexico a day, people automatically pointed fingers at BP. Maybe the crew wasn’t as trained as we thought, maybe the boat didn’t get checked twice before put to use. Did anyone ever consider it could be our governments fault for this catastrophe? Indeed the Obama administration allowed the British oil company to drill out in our ocean and now they’re forcing BP to spend $7 million a day trying to clean up the mess. Let’s not forget why they’re drilling in the first place. The demand on oil is high considering 95% of the the United States alone uses it every day to get around. So instead of blaming BP for the oil spill try taking a look at yourself and your own government.