Pineapple Under The Sea: October 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

Leaf Litter Decomposition

Leaf litter decomposition is when leaves that fall from trees in forest is broken down by insects and bacteria to put nutrients back into the soil. The top layer of the litter is comprised of freshly fallen leaves. These leaves may still contain their orange, yellow, or red pigmentation. As you look under the top layer of leaves you will see a whole assortment of crumbled up bits of leaves. These leaves have almost no pigmentation and all appear to be brown. Below this level is where it becomes hard to distinguish between the individual leaf particles. Here its almost completely soil. Finally after digging slightly more deeply you get to soil that is high in nutrients for the growth of other plants.

Here you can kind of see some of the different layers. On top you can see more colorful leaves and underneath you can the finer browner leaves. If you could see under that layer you would see even finer leaves. After that you will be at soil level.

Negative Feedback Loops

Negative feedback loops can have many different steps in the loops but they all follow the same principle: Problem > Solution > Reaction to Solution > Problem. Negative feedback loops can happen in the economy

Negative feedback loops can also be made for biological and physical aspects of the human body. Here is one for human sleeping patterns.

All in all they are made to show how systems will correct problems that arise in the system. It also shows that without some outside source or some guidance the system will keep going in the same cycle over and over until the system no longer exists.

Sunflower

After drowning my first sunflower i got a new one and put about a third of the water and it actually started to grow.

Even though my room doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight my plant actually started to grow. In addition to putting in less water I also started watering it about once every three days.

Here the flower starts to grow leaves. If you look beside my thumb you can actually see one of the drowned sunflower seeds. On it(if you can see it) there is mold that is growing it could be potentially dangerous to the new plant but that is yet to be determined.

Here the stem of the plant is starting to get long to the point that i need to find something to hold up the plant or it will bend and die.

This is the latest picture the leaves of the plant are starting to get bigger and the stem is getting longer. Here you can really see the moldy seed just under the plant.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Blood Sugar Graph

After eating, any pure glucose that was present in your food will be absorbed into your bloodstream within fifteen minutes. Other carbohydrates will require digestion. Those that digest quickly(the so-called "high glycemic carbs" like white flour or sugar) typically take between a half hour and an hour to enter your bloodstream. Slower acting carbohydrates like whole grains or pasta may take an hour to two or even, in the case of some hard-wheat pastas, three hours to release their glucose into your blood. As the concentration of glucose in your body starts to rise, it stimulates the beta-cells in your pancreas called beta-cells to produce a large burst of a hormone called insulin. Insulin's function is to activate receptors on your body's cells which enable these cells to remove the circulating glucose molecules from your bloodstream and either burn them for fuel or store them for future use. This process is what is shown in the graph above except just with “high glycemic carbs”.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Twelve Types of Soil

Pineapple Under The Sea