Understanding Solar Energy

Posted November 15th, 2011.

Solar energy is regarded to be the ultimate when it comes to renewable energy. In turn, renewable energy is a kind of energy that comes from a resource that can naturally replenish itself. But while the term solar energy may seem self-explanatory, it’s actually not as simple as it sounds.

For instance, many think that this kind of energy is the heat coming from the Sun. However, Earth doesn’t really receive heat from the Sun; or, at least, not directly. What the planet gets is solar radiation-exactly 174 petawatts of it (a petawatt is four levels above the kilowatt). Why people perceive this energy as heat is because the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere, the oceans, and basically every object in the planet absorb this solar radiation. Absorbing this radiation causes their temperature to rise, hence the heat.

It is this radiation that is converted into solar power, the energy used as a substitute to electricity and non-renewable resources.

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How to Study for a Comprehensive Final Exam

Posted November 10th, 2011.

One of the great difficulties between high school and college is the prevalence of comprehensive final exams. In high school, most courses test primarily on the material that has been covered since the previous test. In college, suddenly students are expected to know material that has been covered since day 1. By the time that the final exam rolls around, this could mean material that was covered almost six months earlier. For students where learning new information often seems to force out old information to make room (just kidding), the comprehensive final often serves as a bit of a culture shock. Luckily, there are some tips that can be followed in order to best assure that students can make this adjustment and excel in their collegiate careers.

* Proper Note Taking: It sounds cliché, but there really is no substitute for good note taking in college. This means more than just taking a lot of notes. Anybody who knows shorthand can write down everything that the professor states, but that does not mean that they will have a good list of notes to work off of. In fact, this would lead to information overload and the student would never be able to filter out the important information that they need to focus on. A great way to ensure that notes are organized in a manner of importance is to take them in outline format. Outlines allow the student to organize their notes into grouped topics. The important matters of the class discussions are shifted farther to the left in the notes while the details are located more to the right.

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Becoming a Forensic Chemist

Posted November 5th, 2011.

Getting an education is important for just about anyone and any job that you may apply for. If you are applying for any jobs that have to do with chemistry, most of them will require that you have at least a bachelors degree in that field. Lately it has become easier than ever to get your degree online, making it possible for more and more to get a college education.

One job that may interest you is forensic chemist. Forensic chemistry is the application of the analysis of different chemicals and elements from crime scenes to help solve the crime. You will need to have knowledge of several different disciplines; chemistry, biology, genetics, and how to analyze evidence found at the scene of the crime, victim or even suspect. This is a very important job within the forensic field. Without a forensic chemist, it would be difficult to do dirt analysis, investigations that in involve poison, and many other analyses for crime solving.

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