The Great Descent

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Rocky Mountain High Adventure Base, July 9, 2013

“Okaaayyyyy—how big is this cliff again?” I stuttered as I peered down the abyss, at the rocks, the river, the tall grass, the rolling fields, the forest, and a field of cow pies.

“160 feet,” came the reply.

“Oh great,” I thought. “And it isn’t some tower or anything like that. It’s a bumpy cliff with loose rocks and God knows what else.” “I should’ve done that tower when I had the chance at Lost Pines.” If you didn’t know, there was a 50 foot tower at Lost Pines where you could rappel or climb. Unfortunately, I never did.

“Okay,” I muttered to myself. “Everyone else says it was really scary at first, but super fun at the end. It should be the same for me!” Well, the sheer size of this cliff and the view from up there completely dispelled that notion.

After a bunch of talking, some small practice runs, and some words of encouragement, I decided to remove that restraining thingy and start the great descent. I slowly lowered myself and went down the cliff. “This isn’t so bad. It feels kind of relaxing actually.”

Then I set my foot, unknowingly, on some uneven and loose section. Soon, I was dangling on there like a cloth fluttering in the wind.

“Fantastic. Marvelous. Wonderful!” I sarcastically thought at myself as I tried to comprehend the situation. “Excellent. I never thought that I’d be in THIS situation.” “Will they have to call in the National Guard? I hope not. Is there a one way ticket out of this mess?”

Suddenly, I recalled the instructor telling all of us on putting your feet on the surface of the cliff and lowering your main body down, just like you should. “That just might work,” I realized. I struggled a bit to find a good spot to settle my feet down, and after I did that, I tentatively started moving the rope to lower my body down. And bam, I was back to normal and moving again.

I decided to go slowly, and took some time to gaze at the scenery. “This is…..breathtaking. It’s so beautiful. The rolling plains, the forest, the stream shimmering in the sun, the puffy white clouds that look like the cotton balls in my first aid kit soaring above my head- it’s nature at its finest.”

I continued descending, taking occasional peeks at the world around me. 75% of the way there I heard a voice: “Hey, Kev- look here and smile!” I swiveled my head around to find myself staring at one of my friend’s dads, holding a camera pointed towards me. I broke into an immense smile, gave a thumbs up, and barely heard the distinct “Click!” that defines a camera.

“That’s definitely going on my wall.”

After much patience, I finally reached the end, where it was just empty space-all I had to do was slowly lower myself down. Once I had successfully accomplished that and my foot made contact with solid ground, there was only one thing I was thinking:Success!

As I headed towards to where we were staying, a bunch of thoughts were swarming my head, like ants when they sight something sweet. “I’ve done what I thought was impossible for me- I went down 160 feet and survived.“ I finally reached our staying spot, and all my friends swarmed me, congratulating me for my achievement. “What took you so long?” one said affectionately. From that point forward, that day has remained one of the greatest ever in my life.

Exhausted by the whole ordeal, I decided to take a little nap, while some of my friends went to the nearby fields and started messing around. Before I closed my eyes for a little bit, I made out one sentence from one of them:

“Oh poo, I stepped in a cow pie!”

 

 

 

 

Twenty Minutes In Heaven

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“Today, we’ll be going up in some aircrafts for twenty minutes. You can go up in both the airplane and the helicopter if you want to,” the flight instructor/troop member/ good friend of mine said.

Awesome, I thought. Not many people get their first moments piloting an aircraft at my age.

Just in front of where I was facing were two aircrafts: a Cessna 172 and some Bell helicopter built in 1956. I wanted to complete my Aviation Merit Badge for Boy Scouts, and one of the requirements was going up in an aircraft. I had a head start over the other Scouts because I went to a special place to do some of the requirements for certain merit badges(though that’s a different story). Here, I could finish the job.

Finally, after waiting patiently for a long time, I was called up to fly in the Cessna, along with two other Scouts. A total of three scouts went up into the plane, one responsible for takeoff, the other does airwork(which was me), and one responsible for landing. Once we clambered into the cabin of the aircraft, we put in some earplugs, while the instructor relayed instructions to the Scout at the controls. Soon, we were ready.

The plane’s engine sputtered and roared like a lion, and I was thankful for the earplugs. It started taxiing to the runway, and soon, we were going to spend twenty minutes in heaven.

As we were going over flight checks, I spotted a sailplane swiftly soaring to its landing zone. Its carrier aircraft followed suit. Afterwards, our plane arrived at the runway, and our twenty minutes started now.

WHOOSH! The Cessna started rapidly picking up speed. The scenery around us started passing by quickly, and my stomach suddenly dropped. I saw the hangars, runway, the trees, the sailplane crew waving at us, and everything else shrinking as we were gaining altitude. Soon, they looked like little ants, and the forest around the airport looked like a patch of tiny bushes. Our instructor gave the Scout at the controls some commands and instructions, and we were soaring over the landscape.

“Kevin, you’re up next.” If there’s anything I dislike, it’s having to switch seats in such a cramped space. I figured out a solution though, and soon I was in the seat, at the controls. Our flight instructor told me about the horizon line, the gauges, and how to control the aircraft. I found out firsthand that this was an extremely stable aircraft- it could almost fly itself, no autopilot! I pushed the rudder pedals and rotated the yoke around, and I was doing slight turns and sharp banks. There was plenty of turbulence trying to hamper me, but the feeling of being control and the excellent view of the ground canceled that out.

At least now, I know what pilots feel when they control an aircraft and fly it over the landscape. What do they feel? I can say that they most likely felt a crushing sense of complete air superiority over the land, even if they aren’t flying fighters. Your fancy cars are nothing compared to the plane I’m flying. I can go to places you can’t. I was really disappointed when my shift ended and were going to land to the surface where we belonged.

Now I have finally fulfilled my dream of being able to fly an aircraft, even if the flight time was only six minutes long. Not many people can say they got their first five minutes of flight time when they were still in middle school.

And yes, I did get that merit badge.

Cessna 172

Photo Credit: David Smith via Compfight

 

I Am From..

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I am from Washington State

Where it snows by the foot

Where there is a risk of major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but we still live on

And where I have spent many childhood years living and playing

I am from my home

A nice, cozy, and one-story house made of white stone blocks

From spending holidays dozing in my green bed

To wasting free hours  playing random computer games

Or diving into the water in my pool, blue and cool

I am from school

From where I first set foot in Forest Trail

And West Ridge

From doing hours of mind-numbing and math homework and interesting science projects

To writing this poem

I am from Boy Scouts

From working on merit badges, first aid, and advances in the Texas heat

From setting foot on cliff faces in Colorado coldness

From blasting targets with rifles and arrows

From revelling in accomplishment when I advance a rank

I am from my family

 Where we speak a different language

Where I am a mutated leaf on the family tree, because I’m different from the rest

On my mom and dad’s branch

Where the majority of us are thousands of miles apart

But still together

Tree - leaf canopy
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: blmiers2 via Compfight

Sun Facts!

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Ah, the sun. Its energy keeps the food chain going, provides us with power, and its great to play outside in the sunshine! However, there are some interesting facts about that star, so I’m going to share them with you.

1. The sun’s surface temperature is 10,000°F(6,000°C), and its core has a temperature of 27,000,000°F(15,000,000°C). Definitely something you don’t want to be enveloped in!

2. Sometimes, huge energy bursts explode from the photosphere(surface of the sun). These are called solar flares and prominences. Solar flares are short bursts of energy, while prominences look like giant arches that stretch 60,000 miles high and can last for months.

3. If you are KNOWING what I mean(get it?), the actual solar flare or prominence cannot reach the Earth. They don’t even make it to Mercury, meaning we don’t have to worry about something like what happened in The Maze Runner and its 2 sequels and prequel. However, another event occurs along with the solar flare called a coronal mass ejection(CME), which is a large burst of particles that spread all around space. These particles interact with the magnetosphere in the two poles, producing those beautiful auroras. However, a large burst would wipe out a good portion of the magnetosphere, shut off all our satellites, and destroy communications and electronics(read my EMP post for more).

4.  The sun’s core turns hydrogen into helium in a process called nuclear fusion, courtesy of all that pressure caused by the other layers of the sun. Once all of its hydrogen is turned into helium, it starts fusing helium into heavier elements, and turns into a red giant in the process, and will swallow up Mercury, Venus, and potentially Earth(don’t worry, this will take 5 billion years). Once it runs out of helium, the sun will shed layers of matter in a special way, creating a planetary nebula with a white dwarf in the middle. Remember, the sun will not go nova!
Chandra X-ray Observatory: 10 Beautiful Years! (NASA, Chandra, 7/23/09)
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center via Compfight

 

Do You Know That…(Seismic Edition)

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Yay, a second edition of Do You Know That! Here, we will be going into the seismic world. Grab some pickaxes and helmets and don’t fall into the earth’s core!

Anyways, let’s begin.

  1. The maximum possible magnitude for an earthquake is determined by the fault line’s depth, length, and speed in which it ruptures. Currently, history and our knowledge of faults and quakes have shown that the highest possible earthquake that the earth can generate is a magnitude 9.5. So don’t worry about any 10s causing California to fall into the sea!
  2. However, there is a theory about fault lines called supershear rupturing in which the fault line could rupture at a speed higher than its limits dictate. In this case, the seismic waves would form a cone-shaped pattern, similar to what happens during a sonic boom.
  3. Contrary to popular belief, California is not the state in which a quake would be the most damaging. After all, the state has had a trillion earthquake drills and the buildings there were built to be earthquake-resistant. A far more damaging site would be the Missouri, in the heartland of the United States. This is thanks to the New Madrid Fault Line, a fault created when North America attempted to rift itself apart millions of years ago. This left that area seismically weak, so a fault line formed. It ruptured several times from 1811 to 1812, which it demolished the town of New Madrid, woke up the President in D.C., and even made the Mississippi River flow sdrawkcab(read that word with a mirror)! Read more here.
  4. The Cascadia Subduction Zone, off the coast of Washington and Oregon, ruptures with a magnitude 9 every 300 years. As it last ruptured in the early 1700s, we’re kind of overdue. That’s definitely not good.
  5. Relating to the first fact, while a 10 cannot be generated by a fault, extraterrestrial events like asteroid impacts can release energy with the force of a 10( the amount joules equivalent to the force of one is about 63.1 exajoules). This happened in Mexico 65 million years ago, when that asteroid hit the Yucatan Peninsula. Though, if you consider the fact that an impact like that would’ve caused firestorms on every landmass on the planet, the earthquake would probably be the least of your worries.

That’s all folks! Stay tuned for more!

 

Do You Know That….

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Woo, a different blog post this time! Here, I will be presenting some interesting facts you may not have known before

Without further ado, do you know that….

  1. The Mississippi River flows in the area where North America tried to sp-l-it itself apart millions of years ago?
  2. A giant fault system exists in Missouri because of this(its called the New Madrid Fault Zone), which if it ruptured, would be several times as devastating as an earthquake in California and would be felt as far away as the East Coast?
  3. A fault line would have to be 24,901 miles(40,075 kilometers) loooooooooong in order to generate a magnitude 10 earthquake? I mean, 24,901 miles is the circumference of the earth!
  4. Pistol Shrimp are one of the loudest creatures in the ocean? In fact, a small colony of them would be more than capable of disturbing sonar signals and waves, making them the perfect submarine hideout!
  5. If the universe was a googolplex meters long, and if you traveled far enough, you might find an exact duplicate of yourself!

That’s all folks! Stayed tuned for some more later!

East Coast Megatsunami

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If you’ve watched a disaster movie before, you may have seen the megatsunami before- a monstrous mass of water that barrels into the land, wiping out everything in its path. These megatsunamis do exist in real life, and they are mainly generated by asteroid impacts.

However, the chance that the US, Canada, and other nations in North and South America could get swamped by one of these things is very likely.

Let’s take a look at Cumbre Vieja- a highly volcanic island in the Canary Islands. It has an extremely unstable flank, and an eruption could cause the whole flank to collapse into the Atlantic Ocean.

The collapse would generate a kilometer-tall wave initially, then it would spread out. It would reach some coastal European nations, such as the UK, Portugal, and Spain. There, the tsunami would be 30-40 feet tall.

However, as well as going north, the tsunami would head west. Once it reached the east coast of nations like the US, Canada, and Brazil, the waves would be 150-180 feet tall. The wall of water would slam into cities like Boston, Miami, and New York, cause severe damage in those coastal cities, and go many miles inland. Since America has had such “good” leadership from presidents like Bush and Obama, we would probably not be able to fully recover from this, and some areas on the eastern seaboard may simply be abandoned.

Thank you for reading my post, and if you read my previous one, I apologize if it seems a bit morbid again. Next time, I’ll try to write about something else than a disaster.

 

The Threat of EMP

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For those that don’t know, an EMP, or an electromagnetic pulse, is a high intensity radiation blast that can be caused by a variety of different things, the most common being a high altitude nuclear detonation.

Now, I’m not trying to talk about what an EMP is, but what it DOES. EMP is probably one of the greatest threats to America, because it destroys the one thing everyone relies on- electrical devices. EMP essentially fries an electric device, rendering it a piece of junk. As well as that, however, EMP can do that to entire power grids, rendering them unusable, which would cut off power to an entire nation.

EMP would also shut off vehicles, cell phones, household devices, among several other things. In the event of an EMP blast, every single location in the US would be totally devoid of power. In neighborhoods, people would be wondering what the heck happened, and they might start calling friends or relatives to check on them and get some info about the event. Panic would rise when everyone realized their cell phones, computers, tablets, and other electronics no longer worked. If people tried to get into their cars, they’d soon realize that they wouldn’t work, and others may even see planes randomly falling out of the sky. By then, people would realize this was not a blackout- someone launched an attack on America, and was very successful.

With transportation, communication, power, and other vital things that keep the US running shut off, America would soon degrade into anarchy, and would cease to exist as a nation. With refrigeration and electrical pumps knocked out, people would have to go out of the comfort zone of their home to search for food and water. In doing so, they may encounter other people and have to fight them, get mauled by wild animals or the environment, or simply killed off by dehydration and hunger. In a short period of time, quite a bit of us- would be dead.

This post may seem extremely grim, but it is quite a possibility, considering that all you have to do to cause an EMP is to put a nuclear warhead on a cheap missile, launch it to a high altitude, then detonate it. Anyways, post your thoughts in the comments below, or you can request that I write about something else. Bye, everyone!

 

Lab Safety Video

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Currently in science, we have been studying things like the scientific method, graphing and tables, variables, and lab safety. This video right here shows you what and what not to do in science, and a bunch of examples from our sheet are shown in this video. Remember, lab safety is important, or bad things can happen, like getting your hair set on fire, having a bottle of acid spill on your clothes, or an exploding metal can hurl shards into your face!