Did you ever try to eat an entire apple pie chased with a quart of milk? If so, you how too much of a good thing can create problems. It’s the same with algae.
In many lakes and oceans, algae is an important part of the base of the entire food pyramid in naturally balanced ecosystems. But when algae is artificially over-fertilized in an unbalanced ecosystem, it can create waaaay too much of a good thing. And that can make things go horribly wrong.
Take Tainter Lake for instance. It’s located in northwestern Wisconsin and was once a pristine home to a number of bird, fish, reptile, and amphibian species. But nowadays, an organism known as blue-green algae typically forms a slimy mat over the lake during the summer. It not only stinks and prevents people from recreating on the lake, the toxic algae reportedly causes health problems for the lakeside residents. So what’s happening here?
As you’ll see in the video, our eco-investigator, Caroline, met with residents and scientists to discover how blue-green algae forms cyanobacteria each summer, which in turn, produce toxins. These toxins have caused health problems, such as lupus-like symptoms and hives for some residents.
To understand the causes of this environmental problem, we need to look at the basic chemistry and biology of plant and algae growth. Farmers put un-natural amounts of phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N) on their fields to grow maximum crop yields. Those plant nutrients are often a combination of commercial fertilizers and animal manure. Unfortunately, rains wash off some of those fertilizers from the landscape and the mix ends up in rivers and lakes.
So the main cause for this toxic algal growth at Tainter Lake is the increasing concentration of “plant nutrients” getting washed into the lake. Phosphorous is one of the biggies, that’s contained in the fertilizers that modern farmers apply on their fields, and is a major chemical component of cow manure. Depending on a number of variables such as slope, rainfall, runoff, concentration, soil attachment, and erosion, both sources of phosphorous and nitrogen can get flushed off fields, into streams, and ultimately into lakes such as Tainter. So these forms of fertilizer that cause field crops to grow also functions the same way in the lake, except that it can cause a massive undesired algal bloom. Though not technically a plant, algae uses the same plant-like process of photosynthesis to grow and thrive. And when all that algae begins to die off, it causes depletion of the oxygen content in the water that can kill off aquatic life, creating a "dead zone". To learn more about how nutrient-induced algae causes hypoxic zones, check out the NOAA link below.
So what’s to be done? Society needs farmers to grow crops, right? Well, for starters farmers can limit how much phosphorous and nitrogen gets washed off their fields in a couple of ways. One is by limiting the amount of fertilizers they use on their crops. This is done through what is called “nutrient management planning”. In short, they only apply what the crops can absorb and use to grow. As you might imagine that depends on a number of technical things and the forces of Mother Nature. Another way to limit phosphorous and nitrogen runoff is by using improved farming techniques that help prevent excess nutrients from leaving the soils and landscape. To learn more how this is done, take a moment and watch the video.
To really “plow into” the science and environmental implications of all this, and ignite the chemistry and biology parts of your brain:
Also, find out more about what you can do to keep your local waters healthy and clean by checking out the website of our educational partner, Wisconsin Land+Water.
Despite how important the refining process is in producing the fuels that feed our society, it’s not worth much if it sits in a huge tank somewhere. It needs to get to the refinery from oil fields and from refineries to distribution systems. And that’s mostly accomplished by building and using pipelines.
It’s a huge task to transport millions of gallons of crude and refined fuels efficiently, safely, and cheaply. Especially since pipelines sometimes travel thousands of miles across all kinds of landscapes and in a wide range of weather conditions.
Crude oil begins its journey from underground where it flows or is pumped to the surface into tanks. From there it’s trucked locally or more often pumped into gathering lines. These small lines typically range from two to eight inches in diameter. They “gather” oil from producing oil fields in places like North Dakota, Texas and Canada. Then it moves through larger pipelines that stretch for hundreds, and sometimes thousands of miles. These larger pipelines, known as trunk lines, have a diameter of eight to twenty-four inches (about the diameter of a tree trunk) and connect regional markets. Believe it or not, there are over 55,000 miles of trunk lines in the U.S. alone.
The other type of pipeline used is called a refined product pipeline. Not surprisingly, this type of pipeline carries refined products from a refinery to either storage containers or directly to facilities like airports, industrial plants, or power plants. If refined products end their pipeline journey at a storage tank, tanker trucks carry them the last few miles to their final destination – like your local gas station.
Take a moment to guess two ways that crude and refined products flow through pipelines? (Hint – feel your heartbeat) Now consider the physics involved. Discover the rest of the pipeline story by watching the video and reading the advanced information in the "Learn More" section below. Just click on the icon. Also, check the link to our educational partner here to learn more about pipelines.
The first major step (shown in another video) in refining crude oil is fractional distillation where they heat the crude and literally “boil off” the different hydrocarbon chains. This causes the vertical separation of the different hydrocarbon molecules in the tower.
But because fractional distillation only produces about 20% gasoline from the crude, petroleum engineers get techy by using some sophisticated combinations of physic and chemistry in a process called "cracking”.
Cracking is the process of breaking apart longer hydrocarbon molecular chains into smaller pieces. The process breaks or cracks the heavier, higher boiling-point petroleum fractions into more valuable products such as gasoline and diesel fuel. Though that may sound simple, it’s far from it. In fact, they use several different sophisticated methods of cracking hydrocarbon molecules in a modern refinery.
The first is thermal cracking that they do inside a unit called a “coker” where they subject the hydrocarbons to extreme heat and pressure. Coking is a severe method of thermal cracking used to upgrade heavy residuals into lighter products or distillates. Coking produces straight-run gasoline (naphtha) and various middle-distillate fractions used as catalytic cracking feedstock. The process so completely reduces hydrogen that the residue is a form of carbon called "coke." 
Another form of cracking is hydrocracking. A hydrocracking unit, or hydrocracker, takes heavier and higher boiling range molecules and cracks the heavy molecules into distillate and gasoline using hydrogen and a catalyst.
When you’re ready to crack into more layers of refining science, click on the “Learn More” tab below. Also, don’t miss exploring the other videos and lesson activities on our website that complete the rest of the crude oil refining and transportation story.
Plus, take a moment and check out the jazzed petroleum industry careers video on the right and the link to “Careers for Petroleum Engineers” below. Then, click the link of our educational partner here to discover bonus info about refining and transporting crude oil.
Sometimes, we think that the food we eat just pops out of the ground or appears magically at our supermarkets, but the truth is much different. Jacob and Gianna, our hosts, quickly discover that a huge amount of work goes into growing soybeans, and that the most sustainable ways of doing things are not always the easiest. That being said, it does not take long for them to learn that sustainable practices often equate with financial success for farmers and others in the soybean industry.
Sustainability has three pillars: environmental, economic, and social. Each is equally important, and they combine to paint a bright picture for the future of the soybean industry. The hosts enlist the help of Cedric in mission control and Coolbean, a smart soybean with an ego to match, to find the base of each pillar and get the big picture of what these pillars support.
The hosts start their journey into soybean sustainability from the ground up…literally. A farmer explains the sustainable practices he uses on his farm and a soil scientist describes the process of soil testing. Why would scientists go through the trouble of digging up dirt all over a soybean farm? And what scientific process makes soybeans one of the best crops to grow in the Midwest? The hosts, and experts that they speak to, will help you answer those questions and many others.
All this sustainability stuff may seem like a lot of extra work and, well, it is. As another farmer explains, however, this extra work results in extra income for the farmer. How else are sustainable practices involved with soybean economics? The hosts wonder what happens after soybeans leave the farm and quickly realize that sustainability plays a part in the transport of soybeans as well. A grain distributor highlights how a cooperative saves farmers from driving hundreds of miles while a lock-master (huh, what’s that?) describes barge transport. It turns out that one barge traveling down the Mississippi River contains as many soybeans as 58 trucks. Whoa.
Ok, so soybeans benefit the environment and farmers, but aren’t there three pillars of sustainability? What about social sustainability? A farmer walks the hosts through her family farm that benefits the environment, economy, and her community all at the same time. Next, a nearby town beckons. Two kind community members tell the story of how Evansville, Wisconsin became the “Soybean Capital" of the state. Finally, they learn about a group of farmers that work together to minimize erosion from their farms into the watershed of Madison, Wisconsin. Here are three different methods with one common goal.
Sustainability has not always been the top priority of the soybean industry. One of the experts the hosts speak to was instrumental in developing the National Soybean Sustainability Initiative. This tests how sustainable farmers and others in the industry are being, and provides them with ideas on how to do even more in the future. This came at a perfect time, as the hosts realize by talking to an employee at The DeLong Company. These days, soybean buyers all around the world demand soybeans produced sustainably. The market must meet this demand but the push towards being more sustainable has benefitted the industry tremendously and the hosts find out why. You will too as you watch this episode. Just promise that you won’t be a know-it-all like Coolbean....
Their secret to using a thousand times more fresh water every day than they pump from the ground is based on the 3 R's of sustainability that you've likely learned from some of our previous videos and lessons. Remember? They are: 1)Reuse, 2)Reduce, 3)Recycle.
Though this sand mine employs all three R's in their process, recycling is the biggie. And boy is it BIG. Just watch the video to get a sense of the massive water filtration and recycling plant that uses several very cool technological phases to turn thick, muddy soup into water that looks clean enough to drink. No joke.
Even with their recycling system, they still needed to perform a "hydrologic study" to determine that their intended water demands wouldn't adversely affect the water table - you know, the ground water in the aquifer that the area depends on for their fresh water supplies. In rural areas, such as this, most residents get their water from personal water wells on their property. It makes sense that an industry can't simply come in a pump all the water they want without regard for the impact on the local aquifer. To learn more about hydrologic studies and ground water, dive into the classroom learning offered in our free lesson plans below.
Also, click on the Learn More tab below to discover some of the parts of a "mine reclamation plan" and how it affects the landscape and ecosystems.
Let's say that you have a super-sub sandwich with tons of meats, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and the works all layered together. Your challenge is to "mine" out one select layer of ham, sandwiched in the middle, by pinching out finger-sized bits from above and below. And after you've removed all the ham, you somehow have to put the sandwich all back together so it looks the same (minus the ham) as before you started. Impossible? With a sandwich, maybe it is. But how do industrial sand miners do something very similar on hundreds of acres of landscape? The answer is that they use a "geomorphic mine reclamation plan".
As you'll see in the video here, mining industrial sand isn't as easy as scooping up loads of the stuff off the ground. Mother Nature and the unique geology that created industrial sand layers make it challenging and a bit complicated. Take, for instance, the industrial quality sandstone zone in the open mine at Tunnel City, Wisconsin. It's like the ham in your sub sandwich as it's sandwiched in the middle and covered with tons of "overburden" that need to be dug and hauled off bit by bit using bulldozers, front end loaders, and huge trucks.
Mother Nature did smile on the miners here, however, as the prime sandstone layer is not cemented very much between the grains. Many ancient sandstone layers undergo the geologic process of "secondary cementation" where mineral-rich waters in the formation precipitate various forms of calcite or silica over time and cement all the individual grains together into a massive block of sandstone. Sure, it makes really solid material for building pyramids, but also makes it almost impossible to mine for the industrial sand that must consist of loose and clean individual grains.
Once they expose the quality zone of sandstone, they can extract it with big D-11 bulldozers and front end loaders. No blasting needed here. You can almost break the sandstone apart with your bare hands. However, moving tons of loose sand with all that machinery has the potential to create a health hazard. It's called silica dust that can, in some instances, cause a lung condition called silicosis. Click on the Learn More tab below to learn more about the kinds of potential silica dust and how miners control and monitor it.
To dig further into the more Serious Science of industrial sand mining, explore these videos and companion lesson activities:
The educational partner listed below supported the science video content you see here. Visit their page to learn more about their sand mining operations.
Have you ever wondered where the fuels that power our vehicles comes from? Or, have you thought about how they turn syrupy black crude into the clear gasoline and fuels that drive our society? Well, ponder no more. You're about to get a serious introduction to the science and technology of refining and transporting hydrocarbons.
There are two ways to learn here: You can simply watch this "Emmy-winning" video above or read more of the background information below. Doing both can double-up on your smart meter. As a side note, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was so impressed with this production, that they awarded it with the Emmy for the top Youth Educational Program-Series in the Midwest. Woo-who! A big shout-out to our ITO youth scientists shown here with their well-deserved Emmy at the awards ceremony in Chicago. See the video to the right.
Before we get started however, let's consider your previous knowledge base about the petroleum industry. Chances are you've likely "learned" more about the oil industry from the news than from hard science sources. One of the rules of being a scientist is knowing how to evaluate potential bias of your information sources (including us). And news by it's very nature focuses on negative events cast in extreme situations. So it's little surprise that the news about the oil industry is sometimes presented in a negative light. Oil spills make for dramatic news stories, yet we seldom if ever hear about how the industry plays a vital role in powering almost every segment of our industrial society. Without it, we'd pretty much grind to a halt. Consider that as you begin "refining" your own critical thinking by exploring the science and technology here that begins to decode refining and transporting the fuels that make our modern lives possible.
Let's start by digging into the science behind the formation of crude oil. Did you know that crude oil was formed from the decomposed body parts of ancient marine organisms? We're talking real tiny stuff here like algae and other microscopic organisms such as zooplankton. Nope, there's no dinosaur juice or ancient forests in that formed oil.
One of the keys to this ancient marine life eventually becoming oil is being trapped in a sediment layer. This layer also had to be free from oxygen in an “anaerobic” environment to prevent scavengers from eating them. As more accumulating sediment layers buried their body parts deeper, pressure and heat essentially “cooked” their organic matter into hydrocarbons. And that's how crude oil was formed. Despite the common misconception, an "oil reservoir" in the ground isn't a giant cave in the earth filled with oil. Instead, the oil in a reservoir rock is located in the tiny interconnected pore spaces in the rock. In fact, some rocks such as sandstone, can have up to 30% porosity, or interconnected pores spaces for oil to occupy and flow through. See for yourself sometime by filling a cup with sand, then slowly pouring about a half cup of water into it before it overflows. The water seeped into the 50% "porosity".
Once a reservoir is drilled into and the crude produced, it needs to be refined. Crude oil straight from a well by itself isn't useful for much of anything. Oh sure, it will burn, or mess up your clothes. But it sure won't fly a jet or run in your vehicle. Rather than try to explain the whole process, you're better off watching the video above as you join our science team as they explore the entire process at Pine Bend Refinery, one of the most complex refineries in North America. As you'll see in the video, with the help of Flint Hills Resources engineers, they reveal the chemistry behind crude oil and touch on why it's vital to so many aspects of our lives.
As you'll see, one of the early phases of refining is the process of "fractional distillation" where they "cook" off the various hydrocarbon fuel "fractions". Yeah, it sounds confusing. But watch the video for a refined picture of how it all works. You’ll also get to see how the refinery’s very own version of mission control operates this complex refinery that's the size of a small city. You'll also learn how refinery experts use physics and technology in the refining process to remove impurities such as sulfur. They also use combinations of catalysts along with heat and pressure to enhance chemical reactions.
What do Legos have in common with oil refining? As you'll see in the video, they help conceptualize the refining process of “cracking” longer, heavier hydrocarbon chains of molecules into shorter chains that make up various fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel.
As you'll also see, it's pretty hard not to notice the steam coming out of some of the refinery towers. We know that steam comes from water and that fresh water is a precious resource. So our hosts also live up to their name of Into the Outdoors by getting to the bottom of how Flint Hills Resources manages, recycles and protects the water resources they use.
All these refined fuels eventually need to get from the refinery to the industries and businesses that use them, right? We sure can fill up our cars at the refinery. So pipelines offer the safest and most reliable method of transporting those fuels to all the various distribution points in society. That's why our team decodes all the pipeline connections, with the help of various engineers while exploring the physics behind transporting fuels via pipelines. Because pipelines span huge distances across all kinds of environments, our video team also digs into the technology engineers use to monitor pipeline integrity to prevent leaks and how they repair pipelines that need attention.
To dive deeper into all this the science and technology, watch the video above as your primer on the topic, then expand your learning by sharing the Discussion Guide (coming soon) with your teacher and classroom for some serious peer-driven learning.
And to learn more about refining and transporting petroleum products, visit the links of the educational partners that supported this episode.
When you think about mining, you probably think about minerals like gold, diamonds, or copper. But sand? What is so special about the sand deposits in Wisconsin and why has the sand mining industry grown so tremendously here in the Upper Midwest? Put on your hard hat and let’s decode the science of the frac-sand industry.
Why is all this sand in the Upper Midwest and what is the sand being used for? The first section of the video will help you solve those mysteries and more. The quartz sand mined in Wisconsin is especially pure due to its position at the shoreline of ancient seas. Waves pummeled the sand for millions of years, cleaning it of impurities and causing each grain to take on a rounded texture. Only clear, rounded sand grains can be processed by the mining company and sold for a variety of uses. What is this sand
used for? Watch the video to find out.
The second section of the video explores how the sand is actually mined. The investigative team finds out how sand is accessed and transported by interviewing a mining expert. Cedric, back at mission control, is not satisfied. He requests that the team asks a tough question about airborne sand that can cause a serious medical condition called silicosis. Emma and Josh ask experts about what Unimin does to keep their employees and surrounding communities safe from this dust, as well as manage the water they use in their operations.
The resident scientist at Unimin explains the process of reclamation in segment three. Reclamation means taking land that has been altered and managing it to match what it was like before mining took place. Unimin reclaims as they mine. They analyze the land before they ever dig so that they can recreate the original topography when mining is complete. Bulldozers move topsoil to areas in need of reclamation and workers plant native seeds to match the original habitat.
Segment four highlights the story of a species that has benefitted from Unimin’s sand mining operation. The Karner Blue Butterfly is an endangered species that prefers sandy soils with healthy populations of a beautiful purple flower called lupine. Unimin planted lupine throughout the areas it reclaimed and scientists have observed higher numbers of this small butterfly after reclamation compared to surveys conducted before mining started.
The investigative team has one final task in segment four. They need to ask critical questions about the impact of the sand mine on the local community. Josh and Emma sit around a bonfire with local kids who discuss their thoughts on the sand mine. Perhaps, like the kids, you’ll come up with your own conclusions about sand mining after watching the video below.
To dig further into the more Serious Science of industrial sand mining, explore these videos and companion lesson activities:
The educational partner listed below supported the video content you see here. Visit their page to learn even more about their sand mining operation.
What are these strange things called “Ice Caves”?
It all began hundreds of millions of years ago when sands were washed into an ancient ocean, forming bedded sandstone rock layers across Northern Wisconsin. Much later, the area was “geologically uplifted” and exposed the massive sandstone layers to the erosional effects of weathering from waves and water.
To learn more about the rocks along the shores of the Great Lakes, download the free lesson activities at the bottom of this page.
Now back to the ice caves…. Over time, the powerful forces of wave erosion along the shoreline of Lake Superior carved sea caves along the Mainland Unit of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Where wave action erodes and undercuts the base of a cliff, a feature known as a “reentrant” develops. Sea caves are produced when a number of these reentrants join behind the face of a cliff, leaving behind supporting pillars and arches. They develop most easily where the sand layers comprising a rock formation are very thin.
The sandstone bluffs that border the lakeshore there make for an ideal setting for the formation of ice caves – when winter weather conditions are right. Each winter ice forms on Lake Superior when waves splashing against the rock face begin to freeze on the sandstone cliffs. The more frigid the weather, the faster the ice forms along the rock bluffs and within the eroded caverns. Adding to the ice formations, water seeping between cracks in the sandstone rock layers freezes and forms a variety of features similar to limestone caves. But here, the stalactites and stalagmites are made of ice. Iron leached from the rocks can stain some of the ice formations pink or orange. While some formations with water splashing from the crystalline waters of Lake Superior can appear “ice blue”. There are also large icicles and formations hanging off of the cliffs that form curtains and columns of ice, and abundant ice crystals.
Before planning a summer paddling or “ice cave” winter trekking trip to the area, check the websites below to find out conditions and safety concerns.
How would you decode this earth science mystery?
Geo-scientists ran into a glacial mystery when their mapping of glacial material called "drift" revealed an area in western Wisconsin that didn’t have any glacial drift material. They named the place the driftless area. But what really made this driftless area such a mystery was that the entire area of 15,000 square miles was surrounded by drift. This meant that glaciers went entirely around the driftless area but didn’t cover it. Are you kidding? How was that possible?
To find out some of this mystery, watch this video. To really "get with the drift" of what happened here over the past 2.5 million years, take this learning adventure into your classroom, have your teacher download the free Lesson Activity at the bottom of this page so everyone can share in the fun of this inquiry based learning.
Okay, here's the deal. When glaciers advanced across Wisconsin, they reshaped much of the landscape. The thick ice carried boulders, sand, and gravel as it advanced. And when it finally melted and retreated, it left behind all that material. Scientists called it “glacial drift.” This glacial drift of sand, gravel, rocks and boulders covers the ground where the glaciers once were. Earth scientists map areas where this drift is present to recreate the history of glacial activity.
To get the rest of the this story, click "Learn More" below here. Or, if you have the time, also watch the amazing half-hour Emmy-winning documentary from our educational buddies at Untamed Science on "Mysteries of The Driftless". Just click on the movie in the upper right window. We bet you a bag of popcorn that you don't "drift off" while watching it!
These educational partners supported the video and lesson content here for all of us to learn from. They also offer lots of other learning opportunities on their websites. So check them out!