The Namib Desert
The Namib Desert is a parched and rippled desert, an endless expanse.
It stretches along the wouthwest coast of Africa from Angola in the north,
through Namibia, into South Africa. The name Namib means “emptiness.” About
1,700 km (1,060 mi long and 100 km (60 mi) wide, the desert is bordered on the
west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Namib has an approximate area of 170,000 sq km
(65,640 sq mi). It rises from sea level 914 m (3,000 ft). Temperatures average
16 deg C (60 deg F). Sands, varying from yellow to red in color, form dunes
reaching 240 m (800 ft) in height. The annual rainfall averages only 25 mm (1
in), but high humidity results in fog and dew. In the north deeep canyons have
been cut by streams. The area's main rivers, the Orange and the Cunene, follow
the southern and northern borders, respectively, of Namibia. One river, the
Queeseb, is made of water collected from over 160 km (100 mi) inward. The
Queeseb causes water holes, for which many organisms rely on for water besides
the actual river itself. Acacia trees grow along the rivers, and short grasses
and succulents thrive everywhere. One of the most important animals of the area
is the baboon. The baboons excavate for underground water that many other
animals depend on. There are many other animals that have adapted to live in
the Namib desert farther away from the rivers and streams including 45 species
of lizards and more than 200 species of beetles. The nocturnal gecko, like many
other animals, burrows in the sand to escape the days heat, 77 deg C (170 deg F).
The palmado gecko drinks the moisture that forms on its own body from the fog
and dew, as does the sidewinder snake. The sidewinder has adapted a special way
of moving in the loose sand which gives it its name.
In chapter 8 titled "Radium (Ra)" of The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, the most interesting story developed within this chapter was the death of dial workers at Orange, New Jersey after been exposed to radium every day. It was interesting due to the fact that radium was used everywhere in the community and was never thought it could harm anyone. Radium was a super element that was used everywhere, but its continuous use unmasked its fatal habits. As it was stated in the text, "Radiant health, the ads proclaimed-beautiful skin, endless vigor, and eternal health—ingesting radium seemed the next best thing to drinking sunlight." (Blum 179). People were accepting radium as a natural gold element but they haven't realized constant contact
Eventually, after many doctors appointments, the girls were reported to have extremely weak jaws, and soon the doctors were able to lift the jaw out, not by an operation, but by merely pulling it out with bare hands. This problem eventually led to the death of many young women, and it has been said to have changed the US labor laws forever (Moore, 2017). Radium was originally intended to address health issues and it was thought to distribute fun, healthy, and popular products to consumers. However, radium should have been tested before it was applied to watch faces. Originally, nobody knew what was causing the weakening of bones in the women. However, the mystery of radium poisoning was eventually solved by scientists experiments and studies with radium. The issue of radium poisoning has been found all around the world and is a global issue. The effect that the girls, fighting for their lives, had on equal rights for women also plays a big role in today's society across the
Morocco is located in northern Africa and borders the Mediterranean to the north, the Atlantic to the west, Algeria to the east, and Mauritania is to the south. Morocco has an area of 274,152 sq. mi, with the Western Sahara accounting for 101,823 sq. mi (Blauer & Lauré, 1999). Morocco's southern border is the Western Sahara (Piazza, 2007). The population is 31,627,428 (Infoplease, 2013).
Africa is the second largest of the earth's seven continents, covering about twenty-two percent of the world's total land area. From its northern most point, to its southern most tip is the distance of nearly five thousand miles. Africa is both north and south of the equator. The Atlantic Ocean is located west of the continent, and the Indian Ocean is on the east. Width of the continent is also nearly five thousand miles. Although Africa is so large, much of it is inhabitable. Desert soils, which have little organic content, cover large areas. The Sahara Desert, in the northern part, covers more than one fourth of Africa, and the Kalahari Desert is in the southern part of the continent. These two deserts are a natural detriment to the African continent because they make it difficult to reach the inland where most of the people live. Although Africa is relatively close to Europe, travel by land over the Sahara desert is very prohibitive. Another topographical feature that also isolates the central region of Africa is the coastline.
In the article, “The Great American Desert”, Edward Abbey (1977) is trying to convince the general public that the desert is not a place for humans to explore. He talks a lot about the dangers of the desert and tries to convince the readers that the desert is not worth wasting your time and going and visiting. I disagree with Abbey. Anyone who has some knowledge about the desert and takes a class or is accompanied by an expert who knows a lot about the desert should be able to venture out in the many great American deserts.
The climate is very dry as a bone in the north because of the Sahara desert. Then in the middle is semi desert. The south is
The Desert of the Sahara is home to one of the harshest environments. It was given this name because of its weather, droughts, and natural forces like sandstorms which occur often. This is shown in the text when the author states “Rain is too unpredictable in deserts”. Rain leads
In the poem Desert Places by Robert Frost, the author describes the scenery in which he came across with. It was on a winter day, and the day was turning into a night. As he went across a field, he saw that the ground was almost all covered in snow. But then he noticed a few weeds and stubble on the ground.
In many instances a value for the potential evapotranspiration is calculated at a close by climate station on a reference surface, conventionally short grass. This value is known as the reference evapotranspiration, and can be changed to a potential evapotranspiration by multiplying with a surface coefficient. In whatever way, this particular procedure is depend on the assumption that PET is affected only by meteorological circumstances, does not take into account the effect of vegetative density and maturity. The Thornthwaite method is known to methodically underestimate PET in more arid regions and seasons. Quantifying of the potential evapotranspiration, calculated on monthly principles, is given
In 1922, a clock company relocated from Chicago to Illinois, amidst allegations that some of the raw materials used during production were the cause of some of their employees’ illnesses. From the big city to the small town of Ottawa the mysterious illnesses followed. Radium Dial, a Westclox brand, opened up a factory in the local high school and employed young women to paint the faces of the clocks with radium. Presently, the dangers of radiation exposure are common place knowledge of the general public, but in the early 1900’s, “radium was considered the new wonder drug” (Langer, 1987). The unsuspecting ladies, many only girls, used their lips to work the paint brush bristles into a fine point to create neat numbers on the clocks: ingesting radium daily. Many of the girls would use some of the remaining radium to decorate
dense fog. I am hit on the nose with a drop of dew falling from a Coast Live
The Sahel is a strip of land that extends for more than 6000 kilometres across