Understanding Agricultural Waste and Water Conservation

This is an audio transcription of a university lecture. Transcription accuracy is about 80%

The Importance of Addressing Agricultural Waste

We have to think about this as a system. So if we can somehow tackle the waste that occurs with agriculture and include our bit in it, then it is substantial. I don't think looking at, you know, maybe it's like 1%, I need to look it up again. But even if it is just 1%, dismissing it because it's so trivial is not the best thing. We're talking about conservation here and drinking water. So we probably want to try and preserve it every way we can.

The Inefficiency of Common Grass Types

Critique of Common Grass Types

Kentucky bluegrass is stupid, and I mean that in the kindest possible way to all. Grass is Bermuda stupid, crabgrass is stupid. They're all dumb because they have no function other than sitting in them. They don't produce anything you can eat. They aren't they don't use water very efficiently. They die very well.

The Fickleness of Cold Season Grasses

Cold season grasses like Kentucky Blue, which is what we have here, the soft stuff dies very easily. Like if you don't water it for a day in the summer, it starts getting brown. It's fickle. So it's not even like a good crop to have.

Clover as a Sustainable Alternative

Advantages of Clover Over Grass

If you really want to have green space, the better alternative is actually clover. And that's because clover has an upper like a canopy to it. When it grows, it gets the clovers right. And in my case, I've given them so many steroids that they actually I have four leaf clovers everywhere in my yard.

**Historical Context and Practical Benefits of Clover

Clover used to be really popular, and I read recently that the reason Clover fell out of favor was because the groups that make weed killer could not make a weed killer that did not kill Clover. So instead, people just started doing Kentucky Blue Grass because they also didn't want to have weeds. And the weed killer captured the clover with it. I don't use weed killer, so I have clover all over my grass. And I want it that way because it uses water more efficiently. I can water it every third day. Instead of the Kentucky bloom that has to be watered every day to keep it from getting brown.

Understanding Weather Patterns and Storms

Convection and Thunderstorms

We talked briefly about convective storms two weeks ago. Convection is the keyword here. This is going to be on your quiz and the other class, everybody got this question wrong. So when I talk about what radiative process is responsible for Florida having the most thunderstorms, the answer is convection.

The Role of Humidity in Storm Formation

It's a combination of convection and humidity and they result in these really impressive anvil shaped storms that you can see off in the distance in summer. Sometimes they materialize right above us and that can be especially violent in the Midwest. These are the types of storms you want to be leery of because they're the ones that spawn tornadoes.

The Science of Lightning and Thunder

What is Lightning?

So what is lightning? So anyone know? Like, how would you define it? Do we have any way of conceptualizing it here on ground? Yep. So all lightning is is the reaction between positively and negatively charged particles.

The Cause of Thunder

Does anyone want to venture a guess as to why it causes thunder? The answer is not angels moving pianos and organs. Yes. The rapid expansion of. It's for the same reason that a hypersonic jet causes a sonic boom. It's essentially the lightning bolt heats the air around it to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which causes a rapid expansion of the air, essentially opening up a hole in the air as it expands again, the same way that a jet would do it. But in this case, the air going back to equilibrium slamming shut after that hole has been opened. Once the lightning bolt and the 50,000 degrees that comes with it is gone. It will then cool off very rapidly. It will then slammed shut all the way up the air column. And that is what the thunderous sound is. It's not the lightning bolt. It is the rapid expansion of the air around it and the subsequent slamming shut of those holes. So that is what causes thunder. And I hope I blow your mind today. And 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit is hotter than the surface of the sun, in case anyone is wondering. Yes, you said both gross negative and positive charge.