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Classroom Updates & Stories
Classroom Updates & Stories
Monday:
Lecture: Starting the day off on Monday, Professor Skip lectured us about Aerosols, Clouds, and the Climate. We learned that aerosols provide surface area for clouds to form, extending their life in our atmosphere. To physically show this, we did different demonstrations involving a carbon dioxide canister and adding salt to carbonated soda.
Lab Calcium: We started the calcium experiment on Tuesday. This involved lots of prepping solutions and diluting. Then we ran all our seawater samples through an atomic absorption spectrometer to find the absorbance. Given that, we were able to use our baseline to calculate the PPM of calcium.
Tuesday:
Ethics Project: We started Tuesday's first half of our day with 2.5 hours of work time. Everyone was finishing their ethics presentations, and some started filming/recording. We also presented simple outlines to Mike, who gave us all helpful feedback. Some ethics topics include Nuclear power, aquafarming, mineral mining, and deep-sea mining.
Lab: After lunch, we worked in our project groups, which you can read more in detail about below!
Wednesday:
Field Trip! Today we didn't have lectures or labs! Instead, we took a bus at 9 and toured a lot of the sustainable parts of campus. We got to see a lot of the landmarks that our teachers had mentioned previously. This included the green roof on the LEED-certified building and Rodger's Garden. After we toured the main UCSD campus, we toured the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. This is where we got to see the huge wave simulator and some of the other atmosphere-measuring-related devices. We ended the day by touring and oyster aquafarm in Carlsbad with a little aquaponics installation, where some of us also ate some oysters.
Thursday:
Ethics Project: We started off the day with a quick presentation from COSMOS Alumni over zoom. It was cool to see where past students are working right now and the path they are hoping to go on. Today was also the last full day to work on our ethics project. Many groups have started to film and edit their videos, all to be submitted by 6 p.m. Friday.
Lab: After lunch, we worked in our project groups for the second time this week, continuing our work for the final presentation.
Project Group Updates
Project Group Updates
Tidal Fluctuations Group
Tidal Fluctuations Group
Group Members: Michelle, Mathew, Mayumi, Addy
O2 analysis: Starting last week and continuing this week, our group did a titration using Thiosulfate as the titrant to find the oxygen concentration of sea water samples taken over a tidal swing. This analysis was done over a period of 3 days because of the amount of trials and data we had to go over!
Nitrite: Another long lab day! In order to analyze the nitrate in the sea water samples, we had to create solutions of different concentrations. This allowed us to measure the absorbancy with a spectraphotometer. We then could backtrack that with the Beer's Law calibration curve in order to find the amount of nitrate within seawater.
Field Trip: On Thursday, the Tidal Flucuations group got to visit Scripps again! We enjoyed our sandwiches with the view of La Jolla Shores and Scripps Pier before getting to work. We got a sense of how Quinn, our TA collected the ocean water samples for our experiment during a tidal swing. (Except we weren't out collecting samples from 4 am to 9 pm like she was...thanks Quinn!!) We also had the chance to go onto Scripps Pier and talk to a team of researchers that had just come back from collecting data while scuba diving and saw some sting rays!
Solar Cells
Solar Cells
Group Members: Mohini, Loki, Ben, Inara
We mashed blueberries and blackberries to create dyes which we used to color conductive glass panels (the panels had a coating of titanium oxide which was applied with dilute nitric acid).
On Thursday, we went over the theory of grätzel cells, as in the solar cells we’re building and we built our first test cell!
Biodegragation
Biodegragation
Group Members: Arik, Jeffrey, Katya, Kaila
Along with cluster 6, our group is working with carbon dioxide sensors, compost, and various forms of plastic to identify how they biodegrade.
Individually, the members of our group are comparing how biodegradable substances and nonbiodegradable substances degrade in compost. Katya and Kaila are comparing biodegradable vs. non biodegradable glitter; Jeffrey and Katya are comparing straws.
Over these couple weeks, we are using the carbon dioxide sensors to measure their different decomposition rates. When we are not busy with our project, we occasionally film TikToks and were featured on the UCSD Cosmos page!
Biodiesel & Aerosols
Biodiesel & Aerosols
Group Members: Luca, Anika, Fynn
Our group is working together with students in Cluster 6 to measure the amount of aerosols released into the air depending on the solution of biodiesel.
Last week we started by making biodiesel from scratch using soybean oil. Then we focused on setting up our experiment. For example, we determined where to place all our equipment and got used to the technology involved. It's crucial in our experiment that everything is in the EXACT same place for every trial, so we measured and mapped our setup.
Immediately at the start of this week, we ran into a bump in the road; our biodiesel supply was extremely limited. The usual source of this project's biodiesel doesn't sell the product anymore, leaving our group leaders to salvage the little biodiesel left nearby. Luckily, we were able to gather around two liters. Using some math, we finally began trials. Despite the setback, it has been exciting to handle the biodiesel and engine!
Enzymes
Enzymes
Group Members: Angelina, Leo, Ben
Our group also worked with our Cluster 6 counterparts in a lab in York Hall. This week, we moved past simple dilutions and were able to run experiments on the enzymes we will be using for the rest of the program, and we were very excited!
We started with calibrating the standard solutions, so we know about what to expect when we worked with more diverse materials. Then, we started on the research, and adjusted factors one at a time.
On Thursday, we adjusted the temperature and the acidity of the enzyme reactions, observing how much each solution reacted and comparing them to each other and to the standard. The results will be announced during the final presentation, so look forward to that!
Residential News & Stories
Residential News & Stories
The Lorax at the COSMOSOlympics
To end off the week last Friday, we finally got to present our long-awaited and well rehearsed Lorax themed skit to the rest of COSMOS. In addition to our extensive choreography and multiple Lorax songs, we had personalized costumes. The Lorax, played by Jeff was a fan favorite, decked out with a life-sized mustache and orange colored hair (thanks to our amazing props team!). The Olympics was divided into two parts, the skits and the games. We went third in the skit and had our best run through yet! The crowded loved it! After dinner, we began the games with a strong start with the Water Balloon Toss. As the games went on, several kids including one of our own got hurt, so the second-part of the COSMOSOlympics was cut short. Despite the sad news, we sat in anticipation for the results. Unfortunately, even despite being a crowd favorite, Cluster 3 did not place even 3rd for the skit! Till this day we stand that Cluster 3 was robbed of a victory.
Sun Tans & Sunburns at La Jolla
Saturday was Cluster 3's long-awaited beach day! Along with six other Clusters, we all headed down to La Jolla Shores for a day of fun and sun! Many refreshed themselves in the sea or looked for sea flies and seashells by the shore. Stingrays, leopard sharks, and guitarfish were spotted! A couple of campers decided it would be their day's mission to dig a giant hole, while some rather stayed cool in the shade playing card games. If not, people were playing beach volleyball or tasting some amazing food at the shops!
LATINTIMES1.pdfLegal Shenanigans
A rather interesting development in the camp has been the court battles taking place in Latin-America Hall, also known as Air Hall. Suite 200 has set up a court system complete with a judge and jury, to manage disputes and disagreements. Their system worked great and also drew the attention of other suites, leading to their legal hijinks to another level. Read all about it here, in the Latin Gazette, a newsletter made by an Air Hall resident who decided to report on the events that have been taking place.
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