My Graphing Experience

                                    My Graphing Experience: Zachuary Emerson


I remembered and wrote enough instructions on the graphs to do most of them easily. What I didn't know I figured out. Except for the Scatter plot. That was a difficult one for me. I am definitely going to have to research more on how to get it right before we actively use them in the Lab. I understand how useful they are, but I prefer to use Line graphs, Bar Graphs, and Stacked Column Graphs.

On the other hand I made my first (really noticeable) mistake. I had included the total when I inserted the graph for the pie graph, so the total took up 50% of it. This is what y graph would have been If I hadn't double checked before I submitted it.Even then, I almost missed it. The only thing that tipped me off what that there two Potassiums.  I fixed it then replaced the faulty graph. I put the correct on just below the wrong one.

I have to say that my favorite graph is the line graph. Though I think the Stacked Column Graph is pretty cool. Does anyone know which type of graph scientists are more likely to use?

Shark attacks increase because of toxic blue green algae?

I am still trying to figure out my scientific question.

Shark attacks upon humans correlate with the existence of toxic blue green algae in the Indian River Lagoon that caused the deaths of dolphins, manatees, and fish in that area. My thought is that if the toxic blue green algae were to disappear, then the sharks would go back to hunting in the deeper water instead of desperately searching for healthy, non-contaminated prey which are humans. My current thought is that the dolphins, manatees, and fish who were in the Lagoon at their time of death stayed because of the large amount of food that the algae presented itself as. How are shellfish affected by the algae? Can they be of any help with filtration despite their own contamination?
Mosquito Lagoon August 13, 2013 w/ brown tide

Shark attacks heighten from 1994-2012

 ( http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/trends2.htm)

Jeffrey: Tidal Current Potential

Originally my question would have read: Does the tidal current have enough potential to be a renewable energy source? After researching a few ideas this past week; I now have 100 more questions.

We have to be able to measure the velocity, frequency, and duration of each tidal period. How can we collect the data? Manually or unmanned? My wife, Deanna is currently exploring that area and we have discussed some options. It is looking like we may be designing and engineering our unmanned data collection device. Which will have to tested and calibrated. Sounds exciting all by itself!

However, I still looked at designs and specifications of turbines. I was curious to see what the minimum operation requirements were. I was looking or a baseline. I found a relatively inexpensive Helix style turbine that requires 1.5 meter/sec (3 knots) of current flow.

Helix Turbine

 Because I will be looking at the relationship between duration and velocity, a scatterplot will be used to display the data.

Regardless of which way this goes, I will keep you updated.

Brittnie - Effects of ocean acidity on coral

Just like a rain forest takes in some carbon dioxide (CO2) that we produce, the ocean also takes in a lot of CO2, which mixes with sea water to create carbonic acid, this then releases bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions. The hydrogen ions bond with a free carbonate ion to create another bicarbonate ion, which will dissolve the carbonate coral skeleton and prevent the free carbonate ion to make shells and skeletons, this is called ocean acidification.

Ocean acidity can be measured by the pH, now the ocean has a “buffer” system which allows it to resist changes in pH because of the many dissolved chemicals that are in the ocean, but the amount of CO2 the ocean can take up is limited, and it’s causing a decrease in the pH in different ocean waters.

Next month I travel to Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas; where I will search the beaches for dead pieces of coral. When I come back from vacation I will measure the sizes of the pieces of coral and put the same size measurement of coral in different amounts of pH, to see how fast each pH will dissolve each piece of coral.

I think that using a line graph will be the most efficient way of displaying my data, the y-axis will be the size measurement, the x-axis will be the time, and I will have numerous lines for the different amounts of pH.

I am still trying to decide how to measure the pieces of coral, whether I should measure mass, weight or volume, so let me know if you have an idea of what I could do. I am also waiting on the data results to decide the time measurement, because I’m not sure how long it will take to start showing significant changes in the size.

Artificial Mangroves vs. Natural Mangroves

For my project I am attempting to get a hold of what is called a Magic Mangrove System. This is a basically pvc pipes put together to replicate the natural mangroves we find all through out our water ways here in Florida. I will be tracking the type of organisms and how many are attracted this artificial mangrove. I will then compare this to real mangroves.

I haven't quite fully developed my scientific question yet. I am leaning towards "Are the same organisms that are naturally attracted to the real mangroves also attracted to the artificial mangroves?". I am open to ideas if anyone has something they think would help out!

I could use a bar graph like the one below to track the type of species at the artificial vs the type at the natural. They type of graph I use might change once I finally decided on an official scientific question.

De: Current energy in Ponce Inlet

I have found out this week that there are several ways to find the current speed of water. From high tech to crude bottle and rope method. The project we are working on has so many different ways to do it and electronics to assist you, that it has completely twisted my head into circles. It will be hard to make it simple.


I have found some accelerometers to help gather the data, the "BOBS" to float the accelerometer in, and a potential design. The HOBO is a strong possibility for the accelerometer.

HOBO Pendant G Data Logger

We will not be able to drop our data gathering equipment by suspending it from on the top of the water in the middle in the inlet, so we were thinking about out having our BOB with the HOBO in it, weighted to the bottom of the inlet. The BOB, however, would float up into the main current. It would be like a helium filled balloon anchored to something heavy on the floor. There may be some problems with this. Which will direct our project into a little different path.

A different method we can use instead of the HOBO, would be to use a current meter. But this will require us to spend intermittent 12-hour days checking the speed every 15 minutes.  Either way will get us the data we need. We found the minimum currents required to run different types of turbines. This will tell us, based of the mean current speed at the inlet, if it would be worth putting up the turbines or what size and type of turbine could be supported.