by My name is Miguel Rodriguez. I am from Castroville, California and I attend school at Monterey Peninsula College. My current goal is to receive a degree in the field of Marine Biology. Things I like to do on my spare time is play basketball, watch the stars, and play video games.
Today we were introduced to the characteristics of waves and how they originate from storms which a process is called dispersion. What I thought was interesting on today’s lecture is how temperature and salinity control the water density. To prove this we had a lab in which we put room temperature water into a container that was slightly tilted. We then put food coloring into two separate cups to distinguish their difference in temperature. One of the cups had hot water that we used from the coffee machine and the other contained cold water. Once we slowly poured these cups into the container we watched as the hot water rose to the top and the cold water sunk to the bottom. Then, in another cup we mixed a teaspoon full of salt and another drop of food coloring (different from the other two) and watched as it sunk below the cold water which showed us that salty water will sink. This lab explained why hot areas like the Red Sea contain such a high levels of salinity compared to other places.
I was able to interview one of the cooks on the Oceanus named Shaun and we had a great conversation about his life and how he ended up traveling the world. He is very enthusiastic about motorcycles, music and video game designing. It was interesting to hear from someone who had the same interests as I do and what was more surprising is that he did not see himself working as a cook when he was younger. Needless to say he is happy with what he does.
We were given information as to how the X Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy works which is a device that uses electrons to determine what elements can be found in an object. What amazed me is when I was told that this device is used for paintings to distinguish original work from forged painting.
One thing I would like to learn is what elements are contained in our core samples but I’m sure we will find out soon!
