Skylar Windholz
Intro to Geography
March 25, 2018
Book Review
An Ocean of Air An Ocean of Air, written by Gabrielle Walker, mainly discusses the “Ocean of Air” that lives all around us, in which this ocean of air allows us to live. Nevertheless, it can do much more than that. Walker takes readers on a journey in only seven chapters with topics such as climate change, oxygen, the effects of chlorofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide, the ionosphere, and many more. The author also provides detailed descriptions of the experiments, lives, and discoveries of these brilliant minds who forever changed how we perceive our atmosphere.
Once I further investigated the life of Gabrielle Walker, I discovered that she helps businesses address climate change, …show more content…
More specifically, Galileo changed “the way we see the most apparently ordinary substance in the world: air” (pg4). His fascination with air, gradually turned into experiments to test how heavy air was by taking a large glass bottle, a leather stopper, and a syringe connected to a bellow in order to put water into the glass bottle. Afterward, Galileo weighed the bottle with the water inside, then opened the valve allowing the pressurized air to escape, once again weighing just the water, and lastly, pouring the water out and measuring one last time. This allowed him to subtract the differences between the water and the air to discover how much air weighs compared to water. Come to find out, “air seemed to weigh as much as one four-hundredth the weight of an equivalent amount of water” (pg6). Although this may not sound like a lot, this number is quite significant. I believe beginning the book with Galileo Galilei was a wonderful starting point to introduce the concept of air and the important role it plays throughout the entire …show more content…
It was discovered through the use of an air pump in order to measure how much air was released from the limewater compared to the ordinary water, which resulted in the same amount being released. This fixed air “appears in our breath when we exhale” and without this element, all living things on Earth would die from starvation (pg66). As humans and animals inhale oxygen to burn energy, carbon dioxide is released as a waste product of the respiratory system. On the other hand, plants take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we need to live, as their waste product. Even though carbon dioxide is useful to us, it can also be just as deadly. One issue relating to carbon dioxide that has been argued for centuries is global warming or climate change, in which the global temperatures rise causing negative effects on our planet. As Walker brings the topic of climate change into the mix, I felt intrigued because it is an important issue that should be discussed more, instead of people trying to push it aside as if it’s nothing. Since “carbon dioxide is a climate driver..even small changes in the gas can make big differences to the temperature”, which is why humans in the past should have been more thoughtful of what is put into the atmosphere. One geologist by the name of Arvid Hogbom, realized that carbon dioxide levels were being raised by humans
Intro to Geography
March 25, 2018
Book Review
An Ocean of Air An Ocean of Air, written by Gabrielle Walker, mainly discusses the “Ocean of Air” that lives all around us, in which this ocean of air allows us to live. Nevertheless, it can do much more than that. Walker takes readers on a journey in only seven chapters with topics such as climate change, oxygen, the effects of chlorofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide, the ionosphere, and many more. The author also provides detailed descriptions of the experiments, lives, and discoveries of these brilliant minds who forever changed how we perceive our atmosphere.
Once I further investigated the life of Gabrielle Walker, I discovered that she helps businesses address climate change, …show more content…
More specifically, Galileo changed “the way we see the most apparently ordinary substance in the world: air” (pg4). His fascination with air, gradually turned into experiments to test how heavy air was by taking a large glass bottle, a leather stopper, and a syringe connected to a bellow in order to put water into the glass bottle. Afterward, Galileo weighed the bottle with the water inside, then opened the valve allowing the pressurized air to escape, once again weighing just the water, and lastly, pouring the water out and measuring one last time. This allowed him to subtract the differences between the water and the air to discover how much air weighs compared to water. Come to find out, “air seemed to weigh as much as one four-hundredth the weight of an equivalent amount of water” (pg6). Although this may not sound like a lot, this number is quite significant. I believe beginning the book with Galileo Galilei was a wonderful starting point to introduce the concept of air and the important role it plays throughout the entire …show more content…
It was discovered through the use of an air pump in order to measure how much air was released from the limewater compared to the ordinary water, which resulted in the same amount being released. This fixed air “appears in our breath when we exhale” and without this element, all living things on Earth would die from starvation (pg66). As humans and animals inhale oxygen to burn energy, carbon dioxide is released as a waste product of the respiratory system. On the other hand, plants take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we need to live, as their waste product. Even though carbon dioxide is useful to us, it can also be just as deadly. One issue relating to carbon dioxide that has been argued for centuries is global warming or climate change, in which the global temperatures rise causing negative effects on our planet. As Walker brings the topic of climate change into the mix, I felt intrigued because it is an important issue that should be discussed more, instead of people trying to push it aside as if it’s nothing. Since “carbon dioxide is a climate driver..even small changes in the gas can make big differences to the temperature”, which is why humans in the past should have been more thoughtful of what is put into the atmosphere. One geologist by the name of Arvid Hogbom, realized that carbon dioxide levels were being raised by humans