AP Human Geography

Compare and contrast Oregon and Iowa. These come from vastly different perceptual regions. Does the data look similar or different? Explain.


Oregon is the number 10th state by land area, but Iowa is the number 23rd state by land area. The area of Oregon is about twice the size of Iowa which is 95,962.6sqm and 55,838.9sqm. From the population perspective, Oregon has 1 million people more than Iowa’s population which is about 4 million and 3 million people. Iowa is a way more densely populated state than Oregon from comparing the population and the state’s area. The household income of Oregon is slightly more than Iowa's, however, the income per capita of Iowa is more than Oregon. The census also illustrates that Iowa’s employment rate is also slightly more than Oregon’s employment rate.

In conclusion, the geographical perspective is hugely different. The size of Oregon is twice the size of Iowa. However, from the economic perspective, Iowa is slightly better because the household income per capita, the employment rate, and the healthcare are a bit better than in Oregon.

Table Tennis

Ping-Pong is a ball game played on a flat table divided into two equal courts by a net fixed across its width in the middle. The goal is to hit the ball over the net and bounce it on the opponent's half of the table in such a way that the opponent cannot reach it or correctly return it. The lightweight hollow ball is pushed back and forth across the net by the player's small paddles. Ping Pong was invented in the 1880s in Victorian, England by Englishman David Foster. Table tennis was filed on July 15, 1890’s This sport was set in the Olympics in the year 1988.

2.2 The scoring system change was possibly the most significant change in table tennis history. Previous to 2001, games could be scored up to 21 points, with service changing every 5 points. If both players (or both pairs in doubles) score ten points, the game is won by the first player or pair to win by two points. In the present, the score is mostly for 11 points- for most of the major leagues.


You have two serves before it is your opponent’s turn to serve twice. This used to be five serves each but since changing to 11 it’s now just two.


At 10-10, it’s deuce. You get one serve each and must win by two clear points. This is sudden death or table tennis’ equivalent of a tie break.


If you are playing a best of 3, 5, or 7 (as opposed to just one set) you have to change ends after each game. This makes sure both players experience conditions on both sides of the table. You also change ends when the first player reaches five points in the final game of a match.

2.3 Table Tennis Balls

Plastic balls began to replace celluloid balls at the most important events under the rules of ITTF – including the World Championships, World Tour Tournaments, and other major competitions during the 2014-2015 table tennis season. The transition proceeded in such a way that the old celluloid balls were phased out, with them overlapping with plastic balls for a time before completely disappearing. Surprisingly, the introduction of plastic balls did not necessitate any rule changes because the rules do not specify the material of the ball; only the weight, diameter, and rebound are specified.




Table Tennis tables

Originally table tennis was played on the dining room or billiards tables. Players would set up nets across the table and sometimes even nets at the sides to catch the ball. It’s thought that in India the British army would make their own tables using a row of books for the net, more books as makeshift paddles, and then a golf ball!

Table Tennis Paddle
The paddle used came in a variety of different styles, shapes and sizes. The common ones were made out of wood and covered in vellum canvas that was stretched across the wooden frame. This is how ping pong got its name as the sounds made when the ball hit the paddle were at different pitches.

It wasn’t until 1900 that E.C Goode invented a paddle that is more recognizable to us today. He was the first to use a sheet of rubber on top of the wooden blade but it wasn’t until a lot later that sponge was used between the blade and the rubber.

2.4 There are two biggest tournaments of table tennis including the Olympic games and the World Table Tennis Championships.







2.5 The equipment required to play ping pong is similar to a scaled-down version of tennis. Table tennis is played indoors and requires only three pieces of equipment to play. To play, all you need is a paddle, a ball, a table, and a net!

Space Exploration

How to make space exploration farther and also have a human in that spacecraft?

This started because the Earth, our home planet has lost a lot of non-renewable resources, and someday shortly that non-renewable resources will disappear. So, we have to find another planet where humans can survive and sustain humanity. In the history of humanity, the farthest space exploration is nearly 14 ½ billion miles (23 million km) from Earth which is the Voyager 1. However, there was no human on the Voyager 1 spacecraft. My question is “How to make space exploration farther and also have a human in that spacecraft?” For the Voyager 1, NASA (The National Aeronautics Space Administration) uses the slingshot technique, slingshotting around planets to use its gravitational force and turn on the booster, so that a high amount of energy makes the spacecraft accelerate at a high speed.

At the present, the 3 main things limiting our space exploration are the resources that are devoted to it, the constraints of our existing technology (Voyager 1 thrust, etc.), and the laws of physics. For the first reason, we can’t devote more resources to support this space exploration because there are no people that are willing to ask society for the resource. If there are enough resources, humanity should have developed advanced technology to solve problems. Space travel to the other star systems is still a dream for the next generations because we don’t have the technology that can make this possible. Scientists at NASA couldn’t use the law of physics formulas to innovate a better idea than doing the slingshot technique around the planets, on the other hand, we have to create and experiment with nuclear-powered rockets, fusion technology, and Dark matter fuel-based, wormholes, or even warp drive.

The only thing that seems possible is the nuclear-powered rockets because we already have a small-scale Nuclear power plant (we will build a cooling system like a water cooling system in PC to cool the Nuclear power plant down). We will use an Arc Reactor which stores energy and can be used after each slingshot so that it helps boost the speed of the spacecraft. Then, we have to use the slingshot technique from the order of the closest planet to us depending on the day that the spacecraft has been launched. The design of the spacecraft has to be minimalized by removing unnecessary things. This nuclear-powered spacecraft and the slingshot idea are created from the applied and integrated from science. For the time issue, I have an idea of using a sleeping slot where you can sleep there and wake up when it reaches the destination of another solar system. There will be 7 astronauts in the spacecraft and each of them will have to wake up and do their job for an equal time. We can also use Science to experiment and create a code that would help stabilize the direction of the spacecraft. A possible invention in the present would be the Autopilot.

Bibliography:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2021/12/30/how-far-could-a-spaceship-go-if-we-never-ran-out-of-thrust/?sh=5f169c4329ee

Siegel, Ethan. “How Far Could a Spaceship Go If We Never Ran out of Thrust?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 Apr. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/start

f169c4329ee.

Renewable Energy: Energy Around Us

    

During the past 150 years, non-renewable sources of energy such as fossil fuels and natural gas have decreased by a huge amount because all humans are using them as the main source of energy. This essay will explain how to use wind energy and the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy. It will also explain how wind energy would be the next main energy source that will give the world a more sustainable future.




First, wind energy is the use of wind turbines to convert kinetic energy to mechanical energy. Subsequently, electrical energy is generated from mechanical energy by the electrical generator. Additionally, wind energy is an emission-free source of energy because it does not release emissions that can pollute the air or water. Moreover, they do not require water for cooling the turbines.




In addition, wind energy has both advantages and disadvantages and I will explain them from all the perspectives. Moreover, the advantages of wind energy are Free fuel which means that they don’t need to be fueled at all. So they are one of the cleanest forms of energy because they don’t rely on fossil fuels as stated the point above, however, wind energy is mostly required during the production of material, installation, and construction. Wind energy reduces our dependence on Fossil Fuels. Wind energy is the cheapest form of energy source.




Furthermore, the disadvantages of wind turbines are dangerous to some wildlife like birds or bats whose habitats or migratory paths could injure or kill them if they fly into the blades. These wind turbines release noise pollution from their very loud noise that ranges between 40 to 105 decibels. This may cause negative effects on humans and all living creatures if we got too close to the wind turbines. Lastly, wind energy suffers from unreliable/unpredictable wind speed since the wind blows at a variety of speeds. It is hard to predict the amount of wind energy that can be collected at a given time. This means that suppliers and cities must have an energy reserve or alternative sources of power in case the winds die down for an extended period of time. This is called Intermittency, which is caused by the inconsistency of the wind’s speed.






As you might have known, fossil fuels and natural gas are the main sources of energy that humans worldwide use to generate electrical energy, however, they are both non-renewable energy which have a lot of negative impacts on the environment and the world such as air and water pollution and global warming emission. The solution to decreasing the use of both fossil fuels and natural gas is wind energy because wind turbines do not need any fossil fuel or natural gas, it just needs the wind flowing to the wind turbines. Thailand could be a role model to other countries because Thailand uses wind energy from the 2 main wind turbines at the coastal of 2.5 MW in Songkhla as a sea wind power plant and 2.5 MW in Nakhon Ratchasima as a land wind power plant. Fossil fuels and Natural gas can be reduced even more by connecting a wind turbine to the vehicle (boats or yachts) to generate the electricity for that vehicle while driving. Overall, it is believed that wind energy could be used as the main source of energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels and natural gas. For example, Denmark is the closest because it uses wind energy 47% out of all its energy sources.


In conclusion, wind energy could be used as the main source of energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels and natural gas, however, there are also a few disadvantages that we will have to fix future technologies and innovation.








Bibliography


“U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis.” Wind Energy and the Environment - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/wind-energy-and-the-environment.php.


“What Is Wind Power?” WINDExchange, https://windexchange.energy.gov/what-is-wind.


“Wind Energy: The Pros and Cons.” Just Energy, 3 Dec. 2021, https://justenergy.com/blog/wind-energy-pros-and-cons/.


“What Is Wind Power?” What Is Wind Energy | GE Renewable Energy, https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/what-is-wind-energy.


“How Loud Is a Wind Turbine?” GE News, https://www.ge.com/news/reports/how-loud-is-a-wind-turbine.

Education

During the past few years, numerous parents worldwide have wanted their children to do organized activities in during their spare time. In addition, the students are stressed because they don’t get to do their hobby even it is their rest time. Personally, I agree with how people or guardians should let the kids do their leisure activities or work on anything that they like during their relax time. In this essay I will explain about the children activities developing and improving them both physically and emotionally.




First, it is my belief that the kids should be able to do whatever they want during their free time, because this helps them to create and develop their creativity and other skills. For example, if they like to play Lego buildings, it will help them to develop their architectural design skills which could be used in the future. Furthermore, this would keep them relax and it is also a time for them to recover their usage of their brain while earning the knowledges from the school education system. This is very important for kids this age because it is the part where their brain is developing the fastest in their life. Also, referring to the ideology of “Learn Hard, Play hard”, this is true because we both earn experience and skills from their leisure activities.



Second, I think that letting the kids do whatever they want during their free time is also improving them physically. For example, if the children go out to exercise or play sports. This helps build up their health or if they get injured, they also earn the experience of pain and would make them stronger and ready for the harsh world in the future. Additionally, if they play a team sport this builds up confidence, teamwork, and soft skills. These skills are very significant for them when they are learning or working in the future. This gives them the habit of not giving up and the sportsmanship to help them be more of a good citizen.




In conclusion, numerous parents worldwide have wanted their children to do organized activities in during their spare time. This is why I believe that we should let the children do their favorite activities in their spare time. Moreover, this helps the children
to gain skills and experience in these activities that are crucial for their life in the future. I have explained the reasons to support my opinion in the essay.

Industrialization- Working class

 These are the actions taken to improve the working conditions of the worker. Firstly, Socialist parties (Professional Bourgeoisie) formed socialist parties to advocate for the working class. They also pressured the governments to form laws to improve the working conditions for workers. Secondly, the Knights of Labor demanded better working conditions for workers. They also organized strikes or protests, which were often violently suppressed by authorities. Thirdly, Karl Marx urged workers around the world to start a revolution to overthrow Capitalism. Lastly, Social laws in the United Kingdom (19th century) about kids' education, working limits, and minimum wage. These are the actions taken to improve the working conditions of the worker.

These are the state interventions in opposition to workers’ demands. Firstly, the authorities often violently suppressed the Knights of Labor for demanding better working conditions for workers. The Knights of Labor organized strikes and this union started in 1868 in the United States. Secondly, the Miners’ strike in 1893, the governments forbid strikes because they think that these strikes will obstruct the right of entrepreneurs to gain a profit. They intervene by sending police to suppress the miners that come to the strike. These are the state interventions in opposition to workers’ demands.

Here are the state interventions in support of workers’ demands. Firstly, Social laws were adopted in the United Kingdom in the 19th century. They were adopted during the years 1801-1910. In 1801, children under the age of 8 could not work. In 1833, the working hours were limited to 80 hours per week for teenagers under 18 years old and 48 hours per week for juveniles under 13 years old. In 1876, elementary schools were required and in 1990 the minimum wage was introduced. Secondly, the government of Germany applies public health insurance and other social insurance, such as help for workers who are too old to work. Here are the state interventions in support of workers’ demands.

Abstract Your Mind: Lucid Dream

 I would like to name this work of art “Lucid Dreams” because it is my dream to take a photo of a tree with a nice space and the northern light background that makes you feel like you are creating your dream. Lucid can also have a meaning of Luminous or Bright light. I created this work of art by taking a photo of a normal tree in the garden. Then, I sketched the tree with a pencil to make it a representational artwork of the tree. Next, I played around with the elements of art to create an abstract artwork inspired by my sketch. Lastly, I created the abstract artwork with Acrylic paint (for the different colors) and chalk (for the texture) in the style of Action painting originally created by Jackson Pollock. The skill I learned while creating this was Speed is the key to success. For example, when I was doing the action painting part, the speed of flicking my wrist is very important because if it was too fast it would go all over the table and if it was too slow not enough paint would go onto the paper. My favorite part was the tree trunk because it looks like space. I also liked the two Lion Dance next to the tree trunk because it was Chinese New Year so I did that.