Grade 9 Science Journal Q1

*(IMAGES WILL NOT WORK, CAN’T INCLUDE ANY)

Deforestation and subsequent soil erosion is a very big issue in Haiti. It stems back to the charcoal industry cutting down a large number of trees over a long period of time. This issue could have many ties to the periodic table.

Carbon – Carbon is the main element in trees. Carbon is an essential element to the survival of all living things on earth and trees are no different. The main reason for trees containing so much carbon is photosynthesis. Trees intake large amounts of carbon dioxide (1 carbon, 2 oxygen) through their leaves in a process called photosynthesis. They convert this energy into sugars which they need to live and grow a healthy life. CO2, or carbon dioxide is known as a greenhouse gas. It is a common pollutant and is one of the most prevalent air polluters out there. Trees help regulate some of this gas being released into the environment and atmosphere. Haiti, being a polluted country already, greatly needs these regulators in their ecosystems, but they continually cut them down.

Oxygen – Oxygen is a gas needed by most living things to survive. Trees and other various plants are known to release oxygen in the process known as photosynthesis. While making the sugars they need to live, they release a byproduct of this reaction. This byproduct is oxygen. Trees are one of the most abundant producers of oxygen on land, with plankton producing most aquatic oxygen. With the pollution going on in Haiti, it needs the oxygen produced by these trees. Various corporations over the past few centuries have continued the trend of cutting Haiti’s forests, cutting off some of the oxygen production in the country.

Hydrogen (H2O) – Hydrogen is the primary element in H2O (Water). Water is the main cause of the eroded topsoil being washed away alongside wind. Both hydrogen and oxygen are typically gasses, however, when they are combined with 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom they form a liquid. The washing away of topsoil is the part of soil erosion that makes the affected soil unusable. Though the water is not to blame for the erosion, it speeds up the process by ridding the soil of it’s first and top layer, the topsoil. Without this layer, the land in which has been eroded cannot be used for farming since the topsoil is the best layer for planting and growing, and the lower, subsoil, doesn’t work for farming, making the land nearly useless.