Friday, July 12, 2013

Christopher Charles Reardon / clockwise or counterclockwise

My name is Christopher Charles Reardon. I am a 43-Year-old undergraduate student at Boston University Metropolitan College. Coincidentally, today—July 13—is my 43^rd birthday After successful completion of this course, I will be a mere 16 credits away from the attainment of my degree and could not be more excited to be so close to completing this achievement! I work full time as a substance abuse counselor at an addiction treatment facility in the Boston area and am truly passionate about my work. I am in school in order to obtain a degree so that I may support people in their substance use disorder recoveries by contributing to the addiction treatment field at a higher level.

I have chosen to take this course at the recommendation of my academic advisor Ellen Peterson. Furthermore, some students from last year’s class recommended this class to me. Since I am a social work/human services type of a guy, I am definitely not strong in science or math. My understanding of this course is that it will blend classroom and field activities in an engaging and relatable manner. Moreover, this class will fulfill my final science requirement.

I love the ocean and wish I had more time to be near it. I used to live in a tiny studio apartment on Provincetown Harbor and fondly recall being soothed to sleep at night by the sounds of the waves and clanging sailboat lines during the summer. I do not miss living in that town and am grateful for my improved lifestyle since leaving but I surely miss the ocean. There is something unnatural to me about spending an entire summer walking solely on concrete. However, my city experiences have brought me full-circle to a Boston University basement classroom where I had an opportunity to work with my peers tonight on an observation about what happens to water—specifically sink water—before it swirls down the drain.

Our task was to fill the sink with water and determine in which direction the water circles as it goes down the drain: clockwise or counterclockwise. As we waited for our turn, we watched the group in front of us and noticed the group’s disagreement about the direction of the water. The group was not unanimous. My three peers and I gathered around the sink and then discussed the task. Since the group before us seemed to have such a problem with their visual evaluation of the draining process, I suggested that we add a tiny piece of paper to the water as it drained. My theory was that the added contrast provided by the paper would make the current far easier to follow. As soon as the sink was roughly ¾ full of water, I gently released my hand. The water began to swirl in a noticeably counterclockwise direction. I then added a crumbled piece of paper towel (about the size of a pea) and noticed that the paper followed a decidedly counterclockwise direction. The entire group unanimously agreed that the water flowed in a counterclockwise direction.

There are various explanations regarding the direction that water drains throughout scientific literature. An article in Scientific American discusses several theories. For example, geologist Brad Hanson states that the Coriolis effect—an effect caused by the rotation of the Earth—causes water draining from drains to drain clockwise on the northern and counterclockwise on the southern hemisphere. Professor Fred W. Decker, however, states that the direction that the water drains has more to do with “an accidental twist given by the starting flow.” In other words, the direction of the flow could change each time depending on conditions at the time of the trial. Decker suggests further empirical trials. Physicist Robert Ehrlich also states in the article that the Coriolis effect is far less noticeable in a small area like a drain. He states, however, that if all external influences are removed such as currents, wind, and drain irregularities then “apparently” drains drain in different directions on different hemispheres. (Scientific American, 2001). Evidence of the minimal correlation between the direction that water drains out of a sink and the Coriolis effect may be found in the text Physics: A World View (Kirkpatrick & Francis, 2007). Again, this text indicates that although the Coriolis effect is real, such conditions cannot be replicated in a sink or a toilet unless perfect scientific conditions are present. Finally, in 1962, researcher Ascher Shapiro at MIT found that the effect of the Coriolis effect on water drainage is real, however, the effect is not strong enough to overcome external forces as in the aforementioned examples (Shapiro, 1962).

Tonight’s small group experiment, although earnest, lacked the basic tenants of the scientific method. For starters, we did not take any time to figure out what we were doing and second, we did not even repeat our experiment to see if the result was repeatable. Therefore, this experiment illustrates why so much junk science is out there. People in the public (including me) are easily swayed by quick demonstrations and are ill informed regarding the proper study of science.

References

Kirkpatrick, L. D., & Francis, G. D. (2007). Physics: A World View. Belmont, California, USA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Scientific American. (2001, January 28). Can somebody finally settle this question: Does water flowing down a drain spin in different directions depending on which hemisphere you're in? And if so, why? Retrieved July 12, 2013, from Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-somebody-finally-sett

Shapiro, A. H. (1962). The Fluid Dynamics of Drag:. Garden City, New York, USA: Doubleday.

1 comment:

Bruce Berman said...: Chris - very nice work.
Thanks.
Bruce; July 13, 2013 at 6:56 AM

From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”

From Snails to Whales

Friday, July 12, 2013

Christopher Charles Reardon / clockwise or counterclockwise

References

1 comment:

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