Concerning Population
Since the first agricultural revolution in around 10000 B.C.E., the number of homo sapiens on the Earth has grown exponentially. This topic contains numerous branches and topics in and of themselves. However, it is next to impossible to know all there is to know about population. Some of the basic things concerning population are the crude birth rate and death rate, population pyramids, Zero Population Growth laws, population growth theories of Malthus, Marx, and Boserup, the Demographic Transition Model, the effect of resources and wealth on the population, population density, and which countries have the most people.
Understanding population density is a key part of learning about population. Population density is the measurement of population per unit of something. When measuring human population, the kilometer or the mile is used. Countries such as Indonesia, India, and the Japan have high population density. Indonesia has a population density of 326.51 people per square mile, India has 851.04, and Japan has 873.42. The five countries with the largest population are China, India, the United States of America, Indonesia, and Brazil, in that order. There are about 6.7 billion people on the earth. Those five countries make up more than half of the global population. (3,119,995,960 people) China and India make up about one third of the global population.
There are several theories on how population grows, and why it grows the way it does. One of the more prominent theories was coined by a man called Thomas Malthus. Malthus said that the Earth has a specific limit on how many people can be on it at once. This is known as carrying capacity. Once the number of people on the Earth goes over that capacity, there will not be enough resources to go around. When this happens, there will be checks on the population. Checks on the population are ways to decrease it if it gets too high. A positive check is when humans decide to lower the population by means such as contraception and celibacy. Negative checks are when the population is lowered naturally by means of disease, famine, drought, or any or all of the aforementioned. Another negative check is war. An additional theory was conceived by a man called Karl Marx. He said that population size is not the problem. He said that there is plenty of resources to sustain the people on the planet, but those resources weren’t distributed evenly, thus causing many people to starve. Yet another theory was formed by a woman by the name of Ester Boserup. She believed that the population would decrease if the number of subsistence farmers was increased. Subsistence farmers are people who only eat what they grow. They tend to be at or below starvation level. They tend to have many children because they need help working the farm.
Countries throughout the globe are at different stages in development. There is a way to tell what stage they are at now and what stage they will go to next. This method is called the Demographic Transition Model. The Demographic Transition Model is based on what Great Britain’s population did from before the industrial revolution onward. The model has four stages. Stage one is the pre-industrial stage of a country. This means that many people are farmers. The Crude Birth Rate is high. The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the measure of births per 1000 people. The reason that the CBR is high during stage one is because all of the farmers must have numerous children in order to have enough help on the farm and keep the family alive. The Crude Death Rate (number of deaths per 1000 people) is high as well, due to poor hygiene. In stage two, conditions start to improve. Sanitation is better, as well as medical technology. The CBR stays high due to tradition, and the CDR drops. Stage three is when the CBR and CDR both level off at a low rate. Sanitation and medicine improves even more. Stage four is the final stage of the model. In stage four, the Crude Birth Rate and Crude Death Rate go even lower. Sanitation and medicine are excellent, and most people have a good amount of money. There are critics of the Demographic Transition Model, however. These people argue that four stages is not enough. They say that Japan is already in stage five, which is theoretically when the CBR is lower than the CDR.
The age-sex structure is how many males and females there are in a country and what age those people are. The chart we use to show this data is called an age-sex pyramid. An age-sex pyramid is a chart that has the population numbers on the x-axis and the ages of the people in the country on the y-axis. There are bars jutting out from the age numbers on the x-axis according to the population of each age group. To keep the population under control, some countries issue a one child per couple law. China was the first to do so. The Chinese government wanted the population to stop growing. Although it slowed, the population did not stop growing. The reason this happened is because people were dying at slower rates, and there were many youth entering their reproductive years. This phenomenon is called hidden momentum. Many countries strive to reach Zero Population Growth, (ZPG) which is when the number of births is even with the number of deaths. To do this, the countries must impose strict population laws such as the one child per couple law. Occurrences such as hidden momentum make zero population growth hard to attain.
The number of people on the planet is growing at an astronomical rate. By 2050, the population is projected to surpass nine billion people. Will that number be carrying capacity? Is the Earth at carrying capacity right now? No one knows for sure, but it sure will be interesting to find out. Once the world does reach carrying capacity, there will almost certainly be wars over food, water and land. On the bright side, humans only live on about five percent of the earth’s surface. Humans did not become the dominant species by being dumb. They think, and if something does not suit them, they change it. Humans will adapt to living in places previously thought uninhabitable. They will figure out better ways to grow food. Nobody really knows precisely what the population will do. However, people will continue to populate the Earth regardless of what the experts that try to predict population patterns say.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Diffusion
Diffusion
Why are there McDonalds and KFC franchises in Asia? It seems that such franchises should be in the pear-shaped United States, rather than China or Taiwan. The answer to this question is diffusion. Diffusion is the movement of any characteristic from person to person, group to group, or place to place. Diffusion has two different branches, which are relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion.
Diffusion has many characteristics. The place where diffusion originates is called the hearth. From the hearth, the characteristic spreads. Diffusion can be spread by many means. One of the largest ways is through technology such as the telephone, radio, television, and internet. Another One launch a website in Canada that may be seen by anyone else in the world with internet access. Another means would be via newspaper, which is published every day, and read by millions. Swift diffusion can be aided by a common language, as no translation is required. Some impediments to diffusion could be oceans, mountains, distance, or the lack of a common language. However, these impediments never indefinitely stop diffusion.
Relocation diffusion is the physical spread of cultures, ideas, groups of people, and diseases. An example of relocation diffusion is the gold rush of 1849. People of every nation gathered in California, U.S.A hoping to strike it rich. Many of these people moved permanently. The dominant race that immigrated to California during this time was the Chinese. The Chinese came because they were having a hard time in their home country. They had to beg for food, and work was scarcer than a straight answer from Barack Obama. When they came here, they found a thriving land where work was plenty, and food was much easier to come by than it was in China. With the influx of Chinese workers, Chinatowns sprang up in San Francisco, and stayed there. The Chinese brought with them their culture such as their food, which is a normal part of the average American’s menu today. Many Irish came to the United States during the potato famine of 1845, because millions were dying. The potato was a staple food in Ireland, and when the potato plants started to go bad, Irishmen, women, and children started dying. Many of the surviving Irish people immigrated to America, looking for work and lodging that was better than what they had in Ireland. During the Holocaust, the Nazi Party, a bunch of crazy yet clever Germans under Adolf Hitler decided to kill all of the Jews living under German control. The Jews that weren’t stupid enough or poor enough to stay in Germany immigrated to The United States, Denmark, (which later fell under Nazi control) Poland, (also later conquered by the Nazis) and Great Britain.
Expansion diffusion is divided into three groups: Hierarchical diffusion, stimulus diffusion, and contagious diffusion. Hierarchical diffusion is when an idea starts with the social elite and filters down through the social “food chain”. Hierarchical diffusion is often unpleasant. For example, when the Europeans came to what is presently the United States of America, they preached Christianity to the natives. If the natives refused to accept it, the Europeans simply killed them. When Michael Jordan started to wear those cool shoes, pretty soon everyone in America wanted to wear Air Jordans. Stimulus diffusion is when an original idea is changed by other people that get it. For example, eating Chinese food in America is nothing like authentic Chinese food. When the television was invented, it was boxy, had a wooden outer shell and a circular screen. Gradually, as the TV developed, it got a square screen and took up less space. People were able to watch TV in color for the first time. TVs started taking up less and less space, getting better pictures and better color. Today, many television sets have enormous screens that are only a few inches thick. The television improved enormously because people took a good idea and made it better. Contagious diffusion is how the McDonald’s food franchise came to be in China. Contagious diffusion is when an idea, culture, or disease spreads non-discriminately between people. For example, Johnny could contract the influenza virus when making a lab mistake. Johnny could then cough on Suzie, who would kiss her husband, who would cough on his coworkers later on. His coworkers would then spread the disease in a similar manner. One could launch an internet site saying that Czar Catharine the Great died because she was crushed to death while doing something inappropriate with a horse, even though she really died of a stroke. Internet surfers could then pick it up, publish their own sites, and the myth would be widely accepted as fact.
Diffusion is happening every second of every day of every year. People are constantly migrating from place to place in search of a better life. Ideas are spreading at a lightning-fast rate through new technology. Diffusion will go on as long as there is life on Earth.
Why are there McDonalds and KFC franchises in Asia? It seems that such franchises should be in the pear-shaped United States, rather than China or Taiwan. The answer to this question is diffusion. Diffusion is the movement of any characteristic from person to person, group to group, or place to place. Diffusion has two different branches, which are relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion.
Diffusion has many characteristics. The place where diffusion originates is called the hearth. From the hearth, the characteristic spreads. Diffusion can be spread by many means. One of the largest ways is through technology such as the telephone, radio, television, and internet. Another One launch a website in Canada that may be seen by anyone else in the world with internet access. Another means would be via newspaper, which is published every day, and read by millions. Swift diffusion can be aided by a common language, as no translation is required. Some impediments to diffusion could be oceans, mountains, distance, or the lack of a common language. However, these impediments never indefinitely stop diffusion.
Relocation diffusion is the physical spread of cultures, ideas, groups of people, and diseases. An example of relocation diffusion is the gold rush of 1849. People of every nation gathered in California, U.S.A hoping to strike it rich. Many of these people moved permanently. The dominant race that immigrated to California during this time was the Chinese. The Chinese came because they were having a hard time in their home country. They had to beg for food, and work was scarcer than a straight answer from Barack Obama. When they came here, they found a thriving land where work was plenty, and food was much easier to come by than it was in China. With the influx of Chinese workers, Chinatowns sprang up in San Francisco, and stayed there. The Chinese brought with them their culture such as their food, which is a normal part of the average American’s menu today. Many Irish came to the United States during the potato famine of 1845, because millions were dying. The potato was a staple food in Ireland, and when the potato plants started to go bad, Irishmen, women, and children started dying. Many of the surviving Irish people immigrated to America, looking for work and lodging that was better than what they had in Ireland. During the Holocaust, the Nazi Party, a bunch of crazy yet clever Germans under Adolf Hitler decided to kill all of the Jews living under German control. The Jews that weren’t stupid enough or poor enough to stay in Germany immigrated to The United States, Denmark, (which later fell under Nazi control) Poland, (also later conquered by the Nazis) and Great Britain.
Expansion diffusion is divided into three groups: Hierarchical diffusion, stimulus diffusion, and contagious diffusion. Hierarchical diffusion is when an idea starts with the social elite and filters down through the social “food chain”. Hierarchical diffusion is often unpleasant. For example, when the Europeans came to what is presently the United States of America, they preached Christianity to the natives. If the natives refused to accept it, the Europeans simply killed them. When Michael Jordan started to wear those cool shoes, pretty soon everyone in America wanted to wear Air Jordans. Stimulus diffusion is when an original idea is changed by other people that get it. For example, eating Chinese food in America is nothing like authentic Chinese food. When the television was invented, it was boxy, had a wooden outer shell and a circular screen. Gradually, as the TV developed, it got a square screen and took up less space. People were able to watch TV in color for the first time. TVs started taking up less and less space, getting better pictures and better color. Today, many television sets have enormous screens that are only a few inches thick. The television improved enormously because people took a good idea and made it better. Contagious diffusion is how the McDonald’s food franchise came to be in China. Contagious diffusion is when an idea, culture, or disease spreads non-discriminately between people. For example, Johnny could contract the influenza virus when making a lab mistake. Johnny could then cough on Suzie, who would kiss her husband, who would cough on his coworkers later on. His coworkers would then spread the disease in a similar manner. One could launch an internet site saying that Czar Catharine the Great died because she was crushed to death while doing something inappropriate with a horse, even though she really died of a stroke. Internet surfers could then pick it up, publish their own sites, and the myth would be widely accepted as fact.
Diffusion is happening every second of every day of every year. People are constantly migrating from place to place in search of a better life. Ideas are spreading at a lightning-fast rate through new technology. Diffusion will go on as long as there is life on Earth.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Map Projections
Map Projections Oscar Weinstein
The globe is not meant to be flat. Nevertheless, people have been trying to portray it as such for centuries, squashing something that is meant to be three dimensional into two dimensions. This particular version of the globe is called a map projection. People make map projections because carrying a globe around everywhere is difficult, no matter what size. A small one shows too little detail. A larger one is difficult to transport and hard to study. There is more than one kind of map projections. The typical map projections seen today are: cylindrical, conical, and azimuthal (equal area or mathematical).
The oldest type of map projection is the cylindrical projection. The cylindrical projection was conceived by Gerhardus Mercator. He designed it so that sailors could easily navigate the oceans. They needed this because their maps did not correctly portray the earth as being spherical. Mercator put a candle in the middle of an opaque or clear globe and traced the continents onto a piece of paper. This kind of map projection has a few problems, known as distortion. For example, this kind of projection portrays Greenland as being bigger than the continent of South America. According to this map, Antarctica is ready to swallow up the other six continents. The Mercator projection is the kind of projection most used by schools today. It’s cheap, and it does give the students a general idea of where the continents are, even if it makes them think that Greenland is enormous. In fact, Greenland is actually about fifteen times smaller than the South American continent.
Conical projections, such as the Lambert Conical projection, have less distortion than the Mercator cylindrical projection. However, conical projections are not practical for viewing the whole globe at a time. They distort area, but leave shapes intact. Looking at a conical projection is rather confusing when trying to view the whole globe. It is a little less confusing to look at only one hemisphere at a time. Countries that stretch a long distance from east to west, Such as Russia and Canada, use conical maps. The conical projection is the most accurate at the touch point, which is the central circular line. For example, the touch point on a map projection of the country of Canada would be close to the North Pole.
Azimuthal, or equal area projections, show the curvature of the earth with less distortion than a conical or Mercator projection. However, azimuthal projections are designed to show smaller regions of the globe. These maps are most useful to sailors and aviators because they show great circle routes. A great circle route shows the shortest way to get from one point to the next. The Goodes-Homolosine equal area projection shows the earth with minimal distortion, and it shows true direction. There is one catch, however. The map portrays giant rifts in the oceans. Laying the globe flat is like trying to lay an orange flat. Gaps in the peel must be created in order to make it lay completely level, and not have overlapping peels. There are not giant gaps in the ocean, which is why the Lambert azimuthal projection is more widely used. Azimuthal projections all require the use of math. Cartographers use a combination of geometry and trigonometry to make sure that the distance and shapes are as accurate as possible. Making a mathematical projection involves a fair amount of calculating on a computer. In fact, making a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) map takes using primarily computers to complete.
Human beings have always been fascinated with the world around them. They observe everything about their surroundings from the time they are born until death. People have been projecting this spheroid called earth onto a two dimensional plane for centuries. Although the earth is not meant to be flat, people are doing an exceptional job of making it so to this day with cylindrical, conical, and azimuthal maps. New map technology, such as GIS, is developing rapidly. Who knows how human beings will project their world in the years to come?
The globe is not meant to be flat. Nevertheless, people have been trying to portray it as such for centuries, squashing something that is meant to be three dimensional into two dimensions. This particular version of the globe is called a map projection. People make map projections because carrying a globe around everywhere is difficult, no matter what size. A small one shows too little detail. A larger one is difficult to transport and hard to study. There is more than one kind of map projections. The typical map projections seen today are: cylindrical, conical, and azimuthal (equal area or mathematical).
The oldest type of map projection is the cylindrical projection. The cylindrical projection was conceived by Gerhardus Mercator. He designed it so that sailors could easily navigate the oceans. They needed this because their maps did not correctly portray the earth as being spherical. Mercator put a candle in the middle of an opaque or clear globe and traced the continents onto a piece of paper. This kind of map projection has a few problems, known as distortion. For example, this kind of projection portrays Greenland as being bigger than the continent of South America. According to this map, Antarctica is ready to swallow up the other six continents. The Mercator projection is the kind of projection most used by schools today. It’s cheap, and it does give the students a general idea of where the continents are, even if it makes them think that Greenland is enormous. In fact, Greenland is actually about fifteen times smaller than the South American continent.
Conical projections, such as the Lambert Conical projection, have less distortion than the Mercator cylindrical projection. However, conical projections are not practical for viewing the whole globe at a time. They distort area, but leave shapes intact. Looking at a conical projection is rather confusing when trying to view the whole globe. It is a little less confusing to look at only one hemisphere at a time. Countries that stretch a long distance from east to west, Such as Russia and Canada, use conical maps. The conical projection is the most accurate at the touch point, which is the central circular line. For example, the touch point on a map projection of the country of Canada would be close to the North Pole.
Azimuthal, or equal area projections, show the curvature of the earth with less distortion than a conical or Mercator projection. However, azimuthal projections are designed to show smaller regions of the globe. These maps are most useful to sailors and aviators because they show great circle routes. A great circle route shows the shortest way to get from one point to the next. The Goodes-Homolosine equal area projection shows the earth with minimal distortion, and it shows true direction. There is one catch, however. The map portrays giant rifts in the oceans. Laying the globe flat is like trying to lay an orange flat. Gaps in the peel must be created in order to make it lay completely level, and not have overlapping peels. There are not giant gaps in the ocean, which is why the Lambert azimuthal projection is more widely used. Azimuthal projections all require the use of math. Cartographers use a combination of geometry and trigonometry to make sure that the distance and shapes are as accurate as possible. Making a mathematical projection involves a fair amount of calculating on a computer. In fact, making a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) map takes using primarily computers to complete.
Human beings have always been fascinated with the world around them. They observe everything about their surroundings from the time they are born until death. People have been projecting this spheroid called earth onto a two dimensional plane for centuries. Although the earth is not meant to be flat, people are doing an exceptional job of making it so to this day with cylindrical, conical, and azimuthal maps. New map technology, such as GIS, is developing rapidly. Who knows how human beings will project their world in the years to come?
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