Consider a Spherical Cow, second edition, 2e

A Course in Environmental Problem Solving

by Harte

ISBN: 9781940380223 | Copyright 2024

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Overview

This new edition of Consider a Spherical Cow teaches basic mathematical modeling skills that are widely applicable to a huge range of environmental problems facing the world today. Organized both by modeling tools and environmental topics, this innovative book includes 56 posed problems and worked-out solutions. Readers will find introductions to topics, extensive pedagogic material explaining how to use the relevant modeling tools, and opportunities to think more deeply about or confirm steps in the provided solutions. This new edition includes 101 new quantitative homework exercises, an appendix compendium of updated environmental data, a glossary, and a bibliography, plus entirely new sections on probability, toxics, radiation and radioactivity, and epidemics.With wide topical coverage, Harte teaches the math step by step in the context of actual posed environmental problems, emphasizes limitations and strengths of models, and describes practical applications to real problems and situations. Along with the many worked-out problems, discussion questions and quantitative problems are provided as exercises for the reader. The book emphasizes creative applications of math to environmental science, not plug-in problems.

Published under the University Science Books imprint

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Front Cover (pg. i)
Copyright Page (pg. v)
Contents (pg. vi)
Acknowledgments (pg. x)
Preface (pg. xii)
Chapter I (pg. 1)
I.1. Counting Cobblers (pg. 2)
I.2. Measuring Molecules (pg. 4)
I.3. The Size of an Ancient Asteroid (pg. 6)
I.4. Using Up Fossil Fuel Resources (1) (pg. 8)
I.5. Getting Denser (pg. 9)
I.6. The Greens We Eat (pg. 13)
I.7. Sulfur in Coal (pg. 17)
Chapter II (pg. 21)
II.A. Probability (pg. 21)
II.A.1. Contaminated Food (pg. 27)
II.A.2. Rarity and Risk (pg. 29)
II.A.3. Interpreting Results of Medical Tests (pg. 32)
II.B. Steady-State Box Models and Residence Times (pg. 35)
II.B.1. School as a Steady-State System (pg. 36)
II.B.2. The Water Above (pg. 38)
II.B.3. Carbon in the Biosphere (pg. 40)
II.B.4. Natural Background SO2 (pg. 43)
II.B.5. Anthropogenic SO2 (pg. 45)
II.B.6. A Polluted Lake (pg. 48)
II.B.7. The Flow of Atmospheric Pollutants between the Hemispheres (pg. 52)
II.B.8. A Perturbed Phosphorus Cycle (1) (pg. 57)
II.B.9. Where Would All the Water Go? (pg. 62)
II.B.10. Aluminum in the Himalaya (pg. 67)
II.C. Thermodynamics and Energy Transfer (pg. 71)
II.C.1. Electricity from Junk Mail (pg. 73)
II.C.2. How How Is Planet Earth? (pg. 75)
II.C.3. Milk and Muscle (pg. 80)
II.C.4. Debunking a Dynamo (pg. 82)
II.C.5. Cooling Off Hot Plants (pg. 84)
II.C.6. When Waters Mix (pg. 88)
II.C.7. Bouncing Sunbeams (pg. 94)
II.D. Chemical Reactions and Equilibria (pg. 99)
II.D.1. Altering the Atmosphere by Burning Fossil Fuels (pg. 104)
II.D.2. The pH of Pristine Precipitation (pg. 108)
II.D.3. Natural Acidity from Biological Processes (pg. 113)
II.E. Non-Steady-State Box Models (pg. 115)
II.E.1. Using Up Fossil Fuels (2) (pg. 117)
II.E.2. Pollution Buildup in a Lake (pg. 120)
Chapter III (pg. 123)
III.A. Biogeochemistry (pg. 125)
III.A.1. Acid Rain (pg. 128)
III.A.2. Mobilization of Trace Metals (pg. 133)
III.A.3. Tracing the Carbon Cycle (pg. 137)
III.A.4. Atmospheric CO2 and the Ocean Carbon Sink (pg. 147)
III.A.5. An Acidifying Lake (pg. 157)
III.A.6. A Perturbed Phosphorus Cycle (2) (pg. 160)
III.B. Climate Change (pg. 168)
III.B.1. Earth’s Surface Temperature (pg. 171)
III.B.2. Lane Use and Climate (pg. 181)
III.B.3. The CO2 “Greenhouse” Effect (pg. 185)
III.B.4. Urban Heat Islands (pg. 195)
III.B.5. The Speed of Climate Change (pg. 202)
III.C. Survival of Populations (pg. 205)
III.C.1. Pesticides That Backfire (pg. 210)
III.C.2. Optimal Harvesting (pg. 213)
III.C.3. Rabbits on the Road (pg. 219)
III.C.4. The Spread of Disease (pg. 223)
III.C.5. Approaching a Steady-State Population in China (pg. 225)
III.D. Toxic Substances (pg. 234)
III.D.1. What Happens to Your Plastic Water Bottle? (pg. 244)
III.D.2. Biomagnification of Trace Substances (pg. 246)
III.D.3. Where Does Ingested Lead Go in Our Bodies? (pg. 252)
III.D.4. Living, Dying Downwind of an Unregulated Coal-Fired Power Plant (pg. 255)
III.E. Radiation and Radioactivity (pg. 258)
III.E.1. Fundamentals (pg. 269)
III.E.2. An Indoor Risk (pg. 271)
III.E.3. The Onus on the Nuclear Industry from Nuclear Power (pg. 276)
III.E.4. Energy Amplification in a Nuclear War (pg. 278)
Epilogue (pg. 281)
101 Homework Problems (pg. 287)
Appendixes (pg. 325)
A. Units, Conversions, and Abbreviations (pg. 327)
B. Some Fundamental Constants of Physics and Chemistry (pg. 330)
C. Earth’s Vital Statistics (pg. 331)
D. Astronomical Data (pg. 332)
E. Air (pg. 333)
F. Water (pg. 334)
G. Energy (pg. 336)
H. The Elements (pg. 339)
I. Global Natural Background Flow to the Atmosphere of Selected Substances (pg. 345)
J. Chemical Reactions and Constants (pg. 346)
K. Radiation and Radioactivity (pg. 349)
L. The Biosphere (pg. 350)
M. Flows and Stocks of Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur on Earth (pg. 351)
N. Climate Data (see also Table F.1) (pg. 356)
O. Characteristics of Average Adult Persons (pg. 357)
P. Human Population Estimates (pg. 357)
Q. Useful Mathematical Approximations (pg. 358)
Glossary (pg. 361)
Bibliography (pg. 367)
Back Cover (pg. 379)
Index (pg. 373)

John Harte

John Harte is a Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. He did his undergraduate studies at Harvard and his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Wisconsin. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pew Scholars award, the Leo Szilard prize from the American Physical Society, and a George Polk award in investigative journalism. He is an elected Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, the Ecological society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has also served on six National Academy of Sciences Committees and has authored over 250 scientific journal publications and eight books. John’s research focuses on ecology, climate, complexity science, and environmental policy.

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