Articles about Quadratics, Sound and Cation Exchange Capacity

I have a few more articles published in eHow on a range of topics.  The first is about computing the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) for soils.  I have used this number to estimate heavy metal and nutrient uptake for soils in conjunction with on-site sewage disposal systems.  The CEC along with Percent Base Saturation also has use in determining soil fertility and how best to apply nutrients to the soil.

How to Calculate CEC in MEQ/100 GMS

 The next article is about computation of the sound velocity in metals.  Although not used very much in everyday life, this property of solids has found a lot of use in manufacturing, especially quality control of refractory metals and ceramics. OF course, the computation of sound velocity is very important in the study of geology and earthquakes.

How to Calculate Sonic Velocity in Metals 

The final article (for now) has to do with the uses of quadratic functions in the real world.  These functions have broad application to a variety of topics and areas of study. I just chose a few that are not normally discussed in algebra class word problems.

Quadratics in the Real World 

 

How to Install a rainbarrel

Rain barrels are becoming a popular way to conserve water, by storing rain water for alter use, and not using good drinking water just to water plants.  Here is an article I wrote on installing rain barrels:

How to Catch and Store Rain Water

Find the Square Root of Rational Numbers

If you have any square roots to find, throw away your calculator and do them by hand! As Pythagoras used to say, "I don't need no stinking abacus!".

How to find the Square Root of Rational Numbers

The method of approximations discussed in  the article also can be used in computer programming to speed up the computation of graphics, as there are many square root calculations which can significantly slow graphic and physic engines. Many times the calculation only needs to be to one decimal place accuracy to place a point on the screen.

More articles published in eHow

I recently had two more articles published.  The first has to do with water pollution.

The three types of water pollution.

The second has to do with wind power.

The drawbacks to vertical wind turbines.

Thanks for coming by and reading my work, I hope you find it useful.

New eHow articles

I have published two more eHow articles, one on a math topic and another on hydrology.

How to find the Greatest Common Factor of Polynomials

How to Develop IDF Curves

Both were interesting and fun to write.  Hopefully make for good reading as well.

More eHow articles

I have another eHow article published.

How to install corrugated polyethylene pipe



I have plenty more titles in the pipeline!

How to make a portable water level sensor

I wrote this article for eHow, and it was published a little while back.  I took a picture for the article reference which was not included when it was published.  Therefore, I am printing it here with a link to the article.

The picture shows some of the parts of the sensor.  The PVC fittings in the foreground are the 1 1/2" PVC Cap, the the 1 1/2" X 3/4" PVC adapter, and the 1/2" PVC cap and plug.  The silver object on the lower right is a sensor that I have used quite a bit for monitor wells. 


 The silver sensor was constructed from a 1" PVC cap and a 1" x 3/4" copper terminal end, with a float constructed of two 1/2" PVC caps glued together.  The reed switch is from a security system window sensor that mounts in a 1/4" hole, drilled in to the cap.  The sensor is hung by the long screw eye mounted in the top sensor.  The wire is a two conductor microphone wire that I am not sure is available anymore.

Here is the link to the article.  Have fun!