Critical Thinking

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Critical Thinking
Answer each of these questions. Be sure to refer to any outside links given.

This activity contains 3 questions.

Use Google or the search engines in the Net Search section to search for information on the 1995 Chicago heat wave mentioned in Focus Study 5-1 in your text, and write a brief essay describing what you find. What explanations for the heat wave and its high death toll did various sources offer or report? What, if any, role did urban heat island effects and global warming play in the disaster? How might the disaster have been averted?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Describe a time that you personally were made to feel colder due to wind chill or warmer due to high humidity. What time of year was it? Review Focus Study 5.1 in your text, and estimate the conditions that you were feeling using the charts provided. Physiologically, what was making you feel colder or warmer than the thermometer indicated at the time?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

As you have learned, the density of the atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude. At 18,000 feet (5500 m), the density of the atmosphere is about half of that at sea level. As the popularity of mountaineering increases, more and more climbers are spending time at or well above this altitude. Other than the direct effects of colder temperatures, what effects does this lowered air density have on the human body at such altitudes?

For help in answering this question, go to the Princeton Outdoor Action Program Guide to High Altitude or check out altitude illness in the Net Search section. Write an essay on what you find.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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