The Horse 2020/21

 Here you have a overview for the «6 R’s»:

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To better comprehend the nature of soils and their behavior, we must first understand their properties, as well as be familiar with some of the popular phrases used when discussing soils.

Soil type determines how a soil operates and how suitable it is for various applications. You've probably heard of soil types like silty, clay, loam and sandy loam and wondered what they meant. More...

What is soil?
Soil is so very important because we need it to survive. Without it we wouldn't have any food nor nature, 
which can provide us with oxygen. 

What are its functions?
The soil regulates the natural cycles of water, air and orgaic and mineral matter. It filters and purifies water, stores and breaks down substances and is therefore a vital link in the constant flow of energy and matter throughout the Earth's entire ecosystem.

Audio:
Soil.m4a (549,72 kb)

Quiz-Question
Decide which soil function is dominant in the blue marked part of this landscape?
a) Food production
b) Biodiversity
c) Foundation for building

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Well, we can tell you that is not absolutely true. The grass is greener where it gets water. But it does not only depend on the water, it depends a lot on the soil. More specifically on soil water interactions. It's also named soil-water processes.

Have you ever heard about the "hydrologic cycle"?

An important question that we asked each other was; what are soil-water processes? Well, we are going to explain it to you.

When it's raining, the water arrives on the soil surface. Then a  lot of things can happen to that water. Either the water will enter the soil by infiltration or it will stay on the surface and form puddles if it cannot infiltrate. Once water has entered the soil, it will spread out and move in different directions. This is called redistribution and involves percolation (downward movement) and capillarity (this is sideways and upward movement).

The function of storage is an important soil-water process. It makes the water available for uptake by plant roots and evaporation. Then the water gets into the soil but it's not stored there.

But why are these soil-water processes so important?
Plants need water, air and nutrients. Water movements through soil is what allows there to be air exchange in the soil too and it delivers the nutrients which plants need and get mostly by their roots.

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EDX 4.3 Soil Biodiversity Characteristics

Soil biodiversity is the variety of life that exists within the soil, including bacteria, fungi, earthworms, and termites. A teaspoon of topsoil typically contains a vast range of different species and up to 6 billion microorganisms.

The group of large organisms in the soil is visible to the human eye. (Macroscopic)
For example:

• Plants
• soil fauna
• worms (earthworms, pot worms)
• isopods, millipedes, centipedes

The group of small organisms in the soil isn't visible to the human eye. (Microscopic)
For example:

• Soil microbes - bacteria, fungi
• microfauna (nematodes)

If we take a look at an arable field or a grassland then we see, aboveground, a few plant species: one plant species in a monocrop and up to 50 species per square meter in species-rich grassland.

Now if we look at the number of different species or the diversity, we can see the smaller the organisms the more different species there are, ranging from 10 species of earthworms to thousands of species of bacteria and fungi.

Soil life is sensitive to disturbance and compaction of soil because that affects the amount of space and air available for plant roots and other soil biotas.

It is also sensitive to chemicals that end up in the soil water, or pollution like oil spills that block access to food, air, and water. Life in soil is also sensitive to temperature and soil acidity.
Soil organisms feed directly or indirectly on plant inputs and not all species like to eat the same thing. So the type of plant you grow, like the type of crop or green manure that you add to the soil, can all influence the abundance and diversity of the soil life.

A vital part of life on earth is the continuous hydrologic cycle; Water cycles from the atmosphere to and through the earth and back  the atmosphere.

Once water has entered the soil, it will spread out in all directions. The water either gets stored for reusing by plants for example or it drains downward. 
Because of soil water air and nutriens can get in the ground which is very imiportant.

Hydropower is the usage of water to operate machines or generate electricity. Water is in a constant state of movement through a huge global cycle: it is evaporated [1] from lakes and oceans, it forms clouds, it drops as rain or snow, and then it returns to the sea. The energy of this water cycle, which is powered by the sun, can be drawn on to generate electricity or for such mechanical tasks as the milling of grain [2]. Hydropower uses a source of fuel water [3], that is not reduced or used up in the process. Because the water cycle is an infinite, ever-renewing system, hydropower is classified as renewable energy.

If running water is captured and transformed into electricity, it is referred to as hydropower or hydroelectricity. There are various types of hydropower plants, they are all powered by the kinetic energy of flowing water as it moves downstream. Turbines and generators turn the energy into electricity, which is then fed into the power grid [4] for use in households, companies and industries.

Types of hydropower and dams

There are different kinds of hydroelectric power plants [5], all of these are powered by More...

"Biomass" is a fancy word for something very simple: stuff that’s found in nature. People have used biomass energy ever since the very first caveman (Höhlenmensch) thought to make a fire out of wood! Today, biomass power plants use everything from animal waste to wood pellets to create electricity. There are lots of advantages to biomass energy, which is a renewable energy source.More...

Run-of-river power plants are built on rivers and use the energy of water flowing down a gradient. In most cases, this is only a few meters, but since several hundred tons of water can flow down per second, run-of-river power stations can have a large capacity of several megawatts (MW). The water flow spins turbines, which converts kinetic rotational energy to electrical energy.¹ 

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Wind is the result of the sun's uneven heating of the atmosphere.  
Warm air expands and rises, and cool air contracts and sinks.  
This movement of the air is called Wind. [1]

Wind turbine [2]

A wind turbine with a rotor blowing wind into energy. The wind causes the rotor to rotate - the "rotational energy" is then converted into electricity with the help of a generator, similar to a bicycle dynamo. From there, the electrical energy goes into the power grid. The height of the wind turbine is very important. The taller the turbine, the more evenly the wind blows and the more electricity can be generated. More...