contemporary science and innovations fall11

During the brainstorming session with the group to decide what we should do for our experiment, we tried putting together a list of potential ones that could be recreated and executed effectively.  The purpose for our experiment was to be related to the idea of sustainable energy and a possible alternative method of energy.

At first, there was the idea of creating potential energy through the use of wind power and making different windmills and see how its design and such affected the energy.  We soon realized how difficult it would be to design an experiment that fitted best while providing a clear example of a windmill.  In the end, it was decided that the group’s experiment would be more focused on Greenhouse Gases, temperature (climate) as well as intensity of light.  This combines bits and pieces from a variety of topics covered in class while bringing to light the affects of how global warming is happening and the way our civilization burns through energy.

Professor Tom Vales of the engineering department came by to class to give us a mini presentation accompanied by a series of interesting experiments used to generate energy in a small scale. Many of the “machines” he brought for us to see have been around for centuries and some are still used to this day on a larger scale.

The first contraption he showed us demonstrated the Peltier Effect.  It was named after French physicist, Jean-Charles Peltier and to this day, he is most well known for the Peltier effect.  Its process is relatively simple by nature.  His realization came when he ran the electric current through two different metals and created electricity.  Peltier’s original demonstration of this was by using a fan that had two different legs, each made of a different metal and then placing one leg into a cup of cold water and the other into a cup of hot water.  The electric current began to flow through this and caused the fan to start spinning.  An example of how the Peltier effect is still used today is in car cup holders that are used to either heat or cool drinks.  Even though it was effective, its rate of efficiency is only 10% which deems it unreliable.

An example of how the contraption would be built for the Peltier effect

The second contraption Tom Vale showed us that can be used to generate energy on a smaller scale was the Stirling engine.  Robert Stirling invented it in 1816 and his most famous discovery is this.  In many ways it is close to what the steam engine does but a lot more efficient (up to 60%) and not as dangerous.  Its power is generated from hot water and hot air, with the air moving the engine up and down.  Although it was somewhat simple in nature and quite efficient, it couldn’t operate unless there was a 4 degree Celsius difference between the water and air being used to run the Stirling engine.  However, it can be used as a cooler during hot summer days and a heater during the winter!

Small version of the Stirling Engine

The next experiment contraption he showed us was what’s commonly known as a Barbeque Lighter.  It was initially used as a mechanical light but then went on to become electric light and it would only require a small piece of quartz in order to “spark” up the mechanism.  The concept of it is still very much used to this day in not only barbeque lighters but even lawn mowers.

The last thing he presented was Alternating Current Power System.  It was designed by Serbian-American scientist, Nikola Tesla. He was the first to think of what it would be like to have wireless electricity in homes.  Tom Vales demonstrated this with his own contraption based off of Tesla’s idea made up of a bucket with coils of wire around it so that once there was an electrical current moving through it, it would produce enough energy to light up a light bulb.  Professor Vale’s demonstration of this was extremely interesting and it seemed dangerous albeit he didn’t appear to be too concerned about it.  Once the lights in the classroom were off, we were really able to see how this system worked because he held a fluorescent light that glowed in two different colors since it was filled with Argon gas. The main idea of this concept was to have a machine such as this available in every home but its range wasn’t far enough to be perfectly efficient and it would require a very high level of energy leading to high levels of voltage.

All in all, I found his presentation of the different ways of generating energy to be very informative and I had no idea how something so “simple” could be created on a much larger scale and be so effective.

For this lab, a magnet generated flashlight, LabView software and the number of shakes of the flashlight were used in order to measure the voltage increase in connection to the number of shakes within the time of 30 seconds.  The foundation for this experiment is based on Faraday’s Law which basically means the movement of the magnet in the flashlight moving back and forth between the wire coils affect the electrical currents that are being generated leading to the law of induction.

These were the steps in doing this specific experiment – all steps include using LabView to record data:

1. Measure the voltage of the flashlight with NO shakes for 30 seconds.
2. The second time, slowly shake the flashlight back and forth for 30 seconds
3. The third time, shake the flashlight a little faster than the last time for 30 seconds
4. The fourth time, shake it even faster than the last time for 30 seconds
5. The final time, shake it as fast as possible for 30 seconds

Throughout this entire process, notice the differences in voltage after each trial and send the recorded numbers onto an excel spreadsheet while keeping track of how many shakes were done for each trial.  Once all the data is collected, find the sum of squares for the voltages in each trial along with the number of shakes for each.

Graph of relation between the number of shakes to voltages

As shown in the graph above, the more energy that was used in shaking the magnetic flashlight as well as the higher the number of shakes, the higher the voltage generated.  The plotted data in this graph are of the sum of squares for each trial for the generator experiment.

On October 24, 2011, our class went to the MIT Nuclear Reactor Lab located in Kendall.  When we first got there, it was not at all what we would have expected such a technologically advanced “experiment” to be located in.  It looked just like any other building used for loading and unloading…I would have never thought “that must be where a bunch of nuclear energy experiments are being conducted”!

After our (very friendly) tour guide signed us all in and gave us these little devices that would measure any changes of radiation we may have been exposed to, he gave us a very quick overview of exactly what the reactor was compromised of and what it does.  First of all, the reactor is made up of two separate tanks with the inner tank containing “light” water while the outer one was designed to hold “heavy” water.  The inner tank’s water chamber’s purpose is meant to absorb the neutrons that are moving really fast during fission while using a simple moderator (coolant).  The reactor’s “core” has highly enriched uranium (HEU) and besides this one, there is only one other tank containing HEU that are non-government.  Although it is HEU, our tour guide mentioned that they would like to switch it over to low enriched uranium (LEU) but it is a difficult and lengthy process because of the core’s design that would require renovations and redesign. The actual uranium that’s located in the HEU core is stored in a structure at the bottom of the tank.  There are also six stainless steel blades as well as an automatic regulating rod that controls the power in the core tank.  From how the tour guide explained it, my understanding is that when those steel blades move up, it releases fuel.  This leads to boron absorbing the neutrons that are in the core – this is the fission process.

Outside the MIT Nuclear Reactor

Before our guide allowed us to enter the actual restricted area where the nuclear reactor was, I found it very helpful that he explain the whole nuclear fission process with the model of the reactor.  He proceeded to explain how the particles arrangement in the uranium’s atom is unstable due to the fact that its nucleus can disintegrate easily.  With that, the uranium’s atom can absorb an extra neutron causing the nucleus to split and that’s basically what is happening in the nuclear reactor’s core that is the fission process. Whenever fission happens, neutrons would be released from the nucleus and a chain reaction would occur if this happened to more than one uranium atom at a time.  The six stainless steel blades would absorb the extra neutrons being released in order to prevent that chain reaction from happening because that’s when it becomes dangerous.

Due to the fact that this nuclear power plant is used for the sole purpose of research, no heat that has generated through fission is used to produce electricity.  Any radiation produced in the core of the reactor is meant for the ongoing experiments MIT students are in charge of.  Although the reactor hasn’t reached a critical state, fission could still be happening which is a brief overview of how Fukushima’s disaster occurred according to the tour guide.

Bird's Eye View of the Nuclear Reactor

Once we got to go in and see the actual nuclear reactor, I found myself pleasantly surprised.  It’s funny because you always imagine what it would look like in a place such as that but once you see it it’s almost surreal.  For example, when we got to go into the main control room I couldn’t believe just how many things one person was expected to monitor and memorize in order to make sure everything ran smoothly.  It really put it into perspective just how seriously the MIT students and professors had to train in order to be a part of the research and experiments done there.  What I found most interesting was when we went to the basement below the nuclear reactor and the tour guide pointed out this little room that was once used for terminal patients with brain cancer for experimental treatment and such.  I was definitely fascinated knowing that there had once been human research going on inside that facility.

Main Control Room

Even though I have a very limited knowledge of nuclear energy, power plants and such, I still found the trip to be very informative.  It made the things that we had been discussing in class turn to reality instead of something I was so far removed from.  Personally, I never thought that I would get a chance to visit a facility such as that and besides being educational, it was interesting in general!

This experiment was used as an exercise so that we could understand how to use the different equipment to measure out the voltage output of the solar cell panel and the light intensity output of the NXT through Labview.

The materials/equipment that were needed in order to continue with this exercise included:

1. One solar cell
2. One voltage probe
3. One NXT adaptor
4. NXT with a light sensor
5. One light source – flashlight
6. Labview VI “solarlab1.vi” document
7. Ruler
8. Colored film filters
9. Excel spreadsheet

Preparing for the exercise!

There are two parts to this experiment.  The first part was to calculate the voltage output versus the light intensity.  This was done by first recording the voltage without any light, then adding light onto the solar cell with no distance in between and increasing the distance from that.  For this part of the experiment, my partner and I held the light source away from the solar cell 2 inches first, then 4 inches, 6 inches and finally 8 inches.  With that data, we calculated the numbers from each distance and took the average voltage output according to the intensity of light the solar cell had.

The Excel Spreadsheet for 1st Collection of Data

As shown in the graph below, the further away the light source was from the solar cell, the lower the volt.  Even though there was a minor change in the intensity of the light and whatnot, it is still shown in the graph that there were small increases with the changes in distance.

Graph of Average Voltage versus Intensity (distance)

The second part to this exercise was to use the color film filters.  We went about the experiment for this part the same way we did for the first part except this time, we had three different colored film filters: pink, green, and yellow.  For each time we calculated the voltage output, we would cover the solar cell with one of these colors.  We first started without any filter, then pink, green and finally yellow.  Our controlled variable for this part of the exercise was the intensity of the light.  To do so, we kept the light source two inches above the solar cell for all the color changes.  The point of using these film strips was to filter out certain colors (aka wavelengths).  We would then be able to see the different voltages depending on the color changes and how they were each affected.

The graph below shows the different outcomes (averages) of the voltage output according to the color filters that were used.  As seen, the pink filter allowed the most intensity to pass through the solar panel, followed by the yellow filter.  Interestingly enough, having a green filter created lower outcomes than having no filter at all.

Graph of Average Voltage versus Filter Color

This next experiment was focused on Newton’s second law of F = MA (Force = Mass x Acceleration).  Through this lab, my partner and I were able to see the direct correlation between acceleration versus mass and also acceleration versus power.

The materials we used in this experiment included:

1. Lego motors NXT (force)
2. Pulleys (energy)
3. Weights (mass)

We also used rulers to measure the distance that the weights traveled when the motors were running starting from the bottom up.

Through the use of Labview, my partner and I were able to control the different power speeds determining how fast or slow the pulley would be lifting the weights up.  Not only that, we would either add or take off weights from the pulley to see how the results would vary by doing that.

In Labview, factors including: battery discharge, speed, time, acceleration, mass and power were all calculated within the experiment.  It was up to us to change the mass (weights) and power settings to see the differences in acceleration, etc.

The point of this experiment was to see the Law of Conservation of energy by two means.

1. Keeping a fixed power level while changing the mass.
2. Keeping a fixed mass while changing the power level.

After doing a few trial runs to see if the device and program were working, we used Microsoft Excel to record our numbers for each weight/power change.  After doing so, all the factors (battery discharge, speed, mass, power setting, time and rpm) were all plotted out into graphs.  To see comparisons, we created two separate graphs.

The final step of this experiment was calculating the average power that was used by the motor (Lego mindstorm).  To do so, the following equation was used:

The tag line for the film Contagion is “Nothing Spreads Like Fear”.  I would say that is the most direct and simple way to define what a pandemic does to people.  This type of thing, an invisible organism, virus, bacteria…a pandemic, spreads so easily and is definitely something to be feared.  Given the fact that globalization is part of the modern day world, as well as travel and a somewhat large portion of the public who are uneducated and unaware of the spread of deadly viruses, pandemics can very easily occur repeatedly.

Contagion Official Trailer

Funnily enough, the film Contagion was released right as flu season approaches.  Which was probably planned out to almost “scare” people into becoming more conscious of how and when they spread germs or how susceptible humans are to germs and deadly viruses doing everyday tasks.  The director of the film, Steven Soderbergh worked with many scientists and experts in this field to try to make the events in this film as realistic as could be, according to an article in the New York Times.  According to an epidemiologist and virologist at Columbia University, W. Ian Lipkin, the fictional virus in the film, MEV-1 is similar to that of the Nipah virus.  In 1999, this virus was transferred from pigs (exactly like the movie) to humans causing over 100 deaths in Malaysia before it was quarantined.

Contagion Film Poster

In the film, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the first to fall sick and subsequently die from unknown causes after traveling back from Hong Kong to Minneapolis, USA at the beginning of the film.  Soon after that, her son, Clark, dies with the same symptoms.  However, her husband is immune to the virus and is left with his only daughter.  While this story line is progressing, we see that the virus had affected people all across the world and it is growing at an alarming rate.  As this goes, the CDC is quickly trying to learn the cause of the virus as well as what it actually is so that they can produce a vaccine.  As the virus continues to grow with what seems to be no hope and chaos and panic spreading, society seems to just fall apart and people become desperate and violent to survive.  However, after 29 days, CDC researcher Ally Hextall discovers that one of the trial vaccines seemed to be working on a monkey.  Ignoring protocol that would have taken months, she injects herself with the vaccine and visits her father who has already been affected by the virus but she herself appears to be completely fine after.  By day 133, a limited amount of vaccines is available and the CDC holds a lottery based on birthdays to determine what order people would get vaccinated.  At the end of the film, they show how the virus had spread from a bat saliva covered piece of fruit that a pig ate, then the pig was slaughtered and prepared by a chef in Hong Kong who then came in contact with Beth Emhoff.

According to Lipkin, the filmmakers “were determined to make a movie … that didn’t distort reality but did convey the risks that we all face from emerging infectious diseases”.  He also believes that it’s essential for people to be prepared for assumed outbreaks in the future.

Although Contagion presents a worst-case scenario of what a pandemic could do to society rather intensely, I would say that the way they portrayed public health systems as well as emergency response programs is somewhat questionable as well because a lot of it just didn’t seem to follow the correct legal steps.  Even so, the film was educational because it brought to life sociological, and ethical queries that can be discussed by all people.  It also gives us a rough idea of what could happen if a pandemic were to reach that level.

References Used:

http://cns.miis.edu/wmdjunction/110923_contagion.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/movies/steven-soderberghs-contagion-paints-flu-as-world-disaster.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1317607686-6MtdvyYpN5sfaDWCtPBf3w

http://healthystate.org/2011/09/contagion-sparks-real-life-conversations-on-pandemics/

Through the use of power grids, electricity is delivered when you want and need to use it.  The general idea of how electricity is generated is that it starts from a power plant and is transmitted to different substations in local areas where it is turned into usable voltage. And through intricate webs of transmission lines with high voltage, electricity is delivered into wherever it is needed.  That is “the grid”.  Following that, another basic term leading up to what exactly Demand Response is, is that a time when many people want to use electricity simultaneously, it is technically referred to as peak usage time.

A Power Grid Used to Deliver Electricity to Consumers

Demand response is a way to lower the consumers’ usage of electricity in general.  Different programs for demand response is about people cutting down on electricity either during a specific time of the day, or when electricity prices go up, etc.  Demand Response programs can range from residential,to larger commercial and industrial customers.  In terms of residential users, it is voluntary for them to “sign up” and participate in the program.

Generally, demand response is a term used in reference to the mechanisms created to encourage consumers to reduce their use of electricity–leading to the reduction of peak demand for electricity.  Although electrical generation and transmission systems are usually programmed to correspond to the “peak demand”, overall costs and requirements would lower with demand response programs used to lower the peak demand.

Demand Response Programs are for the Conservation of Energy

There are three different types of demand response:

1. Emergency Demand Response
2. Economic Demand Response
3. Ancillary Services Demand Response

Emergency demand response if used to avoid involuntary electrical service interruptions when supply is scarce.  Economic demand response is used to allow electricity customers to reduce their usage when the convenience of electricity is less important than paying for it.  Ancillary services demand response includes a number of services needed to ensure the secure operating of the transmission grid which were originally provided by the generators at power plants.

Sources:

http://theenergycollective.com/petertroast/63790/demand-response-what-it-what-it-means-you

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/demand-response.htm

http://www.energydsm.com/demand-response/

The earthquake that hit Japan was many times more powerful than the worst possible earthquake the Fukushima nuclear power plant was meant to withstand when it was first being constructed.  Like the Chernobyl accident in 1986, it shared a maximum level seven rating on the scale of nuclear disasters.  However, some scientists have spoken out and said that Fukushima was much worse than Chernobyl had been. (http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/08/03/fukushima-disaster-exposed-far-worse-than-a-nuclear-bomb/).

Even though Japan is a country that has suffered and recovered from more harmful manmade – and natural – catastrophes, it is the aftermath at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 40 kilometers down the coast from Soma that has pushed the people of Japan into unknown territory.  On March 11 of 2011, that 9.0 earthquake in Japan lead to small explosions at the nuclear plant leading to higher than normal (or safe) radiation levels.

Men, women and children were all checked for radiation levels

When the earthquake first hit, nuclear reactors automatically shutdown.  Not only that but since the power plant had automatically shut down, it needs assistance in producing electricity. Within an hour after the earthquake hit, the electricity that was needed was provided by multiple emergency diesel power generators. After the tsunami arrived along the coast however, those diesel power generators were flooded and were ruined in the process. After reactors at the nuclear power plant had failed along with the coolants, higher than normal radiation levels were detected. Many scientists said the plant had released 15,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, equivalent to about 168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the event that ushered in the nuclear age.

Within 19 miles of the plant, all residents were told to stay inside their homes and seal themselves off as protection in case the levels raised to an alarmingly high level.  (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134552919/stunned-japan-struggles-to-bind-its-wounds).  Workers who had protective suits on were rotating in and out of the building trying to get the reactors cooled down to try to fix the situation.  However, a lot of residents who stayed inside were left with little to no food and water and absolutely no electricity.

Months later, officials declared the reactors were stable again because their temperatures have been consistent for the last few months following the disaster.  It could take up to January to cool down the rods so that inspection of the system can be done to determine the exact cause and problems. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-the-fukushima-disaster-is-worse-than-chernobyl-2345542.html).