Monthly Archives: March 2013

Tom Vales Talk

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Recently, our Science and Innovation class had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with Tom Vales. An amazing professor who definitely knows how to introduce the physics to the class and make it entertaining at the same time. The main topic which Tom covered were types of engines and machines.The first experiment which the Professor introduced was the experiment with the stirling engine. The machine works with the help of heat. Professor Vales put the engine on top of a special cup filled with water. The heat which rose in the cup was trapped and under the piston created heat and as a result – a working machine. Tom added that the machine is 200 years old and is still widely used nowadays.

Next Professor Vales showed us the Peltier Junction. The machine generates an electric current and uses a thermoelectric effect to create very cold temperatures.

After that Tom introduced the Mendocino motor. It has 4 solar cell magnets which generate the power which the motor uses to levitate. This motor also uses its own magnetic field to float. The magnetic which the motor has converts light into electricity.

Professor Vales broadened our minds with the topic of electricity and how engines and motors use it. The office which the Professor has is amazing. The machines and gadgets there truly show the amazing power of Science and how electricity can be used to assist a person in daily life. I loved his method of explaining and he has a great personality as well. It was an amazing experience. Thanks Tom!

 

 

 

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

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2011 was a year very unfortunate for humanity full of natural disasters, especially for Japan where a series of earthquakes and tsunamis occurred and caused mass destruction. Fukushima nuclear plant was not an excpetion which only made things much worse. A series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials have occured which caused panic and chaos everywhere across Japan: cities and towns were evacuated. It was the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and only the second disaster (along with Chernobyl) to measure Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

When the earthquake occurred the Reactor 4 had been defueled. Immediately after the earthquake, the remaining reactors 1-3 shut down automatically, and emergency generators came online to power electronics and coolant systems. Even though the tsunami following the earthquake quickly flooded the low-lying rooms in which the emergency generators were housed. The flooded generators failed, cutting power to the critical pumps that must continuously circulate coolant water through a nuclear reactor for several days in order to keep it from melting down after being shut down. As the pumps stopped, the reactors overheated and stopped working. As the water went away the reactor fuel rods began to overheat rapidly. In the hours and days that followed, Reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced full meltdown.

Fukushima-meltdown-prevailing-winds1

The Japanese government concluded that the total amount of radiation released into the atmosphere was approximately one-tenth which was released during the Chernobyl disaster. Significant amounts of radioactive material have also been released into ground and ocean waters around Japan.

Sources used:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18718486
http://www.houseoffoust.com/fukushima/blueprint.html
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/japanquake/index.html