Purpose:

The purpose a fuel cell is to generate electricity without creating high amounts of pollution. The byproduct of a fuel cell is primarily water and hydrogen gas. This fuel cell acts like a rechargeable battery.

Theory:

When connected to a power source, a chemical reaction occurs in the water solution. The electrons from the lead connected to the positive side of the power source, detach themselves and combine with water molecules (H2O) to create Hydrogen ions. The ions, positively charge are attracted to the negatively charged lead. The Oxygen molecules are attracted to the positively charged lead.

When the leads are disconnected form the power source and connected to a power consuming electrical device such as an LED, the electrons in the solution flows form the negatives side, throw the LED to the positive side where they create another chemical reaction with the hydrogen and oxygen of the solution to give water. Thus the solution acts like a rechargeable battery. Some of the hydrogen is lost during the experiment because it evaporates.

A homemade hydrogen fuel cell generates a small amount of voltage. To produce more voltage, we need better materials and bigger containers. We could also connect the fuel cells in series thus creating a network.

Apparatus:

• Water container
• Iron leads (platinum leads for maximum and better experiment)
• Voltmeter
• Power source (Battery, circuit board)
• Water

Procedure

We used the elements listed in the apparatus to produce a homemade hydrogen cell.

We first put each end of the leads in the water and connected the other to the voltmeter. We measured the value to confirm that the solution does not have any voltage potential. The value recorded was 0 Volts.

Next, we disconnected the leads from the voltmeter and connected them to the power source for a certain amount of time.

We then, disconnected the power source and reconnected the voltmeter to observe the new voltage potential of the solution.

Analysis and conclusion:

After connecting the lead to a power source of 9V for 1,3 and 6 minutes, we measured the voltage potential of the solution each time. We repeated the experiment with power sources of 10 and 15 Volts. We got:

We were able to graph the result of each voltage and found that the less the voltage the better the slope.

The graphs can be access via this link:      https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2J1rZ3a4a9yV1l3QWxNcmowbzg/view?usp=sharing

We also noticed that when the solution is connected to the power source for 30 minutes, the leads start to erode and is no longer suitable for a good experiment. The higher the voltage is and the longer the time is spent charging, the solution will have produced greater amounts of electricity.

The Keystone pipeline is a project of a Canadian company that consist of creating an oil pipeline of 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada to Gulf Coast of Texas, United States in January 2014. Another leg of pipeline have been installed already from Cushing,Oklahoma to Texas (1,700 miles).

The purpose of these pipelines is to carry unrefined oil to the refinery industries.The production is expected to be 700,000 to 830,000 barrels of oil a day from the Canadian soil.

According to TransCanada (The company in charge of the pipelines) the pipeline is to create approximately 500,000 jobs from the Canadian and American side. This number is for some, unrealistic. From the American side, the expected number is 20,000 jobs.

In March 2013, however, the State Department report stated that, the pipeline would create up to 42,000 jobs, including 3,900 construction jobs. Later on in July 2013, this report was refuted by President Obama who claimed that the actual number of jobs would only be around 50 to 100.

One concern of the environmentalists is the use of tar sands, which is a mixture of clay, sand, water and oil. Tar sands is said to be more corrosive than conventional oil prompting them to say that there is a high risk of pipelines leaks. However, all the incidents observed at the pipelines where not from leaks but valves and pump station, nevertheless we cannot ignore that these pipelines had contaminated the environment with oil.

In March 2013, in Mayflower, Arkansas, there was a tar-sands spill caused by a pipeline that burst. The consequence was more than 12,000 barrels of oil down residential streets and nature.

The Pipelines might be a be a good way to transport oil and create jobs but the environmental consequences and risks are bigger than what we would gain from them. I  do not support the installation and use of these pipelines. If a more secure and respect of the code is followed, we might find better ways to transport the tar-sands.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/tag/keystone-xl-pipeline/

http://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005248

http://keystone-xl.com/

The Museum of Science in Boston in one of the best place learn various things about about history, the way some discoveries were made, application of physics and learn how scientists think.

Four out tour, we had the pleasure to see some exhibits:

Investigate:

This exhibit was about learning how scientists think and what they do. We learn that scientist are curious and in every aspect of their lives the think the same way, always trying to achieve their goal and going the extra mile for what the believe in.

They always want to learn why things happen the way they do. We got to see why when draining water it flow the way it does. It is because of the rotation of the water if the water is not moving before you drain it it will just get drain but if the water is moving in a specific direction, it will drain in that direction.

Conserve At Home:

We also learn that recycling garbage means we have waste less space.

Catching the Wind :

We learn how much power can be provided using wind and the different type of wind turbine exists, there limitation and efficiency.

We learn that wind is created from the difference in temperature of air molecules that had been heated by the sum, hot air moves upward and cool air takes it place creating wind.

The different type of turbines we saw were:

The best turbine for me is the AVX1000, even though individual turbine do not produce a lot of electricity, the group of them at a certain location can provide steady electricity.

Energized:

We got to learn that to be able to satisfy our need of energy we must explore all methods available to us, meaning renewable ( wind, solar, geothermal) and non-renewable source of energy (fossil fuel).

Nuclear energy which is defined as one of the cleanest way of creating has many negative side associated wit it. From history the very idea of using a nuclear plant was a terrifying idea. Many people feared this source of energy without taking their time to really look into it. Most of them had been influence by the media (television shows, movies, China Syndrome) and other had experience the end of World War 2 and the use of nuclear as a weapon. Competitor energy provider industries such as oil companies also created feared by making false allegation to the public.

One condition that enables people to start accepting nuclear as a source of energy is the work of scientist who first created water reactors and submarine powered by nuclear energy. Also, the production of dioxide carbon increasing in the atmosphere pushed people to for cleaner ways of producing electricity such as nuclear power. The technology not being ready to efficiently produce energy from renewable energy and the action of naturalists getting bigger a midway between fossil fuel and renewable energy was nuclear energy.

With the word population increasing, the need of power of the world also increase. And with the death rate of coal in the United States 13,000 and world wide 3,000,000 , people needed new ways that killed less and can generate enough energy for the growing population.

As people start looking more into nuclear energy, the discover that a person can receive more radioactive exposure from a banana compare to drinking of a day of water out a nuclear plant.

As we learn, using nuclear power is not a problem if the proper measures are taking. Some of the negative attitude toward this nuclear use is that people need to know more about it and we should stop thinking of nuclear as a weapon.

Cutting the production of polluting gas is a very important matter that the Obama administration has set as a goal. The president has promise to make policies and take other measures to cut back on the emission of harmful gas, the creation of new jobs, a more reliable and cost effective energy sector. To achieve these goals, the president with the help of his administration has taken many steps in different areas. Some of these areas are:

Policies and rules:

Power plants are responsible for one-third of all the greenhouse emission in the United States. To be able to cutback the emissions, the administration has set some emission limit and rules such as “the carbon pollution standard for new power plants”. It has also created programs for local governments and companies. A direct result is that more than 35 states have renewable energy target in place, and more than 25 have set energy efficiency targets.

Standard for hydroelectric power plants have been set by using “Red Rock Hydroelectric Plant” to design the standard for high-priority projects.

Federal agencies are also conducting surveys to track progress and facilitate the sharing of best practices.

A draft of a solicitation was issued. This solicitation would make up to $8 billion in loan guarantee authority available for wide array of advance fossil energy projects. It will also support investments in innovative technologies that can cost-effectively meet financial and policy goals, including the avoidance, reduction or sequestration of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases.

A Quadrennial Energy review is also on schedule.  This review led by the White House Domestic Policy council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Secretariat will establish the engagement of federal agencies and outside stakeholders.

The Energy Sector:

In 2012, thanks to the permits issues by the administration, we were able to see  a 10 gigawatts of renewable energy being produced and a goal to produce 10 more by 2020.

25 utility-scale solar facilities, 9 wind firms, and 11 geothermal plants were created since 2009. These plants have already provided 4.4 million homes and created 17,000 jobs.

The largest consumer of energy in the United States (The department of Defense) is committed to deploying 3 gigawatts of renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal) on military installations by 2025.

The standards set by the Department of Energy  will, by 2030, cut consumers’ electricity bills by hundreds of billions of dollars and save enough electricity to power more than 85 million homes for 2 years.

Transportation Sector:

An economy standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and vans was finalized in 2011. The standards will reduce greenhouse gas emission by 270 million metric tons and save 530 million barrels of oils . One requirement for these standards is that the performance of car produced must be 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, this will enable drivers to save more than $8,000 in fuel costs and eliminate 6 billion metric ton of carbon pollution.

The use of Biofuels and natural gas has increase.  The Departments of Energy and Agriculture are working with private sector to accelerate the development of cost-competitive advanced biofuels for use by the military and commercial sectors. This will enable the country to deploy cleaner fuels, including batteries and fuel cell technologies, in every transportation mode.

With these policies in place and the actions taken by the President Obama administration, we will be able to have a cleaner way of life and be able to leave a less polluted planet to the future generations.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf

The MIT plasma tour was very very educative because we got to learn more about fusion and see an actual fission reactor.

Fusion is the method use to combine two light elements to make a heavier element, the process produce energy which can be used to generate other form of energy as opposed to fission which is the process of breaking a heavy element into smaller element. With fusion, theoretically we will not have any loss and critical failures in the engine. The elements used in fusion are H1 (deuterium) and H2 (tritium).

We also learn that for fusion to happen, we need to have the elements at a temperature of 100 million Kelvin and keep them together log enough for them to bond. Keeping them together is the challenge. At this temperature the hydrogen elements become plasma (the fourth state of matter which happens when a gas is heated) making it difficult to keep the elements together because there is no real container for plasma. Yet, some methods are used to solve this problem. Some of the methods used so far are:

– Inertia confinement: method used to compress the plasma

– Electrostatic confinement: the emptiness of the space, make the elements flow toward the center of the space making it possible for them stay together long enough

Another method that had been used to actually make fusion occur is gold fusion where instead of heating the elements, we freeze them but this method was never confirm. No matter how much and long scientists tried to recreate the experiments, none of them were able to get to desire result.

The second part of the tour was dedicated to the facility of a fission reactor. We did not get to see the inside of the reactor for it is very small but we got to see what it looks like:

We got to see the control room where the scientists work and learn that the actual experiment time is about 5 seconds (about 4 second for theengines to start and shut down and 1 seconds for measurements). This time seems low but multiples measurements are during the short time.

Fukushima Daiichi was a nuclear power plant in Japan that was damage by a 15-meter tsunami which cause the cores of the plant to melt and release high radioactive contamination.

One of the reason the problem escalated is that the Japanese downplay the dangers by increasing the the safe radiation exposure level from 1 mSv (millisievert which is the radiation exposure of an individual for 1 year which is 1mSv) to 20 mSv per year which prevented the evacuation of many contaminated areas.

The areas far from the plant were also contaminated because of the rain, snow, and flow of water from the tsunami because of these unfortunate events, the decontamination failed.

Some of the consequences are that the radioactive waste enters the ecosystem, polluting water, soil, plants and animals. The consumption of any items contaminated accumulate in the heart, kidneys, small intestines, pancreas, spleen and liver. This accumulation is more rapid and dangerous for children.

The contamination was not only limited to land but also to the ocean. Months after the incidents, fish caught near Japan coast were found to be also contaminated,

Here is video about the current situation of the plants:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bg6ScmnRI

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident/

http://www.psr.org/environment-and-health/environmental-health-policy-institute/responses/costs-and-consequences-of-fukushima.html

http://www.world-nuclear.org/Features/Fukushima/Situation-at-Fukushima/

Geothermal energy is the use of the heat energy generated from the earth. Geothermal energy is convenient in  that it is renewable and sustainable. This works by drilling into the ground to heated area, where water is pumped to create steam, the steam is then used to turn turbine and generate electricity.

Another way is to use the  magma. In 2009, researchers in Iceland, after accidentally drilling into a chamber of molten lava,  used the steam escaping the magma to generate electricity. The generated approximately 36 Megawatts of electricity.

Another way is to use geothermal plants which create approximately 5% of the carbon dioxide, 1% of sulfur dioxide, and less than 1% of the nitrous oxide emitted by coal-fire plant of equal size. There are certain types of geothermal plants that produce near-zero emissions.

Here is a video explaining how Geothermal-energy works in Iceland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs6n0baLQ6w

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/04/3241811/iceland-geothermal-magma-energy/

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-geothermal-energy-works.html#.VQ2BYY7F_Yw

http://geothermal.marin.org/pwrheat.html

A Peltier cooler is a a type of cooler that uses the peltier element. The peltier element is a tool composed of no moving elements that can used to heat, cool, or generate electricity.  The solidity of these elements make the device last long. The device is most of time made from two side (hot and cold). The difference between the side (70 degree Celsius) make it easy to cool devices.

Here is a video on how Peltier cooler works:

http://www.survival-manual.com/electricity/peltier-elements.php

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/peltier.htm

A Stirling engine is a heat engine that works by compressing and expending air and other gases in regularly cycle. The way a Stirling engine works is comparable to that of a car but the difference is that it has the potential to be much more efficient in using gasoline and the risk of a boiler explosion is existent. The process is mostly use where we need the engine operating to be as silent as possible (For example in a submarine). Because the engine can run using heat, it is suitable for alternative fuels engines, solar power, and other source of energy.

The engine is composed of two-cylinder where one is kept hot and the other is kept cool. The gas (air or any other type of gas) in the hot cylinder is heated which cause it to expand and move the pistons of the engine (Expansion). As the pistons moved, it creates a gap on the other end which is filled by the gas expansion (transfer). The gas then is being cooled in the second cylinder causing it to compress and occupy less room, making the pistons move back to their original position (compression). As the process is repeated, we have a working engine that can perform the desire work.

here is a video explaining the process:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm

http://www.animatedengines.com/vstirling.html

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-stirling-engines-work.html