For our lab, we decided to experience with lemons and their ability to conduct electricity. Through using lemons as a form of batteries, our attempt was to see how many may be required to light one small digital clock. The voltage that one lemon can produce was able to be explored through collecting data in this experiment. Based off the voltage of one lemon, we were able to analyze how many were needed to power the clock. To ensure that we were able to do all of this, we needed a number of different materials:

• Lemons (multiple)
• Copper Nails/Tacks
• Galvanized Nails (Zinc)
• Alligator Clip with cables, multiple
• One Voltage Reader
• A Digital Clock
• LED Light Bulbs, if you wish

The type of battery that is created when you combine the use of zinc nails, copper nails, and the lemon is a voltaic battery: a battery that  changes chemical energy in to electrical energy. A voltaic battery is made up of positive and negative electrodes and an electrolyte, which is a solution that can conduct electricity. In this case, the electrodes are the zinc and copper nails, and the electrolyte is the acid within the lemon juice. Electrons get lost from one electrode, which creates a flow of electricity. 

To create this battery, we began by gathering all the necessary materials. Once we had everything we needed, we inserted a galvanized nail into the side of two lemons, and then interested a copper tack into the direct opposite side of the same two lemons. After each were inserted, we then connected the end of an alligator clip to the zinc nails in each lemon, and a separate one to the end of the copper nail in the lemons. The opposite end of each alligator clip was then connected to the tips of the voltage reader probes. We where then able to read the voltage that these two lemons were producing. We had an issue at first when we were doing this; we were reading and converting on the voltage meter wrong. We originally thought we read 182 milli-volts, but this calculation was incorrect. After talking to Dr. Shatz and Tom Vales, we were able to come to the conclusion that we were actually reading 1.82 volts, and this is roughly around what we were suppose to be reading. This problem that we ran into could have been caused by us misreading the levels, or that we had a faulty connection with the voltage reader. After we realized we were reading things incorrectly on the voltage reader, we decided to un-clip the alligator clips from the voltage reader probes, and then attach them to the two severed wires of the digital clock. Once we did this, the clock turned on! We had success in turning the digital clock on. We recorded this data.

We also had ran into a second issue as well, but this happened before we even got as far as we did in the above mentioned time we did the experiment. When we first started this experiment, we did not have the copper tacks. Since we did not have copper tacks, we decided that we could try and use some pennies since they are made up of copper. We had the zinc nails, so we sliced the lemon with a knife in five separate places in a straight line on opposite sides of the lemon, so there was one straight line of five slits, and then another straight line of five slits on the opposite side, making a total of ten. Five galvanized nails were inserted in one row of the five slits, and then five pennies were interested in the other end. We wrapped some un-coated wires around one nail and the diagonally crossed over to wrap the same wire around a penny. We repeated this step to all of the remaining nails and pennies. After this was done, we then did the same as above where we connected the alligator clips to the voltage reader probes. We did not get a voltage read. We thought this strange, s we just decided to attach the clips to the clock, and figured maybe the voltage probe was having a faulty connection. The clock did not light up. So, we had two more lemons, and we did what we did to the previous one. We attached each lemon with an alligator clip to a galvanized nail and a penny. We had thought that adding more lemons would make the battery stronger, and that now the clock would be able to be powered. In the end, it never worked. After discussing with our team and Tom Vales, we realized it was probably due to the fact that we were using pennies; pennies are not 100% copper. The next class period we brought in the copper tacks, and then the experiment was able to be successful with one lemon. The process I have just explained can be seen in the image below.

The above is an example of a voltaic battery.

In conclusion, we realized that lemons are not a practical source of energy, but they do put in to perspective our energy usage and needs. A lemon cannot power a motor, and cannot put out enough energy alone to light a small LED bulb. Maybe if you had unlimited lemons you would be able to power the world, but that is literally impossible. In the end, we were able to power one small digital clock with only two lemons, but many more are needed to power something of a stronger energy.

In December of 2105, the Paris Climate Conference was held; in this conference, fifteen countries from around the world and 195 representatives adopted a legally-binding climate contract/deal. This contract/deal is the first of its kind to ever exist. This agreement was made to help put the world as a whole on track for a better future for our planet. The hope is to attempt to limit global warming to 35 °F, which is 2°C. Although this agreement was reached in 2015, it is not set to become fully enacted until 2020. Before we became such an industrialized world, the average global temperature was well below 35°f (2°c); now that we are so industrialized, that temperature has risen, causing global climate change. This agreement hopes to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases all around the world. As part of the agreement, governments will come together every 5 years to determine/set more goals in order to reach better climate change initiatives. These governments have also set up a transparency and accountability type of program where everyone must tell of the progress, or lack thereof, that they have made; this is to ensure that countries are keeping to the agreements set froth in the contract. Another thing that this contact hopes to do, is provide support to developing countries that may be feeling the affects of climate change more than industrialized ones are. This contract will hopefully better prepare countries to react to emergencies that could be associated with climate change, as well as understanding how to assist other countries in the case of emergencies. A very unfortunate thing is that poorer undeveloped countries have done very little compared to Western ones to assist in the rise of global warming, yet they are the ones who often suffer the most due to it. Many of these poorer countries pushed to have a legally binding part of the agreement that would give them at least $100 billion a year from richer countries to help them deal with the affects of climate change that they face; in the end, that did not happen. This agreement sets forth a change that must come about for all countries; it does not hold any one single country responsible. Many of the world leaders present at this meeting had stated that there would not be a plan B if this agreement was to fall threw; no plan B not because they had not came up with one, but because there literally is not one. The Eiffel Tower was illuminated with “no plan B” that very night. It was also talked about to begin using renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear more so than coal, natural gas, and oil; the renewable ones would greatly lessen carbon emissions. Secretary of State John Kerry had said that “the world has come together around an agreement that will empower us to chart a new path for our planet.” President Obama had said that “this agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future. We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.” The world and our planet as a whole are still in a deep hole heavily affected by climate change, but with efforts like this being made, it is safe to say we are trying to head in the right direction, and very well may be. In order for the things set forth in this agreement to continue to push us in the right direction, we will rely heavily on global-peer pressure to make sure countries are sticking to the agreements, and we will need to rely on the actions of future government officials. 

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In the past, most cars that were considered “fuel efficient” were often smaller and considered more dangerous to drive due to that fact; a smaller car has a higher chance of getting damaged in an accident. Nowadays, the auto industry has been working to create more fuel efficient cars in various different styles and sizes, not just small cars. This is mostly due to the fact that federal standards and gas prices have somewhat forced this change to be made. Wade Newton, and spokesperson for the Alliance of Automobile Manufactures that advocates for the auto industry, stated that at the Detroit Auto show, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Gina McCarthy, gave praised to the organization for advocating for the creation of more fuel efficient cars. The hope/attempt is that the auto industry will begin to produce cars that get 54.5 miles to a gallon of gas by the year 2025, as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half. In having more fuel efficient cars, the federal government suspects that a driver of one of these cars will be able to save around $8,000 by the year 2025; the EPA also expects oil consumption to be reduced by more than 2 million barrels a day. Members of the auto industry stated that in order to get consumers to buy more fuel efficient cars, they will need to make cars that are more desirable to have; it would be pointless to make fuel efficient cars if consumers did not find them appealing enough to buy. the unpredictability of fuel costs help push more to have fuel efficient cars. Roughly 10% of the cars on the road or on the market today go well beyond the federal requirements for fuel efficiency. The federal rules that are enforcing better fuel economy were considered to be “tough” laws a few years back, but now it can be argued that even though they are tough, almost everyone is benefiting from them. Some members of the Republican party/GOP objected to the “tough” federal rules at first, stating that it was another way to get the government involved in the private sector. Now it is easily arguable that these rules have benefited consumers, manufacturers, and the environment altogether. Car manufacturers have found ways to make cars with smaller engines, yet still have a lot, or almost the same, amount of power they would have with a larger engine. They are also replacing hard metal outsides of cars with lighter aluminum, making the cars a lot less heavy. The cost of cars, however, has risen a bit over the past few years. This is in part due to the fact that people have been buying smaller card with a lot more “accessory” type things, like leather seats, heated seats, and review cameras to assist in backing up. There is a concern up in the air that the cost of cars may rise more in the next few years as automakers are being required to use more expensive materials to make their cars more fuel efficient.

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“Catching the Wind” is an exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science: a main focus of this exhibit is about how wind turbines generate electricity. Wind turbines work by “catching” the wind and turning it into a usable form of energy for human daily use. A wind turbines big blades cut through the air, and wind is captured inside the turbine. Inside the turbine is where this wind gets converted to a form of energy that we can use. In deciding whether or not to install a wind turbine in an area, the wind speed of that location needs to be taken into consideration. Acceptance of the installation of a wind turbine by the community is another thing that needs to be taken in to account; wind turbine installment could also affect wildlife in certain areas, and it needs to be sure that the wind turbine will generate a profit that should outweigh the cost to install it. Wind is a natural thing that occurs in abundance in more areas than others, particularly in areas that do not have large amounts of energy consumption, or areas with more open land. An example of this that shows a good location for wind turbines are the ones that were installed in New Hampshire in the towns of Groton, Lempster, and Granite; most of these turbines are located on mountains. In comparing wind energy to solar energy, solar energy is only available during the day, obviously, and may be available in less amounts during the day due to weather conditions Also, solar energy panels are expensive. Non-renewable sources of energy still pose serious threats to climate change, more than wind turbines. Burning coal has some serious side affects: carbon dioxide and many other harmful greenhouse gases get released in to the air, and can create things like acid rain. People who work as miners in coal mines can suffer from the mines collapsing, which has resulted in many deaths in the past, as well as other serious health risks. Not to mention, the supply of coal is limited. Our use of natural gas as a form of energy also emits a large amount of harmful greenhouse gasses too, and also has a limited supply such as coal does.

My group and I, Steph, Kelly, and Jessica, brainstormed by looking online. We knew we wanted to do something a bit unique, but we were not really sure what was out there. We have all done science experiments in the past, so actually being able to pick our own and sort of design it ourselves was a pretty liberating feeling, but also weird since we have never really done this before.

After looking around online, we narrowed our ides down to 3-4 experiments, which was good, because each person in the group was able to pick one and add it to the list since there are 4 of us. We then narrowed it down to two, which were the possibility of making a “solar oven” using tin foil and some form of a hard surface. The tin foil and the table would be placed outside, where we were going to attempt to make a s’more. We decided against that idea, since we aren’t really sure how warm it will be in the beginning of May or end of April. Hey, we live in New England, so ya never know!

We then decided on an experiment we all wanted to do after we decided against the solar oven. We have decided to make a battery out of various vegetables and fruits. I  believe we want to use a lemon, apple, potato, and possibly a zucchini. We will need zinc a copper screws/plates that will get inserted into the fruits/veggies. The zinc is the negative electrode, and the copper is the positive one. Putting these in the veggies/fruit will create a chemical reaction; the acid in the lemon will break down the atomic structure of the copper and the zinc, causing little electrons to be released that flow from the zinc to the copper. This is a flow of electrons from a reactive metal to a less reactive metal, which creates a current that can power a small light bulb, etc. Our goal is to see which fruit/veggies produces a stronger current/stronger light.

The debate around vaccinations is something that has began to be brought into the light recently. The fear is that vaccinating less-than-a-year old babies will pose serious health related side affects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have stated that healthy young babies should get vaccinated against 14 deadly diseases by the time they are age two. One of the other main things babies, and even adults, should get is the flu shot. The US Government is so in favor of vaccinations, that they will let uninsured children receive them free of charge.

Many state laws require kids to be vaccinated in order to go to school, but some parents have been going against those laws for what they say are religious or “philosophical” reasons. Due to some parents reluctance to get their children vaccinated, diseases that have not been around for a long period of time have made their way back into our school systems; some of those diseases include measles, mumps, and whooping cough. 80-90% of a population must be vaccinated against a disease in order for that disease to not spread, and right now roughly 75% of our population is vaccinated.

Infectious diseases like the measles and mumps are still very prominent in vaccine-less countries, or poor countries, and if they get brought here, they can be easily spread again if we stop vaccinating young children. One of the biggest reasons parents fear giving their children vaccines is because they think it will give their child autism. Others also believe that there are unsafe levels of mercury within the vaccines that can put the health of their children at risk. The chemical that makes up the mercury based substance has been removed from the vaccines, and since it has been removed, autism rates still rose.

Children first get vaccinated between 12-15 months, which is roughly the same time that autism signs start to appear. Doctors have stated that the link between autism and vaccinations is purely coincidental due to the age at which kids get vaccinated and the age when they may develop autism. People have began to argue that we need to stray away from using our money to investigate whether vaccines cause autism, and start using that money to try and find a cure/prevention for autism; people think the science speaks for itself. Doctors have also stated that the odds of having a health risk due to getting vaccinated are not as high as it would be to catch a vaccine-preventable disease if your child is not vaccinated. Vaccines are rigorously tested before they get used, and they would not be permitted to be used if they produced serious health issues.

A suggestion many doctors have been making is to space out the span in which you give your vaccines to your child. Rather than giving them 2-3 shots at a time, they have suggested doing one shot, and then another a week or so later. Getting vaccinated not only helps your children, but it also helps the community you live in as a whole; one vaccinated person could be the difference between a deadly disease breakout and a safe community. Doctors also state that many parents have not fully seen the affects these infectious diseases have on young children; no one would want to see their child with the measles, mumps, or even the chicken pox.

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The human race is taking on a new endeavor for the upcoming years: sending humans to Mars. By the 2030’s, people are stating that it may be very likely to send humans to Mars for the first time. In order to do so, it would cost a decent sum of money, and we would have to be sure that NASA can be funded enough to support this endeavor. Aside from monetary issues, we would also need to be sure that we are cooperating with one another on an international level. Under the current budget that NASA has, it would not be possible to lead this manned mission to Mars as it is simply not enough money. Officials are saying that sending humans to Mars is what should be focused on in the world of space travel these next few years.

Astronauts and scientists have been working closely in the International Space Station (ISS) to help better understand technology that could assist in the manned missions to Mars. In the ISS, individuals have been able to make huge advances in how humans can stay healthy/survive in space, which is ideal to learn when planning on sending humans to Mars and very far away from the Earth. Living and working in space an pose some serious risks for astronauts, but many of them believe the journey to Mars would be worth those risks. NASA must create a new, more powerful, space craft that could withstand the long journey to Mars; in this space craft, reliance to Earth would be less.

NASA is doing something bis these days that will help their initiatives in hoping to send humans to Mars: their Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). ARM is a program where NASA is attempting to capture, redirect, and study an asteroid. This asteroid will get placed into a stable orbit around the Earths moon, where astronauts can take pieces of it to study back on Earth. ARM will help NASA map out the human path to Mars by testing the capabilities needed to do so. NASA wants to have the journey to Mars be a non-Earth reliant mission, which it has to be since Mars is so far away (48,678,219 miles away from Earth…). The ARM mission will help NASA develop more ways to have non-Earth reliant missions in the near future.

Another method of space exploration that NASA hopes to use in order to help with the possible mission to Mars is Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP). In my third reference about the ARM mission, NASA states that “SEP uses electricity from solar arrays to create electromagnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged atoms (ions) to create a very low thrust with a very efficient use of propellant. When compared to conventional chemical propellant sources, the ARM mission uses five to 10 times less propellant as a result of the SEP technology.” In capturing an asteroid, NASA will test the limits of SEP like it never has been tested before, which could be a huge breakthrough in the science of space. SEP technology could help send cargo and humans to Mars a lot more efficiently, and a lot faster. In testing pieces of the asteroid captured by the AM, astronauts and scientists will be able to study ways that could help them bring matter back from Mars too.

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In the Solar Energy experiment, my partners and I worked to see the effect distance has on voltage, and how different colored filters would affect voltage. In class, we learned that the stronger/closer the light source is to the solar cell, then the higher the voltage would be. This is what we sought to experiment on and find out if it was true. To do this, we had the following set of materials:

• One solar cell
• One voltage probe
• One NXT adapter
• NXT with an attached light sensor
• One light source (blue flashlight)
• Labview VI
• A Ruler
• 3 Colored film filters
• Excel spreadsheet

The image above shows the NXt adapter, the flashlight, the three different colored filters we used, the voltage probe and solar cell, and the light sensor.

Solar Lab – Here is an Excel Spreadsheet of our data

The first chart on the spreadsheet demonstrates the results we got when we used different distances between the flashlight and the solar cell. We held the flashlight at different distances from the solar cell a number of different times. The distances we chose were 1cm, 5cm, 20cm, 35cm, and one without any light. Each time the flashlight was farther from the solar cell, the voltage decreased. The closer the flashlight was to the solar cell the higher the voltage was, which is what we learned in class.

The second chart on the spreadsheet represents our results when we used the blue, green, and orange colored filters. The orange filter allowed the most voltage, then green, and then blue. To me this makes sense since orange is a light color, green is somewhat a middle color, and blue is typically a dark color.

“Pandora’s Promise” is a film that addresses the debate about nuclear power. The film shows how many environmentalists agree with the idea that nuclear power is safe, and that it does not contribute to global warming. Originally, nuclear power was met with a lot of opposition; people considered it controversial and unsafe. The film also addresses that we need to find ways to continue to power our civilization without continuously destroying it, which we can do via the use of nuclear power. Currently, we are powering our civilization with other methods of energy (fossil fuels), but we are increasing global warming which is destroying our planet.

The film talks of how disasters in the past have made nuclear energy a scary idea; for instance, the development of the atomic bomb and what it did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear plant disasters such as Chernobyl in Ukraine, Fukushima in Japan, and Three Mile Island is new York. The nuclear accidents of Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island all happened due to inadequate cooling.

Pandora’s Promise states that even though this form of energy is somewhat feared, it could help us save our planet from dying, and it could also help underdeveloped countries become more developed and industrialized; in doing so, many countries who are severely impoverished could rise out of poverty due to a rise in electricity being supplied to those countries.

The interesting thing about this film, is that it highlights the dramatic shift in opinion of the environmentalists. One of the biggest issues with nuclear energy is that it can contaminate areas with radiation, making them uninhabitable; we can see this with Fukushima, and it was also what happened in Chernobyl. Chernobyl is also used as an example of civilization coming back to the area after it had been contaminated by radiation. Many people have lived for years since, and they are fine. The individuals who have died there did not die due to radiation, but other causes. Children born in Chernobyl through parents who live there were not found to have any birth defects.

Nuclear energy was started form the atomic bomb; the fact that this form of energy originated from a bomb is partly what contributed to people feeling negatively about it. People began to attribute nuclear energy simply to nuclear weapons, forgetting that it can be used for much more than making weapons. Michael Shellenberger states that many people originally believed nuclear power to be “sinister”. The reality is that nuclear energy is the cleanest form of energy we currently have. Many of the tactics used to make it seem like nuclear energy was bad were placed by oil companies; such as newspaper ads highlighting the dangers and trying to rally people to stop them from building the nuclear power plants. People realize now that those ads were paid for by oil companies, because those companies knew that nuclear energy could put them out of business.

Reactors now are being built with the capability to shut themselves down automatically, meaning they cannot meltdown/explode. The United States has been buying nuclear weapons from Russia for years, taking those weapons and turning them in to nuclear power/energy. Nuclear energy is doing more to rid the world of nuclear weapons than it is to create them. Rather than blowing us up, nuclear energy is lighting our cities. I think we need to focus more on shifting our ways of getting electricity to using nuclear power. The scientific facts clearly show that it can reduce the impact we have made on the planet by using fossil fuels, and we can even help get electricity for areas that may have never had it before.

During the week of February 22nd, we conducted a generator experiment. The purpose of this lab was to explore Faraday’s Law in hopes to better understand what it means; Faraday’s Law states that electricity can be generated when magnetic fluxes are changed through coiled copper wires. If we were to have a greater change in magnetic fluxes, the voltage would be stronger. For this lab, we had the following materials:

• A magnet that moves back and forth inside a coil of wire (generator).
• One voltage probe
• NXT adapter
• NXT Robot
• USB Cord
• Telephone Cable
• An Excel Spreadsheet

We had to shake the tube (generator) that contained the magnet moving back and forth inside the coil of wires. The faster the generator was shaken, the higher the voltage would be, the slower it was shaken, the lower the voltage would be.

We needed to correlate the number of shakes we did of the generator with the voltages that the generator generates.

The steps we took were as follows:

1. We shook the generator  tube at a particular rate, sometimes slower, and sometimes faster.
2. We counted the number of shakes we were able to do in 30 seconds.
3. In Excel, we calculated the sum of the squares of the voltages generated from the shakes.
4. We repeated steps 1-3 three separate times to get three rates of shakes.
5. We then created a scatter plot detailing our results.

Below are some images from the experiment:

Above is a photo of the tube with the magnet inside that moves through the copper wires.
You can also see the two copper wires around the tube; we connected those to clips that were connected to the NXT.

Above you can see the generator tube facing upward, with the two clips connected to the copper wires.

Above is an image of the NXT adapter and voltage probe.

Generator Lab Excel Spreadsheet & Data-Scatter Plot

Above is a link to our Excel spreadsheet that also contains our scatter plot of the data.