I felt as though I was in a science fiction film; the sealed door that opened upon the other being closed and the radiation detectors we were asked to wear before beginning the tour, all added to the environment. We first were given a tour regarding the principles if the reactor and then a walk through of the reactor it’s self.

The purpose of the Nuclear Reactor at MIT is for scientific experiments. Nuclear Reactors with the intention of commercial energy are different than the one found at MIT; however as the lecturer explained, that was not the schools intention. Although this reactor is not used to produce energy, fossil fuel reduction is a concern of researchers, as the reactor is used to advance knowledge in the field of Nuclear Energy (web.mit.edu). As far as sustainability is concerned, this research will be important in improving reactors of the future.

One feature of the reactor I read about online and discussed on the tour was the usage of heavy water in the reactor. The neutrons spread as a result of fission, so to continue these reactions, heavy water is used as a reflective tool, I believe, to keep the neutrons in a specific area of the reactor (web.mit.edu – brochure on the reactor). The reactor has also been used for the treatment of cancer; via what is called Boron Neutron Capture Theory. The combination of Boron, located in brain tumors, in combination with a ray of neutrons, dissipates the tumor (web.mit.edu). On the tour we were able to see the room in which this procedure used to take place.

Safety is a serious concern at the reactor. Before entering the facility, the tour guide showed us a board mounted on the wall consisting of light bulbs, each with a corresponding name. Workers still in the reactor are indicated by a glowing bulb, which is helpful in case of an emergency. Then, upon leaving the reactor, we were checked for radiation twice.

In terms of shutting down the reactor, blades of boron are used. Blades of Boron are located within the reactor and have the ability of absorbing neutrons (web.MIT.edu).This collection of neutrons may also be why Boron is important in Boron Neutron Capture Theory. The word SCRAM was used pretty frequently on the tour and refers to the shut down of the reactor. SCRAM stands for Safety Control Rod Axe Man. In order for the blades to be dropped, a rope, I believe carrying the boron used to be cut, however, this technique is no longer in practice.

If interested in working at a Nuclear Power Plant, a high school diploma and the preparedness for a required test is all you need (247wallst.com). Our lecturer I believe, had only a high school diploma.

 It will be interesting to see what new research will come out of the facility in the future.

Works Cited

Amiri, Akilah. Image of Atom – With Particles Moving Around Nucleous. Digital image.Http://topnews.ae. N.p., 20 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

Frohlick, Thomas C. “24/7 Wall St. – Insightful Analysis and Commentary for U.S. and Global Equity Investors.” 247wallst.com. N.p., 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

“MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory: Home.” MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory: Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

Watching Pandora’s promise was indeed informative. Although I previously understood the possible dangers of nuclear energy, I was unaware of the degree to which people are frightened. Frankly I hadn’t know much about Nuclear Energy, and felt as though I’ve learned a lot. Although nuclear energy is a little unsettling, I understand the benefits it presents. There is something, as Mark Lynas explains still frightening about radiation, which is why, although presented with these facts, is still frightening. Nuclear Energy is a power source that can temporarily solve the energy crisis, in the safest way possible according to the film.

The beginning of the film finds Mark Lynas, an environmental scientist exploring Fukushima a year after the nuclear accident; although radiation was clearly present, the movie I believe, concludes later, did not have much of an impact on the people.  The documentary goes on to discuss other nuclear accidents including Chernobyl and Three Mile Island; incidents I had little background in. Both accidents, according to the motion picture, were blown out of proportion. Apparently 50, of hundreds of thousands of workers died; workers responsible for cleaning up the mess (Mark Lynas and Michael Shellenberger, Pandora’s Promise). The movie discusses problems associated with renewable energy as well. Renewable energy is often times unavailable due to weather and other variables (wind, sun etc.), therefore natural gas must be used as a replacement unfortunately (Michael Shellenberger and Mark Lynas). Pandora’s Promise argues for Nuclear energy not just because of its safety, but because of their Greenhouse gas emissions which are virtually non-existent. It goes on to share the story of France, and their green country run mostly on nuclear energy.  People don’t like the idea of nuclear energy because of it’s association with nuclear weapons according to the film.  Interestingly enough, nuclear weapons can actually be used to fuel nuclear reactors which the US is doing, I found particularly interesting (Richard Rhodes Pandora’s Promise).  Although I am still unsure of nuclear energy, it is comforting to know, as the movie puts it, that nuclear energy is replacing nuclear weapons, at least in some sense.

An interesting part of the movie was the section discussing the natural radiation people are exposed to on a daily basis. The levels of radiation people are exposed to vary around the world, particularly with elevation. Being in an airplane exposes you to more radiation than being on the ground (Mark Lynas, Pandora’s Promise). Still, according to the film their is no correlation between daily radiation and cancer, even with citizens of Japan.

The movie has convinced me that Nuclear Radiation is the best option. The movie contained interesting interviews with people who had changed their opinion on Nuclear Energy which offers an interesting view on the subject.  The documentary was well written and easy to follow which is helpful to the casual viewer. The movie was a great look at an important subject people know little about.

Works Citied

Pandora’s Promise. Dir. Robert Stone. Prod. Robert Stone, Jim Swartz, and Susan Swartz. Perf. Gwyneth Cravens, Leonard J. “Len” Koch, Stewart Brand, Michael Shellenberger, Mark Lynas, Dr. Charles Still,. Impact Partners, 2013. Online.

Stone, Robert. From Pandora’s Promise Movie: Radiation Level In New York, Shown by person holding radiation instrument. Digital image. Http://www.startribune.com. N.p., 13 June 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Force equals mass times acceleration; an equation important both to our experiment on Newton’s Second Law and sustainability issues in general. This experiment tested the relationship between mass, power, acceleration and potential energy; all important tools of measurement related to energy.  Mass and acceleration are inversely related according to Newton’s Second Law equation. This means that when one value increases, the other decreases.  A pulley system was set up in witch one end a motor was mounted and the other a set of weights. The motor pulled a string attached to the object causing it to rise at a specific acceleration depending on the objects mass. For the first part of the lab, we showed this by decreasing the mass of the object (the object will be considered the weights and the stand in which they are placed).  You will see based on our data that as the object became lighter the acceleration increased.  The first mass we used was 210 grams (g.) or .21 kilograms, which equated to an acceleration of 39.53 RPM/s. When the object had a mass of 90 g or .09 kg it’s acceleration was 51.24 RPM/s, proving that as mass decreased the acceleration increased. As with acceleration, speed also increased with a decrease in mass.

For the second part of this experiment acceleration of the object was tested via a change in power (force in Newton’s equation) instead of mass. 100% power left us with an acceleration of 89.32 RPM/s and when this power was dropped to 60%, the acceleration was 21.80 RPM/s.  This shows us that when one value is kept constant on the right side of the equation, force increases or decreases, depending on the increase or decrease of the value that changes.

Although not physically tested (the computer calculated this information) the relationship between the percent of power and the actual power used was linear. For each trial our power was 20% less than the previous, while each measurement of power used decreased by roughly .09  each trial.  Another calculation not physically tested was the potential energy of the object.

Potential energy was calculated to demonstrate the Law of Conservation of Energy. The potential energy of the object increased as it neared the top of the pulley system. Potential energy is measured in Joules, as is force. Theoretically, the force used to move the object to the top of the pulley system is the same as its potential energy, which is why energy is said to be conserved (did not work out when I calculated this).  Power is similar to potential energy and force, but is different because it is dependent on time (wwwphyscisclassroom.com). By definition power is joules divided by time and measured in what is called Watts (wwwphyscisclassroom.com).

When comparing the mass of the object and battery discharge, oddly enough the battery discharge stayed relatively the same regardless of the objects mass. The three recording’s of battery discharge were 42, 41, 69 and 41. So roughly in the 42 or 41 kv range. It is unknown why one of the discharges was randomly 69 kv. It would be expected that the battery discharge would decrease with the decrease in mass because theoretically less work is being done, however based on the results this did not happen (lab outline). It was posted in the outline of the lab that battery discharge is inaccurate which I’m assuming is why our data appeared the way it did. The outline also talked of the significance of battery discharge and its correlation with potential energy. Potential energy is theoretically equivalent to battery discharge. This makes sense because potential energy is the amount of energy the object has when it is at the top of the pulley system. However, in order to reach this point an equivalent amount of energy must be used, in the form of battery discharge, to move the object to that position.

As Albert Einstein discovered, mass is equivalent to energy, which is why this equation of F=ma is so important to sustainability related issues. In order to obtain energy we need something with mass, which is why we don’t get energy from nothing. This mass also needs to be put into motion, or accelerated which also takes energy (Pandora’s Promise, Stone). The movement and acceleration of particles and their mass are used to calculate energy. Energy they we are currently running out of. This is why there is an energy crisis. In this experiment we also calculated potential energy, which is important when talking about fossil fuels, because fossil fuels are in fact pure potential energy, and unfortunately fossil fuels are not unlimited.

Works Cited

Pandora’s Promise. Dir. Robert Stone. Prod. Dan Cogan, Paul Allan, Jody Allan Aimee, and Frank Batton. By Robert Stone. Perf. Gwyneth Cravens, Leonard J. “Len” Koch. 2013. DVD.

“Work, Energy, and Power – Table of Contents.” Work, Energy, and Power – Table of Contents. The Physics Classroom, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013

Fortunately, the government is regulating the automotive industry and placing standards on the fuel economy. With this being said, it is now required for vehicles to receive, technically speaking 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025 (Vlasic and Trop). There is controversy however surrounding the computer program used to calculate this number.

Its important that fuel efficiency be a concern of automobile customers, because the more gas they are consuming the bigger their impact is on the environment.  Which is why this topic is so important to sustainability issues. There are obvious ways to increase gas mileage, one of them being the electric car and its many versions, however, there are many ways to increase the gas mileage of fossil fuel based cars. A great example of such a car is the Toyota Prius. The Prius is not primarily a gas based vehicle, because it does, however, have an electric motor (www.Toyota.com). An interesting feature that the car utilizes is it’s ability to know when gas or electricity will be more efficient.  A car that receives, according to the manufacturer, 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway (www.Toyota.com); incredibly close to standards that aren’t supposed to be reached until 2025. When driving, there are many instances when a car is stationary yet the engine continues to run. The Prius solves this problem by incorporating starter alternators, allowing the engine to shut down when the car is not in motion (Fischetti). This technology could be useful for many cars of the future. Another feature which I found particularly interesting, was the cars use of friction for power. The natural friction produced when a car brakes can be used as electricity for the cars own consumption. This is called regenerative braking (Fischetti).

Toyota Prius

Another way to increase mpg involves the the built of the engine itself. There are pros and cons to both gas powered engines and diesel powered engines. What is of interest however, is the combination of the two.  Diesel engines offer more miles to the gallon, which is obviously important, but we need to also keep in mind the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, which are more expensive to handle in diesel engines than in gas powered engines (Gitlin and Niemeyer). Combining the two engines solves both problems of fuel economy and emissions. This engine is referred to as a Homogeneous Charge Compression Engine (HCCI engine). Although they do minimize soot and nitrogen emissions they have problems with carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions (Gitlin and Niemeyer). Gas engines deal with these kinds of emissions better than HCCI engines.  (Gitlin and Niemeyer)  Right now I don’t believe any HCCI engines are in production, hopefully however, they provide more efficient automobiles for the future.

As a car owner there are some things you can do to increase your own gas mileage, that doesn’t  involve purchasing a Prius, such as frequently checking your tire pressure (fueleconomy.com). The less inflated your tires the fewer miles to the gallon you’re going to get. Also try to keep your driving more consistent. You will use less gas if you’re not always applying the brakes and re-accelerating.  And Slow down! The faster you drive the more gas you are using!!

Works Cited

http://www.allcarmodels.org/new-toyota-prius/   – Image

Fischetti, Mark. “Can U.S. Cars Meet the New 45 Mpg CAFE Standards? Yes They Can.” Weblog post. Http://blogs.scientificamerican.com. N.p., 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

“Gas Mileage Tips – Keeping Your Vehicle in Shape.” Gas Mileage Tips – Keeping Your Vehicle in Shape. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

Vlasic, Bill, and Jaclyne Trop. “Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Reaches a High, Nearing Goal for 2016.” The New York Times 10 Sept. 2013, Business Day: Energy and Enviornment sec.: n. pag. Print.

Www.toyota.com/. Toyota Motor Sales, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.