SCI 184-A

Tesla Coils

Mr. Vale showed us how Tesla coils work. He showed us with different rods and also by putting one on top and watching it spin. A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit that was invented in 1891 by Nikola Tesla. Telsa coils produce high voltage, low current, and high frequency current electricity. Tesla coils are used in electrical lighting, phosphorescence, e-ray generation, high frequency alternating current phenomena, electrotherapy, and transmission of electrical energy. Before the 1920, the circuits were used in sparkgap radio transmitters for wireless telegraphy. Their main use today is used in entertainment and educational displays. You will find many tesla coils in high-voltage enthusiasts, research institutions, science museums, and independent experimenters.

Japan was hit with a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s northeastern coast that knocked out power that needed to cool six reactors and fuel pools at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. The reactors began to get much hotter that caused radiation leakage. Workers pumped seawater into the reactors. Workers also pumped steam into the reactors to try to prevent another hydrogen explosion. There was a hydrogen explosion at Fukushima Dai-Ichi that fully exploded into the air 2 times. After, explosion and fire outbreak at Unit 4 and the government evacuates people within a twelve-mile radius of the plant. Then, due to evaporation of water in the fuel pool, steam and smoke arise from Unit 3. The U.S. government tells all its citizens with fifty miles of the nuclear reactor to evacuate. Workers try to spray Unit 3 with water but the water does not reach the pool. On day 7, The Tokyo Electric Power Corp. reports that 23 of its workers have been injured and 18 are exposed to radiation. High radiation levels are found in milk and spinach on the ninth day. By day ten, the radiation levels in spinach are higher than the legal limit. On day 14, two workers were hospitalized after coming in contact with radioactive water and the radiation in tap water were so high that infants should not being drinking the tap water. On day 16, the U.S. delivers fresh water to cool the plant and radiation was found in milk and eleven kinds of vegetables. Toxic plutonium was founded outside the plant on day 19. An 8-inch crack discovered in the maintenance pit was leaking radioactive water into the sea. TEPCO states that they are going to release 10,000 tons of radioactive water into the sea in order to make space in the storage building. On day 28, another earthquake hit the northeast coast of Japan but does not do any additional harm to the nuclear power plants. The situation at Japan’s nuclear power plant has been changing rapidly and they hope to get the plants under control as soon as possible.

Our science class took a trip to MIT to learn about plasma physics and the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. When we first arrived, we had the opportunity to be taught by one of the graduate students at MIT about plasma physics, Alcator C-Mod Tokamak, the environment and energy. I thought it was very interesting that 85% of our energy is from fossil fuels and green house gas emissions are from burning coal and petroleum. . Also, with better energy resources our health, education, and economy gets better. I learned that one of the main advantages of fusion energy is that there is no long-lived nuclear waste and the main disadvantage is that it is very costly. He mentioned that the Alcator C-Mod should be finished within the end of the decade. The students powerpoint was very informative and I learned a lot from him.

Next, our class made our way into the building with the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. First, we learned about the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. This is used to find alternatives for energy in the future. The Alcator C-Mod has the world’s highest magnetic field and makes the highest density tokamak plasmas. It confines hot plasmas with magnetic fields that is very difficult. It has the promises of becoming the ultimate nuclear power plant that will be better than the nuclear power plants that we have today. Many Professors and graduate students are working on the Alcator C-Mod. In the hallway we were also able to touch a bolt. Two bolts can hold down a space shuttle about to take off. After that we went into another classroom and learned more and put on construction hats before we went through the doors to the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. The Alcator C-Mod was very interesting to look at. Many pipes and a lot bigger than I expected. I am thrilled about the Alcator C-Mod tokamak because it will convert mass to energy by not having any air pollution, threat of proliferation, and will not contribute to global warming.

In class, we tested how adding and subtracting weight would make a difference in the amount of power that was used. We compared acceleration vs. mass, power vs. power level, acceleration, and power used vs. power level. In our experiment, acceleration vs. mass, we used the pulley system and the robot. We connected the weights to the string. We repeated the experiment nine times and decreased the weight every time. The information below shows the scatter plot of acceleration vs. mass. The scatter plot shows that as acceleration increases, mass decreases. We then compared power used vs. power level. We used the same pulley system. We changed the power levels four times starting with 75-watts. This correlation shows in the scatter plot below that as the power levels increase, the power used also increases. Using the same data we could compare the acceleration data. As the power levels increase so does the acceleration. The last experiment we did in class was power used vs. the percentage of the power level. We divided the potential energy by time. As you can see from the diagram below, as the percentage of power levels increase, the power used also increases.

Demand response in electricity grids are used to manage and maximize efficient consumption of electricity in response to the supply. Demand response is necessary during storms, heat waves, and maintenance. Demand response is used in the hot summer days. Costumers can reduce their consumption of electricity to save money when there are times when the prices are higher than usual. Demand response can respond to requests to actually shut off. De and response also includes energy efficiency, home and building energy management, distributed renewable resources, and electric vehicle charging. Customers that use demand response are mostly large and small commercial and residential customers. Many services that need energy can be reduced in critical times where the energy is more expensive. Demand response can be used to reduce the peak demand for energy, which reduces plant and capital cost requirements. Demand response can also increase demand when needed.

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The BP Oild Spill

By: Caroline Gendron

The BP oil spill is an oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill flowed for three months straight last year. The BP oil spill is the largest marine oil spill in U.S. History. On April 20, 2010 The Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred southeast of the Louisiana coast. The Deepwater Horizon was a nine-year-old semi-submersible Drilling Unit drilling rig. The cost of The Deepwater Horizon was valued at $560 million dollars in February 2001. Eleven workers were killed and seventeen other workers were injured and eleven people were missing. A blowout preventer failed to activate which is supposed to prevent crude oil from being released. The Deepwater Horizon sank and that is when the major oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 25, the US coast guard reports that the well is leaking underwater and releasing crude oil into the ocean. Natural gas and diesel fuel was also being released into the ocean. On May 1, the coast guard announced that the BP Oil Spill will affect the Gulf shore. On May 6, toxic pink oil seawater occurs on the shore off the Louisiana coast. This toxic pink oil is very dangerous for the many birds that live there. Barack Obama compared the BP Oil Spill to 9/11 on June 14. Hurricane Alex occurred on June 30^th, which disrupted BP’s clean-up. Capping the wellhead on July 15 finally stopped the leak. An estimation of 53 barrels a day was being released into the Gulf of Mexico. BP takes full responsibility for the explosion. The BP Oil Spill has caused immense damage to the marine, wildlife, and tourism industries. Tar balls were found in fishing nets and wetlands. Oil began to wash up on the beaches off the Gulf Islands on June 1. Oil was washing up on the Mississippi and Alabana islands and also in Florida on Pensacola Beach. Oil is also spread on the sea floor for miles. There are eight national parks and 400 species that are threatened. The Kemp’s Ridley, Green Turtle, Loggerhead turtle, Hawksbill turtle, and the Leatherback turtle are endangered species and are at the most in risk. So far, estimated 6,000 birds, 600 sea turtles, 100 dolphins, and 1 reptile have been found dead. Over 130 lawsuits against BP have been filed.

References:

http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=40&contentId=7061813

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/bp-oil-spill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill