Solyndra is a green energy company based in California. Back in May of 2011 President Obama issued a government loan to this company.

Making Electricity from Lemons

Goal: This experiment is designed to show that you can gather electricity using the acid inside of a lemon. This is relevant to the class because it shows that there are alternative ways to create energy which could help make energy cleaner and more affordable.

Materials:

• 18-gauge copper wire
• Wire clippers
• Steel paper clip/ 2 inch strip of zinc
• Sheet of coarse sandpaper
• Voltage Meter or small LED light bulb
• Connector for the LED Light bulb
• Lemon

Procedure:

1. Strip two inches of insulation off of the copper wire, then use the wire clippers to cut the two inches of bare wire
2. If using the paper clip, straighten out the clip and cut it to be about two inches (skip step if using two inch strip of zinc
3. Use the sandpaper to smoothen the ends of the wire, zinc, or paperclip
4. Gently squeeze the lemon with your hands; be sure not to break the lemon’s skin
5. Connect the wire and zinc strip (or paper clip) using the connector to the LED light bulb or voltage meter
6. Record results

Expectation: We expect that when the project is done correctly, it will be able to light up the small LED light for a small amount of time, it should also show electricity if the voltage meter is used.

Think about a hot summer day. The thermometer reads 100 degrees and your air conditioner is running full blast. Now think about your neighbors, their neighbors, and their neighbors. Each and everyone of them probably has their air conditioners running just as you do. Now repeat that across an entire city or an entire state and you can see that the power grid is probably overwhelmed. This is why during extremely hot summer days, its not unheard of to hear about black outs, where entire cities are without power because the demand is significantly higher than the supply. Due to the outdated nature of our power grid, storing electricity on

a large scale is impractical. The demand and supply must always remain balanced. This brings us to demand response. Instead of the electrical providers trying to up their output, customers can lower their demand for electricity, helping to balance the supply and demand equation. That is called Demand Response. Many utility companies actually pay their customers to engage in demand response especially during peak demand times. Some simple ways to engage in demand response are by unplugging electrical units when they aren’t in use, moderating air conditioner use, and turning off all lights during the day.

Here are some terms related to energy consumption and demand response:

1) Power Grid- The power grid is a system that is responsible for delivering electricity to consumers every time they need it. Example: As soon as you plug in your TV the grid sends electricity through wires around neighborhoods, into your home, and eventually into your TV all instantly.

2) Baseload- Energy companies make predictions about our energy use based on past energy use. They use these predictions to then make sure that a minimum amount of electricity is available at all times, even during peak times. That general standard amount of electricity is called the baseload.

3) Peak Usage Time- We discussed this earlier. Peak usage time is when there is a high demand for electricity. Generally this occurs in the afternoon and early evening. It also occurs during extremely hot summer days when the entire state wants to use their air conditioners. This is when demand response is especially effective.

4) Demand- The amount of want for electricity. For example, when you flip the switch to turn on your light, you are demanding electricity.

5) Demand Load- The demand load is the amount of energy the power grid needs to deliver in order to fulfill everyone’s electrical needs. This increases as does the demand, and is high during peak usage times.

6) Demand Response- Like we said earlier, Demand Response is the customers reducing their demand in order to make sure that there is ample supply for other customers. This is highly efficient during peak usage times and can prevent devastating black outs like the one pictured below.

Sources:

1) http://www.enernoc.com/our-resources/term-pages/704-what-is-demand-response

2) http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/demand-response.htm

3) http://www.ci.uri.edu/ciip/Publications/Anthony_DR%20Overview.pdf

Ever heard the old phrase “When God gives you lemons, make lemonade”? Well our final project is going to put a spin on the old quote and instead of making lemonade which can be purchased rather cheaply at any market, were going to use those lemons to make electricity. Yup, you heard right, electricity.

When our group was trying to decide on an exciting, interesting, and cool project to present to high school kids, we came across this one and knew that it would be an instant hit. Muath had previous experience with this project and gave as a decent understanding of how it works. I think that this project will be exciting because its not a dull project about a wind farm or some overly scientific experiment that would put the class to sleep.

We plan on our project being fun and engaging. This is something we learned is important when watching a presentation at the Museum of Science. Our experiment is simple and requires only a few minor pieces. We will use the minor amount of electricity that we create to power a small led light which we think will be more interactive than reading a voltage meter. To make the project more fun, we plan on asking the kids questions and seeing what they think will happen before the project begins. I am confident in where our project stands right now, and I’m looking forward to being able to present it.

As energy becomes more and more expensive, and the movement toward green energy expands, many people are turning to solar energy. During class, we set out to find out what various factors can do to affect the voltage level being put out by the solar panels. The two variables that we tested were the distance between our light source and the solar panel, and how color affects the amount of voltage being produced by the solar panel.

Materials:

1. Flashlight
2. Solar Panel
3. NXT Device
4. Cable to connect panel to NXT
5. Labview Program to measure voltage

First, we experimented with the distance between the light source and the solar panel. Below you can find a table detailing the distance and the voltage produced

This blog post is about an awesome lesson I learned at the Museum of Science during our SF class field trip. It all started with the story of 6 year old Devon.

Devon has a serious allergy problem and is allergic to nearly everything. His allergies are so bad that it is not safe for him to even attend school like a normal kid his age. The amazing part is that even though he can’t personally be in class at all times, he can still attend school and learn as if he was. This is because of a robot called the VGO. Through the robot, Devon is able to go to all his classes, and even sit with friends during lunch in the cafeteria. Devon does all of this in the safety of his own home, by using the VGO software which allows him to control the robots movement and even projects his face onto a screen so that he is always in the classroom. The VGO has the screen where it shows Devon’s face to his teachers and classmates, and a camera and microphone so that Devon can see what is happening around him. He uses the robot to answer questions, talk with friend, listen to teacher’s explain topics, and even hang out with friends in the cafeteria.

What made the robot story so cool was the way that they explained it. Under normal circumstances, a general discussion about robotics, how they work and key functions isn’t usually very exciting. Had the scientists at the Museum of Science used really big words, or not presented the back story to the robot, I would not have enjoyed the presentation and probably wouldn’t have learned anything at all
Once they had laid the foundation, they began explaining how exactly it functions. But they didn’t just sit at the front of the room and lecture about fancy robotic devices, they used the actual robot to explain. They did a demonstration and even offered members of the audience to participate. This is the key to presenting an experiment that is both engaging and informative. This blog post is supposed to be about what I learned at the MOS that will help enhance our experiment. I learned a valuable lesson, to maintain the viewers interest, and explain it in common language. I believe that when I apply this lesson to my project, we will see kids having fun and learning some awesome things.. What made the presentation memorable, and made it possible to learn from was all in the way it was presented. The presentation started out with the back story. Getting the viewers interested is the most important part. If you can make people interested, they will be able to learn. They presented a video which showed the robot in use, and explained how Devon made use of it.

This experiment focused on Faraday’s Law which states that changing magnetic fluxes through coiled wires generate electricity. Our goal in this experiment was to prove or disprove this statement, or to find a relationship between the number of shakes of the generator and the resulting voltage output.

Hypothesis: Faraday’s law is correct. As a matter of fact if you increased the frequency of the shakes, the output voltage would also increase.

In order to test this experiment we had a hand-held generator which we manually shook in order to produce electricity. We shook the generator at 3 different frequencies and monitored the voltage output with each. Using a computer program we were able to monitor the output compared to the number of shakes. Below are the results.

The results are clear. As we increased the frequency of shakes, the voltage output also increased. In our control experiment we didn’t shake the generator. It produced nearly no voltage output. When we increased the frequency to 29 shakes, the voltage increased by a minute amount. In our last experiment we increased the number of shakes to 68 and the increase in voltage output was incredible. The computer program registered nearly a voltage of nearly 75.32. This proves Faraday’s law because as the generator was shaken, the magnet went through the coils and did in fact produce electricity.

Fun Fact: Faraday’s law is used now a days in things as simple as flashlights. In order to save battery use, companies have developed flashlights that work just like the generators were using. The battery is charged by shaking the flashlight. The shaking movement causes a magnet to travel between a coil and electricity is created.

On March 11, 2011, Japan was devastated by three crippling disasters. It all started at 2:46 pm when a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the coast. Not long after, a 15 metre tsunami spawned and washed away entire towns and cities. This tsunami also created significant damage one of Japan’s four power plants, Fukushima Daiichi. At the time that the earthquake struck, 11 reactors in total spread out across the four different power plants shutdown and sustained little to no damage. However when the tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, all hell broke loose. The tsunami wiped out 12 of the 13 on-site generators and disabled the reactors ability to cool and circulate which is a major safety tool to ensure that nuclear waste and the reactors do not become dangerous. With the power being completely screwed up, the reactors (1,2,3) which were in use at the time began over-heating and experienced a pure meltdown. Not long after, despite hard work by plant employees and emergency personnel, a hydrogen explosion occurred. In response, a very nervous Japanese government ordered the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people living nearby. This sent the country into sheer panic worrying about leaking radiation. It also endangered the workers who would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation if there was in fact a leak.

Many scientists and public health experts are now worried about the long term effects of this radiation leak. The concern is for the workers and first responders, the residents nearby who may have  been exposed, and people who

may be exposed to the radiation as it traveled through air and even seeped into the soil and underground water supply. Workers who were exposed to the highest amount of radiation may experience radiation sickness which can damage tissue, prevent bone marrow from created new blood cells, and result in death. Longer term effects can include cancer, especially thyroid cancer. The good news is that many doctors don’t think that the general public who haven’t come into direct contact with the Fukushima plan or its immediate surroundings will have many health problems. They do warn that radiation can be spread by particles on people’s clothing and of course by breathing it in.

Looking to the future, Tepco (the company operating Fukushima Daiichi) has put in place a comprehensive plan to rebuild and remediate any of the problems. They began by removing debris from the facility using a heavy duty crane. They also instituted a fuel line to transfer used fuel from fuel ponds to the spent fuel facility where it can be safely handled. Another important action to set out to find the location of the leaks. Once found they were to be sealed and the tanks were to be filled with sufficient amounts of water to shield from future leaks. Finally all the damaged reactors will be fully demolished in 30-40 years. That sounds like a long time, but that is the standard for nuclear plants. Safety still remains their top concern, and all changes will be done slowly to ensure they aren’t furthering damage and increasing future risks. This disaster has had many people reconsidering their nuclear plans. As a matter of fact Germany has gone on an intensive green movement as a result of this disaster for fear that they might experience similar problems.

Sources

1) http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html

2) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/japan-nuclear-reactors-and-seismic-activity/

3) http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/15/japans-next-nightmare-health-problems-from-radiation-exposure/

In our most recent experiment, we tested Newtons law F=MA. The experiment was set up to measure the relationship between various things such as Mass and Acceleration, Power Level and Acceleration, and Battery Discharge and Mass. We used a robot, and computer program called Lab View to test out these relationships. We created a basic pulley system where the robotic arm would lift a set of weights and the measurements would be calculated by the computer program. Our first relationship is Acceleration and Mass.

The chart above shows the relationship between acceleration and mass. You can see by the line, that as the mass was increased, the acceleration decreased. This makes sense because it take much more force to accelerate a heavy object than it would to accelerate a lighter object. In all of the trials for this relationship, the force (power level) remained the same. A real life example is a tractor trailer, and a motorcycle. It is pretty obvious that the motorcycle is lighter. Therefore, the motorcycle will be able to accelerate much more rapidly than the tractor trailer, even if the same amount of force is exhibited.

The chart above shows the relationship between the acceleration and power level. The power level is equivalent to the amount of force being exerted on the weights. Since F=MA, when the M (mass) remains the same, and F (force) increases, so should A (acceleration). For example, if F equals 80, M equals 5, then A has to equal 16. If you increase F to 100, leave M at 5, then A must also increase to 20. The chart above proves that. As the force being exerted on the weights increased, so did the acceleration. Since the mass of the weights remained constant, the only variables being tested were acceleration as force is increased. A real life example is back to the trailer. As the driver increases the force on the truck (by increasing speed), the acceleration will also increase.

The chart above shows the relationship between Battery Drainage and Mass. This chart is much more difficult to get a read on, and this relationship is much more complicated to understand. If you look at the chart, you see that there is no real pattern, but rather the points are thrown all across the chart, in seemingly random locations. The only conclusion I can make about this chart is that many factors other than mass may have played a role in this chart. I would imagine that as the power level is increased the battery drainage would also increase. I would also imagine if the power level remained constant, and the mass increased, so would the battery drainage. Unfortunately, I believe that this map shows drainage and mass relationships among trials in which the power level was not consistent. This is an example of human error in the experiment. If we ran this experiment again, I would want to isolate the variables, and keep the power level constant to better understand the chart.

The final relationship explored in this experiment is the relationship between power and power level. One might get confused and assume that power and power level are the same thing. The power level in this program is the speed, and the power would be the force exerted on the weights. This is a fairly simple chart to understand. As the power level increased (speed increased) the power being exerted on the weight also increased. A real life example once again is motorcycles. When the motorcycle is going faster (speed), the motorcycle has greater power.

This experiment was a cool way to explore these various relationships. With the exception of the Battery Drainage and Mass relationship, the experiment provided us with results that are not shocking. All the relationships are relationships that make sense and are present in our daily lives. If this experiment was to be done again, I would want to focus more time and attention on making sure we isolated our variables, and thus get a better read on the battery drainage and mass relationship.

Now a days, there are two major factors affecting the production of energy in the United States. The biggest factor affecting production of energy is money. Our society is strapped for cash, and energy producers everywhere are looking for ways to produce energy for cheaper. Even more so, consumers are looking for the cheapest ways to get energy. The second biggest factor affecting energy production is the green movement in the United States to protect the environment. A common method of extracting gasoline (energy source) is called Hydro-Fracking. This method violates the two standards we just talked about, cost and protection of the environment. It is extremely expensive, in fact, more expensive than ordinary drilling for gasoline. It also endangers not just the environment, but the health of people living around these sites..

Hydro-Fracking is a drilling technique pioneered by a well-known drilling company called Halliburton Inc. It is relatively new and hit popularity just after 1990. It is the process of shooting “slick water” into the shale. This fractures the rock, thus releasing gas. According to the Peace Council, this process uses between 6 and 8 million gallons of fresh water per fracking. The water is shot into the rock to create a blast of sorts, which releases the natural gas. The natural gas is then delivered back to the drilling site. The slick water solution contains many dangerous and harmful chemicals. Unfortunately, leaders in the industry are reluctant to release their specific chemicals, but common ones include diesel fuel, hyrdochloric acid, and many other chemicals that are dangerous to the environment. When these chemicals are blasted into the shale, their is no way to guarantee that these chemicals are properly contained, and removed from the earth’s surface. Many companies argue that they only inject small amounts of these chemicals, but because they are so secretive, we can’t be sure. Once in the earth, these chemicals can mix with ground water and surface water creating the potential for disastrous contamination. Another startling fact of hydro-fracking is the limited amount of federal regulation. Without a central authority regulating the process, companies are free to use whatever chemicals they wish to enhance their profits despite the harmful effects on the environment, and public health.

A further reason to oppose hydro-fracking is the cost. According to a Cornell University study on hydro-fracking it costs twice as much per unit for gas drilled using hydro-fracking than it does for gas drilled using standard techniques. In a day and age where Americans, and people across the world are straining to pay bills, who in their right mind would pay twice as much for gas that isn’t by any real means better? Further more, the effect on the local economy is not positive. The weight of the heavy machinery on run-down country roads leaves many impassible when the year-long fracking is complete, and the three years of work to set up the rig cause so much environmental damage that you must wonder whether or not three years of vigorous work is worth one year of fracking. Under our current view of the world, where we value every penny, and are looking to save the environment, hydro-fracking is not acceptable. Government regulation is needed to ensure that companies work within limits that protect our environment, and leave our wallets alone.

Sources:

1) http://www.peacecouncil.net/NOON/hydrofrac/HdryoFrac2.htm

2) http://www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/hydro-fracking.asp#frack

3) http://blogs.cornell.edu/bioee1610/2011/11/30/hydrofracking/