Sience184

For last posts about this project, check SARA’s blog

So today was our second meeting and we went through our experiment.  So the overall objectives of this experiment is to measure the temperature of four bottles of hot water wrapped in different materials using NXT robots and labview software. after the calculations, we are going to determine the best insulator.

There is different materials we would need to start:

Glass bottles

Temperature probes

water and water heater

Insulating materials

Nylon sock, Cotton sock, and aluminum foil

We divided them and said who was bringing what so we can start. So far things have been working really well with the group and I hope it ends in these conditions. I am actually sure it will, because these girls are awesome.

The MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (MIT-NRL) is a university laboratory that conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of advanced fuel and materials for nuclear energy systems, nuclear science, nuclear medicine, and radiation science and technology. The 6 MW MIT Nuclear Research Reactor (MITR) is equipped with experimental facilities available to users both within and outside MIT. We also provide technical assistance for research projects for high school students, undergraduate and graduate students, university researchers and faculty members, and national laboratory users. The image below is outside of the building where the reactor is. It is a strange area I think it match the place.

The MITR is a 5 MW, tank-type, heavy-water reflected, light-water cooled and moderated nuclear research reactor that utilizes finned, plate-type fuel elements. An in-core experimental facility can be installed in place of a reactor fuel element which has a cross-sectional area of 27 cm2and a length of 66 cm.  Peak neutron fluxes are 1.2x1014n/cm2-s fast and 7x1013n/cm2-s thermal. The approximate dimensions for each experiment are 5 cm diameter by 60 cm high. Here is a color image of the above desscription. 

REFERENCES: (I did not go on the trip for some health reasons but I found a couple of information online

http://web.mit.edu/nrl/www/research/HTIF%20Brochure.pdf

http://web.mit.edu/nrl/www/

We realize that the averages are different in every chart because of the different colors. For the no color, it is high at first, then very low and a little high a gain the low (from 0 to 9 inches away)

For the red and blue colors, it is very high at first then low.  (from 0 to 9 inches away)

For the teal, it is almost like the previous colors but it is not completely low at the end. it stay between 0 and 0.2 (from 0 to 9 inches away)

When I heard that we had to watch the movie contagion, I was not sure if I wanted to watch it. But after watching it, I learned a couple of interesting things about pandemics.

Pandemic is an epidemic that spreads over a very wide area such as an entire country or continent. In the movie, things went pretty fast to show us what was going on. People were catching this disease all the time and dying most of the time. It was very catchy because people actually care about this issue, like during the cold a flu season even though it is scary to think that something like this could possibly happen. It is pretty ironic that the movie came out around that season too.

The first person to catch the disease in this film is this woman named Beth. And from there it spreads as a chain and obviously, the first person she contaminates is the one who is closer to her, her son. She was also having an affair with a guy and he caught it too. No one realized the gravity of the disease even though a lot of people around the world were affected. Beth, her son and the guy all passed away a little after they had been affected.

When they realized what was going on, the Center of Disease Control started some researches to try to create the disease so they could create vaccines to fight it. The film includes characters from different parts of the world to show how serious and widespread this issue was.

The last part of the movie shows where the disease came from and how it spread. From what they saw happening was the pig that ate the banana he saw in the farm and died shortly after, then the chef touched the pigs mouth and took a picture of Beth who caught it afterward.

I think that we should all be concern about pandemics because anything is in one part of the world today can be happening to us the next day. Contagion really emphasizes how serious a disease can be and how easily it can be caught and spread worldwide.

Demand Response is a strategy created to manage consumer’s electricity consumption in order to make more progress in a company to provide revenue opportunity. Those who enroll in this program agree to reduce their electricity consumption in response to “peak system demand, grid emergencies or peak wholesale prices, thereby contributing to grid stability and lower market prices.”

Participating in demand response results in many environmental benefits like helping to reduce the need for more power plants, lowering carbon dioxide and more.

This graph shows the shifting of energy throughout the day. Supply is descending earlier, then a little ascending. It stays stable during peak hours (12-7pm). The graph also shows that the closer the demand is to the supply, the greater the risks of blackouts. In conclusion, reducing electricity use during peak hours ensures reliability and decreases risk of electrical emergencies.

Source: http://www.cpowered.com/