Month: February 2016

The most recent lab we conducted revolved around solar energy and voltage produced. The higher the light intensity (energy of the light) the more photons generated and therefore greater voltage. This is why we only put solar panels in places of the world where the light intensity is greatest (ex. the desert).

We conduced the experiment using a flashlight as our “light” and a small solar panel that measured voltage produced hooked up to the lego NXT. When light was shined onto the solar panel the computer recorded the voltage produced.

If done correctly, the voltage should have been greatest when the distance was at 0 because the intensity of the flashlight was greatest. Theoretically, the further away the flashlight the lower the intensity and therefore the lower the voltage. My group however was not able to obtain both sufficient data nor accurate data when using what we did obtain (link below). My group was only able to collect 8 data points at a time (the lego mindstorm program should have run for 30 sec consecutively) and the data points resemble more of a scatter plot.

Solar Lab Data

We also worked using various UV filters that should have affected the light intensity and consequently the voltage as well.

When reviewing this data it is important to understand the connection between the colors of the spectrum and energy.

 

Out of all the colors of visible light that we are able to see, each color has a certain frequency or wavelength and therefore a different energy. Violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths and therefore produce the most energy. The less frequency wavelengths such as red or orange produce a lower level of energy. White light is the combination of all colors of the spectrum while black is the absence of all color.

When placing UV filters over the flashlight (our experiment used blue, green, orange and white) it will accordingly affect the solar panel depending on which color is reflected while the rest are absorbed.

For our experiment, blue and green produced the higher voltage while orange came in third and white last.

In recent years, the implementation and use of solar energy has skyrocketed. In 2011 alone, solar energy use rose 54% and in 2015 solar use was 100 times greater the energy produced in 2000.

As in the case of many markets, China has become the worlds leading PV panel producer. Over half of all solar panels produced come from key companies in China such as Suntech. The company has been able to produce the panels at record-low prices ($1.28/Watt) and now the question of world wide installation isn’t the cost of the technology itself but the often costly price of initial installation. Some of these solar grids are as large as the cities they need to power and it takes both time and money to install every panel.

The top leader in solar energy use however is Germany. The country produces around 30% of the world’s solar powered energy which amounts to almost more than the rest of Europe combined. Although this sounds like great amount (32.4 GW) this only equals about 3% of Germany’s power consumption. The country hopes to eliminate the majority of nuclear power use and harness nearly 25% of all their energy using solar power by 2050.

 

China is not just the world’s leading producer for solar panels but also the world’s second leading solar energy producer. As the world’s most populous country with one of the largest carbon footprints it makes sense that the country has began to invest in alternatives for their massive energy needs. Sine 2009 China’s solar production has grown a tremendous 9,000%. With the intention of drastically reducing the amount of coal burned China aims to producing 70 GW of solar energy by 2017.

 

The rest of the leading producers are Italy, Japan, the US and Spain.

Although not yet a leading producer of solar energy, Morocco is currently in the process of building the largest solar plant in the world. Located on the edge of the Sahara desert this power plant is nearly the size of the city it is providing power to. The plant is outside the city of Ouarzazate, and will provide electricity to 1.1  million people 20 hours a day by using the Sun’s heat to melt salt, which will hold its heat to power a steam turbine after the sun has set. By 2020 Morocco aims to produce 42% of its electricity from renewable energy.

Below are some of the more specific details of the solar giant.

 

 

Resources:

http://pureenergies.com/us/blog/top-10-countries-using-solar-power/

http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/solar.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34883224

 

There are billions of people on this earth whose lives are entirely dependent on electricity and energy use. However, as many of our sources of coal and natural gas are becoming exponentially smaller we must examine how we generate our electricity more closely now than ever.

When a person thinks of calories they most likely think of food, but a calories is actually in fact a unit of energy. As you burn calories you are in fact burning stored energy in your body.

The experiment is centered around our body’s ability to produce energy using Faraday’s law. According to the law, changing magnetic fluxes through coiled wire generates electricity just a generator would. The greater the change in the magnetic flux the greater the voltage generated.

In a generator there is some sort of engine that powers a coil which rotates to interrupt the magnetic fields in order to create a current. (As seen below) However during our experiment we shook a tube that has a magnet within which travels back and forth through a coil of wires. The faster the tube is shaken or the higher energy that is used the higher the voltage.

When recording data our task was to correlate the number of shakes of the generator, in a thirty second time interval, with the voltages that the generator generates.

However, when conducting our actual experiment we ran into numerous amounts of problems. We switched out multiple batteries only to find that the program still couldn’t connect to the computer. Even when the computer said it was connected to the lego mindstorm device we were still unable to generate data.

Had it gone correctly we hope that the data would have correlated higher according to how hard the tube was shaken.

As in the case with most famous inventors, Nikola Tesla was far ahead of his time. As early as 1891, Tesla nearly reached his dream of creating a world entirely supplied by wireless energy. Although he invented numerous things, one of his most famous inventions is what is known as the Tesla coil.

The Tesla coil revolutionized the way we use energy in our everyday lives. When it was first created early radio antennas and telegraphy were quick to use it. However, the coil also has various other capabilities such as creating electron winds and shooting lighting bolts.

Because the coils in Tesla’s invention are wound slightly looser the coils are able to withstand a much higher voltage compared to a traditional transformer.

In order to explain more of the coil’s key functions here are the parts broken down in a diagram:

 

 

The power source is hooked up to the primary coil. The primary coil’s capacitor must be able to withstand the massive charge and huge surges of current, so the coil is usually made out of copper. Eventually, the capacitor builds up so much charge that it breaks down the air resistance in the spark gap. Then, the current flows out of the capacitor down the primary coil and creates a magnetic field.

After the energy collapses the magnetic field an electric current is generated in the secondary coil.  The voltage between the two coils creates sparks in the spark gaps until it gets so high that it breaks free and becomes an electric current. The voltage is so high that it can illuminate fluorescent bulbs several feet away without the need for any wires.

“In a perfectly designed Tesla coil, when the secondary coil reaches its maximum charge, the whole process should start over again and the device should become self-sustaining. In practice, however, this does not happen. The heated air in the spark gap pulls some of the electricity away from the secondary coil and back into the gap, so eventually the Tesla coil will run out of energy. This is why the coil must be hooked up to an outside power supply.”

 

 

References:

https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/books/modern-tesla-coil-design-theory

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/tech/innovation/wireless-electricity/

http://www.livescience.com/46745-how-tesla-coil-works.html

 

 

The most recent robotics lab conducted in class focused around the laws created by one of human history’s greatest scientists: Isaac Newton.  Using the lego robot’s computer system, a pulley, and various weights, we conducted an experiment regarding the law of gravity and Newton’s laws of motion.

The experiment centered around Newton’s second law: force= mass x acceleration.

The first set in the experiment was conducted with the force remaining as a constant in order to track the changes in acceleration when different masses were applied.

The second set of data was the opposite: We kept the mass stable and changed the force applied in order to again track the acceleration.

If applied correctly the data should go as follows:

When force is constant and mass is increased, acceleration decreases. When mass decreases, acceleration increases.

When mass in constant, force and acceleration increase and decrease together according to how much force is applied.

Our data is as follows:

Workbook1

 

 

The unique company known as SpaceX first began when founder and multimillionaire Elon Musk sought to turn his love of space into a profitable business. Musk dreamed of reigniting the public’s interest in space travel, while simultaneously making it actually accessible. Eventually, the goal is to send enough supplies into space in order to create a sustainable environment in which humans could live at least semi-permanently.

 

SpaceX now creates some of the highest performance rockets and offers space travel/cargo related services to the public at record-low prices. Four years ago, SpaceX’s dragon capsule became the first commercial rocket to go into orbit and return safely. Although no other company has yet to figure out how, SpaceX offers the lowest pricing per pound compared to any other company.

 

Both of Falcon 9’s (SpaceX’s main rocket) stages are powered by RP1 and liquid oxygen, so only one type of engine is required. Both are the same diameter and are constructed from the same aluminum-lithium alloy, reducing the amount of tooling and the number of processes and resulting in huge savings for the company.  The engine used to power the rocket is called a pintle. “Unlike most rocket engines, in which droplets of fuel and oxidizer are sprayed into the combustion chamber through an injector plate resembling a shower head, the pintle uses a needle-like injector that’s more like the nozzle on a garden hose.” (Chaikin) Not only is this engine cheaper, but also less suseptable to combustion which proves safer for all involved.

Now with over 4000 employees, their contract with NASA is valued at $1.6 billion.

 

With the intention of making space travel available to the masses, SpaceX has also invested heavily in redesigning the bulky astronaut suits that we have seen ever since Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the moon. The company wants to redesign the suits to be more comfortable and suitable for the average consumer, while also using the new suit design as a symbol for the company’s futuristic ideology.

 

 

Resources:

http://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/?page=2

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-08/spacex-space-suit-will-combine-function-with-design

http://www.spacex.com/

 

The movie iRobot was long before its time during its debut of 2004, however the idea of having a personal robot to help around the house may not be far off.

Honda engineers recently created what is possibly the most advanced humanoid robot in human history after more than a decade of development and research. ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) has been created to ultimately assist the elderly or disabled in performing functions that they are not able to do themselves or assist the everyday citizen with tasks that would pose as dangerous.

The arms and hands of the robot were created with large enough range of motion that it can do everything from turning on a light switch to carrying a tray of food.  It also has force sensors in the wrist to gauge contact with humans and objects. The robot also is capable of generating its own walking patterns and has a range of sensors to climb stairs and avoid obstacles.

However, it is not just the physical capabilities that are impressive with ASIMO but also its intelligence. With a camera located in the front of the head ASIMO is able to recognize people, detect objects, and detect human body language. The robot also recognizes different voice patterns and responds to voice commands accordingly.

Obama likes ASIMO too:

 

But more importantly, how does it all work?

There are a few key important features that allows ASIMO to perform such lifelike human qualities. For walking, ASIMO has soft projections on the bottom of its feet similar to human toes for maintaining balance and absorbing impact. The robot also has speed and gyroscope sensors and various other joint sensors to remain upright and balanced when moving.

In order to detect human faces and avoid objects ASIMO has two videocameras for eyes that use stereoscopic vision alongside a predetermined vision algorithm that gives the robot a base idea of vision, but then allows it to detect changes in real time of its surroundings. To understand and hear human command, the robot has three different microphones installed in its head.

Although this robot is clearly capable on its own, it must be preprogramed using either voice commands or its controller to carry out needed tasks.

 

Resources:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/asimo4.htm

http://asimo.honda.com/default.aspx

10 Amazing Robots That Will Make You Jump for Joy or Run in Terror

 

The development of widespread electricity is one of the most important aspects of our daily lives, yet most people think so little about it. For anyone that has lived in an area subject to extreme weather conditions, some are all too familiar with the struggle to go about our daily routines during a power outage.

The energy that goes into your house first begins at a power plant. There are thousands of plants around the country that generate their electricity through either the burning of oil, coal, or gas, or may also use hydroelectric or nuclear power.

To reach your home the electricity often has to travel large distances from the power plant from which it originated. To do this the voltage must be increased dramatically and then later decreased when it enters your home. Our nation’s grid does this using transmission lines and transformers. In order to generate enough voltage to travel through the lines, the transformer first changes the electricity into an alternating current which flows back and forth between negative and positive. When approaching a place of residence, another transformer will convert the AC back down to a direct current which is what a family uses in their home.

Where the transmission lines end, distribution lines pick up and from there flow into a multitude of residential areas, schools, and businesses.

 

Here is a more in depth look at our Nation’s energy system:

 

Our country is slowly moving away from this system however, and towards what is known as the “smart grid”. The “smart” part of the energy system is essentially computerizing the grid in the same way you would with a smart phone. The grid functions using computer-based remote control, and two way digital communication between sensors and the network operations center. This system is overall much more efficient concerning both man power needed and energy wasted. One key part of this new technology is that it lets operations workers manage thousands of parts of the grid and thousands of transformers from one central location.

 

 

Pros:

• More accurate energy monitoring and management for both national energy and personal residents.
• Renewable energy sources (wind, solar) may either store energy within the grid and maximize clean energy use.
• Installing the grid in its entirety would maximize jobs not just for the installation but for related products/services needed to keep the grid running.

Cons:

• Complete installation would be very costly (estimated between 13 and 50$ billion) and also very time consuming.
• Certain industries that have specific energy needs can not be on a universal grid and therefore would have to pay extra costs for keeping their energy usage separated. (ex. hospitals)
• Bringing the nation’s entire energy system online would possibly make it susceptible to hackers and terrorists, who would potentially be able to shut down entire areas of the country if they were able to gain access.

 

References:

http://artemia.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-smart-grid-technology/

http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid

http://www.cfr.org/united-states/modernizing-us-energy-grid/p36858

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/how-electricity-grid-works#.VrPky1MrIzY