Introduction:

• Acid rain is a topic of much concern in today’s world. As carbon dioxide gas, CO2, dissolves in water droplets of unpolluted air, the following reaction happens
• H2CO3 is a weak acid that causes the rain from unpolluted air to be slightly acidic.
• Oxides of sulfur dissolve in water droplets to cause more serious problems. Sulfur trioxide dissolves to produce sulfuric acid, H2SO4, by the equation
• The acidity of a solution can be expressed using the pH scale, which ranges from 0 to 14. Solutions with pH above 7 are basic, solutions with pH below 7 are acidic, and a neutral solution has a pH of 7. In Part I of this experiment, you will study the effect of dissolving CO2 in distilled water, which is similar to rain water, on the pH of the water. Then in Part II, you will study the effects of dissolving sulfuric acid on the pH of different water types.
  

Objectives
In this experiment, we will:

• Study the effect of dissolved CO2 on the pH of distilled water.
• Measure pH
• Study the effect on pH of dissolving H2SO4 in various waters
• Learn why some bodies of water are more vulnerable to acid rain than others.
  

Experiment:
As a group we conducted an experiment on Acid Rain. Because we did not have access to Sulfuric Acid, we measured the Acidic levels of Orange Juice/Coca-Cola. As a result the data that we gathered produced these results:  pH is 5 for 50ml of water, pH is 3 from 50 ml of water w/Co2 for 100 seconds, 50ml of water and 20 ml of orange juice pH4, 20 ml of water and 50 ml of orange juice pH4, 50 ml of orange juice of pH 3. For Coca-Cola, 80ml of coke pH2, 80ml coke and water pH 3, and 50 ml coke + 20 ml orange juice pH4.

The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has become a controversial issue. While the debate has mainly focused around the environmental risks, from labor’s outlook opening up the Canadian Tar Sands is often viewed as an economic issue rather than an environmental one. Some may not find this surprising because construction unemployment is double the national average. From a worker’s perspective, Keystone jobs will be a union job that pays good money in an economy that increasingly suggests only minimum-wage service work. The Keystone XL pipeline will eventually connect Canada’s vast tar sands in Alberta with refineries along the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Because the pipeline will travel the Canada-U.S. border, construction requires an agreement  by the U.S. State Department—and afterwards by the president. However, many people have been arguing about the pros and cons of building this pipeline.

People feel that building this pipeline would be bad for the economy itself and its workers. One reason it is viewed this way is because supposedly constructing the Keystone pipeline and opening up the Tar Sands will negatively effect national and local economies. Burning the reparable tar sands oil will increase the earth’s temperature by a minimum of 2 degree Celsius. NYU Law School’s Environmental Law Center estimated that this could permanently cut the US GDP by 2.5%. State and local economies are already simultaneously contorting under the real-time economic impacts of our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. Another reason people are against it is because the same fossil fuel interests striving for the Keystone pipeline have been decreasing the amount of jobs rather than creating more. Regardless of producing $546 billion in profits between 2005 and 2010, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP diminished their U.S. workforce by 11,200 employees over that extent of time. In the year 2010 alone, the top five oil companies cut their global workforce by 4,400 employees, which was the same year executives compensated themselves around $220 million. One major negative effect this pipeline could create is a rise in unemployment. According to Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics,“Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the job market in November, slicing an estimated 86,000 jobs from payrolls.” Also, poor and working people will be unduly afflicted. KXL and other projects like it conclude an excessively negative impact on working families whom are already struggling. According to a recent article by the Center for American Progress called “Heavy Weather: How Climate Destruction Harms Middle- and Lower-Income Americans”, lower-and middle income households are immensely affected by the most costly severe weather events. In 2011 & 2012, sixteen states were damaged by five or more severe weather events. Households in catastrophe-asserted counties in these states acquire $48,137, or seven percent below the U.S. median income.

One of the pros for building this pipeline is that it would be a secure and safer way to ship oil sands crude. The central environmental argument against TRP’s Keystone XL is that the pipeline would spur ascending oil sands production. Although, the State Department’s findings displayed that higher production from the region is anticipated— whether or not the Keystone XL is constructed. Ultimately, that crude oil would be deposited via railway if the TRP’s pipeline isn’t built. With some high profile crude-by-rail calamities happening recently, the Keystone XL might really be the safer substitute for the oil sands. Another positive effect this pipeline could have is create an instantaneous accredited cash flows. Pipelines are especially great for constant and stable cash flows.In the course of time, it’s the volume of oil, not the price that matters to the pipeline owner. The authorization of the Keystone XL would be great for TRP stock cash flows and its profit, especially in light of the long, lengthy consent process has actually been a big success for TransCanada shares. As Obama has postponed the confirmation for the pipeline, TransCanada has fundamentally been able to save up enough money to supply and build the Keystone outright. That means that any cash flow from the Keystone XL will be accretive right away to the bottom line of TRP stock and adept limited partnership (MLP) subsidiary TC PipeLines (TCP). Another positive thing is that taxes paid by TransCanada supply counties revenue that is greatly needed to pay for infrastructure. When President Obama spoke at the Port of New Orleans he conveyed the urgency to fix old roads and bridges. He gave a case of how trucking companies are rerouting their deliveries  to bypass traffic and unsafe bridges and that those expenses get passed on to consumers. This can be compared with the investments that TransCanada earns in its energy infrastructure to confirm that our systems function safely and dependably. Over the past 3-4 years, TransCanada has invested an average of more than $900 million in our pipeline uprightness and maintenance programs. Keystone XL Pipeline also improves energy security which is about safe, reliable access to various and ample energy resources. It’s also about being able to decide how those resources will be obtained, utilized and distributed. A new inclusive report from energy research organization IHS CERA, called “Critical Questions for the Canadian Oil Sands,” highlights that the oil sands have a crucial role in the energy security of the United States. The report states: “Increasing supply from Canada allows the United States to reduce its dependence on more distant supplies of oil by tanker, often from regions that are less stable and more susceptible to disruption. Pipeline and rail links between the United States and Canada constitute a “hardwired” link of Canadian oil to the US market — very different from waterborne shipments that can be diverted, even while en route” (John, Matthew).

By developing a “hardwired” connection between flourishing domestic U.S. production and expanding supplies of Canadian oil and the U.S. Gulf Coast, Keystone XL will be demanding in helping the United States decrease its dependence on oil from less-friendly, less fixed regimes in a safe and environmentally accountable manner. It’s about assertion that oil production is linked to the right markets with the right infrastructure at the right time – which is what the Keystone XL pipeline is all about.

3 Pros, 3 Cons For TRP Stock & The Keystone XL Pipeline

http://www.labor4sustainability.org/articles/5-reasons-why-the-keystone-pipeline-is-bad-for-the-economy/
http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-keystone-xl-pipeline
http://keystone-xl.com/five-reasons-why-keystone-xl-benefits-the-u-s/

For our Contemporary Science and Innovation course, our professor took us to visit MIT’s Nuclear Reactor. This nuclear reactor is one of the oldest still running and has been operating since 1958. It was upgraded in 1975 and again in 2010. It shuts down once a month for refuel (shuffle fuel around). This research reactor operates 24/7 at up to 6 MW (megawatts) thermal power. It demonstrates fission technology which is when neutrons hit a hard atom which splits apart and makes more neutrons causing a chain reaction (235 Uranium->Neutron->Fission Product). The stray neutrons are absorbed by 235 Uranium.

In the nucleus of each atom of Uranium-235 fuel, there are 92 protons and 143 neutrons, which adds up to a total of 235 particles. They are so incredibly tiny that their size is hard to even fathom. Around this nucleus spin 92 electrons, which are even tinier particles. It’s said that if the nucleus were as large as a baseball, an electron on its outer rim would be nothing more than a speck about a mile away. The MIT Research Reactor is used principally for the production of neutrons. When it is in operation, the central active core holds an authentic swarm of neutrons moving in every direction at extremely high speeds. The amount of fission in the uranium nuclei is monitored essentially by six control blades of boron-stainless steel which are added vertically alongside the fuel elements. Boron has the property of absorbing neutrons without transferring any. When the control blades are completely added, they absorb so many neutrons from the uranium that there are not enough to cause a chain reaction. To put the reactor into action, the control blades are elevated very slowly. As they absorb less and less neutrons, more and more neutrons are available to element the breaking apart of uranium nuclei, until there are enough neutrons that are being completely discharged to maintain a chain reaction.

The nuclear reactor is a heavy-water reflected, light-water cooled and moderated nuclear reactor that uses flat, plate-type, finned, aluminum-clad fuel elements. It uses water as a coolant and produces no greenhouse gases. It is dedicated for peaceful applications, R&D (Research and Development). There are 2,000 gallons of cool water being pumped a minute through the pumps in the equipment room. The electrons coming out of the reactor move faster than the speed of light. Experimental facilities accessible at the MIT Research Reactor contain two medical edification rooms, beam ports, automatic transfer facilities (pneumatic tubes), and graphite-reflector edification facilities. In addition to that, many  in-core experimental facilities(ICSAs) are also accessible.The MIT Reactor surrounds a number of basic safety features, including negative reactive temperature coefficients of both the fuel and moderator and a negative void coefficient of reactivity. Another safety feature is the location of the core within two concentric tanks. More safe characteristics it contains are the use of anti-siphon valves to set apart the core from the result of breaks in the coolant piping, a core-tank design that advances natural circulation in the occurrence of a loss-of-flow accident; and the occupancy of a full containment. All of these aspects make MIT’s Nuclear Reactor a  particularly safe facility.

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