We decided to create machine that will calculate amount of electricity a flowing water can generate. We have the small turbine/electricity generator that generates power when water goes through it. We think of buying some kind of water jar that will be used to store water that will be pumped into turbine. Then we decided to explore some of the possibilities such as mixture of coca cola and mentos to generate extra punching power.
So the final experiment will look something like this. A water container that will be filled with diet coke. Mentos will be dropped into container and the reacting coke will then pass through water turbines though a hose. water turbine will spin and generate electricity. We will use electricity calculating tool to see how much energy we produced.

Cars have been implementing electric motors for quite some time now. They use it for different purposes. Most popular hybrid vehicle is probably Toyota Prius which uses internal combustion engine and electric motor to reduce air pollution. When electric motor is charged it will be main power generator for car unless driver accelerates aggressively. In which case gasoline engine will provide help.

There is another type of hybrid vehicles, mainly in sports exotics category. Porsche 918 is super car powered by v8 engine and two electric motors. Way 918 operates is very different from all other cars.  It uses internal combustion engine and only switches to electric motors when main power source is weak. Switching gears for example, for a split second electric motors will provide boost to RPMs until 918 gears up, then it fires up V8 again. This is way Porsche 918 is always accelerating and has astonishing 2.2 second 0 to 60 acceleration. This is very performance focused take on hybrid vehicle technology.

There is third category, Tesla Motors cars. They are strictly electric and focus both on performance and environment depending which model you choose. Model S has most options if you are looking for something quick. There is roadster version of Model S which provides roughly around 600 break horse power and has outstanding 3.5 second 0 to 60 acceleration. Model X is urban setting vehicle and contrary to its Roadster neighbor provides more economical performance. All Tesla Motors cars use electric motors and need to be charged instead of re-fueling. Today there are about 500 Charging stations all around U.S with more then 3000 Charging outlets. Tesla cars have mechanisms which provide additional energy regeneration by converting kinetic energy from breaking into electrical charge of motor. But this makes very slight difference in urban setting since this technology is at its fullest during aggressive breaking. Something like you see on F1 racing.

Tesla Model S non roadster version goes for around $70,000 which puts it in field with some of phenomenal sports cars.

Such as Jaguar F type and BMW M3. Both of which car manufacturers have a lot of fame and following. It will be hard for Tesla Motors to squeeze in to this competition. And lets admit there is not a lot of charisma behind electric car which sounds like electric fan when accelerating aggressively. That if we talk about non super car version of Model S. The super car version with phenomenal speed upgrades goes for around $105,000 and is a bit behind performance wise compared to rivals at that price range. Dodge Viper and Audi R8 both go for roughly same price and outshine Tesla Model S on track. Plus they both have looks department on point. But Tesla Motors has its niche which is extremely environmental friendly cars and I am sure will gain a lot of recognition in near future. They also come with superior safety and reliability guarantees which are new pivotal features of the car manufacturers.

There are difficult to reach pools of Natural Gas deep under the earth behind rocks that people are itching to get their hands on. Fortunately there is a process which allows us to do that. Fracking, Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting huge amounts of water saturated with different chemicals and sand into this pool through a pipe line to make them crack and flow more freely. Since Fracking was introduced the reserves of natural gas that was previously unattainable became available resulting in huge price drops in house hold energy. It would have been perfect practice if it didnt have some seriously harmful flip side. First of all it takes large amount of water to prepare the fracking fluid which will be injected into the earth. There are also numerous hazardous risks involved such as the fracking sites are left to let all the post fracking fluid evaporate releasing harmful substances into the atmosphere. The actual process of fracking also presents threat that potentially dangerous fluid might escape the fracking site and find its way towards the underground water around the nearby. Fracking also causes small tremors inside earth crust which sometimes result is small earthquakes.

In 2014 Coal was responsible for roughly about 40% of electricity generated in United States.  It is cheap and effective. U.S also has huge reserves of coal available. While Coal is good way to generate electricity it also has a downside. Coal is main source of air pollution for past few centuries. It emits unspeakable amount of CO2. Which results in climate changes. The temperature is gradually increasing causing damage to plants and wildlife.

Nuclear power is another source of electricity and it generated around 20% of total electricity in united states in 2014. In this case nuclear fusion is used to generate heat which is then used to fire up steam turbines and generate electricity. unlike Coal Nuclear energy has no CO2 emission at all. But it creates radioactive waste that needs to be carefully put away. With the latest Nuclear power plants the amount of radioactive waste is drastically reduced but it still is big threat if treated carelessly.  It costs a lot initially to build good nuclear power plant and the pay all the personnel but nuclear power offers very low fuel cost and meanwhile produces a lot of energy.  Uranium used in process is available in earth crust and can be easily mined.  Nuclear power plants are extremely reliable unless something causes them to malfunction. People seem to have innate fear of nuclear “things” but it really is safe. While talking about threats I want to mention that one of the biggest potential threat for nuclear power plant is terrorism and natural disaster. both of them present threat of power plant meltdown.

Nuclear power has a bad reputation today.  For its history of several devastating events. Nuclear power in general is dangerous source because it involves radiation. Any damage to the power plant is potentially devastating for the surrounding environment. As it happened in Japan the earthquake and tsunami caused equipment in japan to malfunction and caused nuclear meltdown resulting in leak of radioactive material.
Out of all energy sources outside damage to the facility is most dangerous if its Nuclear power plant. Because it packs so much radiation any kind of incident may turn surrounding area into a nuclear waste.
Nuclear power if ensured its safety is potentially best source of energy so far.

Iceland is a cold country but under its surface there is boiling liquid rock. Iceland managed to live off earths natural energy source and today whole country’s electricity depends on it. Using Geothermal energy as energy source is clean renewable energy source, currently in U.S the project is being developed which would supply U.S for around 10% of its electricity. Iceland basically drilled down hot reservoirs under surface and use the steam that it produces to wind up turbines, which is then transferred into electricity. Geothermal Energy produces no greenhouse gases and is one of the cleanest renewable energy sources.

Stirling engine is using fire to heat up gas in special cylinder. As gas heats up it expands moving the piston and thus producing mechanical energy. Really big downside of this engine is having the gas in cylinder cool down and repeat the process. Other then that very similar to petroleum engine. Moving piston and producing energy. I see why this type of energy production never got as much action as coil or oil did. It is not efficient when compared to them at all. and efficiency is all that matters, it makes all the difference in the world. Today it does have small usage today for single reason, it is more quite then other alternatives. So machines such as military Submarines or small yachts come with built in Stirling engine. But as far as big industry usage is concerned, it gets overrun in competition by alternative engines.

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