Solyndra’s promise: “Solyndra’s solar power solutions offer strong return on investment and make great business sense. Our cylindrical technology was designed for the rooftop and offers the benefit of light weight, low cost and the fastest, easiest installation of any solar technology. In more than 1000 installations around the world our customers are converting underutilized rooftop space into clean energy from the sun.” Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells. On 1 September 2011, the company ceased all business activity, filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy, and laid off all employees. The company is also being sued by employees who were abruptly laid off. Their efficient and innovative technology looked extremely promising, and a chance to create jobs in America. That was the reason the White House, along with Obama, approved a $535 million dollar loan to back the start-up from Silicon Valley. The FBI is currently investigating what role in political fundraising helped make this scandal possible. Th einitiative was called “Technology for Obama”. The intention was great, create clean, efficient energy and create jobs for thousands of Americans. However, it resulted to be a political effort to satisfy the appetite of politicians, and now Republicans are retaliating, despite the fact that they have been in similar situations. The intention of the investment was great, but government officials need to be more cautious in analyzing a company’s operations as well as the honesty of its employees, especially the board, when making such a large investment in this economy. “The Obama Administration betrayed American taxpayers when it dumped hundreds of millions of public dollars into Solyndra while ignoring clear warnings about the company’s dire financial situation,” Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement.

References:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/obama-fundraises-with-players-in-solyndra-scandal/

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-18/news/ct-met-kass-0918-20110918_1_solyndra-loan-guarantee-obama-fundraisers-obama-white-house

This week, we attempted the previous experiment again. These are the results we attained:

As you increase the mass, acceleration decreases. 

F=ma, as force increases, acceleration increases

As you increase the power level, the power discharge increases and more power is exerted. 

The smaller the mass, the smaller the battery discharge. This is a function of battery to mass with the same power level.

In this week’s lab, we used a generator to create electricity and store it in the battery. We recorded  The changing currents occuring from the shakes are transferred into power and provides light for the battery. The first trial was with 0 shakes and came to be 0.84. Second trial was 24 shakes which equaled 0.101 and 70 shakes equaled 150.

In this week’s lab we explored Newton’s Laws.

1.      Newton’s 2nd Law i.e.,

2.      The law of conservation of energy

3.      Velocity and acceleration

4.      Power

We used the Lego Mindstorm motor to lift weights with a pulley.

Setting the power level of the motor will set the toque on the motor wheel which will result in a particular force used to lift the masses.  The higher the power level, the greater the force

1.      Explore Newton’s 2nd Law i.e. by

a.       Keeping the power level fixed and changing the mass.  Does the acceleration vary withmass?

We found that by decreasing the mass (kg) while keeping the same power level, the time (s) and battery discharge (mV) decreases. However, the speed (RPM) and acceleration (RPM/s) increase.

b.      Keep the mass fixed and change the power level.  Does the acceleration vary with power level?

We found that decreasing the power level decreases the power level (mV), speed (RPM), and acceleration (RPM/s). However, the time (s) increases.

We measured the distance travelled with a ruler : 30 cm

Results from experiment:

NXT Robotics Lab

The purpose of this lab was to understand how the VI measures the distance the wheels travel, and the speed at which the car travels. We also recorded the distance travelled with a ruler and calculated the percentage of error.

With a ruler measure the diameter of the wheel and compute the circumference of the wheel in meters.

Circumference = p*diameter

= .175

How are the degrees that the wheel rotated related to the number of turns of the wheel?           Each wheel rotation in turns is equal to 360 degrees.

How are seconds related to milliseconds? 1 second equals .0001 milliseconds.

How is the distance related to the number of turns? Distance = circumference * # of wheel turns

We ran three tests with the same time for the wheels to turn. The first test we ran at 75% power level, the second test we ran at 50% power level, and 25% for the third test. The discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that our measurements with the ruler were not exact. In contrast, the computer measurements were much more accurate, and the comparison between these two measurements accounts for the percentage of error.

To calculate % error:

| distance of ruler – distance computer | / Average (distance computer and distance ruler)

Tests 1,2, and 3