SCI 184 Blog

My partner Kay and I did the solar powered lightbulb experiment last Friday. The objective of this experiment is to create a light bulb using sunlight and recycled materials. This experiment is actually used in the real world in impoverished nations that cannot afford electricity and it is sometimes too dangerous to use fire as a source of light or heat. Sunlight powered lightbulbs are economically and environmentally beneficial for families and eliminitating carbon emissions.

The basis of the experiment was to have a clear plastic water bottle filled with mostly water and some bleach, placed into a hole cut our in a dark cardboard box. Part of the plastic bottle will stick out so that light may shine through the bottle, hopefully lighting up the inside of the cardboard box. This would be an example of how the bottle and solar rays can create a lightbulb effect in homes.

The following pictue shows the procedure we went through for the project.

The first attempt with the bottle we exposed only a couple inches of the bottle to the sunlight and let it absorb the sunlight for five minutes. It lit up the box from the inside pretty well.

The second attempt we exposed half the bottle to the sunlight and also let it sit for five minutes. The carboard box remained lit.

The last attempt we exposed most of the bottle to the sunlight and let it soak up the sun for five minutes. The box remained dimly lit.

Our results show that the less the box was exposed to the sun, the brighter the light was in the cardboard box. We believe this is because there was more of the bottle in the cardboard box so more light from the sun could escape into the box, making it brighter. My advice for homes that would like to use this method would have an equal balance between the bottle exposed to the sunlight and the bottle shining through the home. This was a fun, simple and interesting experiment that could help the world in many ways if utilized by society.

Sunlight Bulb Experiment Video

 

Fukushima Daiichi was one of the greatest power plants in the world, created in 1971 and consisted of 6 boiling water reactors. Due to the 2011 tsunami and earthquake the plant was damaged and released an abundance of nuclear radioactivity waste that caused a giant evacuation in the nation. It has since been shut down and a new one is being built. All three cores of the nuclear plant melted within three days. Evacuation was quick and there have been no deaths or injuries resulting from the accident. The main units were hit the hardest. The safety devices were all shut down from the water influx of the tsunami, so the radioactive material was could not be contained. Weeks of focused work centred on restoring heat removal from the reactors and coping with overheated spent fuel ponds.

With it’s dwindling import of oil coming from Japan and its foreclosure of 52 nuclear plants, Japan is trying to reinnovate it’s sources of energy by going green. They need to reduce their dependence of foreign imports for energy and focus on their renewable energy resources. They agree there need to be new regulations and safety precautions that must be taken in order to prevent another disaster.Hopefully this will help boost the economy and give a new model for energy efficiency.

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_NewEnergyArchitecture_ExecutiveSummary_Japan.pdfhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident-2011/#.UTmPAI5dVSU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant

Solar energy has been considered as one of the more innovative solutions for clean energy. Solar energy comes from the sun. The rays beam enough energy every hour to power technology on our earth for a year! We are learning and trying to find new ways to harness this solar energy to use it to power our world. Solar panels aka photovoltaic cells are used to harness the light of the rays and create voltage to give power to different objects such as heating, calculators, space-ships, cars, etc. One of the more important uses of solar energy is in creating electricity in which solar plants are able to harness the light and use water to drive a steam turbine that creates this energy. Solar energy does not produce any pollution is versatile: it can be used to power many different objects, unlike coal and oil. The main issue though is that it is hard to harness this energy source to be saved during the night-time when the sun is down. This is also a very expensive method and requires a lot of land. It is important for us to keep in mind clean energy subsidies such as the sun wind and water so we can reduce the emissions that pollute the earth.

Different uses of Solar Energy around the world:

USA

In America solar energy has been a popular idea. In 1954 Bell Laboratories built the first solar panel; in the 1960s solar power was used by NASA in their outer space expeditions and space crafts. Nowadays solar power is still in demand. Although expensive to maintain and purchase, it has become the fourth largest solar market in the world. The hardships of zoning, permitting, and hooking up a solar system to a power grid are extremely expensive but efforts are being made to drive down the pricing. In the California Mojave Desert the greatest solar power energy project in the world is taking place. The project is expected to provide clean, renewable energy for 140,000 homes.

Europe

Europe has one of the top 15 solar energy markets in the world with Germany leading the way, mostly due to their innovative and productive Renewable Energy Act (discussed in a previous blog) which has aimed to transform their nation into a country run almost exclusively on clean energy. Italy is not far behind though, implementing greater sources of solar power energy to their nation. Lower cost of pricing on solar energy products and the fact that it is one of the Union’s sunniest countries explains its flourishing market. Unfortunately the rest of Europe is lagging behind, but efforts are being made to push the use of solar power.

India

India has one of the most prime locations for the use of solar energy, because its proximity to the equator. A majority of their plants are run on renewable resources. The high elevated sights such as the Himalayas are a perfect place for the solar panels, because they can grasp the rays at a closer range than at lower levels of the atmosphere. There are efforts to localize this solar energy to reach more people.

http://www.renewablefuelsnow.org/asia-pacific/solar-power-indias-potential.html

The State of Solar Power in Europe

http://energy.gov/articles/top-6-things-you-didnt-know-about-solar-energyhttp://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/solar-power-profile/

In this experiment we did two different things related to voltage and light using a flashlight. Using the Lego NXT car, solar cell panel, flashlight and later colored filters we measured the voltage of light by distance first and then through the colored filters to see the change it would make in the intensity of the voltage power. These were our steps for the experiment:

1. Measure distance between solar cell and light

2. Shine the light and run the lab review program.

3. Average the data that appears in excel file.

4. Repeat for different values of d (distance)

5. Pilot average voltage (intensity vs. d)

6. Repeat steps 1-3 for for different colored filters.

Our prediction was that the farther away the light was from the solar cell the less intense the voltage would be from the solar cell.Then we used the flashlight with no lens First we did not use the flashlight but measured the voltage using nothing but the ambience of the room. This is the data we gathered and the graph showing that our prediction was true: the closer the light is to the solar cell the greater the intensity of voltage will be.

 

Then we used the flashlight without any lens. We then used the filters (turquoise, yellow, pink and blue) to further our experiment. We predicted that the pink lens would allow the light to produce the greatest voltage, since light travels more through a red tinge. We also predicted that the blue lens would result in the weaker voltage due to it being darker and not allowing enough light to go through. We measured the light from different lengths from the different filters. This was the data we collected:

 

As predicted the greatest amount of light went through the pink and the least amount went through the blue.

Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing is also known as “hyrdrofracking”. Hydrofracking is a method to mine natural gasses from the earth in a more economical manner. It is defined as:

“which enables natural gas producers to recover natural gas from dense shale formations.  During the drilling process, the drill will bore deep down into the earth and then horizontally for approximately 8,ooo feet in each direction. The Hydrofracking process uses a relatively substantial more amount of water compared to that used in conventional drilling “about 6-8 million gallons more,” as well as a mixture of chemical additives that are pumped into the shale to fracture the rock and release the gas.”

Examples of the fuels mixed with the water are : diesel fuel, biocides, benzene and hydrochloric acid.Due to the chemicals and high toxicity of the “slick water”  hydrofracking poses a threat to the contamination of water in the area. Companies use this method because it is economically efficient and makes the process go by faster. Companies are unwilling to work with environmental groups such as the EPA by not disclosing which chemicals they use. Their drilling methods are important to their business and would not want any action taken against them. Unfortunately this puts drinking water at risk, meaning any animal or human health could be negatively affected if drunk.

The upsides to this process are that it does help business economically and keeps our dependency on foreign import of gasses, creating a better American economy. This process is also believed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we release by using natural energy resources in producing, transporting and using electricity. It is said to be a better method than coal and oil for energy sources and has less effect of the environment.

In the end it seems that hydrofracking seems beneficial for society and the environment. There is always improvement for everything in life and I believe that with further research and innovation there may be ways created to eliminate the threat of polluting drinking water.

Resources:

http://www.originalgreenenergy.com/whynaturalgas/energyefficiency/

http://www.peacecouncil.net/NOON/hydrofrac/HdryoFrac2.htm

About Hydrofracking

In this experiment we used a flashlight looking device with coil wires inside to prove Faraday’s Law. Faraday came up with the equation: E=dB/dt. The E stands for Electro Motive force, the dt stands for time measured in second and the dB stands for the change in magnetic flux. We were measuring the amount of magnetic flux changed with the change of duration in time and the amount of voltage that was created. We by shaking the device, having the metal coils bouncing back and for creating the voltage that affected the magnetic field. This was measure with the device hooked to the computer which created the data. The predicted graph should look like this: 

 

This was our data that we gathered. We had shaken the flashlight at different speeds and a different amount of times. With this information we were able to create a graph that showed our data matched up with the predicted theory: that the greater voltage created is equal to the change in the magnetic flux. 

Our Graph:

The Flashlight we used.

It has always been known that a major factor in the pollution of our Earth has been from the automobile industry. Much of the emissions that have affected the atmosphere come from the abundant use of vehicles which produce gas emissions that are released. There have been many efforts to decrease this type of pollution such as the creation of better public transportation and more fuel efficient vehicles.

Last year Obama proposed a plan to reduce this type of pollution with a push on increased mileage for vehicles. The goal: to increase mileage of cars to 54.4 mpg by 2025. This was an unopposed plan on both sides of the spectrum: the industry itself and the environmentalists.

The EPA is wants cars and light trucks to average 34.5 mpg by 2016. This would decrease greenhouse gas emissions. It would also help take off a chunk of our reliance on foreign fuels which we import for our automobile use. Much of our vehicle greenhouse gas emissions come from light-duty trucks. The increase of their mileage would decrease much of those emissions. One of the rules presented by the EPA is to establish an emissions standard of 144 grams of carbon dioxide per mile for passenger cars and 203 grams of CO₂ per mile for trucks.Companies such as GM are in cooperation with these standards hoping to compromise with environmental agencies and customers to create innovative products that will appease both parties, while maintaining successful business.

One of the most popular fuel efficient vehicles is the hybrid car which uses electricity to power the car rather than gas. The car uses Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells (hydrogen fuel and oxygen) from the air to produce electricity. Multiple cells are stacked together to power the car.

Unfortunately making innovative fuel efficient cars makes the products more expensive. Less people would be able to afford these vehicles. But they in the end would be saving money from the lesser need to buy gas to power their cars.

Bottom line: Fuel efficiency in America has become of great importance on all sides of the fence and will continue to be a major goal in our environmental protection endeavors.

Resources:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-28/national/35490347_1_fuel-efficiency-fuel-standards-vehicle-fuel-efficiency-standards

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fcv_PEM.shtml

http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/10/the-road-ahead-how-well-get-to-54-5-mpg-by-2025/2/

We did an energy experiment that consisted of a weight and a pulley to demonstrate the power of energy. We also used the lego machine that we had created and used in the previous experiment. In this experiment we explored Newton’s second law of gravity using the formula f=ma; the law of conservation of energy; velocity, acceleration and power of the robot that will be used to pull the weight tied to the pulley.

This is the photo of the VI that we used for the experiment:

After connecting the motor we set the power source to 75, 50, and 25. This affected the particular force used to lift the mass of the weight. We could not come up with the correct data that we needed for the study unfortunately. There was an error in the system. Thus we had to use old data, collected from a similar previous experiment.

Data:

speed (m/s)	mass (kg)	power	time (s)	acceleration(m/2^2)	height(m)	PE	KE
113.8889	0.25	100	1.98	57.51964	0.26	0.637	1621.335
74.36472	0.25	80	2.23	33.34741	0.26	0.637	691.2639
45.89059	0.25	60	3.857	11.898	0.26	0.637	263.2433
14.798	0.25	40	12.558	1.178373	0.26	0.637	27.3726
21.50856	0.21	40	8.454	2.544187	0.26	0.53508	48.57491
43.85536	0.17	40	4.093	10.71472	0.26	0.43316	163.4799
47.20591	0.13	40	3.746	12.60168	0.26	0.33124	144.8459
50.20959	0.09	40	3.658	13.72597	0.26	0.22932	113.4451

The formulas used throughout the whole experiment for the different aspects were:

(PE=m*g*h) to find the potential energy with an increase in power and an increase in mass.

(F=m*a) to find increase and decrease in acceleration and power with a stable mass

(KE=0.5*(m*v^2) to find kinetic energy

With this information we were able to determine more accurate answers to our questions.

With an increase in potential energy there was an increase in mass. It takes more power to move something in a shorter amount of time and less power to move an object in a longer period of time. So in layman’s terms, the faster you go the more power you need, the slower you go the less power you need i.e. the rabbit vs. the turtle. It also showed that there was a decrease in acceleration with an increase of mass and an increase in acceleration with a higher power.

 

In the Robotics Activity we did we had built a car out of legos and used it for the experiment. We started with measuring the diameter of the wheels. We found the circumference of the car and measure the speed and rotation of the wheels by connecting the car to the computer to collect the data. We recorded the wheel rotation, the time it took to rotate and the distance it went. At lower powers the car struggled to move and at higher speeds it skidded to stop, which could explain the discrepancies in the data.

Our Car: 

Our data:

Power Setting	Time(s)	Number of Turns	Left Wheel Rotation	Right Wheel Rotation	Velocity (m/s)	Distance Calculated (m)	Distance Measured(m)	Percent Error
75.00	1.00	1.52	552.00	546.00	0.27	0.27	0.28	2.50
75.00	1.00	1.53	554.00	549.00	0.27	0.27	0.29	5.34
75.00	1.00	1.52	551.00	546.00	0.27	0.27	0.29	5.86
50.00	1.00	0.95	345.00	342.00	0.17	0.17	0.19	10.00
50.00	1.00	0.93	338.00	335.00	0.17	0.17	0.19	11.84
50.00	1.00	0.95	345.00	341.00	0.17	0.17	0.18	5.28
25.00	1.00	0.39	143.00	142.00	0.07	0.07	0.08	5.33
25.00	1.00	0.39	140.00	139.00	0.07	0.07	0.08	13.13
25.00	1.00	0.36	130.00	132.00	0.07	0.07	0.08	13.33

The U.S. Energy Grid consists of wire interconnected systems that supply and carry electricity throughout the nation.There is no actual national power grid, but three separate systems that run through the different states. The systems run electricity through wires that are high voltage to move faster, but become lower voltage when they are transferred to our homes. The power grid began in the 20th century. The interlinked systems now include over 3,200 electric distribution utilities, over 10,000 generating units, tens of thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines, and millions of customers. The national reliability organization for the power grid system is the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, established after the 1965 blackout that shutdown the East Coast. Although pretty reliable the grids do need to be updated and enhanced for improvement. This includes:

• new transmission lines
• assessing the cost of construction and payment of construction in one state, when the site provides electricity out of state.
• trying to have high quality concentration of voltage be able to reach the greater demand
• who is going to pay for the new lines?

 

The “Smart Grid” allows people to receive and communicate through digital messages passed through the grid. This allows people to become aware of a bug in the grid and send instructions to fix it. It also allows uses to adjust the amount of electricity their appliances are using with smart devices attached to the grid in the home.

The issue with these system is getting clearance {zoning, finance} for additions to the systems to bring more electricity and efficiency to the power grid. The question remains though that if Americans become more eco friendly will they need to innovate the power grids?

 

Resources:

http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/power_grid.cfm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103713402

http://www.smartgrid.gov/the_smart_grid#smart_grid