Month: November 2015

In our Sustainability, Energy and Technology class we experimented with photovoltaic cells and phone flashlights. For our experiment we used the phone flashlight from a iPhone 5S. Our results may be slightly skewed because there was some light in the room not coming from the phone flashlight, if the experiment were to be redone it would be better to redo it in a room that was totally dark so we could have a more accurate reading. We did the first part of the experiment to see how much the distance away from the cell affected the results and then we used different color films to see if the color affected the amount of light that passed through. This is important to sustainability because solar power may be the next step towards a greener world.

With Not light On the Cell Average Voltage:0.0315

Average Voltage from 1 cm Away: 0.3741

Average Voltage from 10 cm Away: 0.1136

Average Voltage from 15 cm Away: 0.0624

These results were expected because as the phone light moved farther away from the cell the cell collected less voltage.

The phone was held 1 cm away from the cell when we used the different color films to see if the color of the film effected the results.

Green Filter Average Voltage- 0.268

Blue filter Average Voltage- 0.332

Red Filter Average Voltage- 0.191

These results were harder to expect, because it hard to judge to opacity and ability to pass light through it.

The Sustainability Energy and Technology class ventured to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology nuclear reactor. We had a presentation first about the ways in which MIT uses their nuclear reactor, we learned that the reactor is not used for energy but is instead used for science. The reactor can be used for MIT students for their experiments. The reactor is supervised by students, who watch the sensors. The students are trained intensively all summer and need to pass a serious exam that ensures they know the placement and function of all of the reactors safety features. The reactor is covered in three feet of concrete, and to enter you need to pass a series of airlock steel doors. When exiting the reactor you need to pass through a security desk, have a badge and even a retina scanner (which is real and not science fiction) to pass through. We were able to see some different sensors, and even watched the reaction of a Radioactive Red fiesta ware tea cup caused because of the radioactivity in the paint. The MIT trip was interesting and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be near a nuclear reactor. The only thing I did dislike was the lengthy lecture, if they are able to lessen the length of that lecture I believe it would be a worthwhile trip for all Suffolk Students.

In our group session we brain stormed different ideas for our group project. The group has tentatively decided that we will create a system using a force sensor and a punching bag to see how much energy behind that punch can generator electricity and how much electricity. We also decided on the Charlseton High School presentation because that was the time that worked best for the collective. We established a way to communicate with each other effectively as well.

In our Sustainability, Energy and Technology class we discussed Faraday’s law (changing magnetic fluxes coiled wires generate electricity). We ran an experiment to test Faraday’s law.

The following was the assignment:

“Equipment:

• One generator (magnet that moves back and forth inside a coil of wire)
• One voltage probe
• One NXT adaptor
• NXT
• Labview VI generator_lab.vi
• Excel sheet

Introduction:  Faraday’s Law states that changing magnetic fluxes through coiled wires generate electricity (currents and voltage).   The greater is the change in magnetic flux, the greater are the currents and voltages.  In this lab you will be shaking a tube which has a magnet that will travel back and forth through a coil of wires.  You will show that the faster you shake the tube, the greater will be the generated voltage.

Procedure: Your instructor will review the generator_lab.vi with you so that you will be able to understand how to use it to measure the voltage output of the generator. Your task is to correlate the number of shakes of the generator, in a thirty second time interval, with the voltages (or more precisely the sum of the square of the voltages) that the generator generates.” (Shatz)

Our outcomes for the experiment were as follows:

 

 

The experiment was important because without Faraday’s law and his study modern life would be completely different, Faraday’s law is the reason there are electric generators and electric motors.

Our results went as expected, the more the generator was shaken in the same time frame the higher the voltage readings were. One issue with the readings from the experiment is there was still minimal electrical current when there was no movement on the generator. This may have skewed the results slightly and gave us higher readings there were present. The independent value in this experiment was the amount of shakes in the thirty second time period and the dependent value was the average voltage reading given after the shakes.

Works Cited:

Shatz, Lisa. “Generator Lab.” Http://web.cas.suffolk.edu/. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.