In this second lab, we explored Newton’s second Law: F=ma. To demonstrate this we were supposed to use the Lego Mindstorm motor to lift weights with a pulley. We would change up the amount of weight and the force used to pull it up, and record our findings. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties. When the entire class tried their pulleys, none of the computers in the class seemed to record the data.

However, even though we could not complete the experiment ourselves, we were given sample data. This finished data was helpful in understanding what the process was all about.

From the data, we worked in partners to construct a graphs.

The three majors things focused on in this experiment were the law of conservation, power, and velocity.  We also looked at potential energy which is equal to mgh.  I really wish we got to work handson and do this experiment ourselves. I feel if we had gotten the oppurtunity to do it, it would’ve been easier to obtain the new material. However, I did learn from the data and hopefully have the right understanding!

For the past two week of class we’ve spent some time creating robots out of leggos. This task was not easy at first. After all, I haven’t played with leggos in quite sometime. But after carefully reading the directions, and finding out which piece goes where, voila!..we had a robot!

These robot, once put together, were able to run on through manually selecting directions on the computer! We ran several tests for our robot. We figured out that the circumference of the wheels were .1727m. This helped us calculate the velocity. For a power of 75 we manually calculated that our robot moved .25 m. The computer said it moved 0.23034 m. So we weren’t too far off! Then we tried it at a power of 100. We calculated that the robot moved 0.39m. The calculator said it moved 0.358 meters. Lastly, we tried a power of 50. We calcutlated .17m, while the computer calculated .1535m. For each power we ran the robot three times, and got similar answers each time. Because our answers were a little off for each, I calculated the percent error for each power. For a power of 75, the percent error was 7.864%. For a power of 100, I got 8.205%. Lastly, for a power of 50, I got a 9.706% error.

Overall, this experiment was surprisingly fun. I’m definitly not into science so it was interesting to take a step away from a text book or lecture, and do something more engaging. I look forward to doing more handson activities in the future!

The first major issue is the instability of the electric grids. The Institute for Energy Research states, “The intermittent power is causing destabilization of the electric grids causing potential blackouts, weakening voltage and causing damage to industrial equipment.” Potential blackouts does not sound too promising. It sounds more like a hassel than anything. Is this the price people should pay in order to reverse all the damage we’ve done? And if yes, have we really created this much damage where we are forced to go back to stone age-like times? (“Germany’s Green Energy..”).

The other major problem is that this plan will not only backfire on Germany economically, but it will also hurt it’s neighboring countries. Germany undertook use of Poland’s and Czech Republic’s power grid without asking permission to do so. This is where they export all the excess energry due to in overload of backup devices for incase the green energy plan fails. This in turn is causing black outs in failures in these neighboring countries. (“Germany’s Green Energy…”).

I certainly do not see this plan going anywhere. It unfortunately seems like it is going to cause worse problems than there already are. Although it was a good start to trying to formulate a plan to help our planet, this is not the answer.

SOURCES:

“Germany’s Energy Policy: Man-made Crisis Now Costing Billions.” Institute for Energy Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.

“Germany’s Green Energy Destabalizing Electric Grid.” Institute for Energy Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.

Dini, Jack. “Germany’s Green Energy Policy Hit Households Hard.” Canada Free Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.