Science Blog

After much anticipation we finally presented our lab to four other students last Monday.  Luckily, we’d run through the lab many times for practice, so it ran smoothly for the students.

When we first became a group, Blakely, Edva, Matt, and Skye sat down together in an attempt to decide what we wanted to focus on for our lab.  We managed to come to an agreement during the first class, and knew we wanted to run an insulation lab…with a twist.  We found the model for what we wanted to do on one of the Lab View websites, but we really wanted to make the lab unique, so we decided to turn it into a competition.  We agreed that we would each bring in different household materials, and we’d have students pair off and design (from these materials) the best insulation for a glass Snapple bottle.  We hypothesized that by making it a competition, students would be more engaged and enthused to use their heads and design the best product.

After finalizing our plans we ran through the labs ourselves several times using paper, styrofoam, tinfoil and cardboard to test the temperature probes and lab program.  We also tested whether hot or cold water worked better, and found we were most sucessful testing to see how long different insulation materials took to heat up on a hot plate.  Thus we determined the water should remain at room temperature for all the Snapple bottles.

Our next step was to design our lab handout, shown here:

SCI 184

Lab Handout

Created by: Blakely Harris, Matt Robertson, Edva Seferi and Skye Lewis

Purpose: To determine the best material for insulating a Snapple bottle.

Background: In today’s society, insulation plays a critical role in regulating temperature, and energy conservation.  Current insulation materials have been under examination for their contributions to global warming, and possible greenhouse gas emissions.  Two common types of insulation, known to many as “blueboard” and “pinkboard” are made with hydro fluorocarbon (HFC), which is a blowing agent that includes potent greenhouse gases.  According to buildinggreen.com, both of these types of insulation are made specifically with HFC-134a, is said to be 1,430 times as strong of an emitter of greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide.  In a time when reducing green house emissions is a critical necessity, it’s imperative that better insulation materials be discovered.  In aiming to reduce these emissions one must also take into consideration the effect of transporting these materials around the world, and the fact that more often than not they are made from plastic, or other materials that we will eventually run out of.  Our goal is to discover everyday materials that could be more easily accessible and emit far less greenhouse gases.  In today’s lab, we will be testing different materials, and using a mix of creativity and trial and error to discover which materials best insulate the bottles.  Each team will have a chance to pick six materials and design their own insulation for their Snapple bottles.  Whichever team creates the best insulation for their bottle wins!2

Procedure:

Setup: Groups organize themselves into teams of two.  Each team collects two glass Snapple bottles.  Next one player from each team competes in a round of rock, paper, and scissors to determine who gets first selection of the insulation materials.  The winner then picks their first material from the pile.  Then the second team chooses their first, and the teams take turns until they each have six materials.  Next the teams begin insulating their bottles with the chosen materials.  There is one limitation to their design in that their bottles must use different materials, however they can cut and arrange them according to what they believe will work best.  As they are designing their insulation, the instructor will begin heating the hot plate.  The teams will have 15 minutes to put their bottles together.  At the end of this time, they will fill the bottles with room temperature water, all of which has been determined to be the same temperature for all teams. On the computer, they should open the Lab View program and use the Thermal Heating Lab program.  They will then place the temperature probe through the cap of their bottles, and making sure the probe is connected to the computer, place the bottles on the hot plate.

Please List Materials Used here:

Bottle 1: __________________________________________________________________

Bottle 2: __________________________________________________________________

Data Collection: Once the bottles have been placed on the hot plate, teams can start the program.  The program will take a temperature reading every 15 seconds for five minutes, generating 20 temperature reads.  Players will note their first and last readings on their lab reports. They will then repeat these steps with their second bottle, making sure to record the first and last temperatures again.

Theoretical: Teams will subtract their first number from the last to find their change in temperature over five minutes.  They will then repeat this with their second bottles and find the difference between the two bottles.  Whichever team ends the lab with the lowest amount of change in temperature wins!

Data:

Average Change in Temperature over 5 minutes: __________________

Analysis:

1. 1. Which insulation materials worked best? Why do you think these were better materials?

1. 2. What suggestions do you have to improve this lab for future students?

1. 3. How does this lab relate to sustainability? Is insulation an effective way to conserve energy?

After completing the handout, we moved on to the powerpoint.  Our powerpoint, shown below, helped explain the content of our lab.

final science presentation

Finally, we collected data from the students who took our lab.  They flipped a coin to see which team could choose materials first.  After all the materials were selected the two teams took about ten minutes to create their insulation designs.  The two boys (paired together), designed one bottle with just brown paper bag, and one bottle that was covered in rubber, tin foil, a Starbucks coffee bag wrapper, and a tshirt.  The two girls designed one covered in a towel, and one covered in styrofoam.  The towel covered bottle from the girls first faced off against the brown bag covered bottle from the boys.  Their results were:

Towel (Team Girls): Initial Reading: 69.68*F Final Reading: 75.31 *F

Change in Temp: 5.63*F

Brown Bag (Team Boys): Initial Reading: 69.31*F Final Reading: 72.77

Change in Temp: 3.46*F

The second two to face off where the styrofoam from the girls, and the rubber/starbucks/tinfoil/cotton from the boys.  There results were:

Styrofoam (Team Girls): Initial Reading: 70.05*F Final Reading: 74.77

Change in Temp: 4.72*F

Rubber/starbucks wrapper / tinfoil/cotton (Team Boys): Initial Reading: 70.41*F  Final Reading: 73.50*F

Change in Temp: 3.09

Next we had the two teams average their two change in temperatures, leading the boys to victory as their results were:

Team Girls Average Temperature Change: 5.2*F

Team Boys Average Temperature Change: 3.3*F

When we followed up with the students after to ask if they had any answers to our handout questions, or thought of any improvements, they all said the only thing they’d change would be to offer a prize for the winning team.  If we ever have the opportunity to present this lab again we’ll absolutely remember this.

Overall it seemed this lab was effective in relating to sustainability.  Current insulation materials are extremely toxic and negative for our environment.  Both “pinkboard and blueboard” as they are commonly known as produce 1,430 times as much HFC-134a (better known as Hydro Flurocarbon, a blowing agent containing potent greenhouse gases), as carbon dioxide.  Our goal for this lab was to look at everday materials that are already available, and don’t require travel that could help insulate a home. We hope that perhaps this lab could be used for students in the future.  As a group we felt as though we got alot out of this experience and absolutely learned alot.  Thanks for taking the time to read our blog…. perhaps it will inspire you to take a look at your own insulation!

Below, are images from our actual lab.  The first is an image of the original materials the students got to choose.

The next image shows the students assembling their insulation materials.

The next shows the first two insulated bottles to face off, the brown paper versus the towel!

The next image shows the final two matchups. the styrofoam versus the rubber / starbucks/ cotton / tin foil

And Finally, an image of our data as it was collected…

Thanks again for taking the time to read about our lab project, hope you enjoyed learning about it as much as we enjoyed designing it!

Last week we all took a trip to the Museum of Science. The last time I had been was maybe in fifth grade for a field trip, so everything seemed pretty new. I started off in the reptile section, pacing by the dinosaurs and old fossils. I then read a little bit about space travel, and how much space ships have evolved since America’s first trip to space. This was all pretty much just for personal interest…it didn’t really relate to our class very much. Then, I went downstairs and this was where everything relating to sustainable energy was displayed. I spent a good 30 minutes in the area alone, just reading captions and taking pictures.

I read about a local power plant right here in Massachusetts called the Beacon Power Plant. This facility is located in Tyngsboro, and they use an electrical flywheel system to store excess electrical energy and then releases it when needed. The result is a more efficient electrical grid.

Another interested idea I found took place in Sheldon Vermont. Believe it or not, they used cow manure to generate electricity. What they do is collect the manure, store it and allow bacteria to break it down. This creates a methane-base mixture. Burning the gas powers an electric generator. Crazy, huh?

Here are just a some of the many snapshots I took:

Basically, the whole experience furthered my knowledge about powering our future. Our demand for energy is increasing everyday. However, our fossil fuel supply is decreasing and we are damaging our environment. The solution is all around us. Energy is everywhere…in the wind, the sun, the ground, the water etc. We now have the technology to turn this into usable energy.

Last week was our team’s first “test run” of the experiment we will be doing. Just as a reminder to everyone, we are focusing on insulation. We have 4 identical glass Snapple bottles, and we are wrapping them in different materials to determine which serves as the best form of insulation. Here is a step-by-step of our “rough draft” of the experiment…

Materials:

4 identical glass Snapple bottles

Tinfoil ; Styrofoam ; Cardboard ; (the 4th Snapple bottle will remain unwrapped)

1 hot-plate

2 temperature probes

1- First, begin wrapping your Snapple bottles. The entire bottle should be covered except for the bottom and the top. Use masking tape to secure the materials onto the bottles.

2- Fill up a large pitcher with room-temperature sink water. Then, use a funnel to fill each of the 4 Snapple bottles. It is important not to get any water on the outside of the bottles.

3- Use 4 small pieces of tinfoil to wrap the top of each bottle tightly. Then, use a pen or pencil to poke a small hole into the foil.

4-Adjust your computer program to record temperature readings every 20 seconds for a duration of 5 minutes (15 readings).

Computer set to 20-second interval temperature readings

5- Turn the hot-plate on to level 5, and give it 5 minutes to heat up.

6- Insert the two temperature probes through the holes you poked on the plain glass bottle and the bottle wrapped in foil, and place the two bottles on the hot plate.

Plain glass bottle and foil-wrapped bottle

7- Open excel so that recordings will be uploaded. Press start on your computer to initiate the temperature readings.

Temperatures being recorded.

8- After the 5 minutes is up, switch the probes to the cardboard-wrapped bottle and the styrofoam-wrapped bottle. Repeat steps.

Cardboard and Styrofoam-wrapped Snapple bottles.

9- Make conclusions on which material serves as the best form of insulation. Whichever bottle took the longest to heat will be the winner. To find this, determine which bottle had the least change over time.

—> Again, this was just our first run. We will probably do this one or two more times for practice. Our final experiment will end with the students creating their own insulated bottle with the use of different materials. However, we haven’t exactly decided how we will do that yet, so I did not include it on the outline for now. Hopefully by next week we will know exactly how our experiment will be conducted.

For our final experiment, our group decided to study different forms of insulation. Today, most buildings are insulated with a type of fiber glass (the pink stuff). However, what we will be studying is types of homemade insulation. We aren’t looking to insulate a house…we are will be insulating four glass Snapple bottles. Three of the glass bottles will be wrapped in different materials, and the fourth won’t be wrapped in anything for the sake of comparison. The insulation materials include:

– Tinfoil

– Styrofoam

– Cardboard

The only piece of equipment needed is a temperature probe. We will start by heating inside the bottles, and measuring that temperature. Then, after a period of time, we will measure the change in temperature. The material with the lowest change in temperature over that period of time will be the best form of insulation.

Our first step is to actually perform the experiment ourselves and get our own conclusions. All data will be computed and organized into graphs. After we do this experiment, we can start organizing how we want the other students to perform it. Ultimately, we will have them design their own insulation using these materials in any way they want. To get a better idea of our project, take a look at this link:

https://suffolku.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_8354095_1%26url%3D

More information to follow…

Last week, we got the chance to tour MIT’s plasma research center. Here, the team is dedicated to finding a clean and efficient form of energy for our future. We got to see a very informative presentation from one of the students that works there. I learned a ton from the presentation…

81% of global electricity in 2009 was generated from the burning of fossil fuels. In a decade or two, we will have used all of our fossil fuels, which is why the search for more efficient energy has begun. According to the presentation, temperature is the measure of kinetic energy of particles (how fast particles are moving). In plasma physics, they use electron-volt (eV) – kinetic energy given to a single electron when accelerated through an electric potential difference of 1voH.

There goal, of course, is to create plasma energy. Plasma is a state of matter that makes up 99% of the visible universe (stars, sun, etc). Plasma is a “sea” of negatively charged electrons and positively charged neutrons. However, it is so hot, that there is no material to contain it. So, what they do is create a donut-shaped magnetic field to contain the ions and electrons. At the MIT center, they have what they call the C-Mod- a compact, high-density, high magnetic field density fusion tokamak.

After the presentation, we were given the tour…take a look at these images I was able to capture:

A computer design of the C-Mod...notice the donut shape to contain the orange plasma.

This is an example of the exotic steel used to help keep the plasma contained...

A snapshot of their workspace

The main attraction...the C-Mod!

Computers that collected the data from the C-Mod

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed the tour!

The nuclear power plant in India Point, NY generates over 2,000 megawatts of electric power. It provides 30% of the electricity to NY, and there are now talks of closing the plant down. There would be both pros and cons if this decision were to go through…but which one outweighs the other?

India Point's power plant

If the plant were to shut down, you would have to consider the jobs that would be lost. In today’s tough economy, shutting down the plant would be a devastating blow for all of it’s employees.

Another setback would be the loss of that 30% of electricity the plant produces for the city. If it were to shut down, where and how would they make up for that loss? Would it be as cheap as how they get it from the plant? These questions would have to be answered if they omitted India Point’s power plant.

Lastly, India Point’s plant in just 30 miles south of the city. A lot of the power NY gets does run into some congestion from time to time, whereas India Point’s power runs without obstacles straight into the city.

On the contrary, there could be an upside to shutting it down. Many people believe that there are options for cleaner, more efficient energy with less emissions. With the threat of global warming, this is absolutely something to think about.

Another thing to think about is the possibility of accidental leaks at the plant. NYC is the most densely populated city in the country, so if a disaster were to take place, an evacuation process is almost impossible.

Protesting for the plant to close due to safety issues

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/nyregion/vision-for-cheap-power-even-if-indian-point-nuclear-plant-is-closed.html

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

http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaigns/stop-polluters/indian-point/

In class on Monday we were lucky enough to watch a presentation from Tom Vales. Mr. Vales has been at Suffolk for five years, and has worked as a machinist. He has a great knowledge for engineering, and is an expert with high voltage energy. The first thing Vales did was show us how to create electricity using hot water. One of his experiments was what he called a peltier junction. Using two coffee cups, one with hot water the other with cold water, Vales put one part of the junction in each cup, and the transfer of heat and the reversing of polarity it could run a motor. Vales, however described this junction as inefficient.

Tranfer of heat makes the windmill turn

Next he showed us a stirling engine. This too was shown using a cup of hot water. This was created 200 years ago and is still being used today. This engine is used on submarines to keep it quiet, or to power a generator. This engine has all sorts of possibilities. All it needs is a heat source (the sun).

Stirling engine

The last motor Tom Vales showed us was the mendocino motor. This motor does not create power, but it serves as a great teaching tool. The rotor on it is actually floating on a magnetic field. When you add light, the rotor spins. The sun could be used as a light source for this motor.

Rotor spinning over the magnetic field

The end of Vales presentation was probably the most entertaining. He used a coil wrapped around the bucket to create electricity in a couple different ways. Notice the sparks coming off the top of this coil.

Vales uses to coil to light a bulb

Vales showing how even though he is holding this with his bare hand, he feels no electricity

I hope this post got you as interested in Mr. Vales’ experiments as I was in class on Monday!

Global warming is in fact very real. It is a situation that we as a race must face before it’s too late. Just for a basic overview of what we are dealing with, global warming is the constant rise in average temperature on Earth. It has has effected many environments and animals around the world, and if we don’t make steps towards cleaner energy very soon, the results on humans could be devastating. There are a number of things that cause global warming, and biggest is the burning of fossil fuels. We are very dependent on burning coal for our electric supply, and this causes carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The emission of carbon dioxide also comes from the burning of gasoline for transportation. Another main cause of global warming in deforestation. We have been eliminating forest because of our need for wood, paper, grains, etc. Forests play a big role in global warming because they remove and store carbon dioxide. However, if we continue to chop down trees, forests cannot contribute in the prevention of global warming.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels

There are many people who believe that global warming is a myth. Among these deniers are many scientists, as well as numerous industries and corporations, particularly those associated with petroleum, steel, and automobiles. These groups are trying to describe global warming as more of a theory, rather than a fact. According to the Huffington Post, only 57% of Americans believe that global warming is related to human activities, its lowest number since the idea was introduced. Many journalists insist that these climate lobbyists and conservative politicians are just trying to cause confusion to the public. Below is something I found on skepticalscience.com showing some of the things these deniers are saying in regards to global warming:

	Climate’s changed before
	It’s the sun
	It’s not bad
	There is no consensus
	It’s cooling
	Models are unreliable
	Temp record is unreliable
	Animals and plants can adapt
	It hasn’t warmed since 1998
	Antarctica is gaining ice
	View All Arguments…

The deniers are simply saying that global warming is FAKE, even with the endless research done to prove it is very real in deed. There are many reasons these people could be saying such things…one may be for the industries related to the productions of such goods to continue making a profit. Another reason may be to simply stir a debate. However, the topic is now beyond the point for debate, and it is a test for us as a human race to find a solution or the consequences will be sever.

Sources:

http://planetsave.com/2009/06/07/global-warming-effects-and-causes-a-top-10-list/

http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/22/most-dangerous-global-war_n_330614.html

During this tough economy, President Barack Obama is desperate to create new job opportunities. When his administration approved of a loan for the California solar panel maker, this was absolutely a factor. Under his administration, the solar panel makers (Solyndra) received a $535 millions dollar loan! The goal was not only to find an alternate(and environmentally friendly) form of energy, but to also create an estimated 4,000 new jobs for Americans. When The corporation then riled for chapter 11 bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in load gaurantees, this became knows as the “Solyndra Scandal”.

Obama with member of the Solydra team

President Obama is taking a ton of blame for this loss, with many people saying that his administration did not carefully examine the proposal before allowing the loan guarantee. According to the Washington Post, the Obama administration continued to send the corporation money after they had failed to pay back on the loan. Then there is another stance, where this whole process supposedly began while President Bush was still in office, and the whole thing was something that Obama stepped into and had to take care of. Either way, it doesn’t look good on either side, and to lose $535 millions dollars during a time when America is suffering financially is certainly going to stir a debate.

Take a look at this video to get a better idea of the whole scandal from the press’ point of view:

One thing I read on one of my classmates blogs, was how this has turned into nothing but a political argument. I was really inspired by their point of view, and I think it’s important to emphasize this fact even further. What we need to be more focused on is the issue we are facing each and every day…global warming! This is a very real situation, and if we don’t act soon things are going to get a lot worse.

Politics, as we all know, can be a dirty game. Obama and his administration lost a substantial amount of money. This is a quote I found in an article for the Chicago Tribute, and I think it sums up this whole mess in just a couple of sentences: “Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being “green.” But then Solyndra went bankrupt. Americans lost jobs. Taxpayers got stuck with the bill. And members of Congress are now in high dudgeon and making speeches.”

What are your thoughts? Are you frustrated that the Obama administration lost half a billion dollars when this country is already in debt? Or do you respect that he was actually trying to create jobs in this tough economy while in search of an alternate form of energy?

Sources:

The New York Times

The Washington Post

The Chicago Tribute

Wikipedia

Our latest experiment in Science class was creating electricity using a flashlight and a solar cell. We held the flashlight at different distances from the solar cell, and the light would create the electricity.

Screenshot of the electricity created

Presumably, the closer the light was to the solar cell the more electricity and the further away, the less electricity. We did the first run with no light, which had an average of .108 volts. We followed up with four more runs, from 1 inch away, 2 inches away, 3 inches away and 4 inches away. However, what we got was not a downward trend as we expected. We came to the conclusion that the distances were too close together for the cell to register a difference. So, we redid our experiment at 1 inch(.331 average voltage), 3 inches(.253 average voltage), 10 inches(.167 average voltage) and 20 inches(.139 average voltage). This gave us the results we were looking for, with a downward trend each time we moved the light further away.

The downward trend

The last thing we did was use different colored filters over the solar panels. What we found was that different colors reflect different frequencies. When we used the blue filter we got an average voltage of .320. When we used the green filter we got an average of .220. Lastly, when we used the pink filter we got an average of .368. Here’s a picture of our results organized into a bar graph.