Lego Mindstorms | Experiment #4 & #5

Last Monday we conducted two experiments, the first included measuring the thermal energy created when heating oil and water simultaneously. We focused on using the heat energy equation, H = Cp*m*∆T

Before the experiment, we found out the mass density of oil (.92) and water (1.0) as well as the specific heat of oil (2.0 J) and water (4.184 J).

We added 80ml of oil and water to their own beakers and placed them on a hot plate. We then plugged probes and submerged one in each liquid. The probes were hooked up to the Lego Mindstorm which recorded all of the data for us.

Because of some issues with the hot plate, the liquids did not change temperature as much as we thought, and according to the data, our water had a higher temperature than the cooking oil. We found this a little odd since it takes longer to heat water than oil. There seems to be a large margin of error in this experiment and it would take a few more in order to see results that really make sense.

After the data was recorded, we calculated the difference of the end temperature from the start temperature, and we received a difference of .80978 for the oil and .201135 for the water.

We then calculated it further, which required the mass density and specific heat, and received an energy calculation of 67.39621 for water and 119.1996 for oil. The percentage difference is 55.52473.

The second experiment focused on solar energy, which required us to use a small solar panel and a flashlight to measure the voltages created by the height and intensity of the light. As usual, we had the VXT program collect the data, which recorded about 30 voltages each time.

We tried varying the height of the light for the first few trials, starting at 0in, and then moving to 5in, and finally 10in. After that initial run, we decided to just gather voltage data of 0in, but switched from plain bright white light, to using different color filters. We used five filters total; teal, orange, pink, indigo, and green.

We found that the orange filter produced the highest voltage average, while the plain white light did not.

Lego Mindstorms | Experiment #3 – Energy

Last week, we continued our experiments using the Lego Mindstorms, only this time, we hooked it up to a flashlight to measure the energy generated with the magnets inside of it.

This particular flashlight had loose magnets inside that when you shook them, it would create the energy needed to keep them lit. Devices like this are becoming increasingly popular since it cuts down on needing batteries or other sources of electric power.

After hooking up the flashlight to the robot, we opened the .VI file that would measure and record the power we generated by shaking the flashlight. We had a few errors in the beginning, but were able to have three successful trials in which the data was used for our graph. For the three trials used, we shook the flashlight in a different rhythmic pattern (fast, slow, and staggered) to see if that would also make a difference in the generated energy, but I think that more than three trials will be needed in order to find conclusive results.

We took turns shaking the flashlight for 30 seconds, and since we had different rhythms each time, we had a different number of shakes. The program kept track of the energy in a spreadsheet in Excel, where we then used the SUMSQ function to make our calculations. In the first round, Jason counted 85 fashshakes which calculated to 153.4535 volts. My trial had a count of 32 slow shakes which was calculated to 53.09822 volts. Lastly, Rosemary’s trial had 29 staggered shakes (three shakes, then a moment of rest continued for 30 seconds) which calculated 36.59198 volts.

We then put this data into a graph and included a linear trendline. The more shakes, the more energy is produced, so it would make sense to shake the flashlight more if you wanted to keep it bright longer.

Alcator C-Mod at MIT

Last Monday we visited MIT to view the Alcator C-mod, one of only three in the country. Though this one is the smallest, it is funded and used for research by the U.S. Department of Energy.

We learned about a few topics in the presentation, including the design of the Alcator C-mod, which is in part a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device that contains plasma and particles in a magnetic field so they can be fused together. Without it, it would take 100 million tries until you got one fusion, so the shape allows the particles to continue circulating to increase the change of fusion.

Though the machine cannot yet create energy, the presenters at MIT seemed sure that someday it would. Other disadvantages they mentioned along with it not having any results thus far were cost and finding structural materials that won’t become radioactive. It’s odd to see so much assurance in something that hasn’t brought any real results to date, and I wonder if it will really work, or if someone will create “the next big thing” that will give us a new renewable energy source. From my point of view, it seems a bit like a money pit, but then again I’m not a scientist/researcher at MIT!

It’s nice to see such dedication to a project and it seems like the people we met that are working on it are genuinely interested in trying to make their goal a reality. (You don’t see that every day, that’s for sure.)
Overall, the fieldtrip was pleasant. I would have liked to see the machine in action, (though my childish expectations want to see sparks and laser beams popping out everywhere, I know that’s probably not what it looks like.) I wish I had more of an understanding in the science behind what is going on, but I think they did a pretty good job filling us in to the best of their ability, since most of us aren’t science majors.