Month: February 2016

“What is Hydraulic Fracturing?”, out of every ten natural gas wells, nine use a hydro-fracking tool. This process allows water, sand and chemicals to cause damage to the rocks due to pressurization underground, following this process natural gases of the rocks are then released. The fluid that returns the surface through the well and once the process is completed is known as flock back.

It was once assumed that oil and gas reserves that were unusable due to their location are now useable due to hydraulic fracturing. The use of this tool has allowed us to reach these reserves and have an increase in gas production by 2040 according to the Energy Information Administration. However, this may be a positive thing for some industries many question whether hydraulic fracturing is safe or not. 

The article states the procedure of hydraulic fracturing which begins with the large amount of water that is used, in the United States alone an estimated 70 to 140 billion gallons of water was used to get to these wells, which some state is a ridiculous amount. With 1 well using an estimated 1 – 8 million gallons of water for the process many think that this large consumption is a concern for ecological impacts to aquatic resources. Furthermore, the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing make up about 2% of the volume of the fluid, this may seem to be a small percentage but on a larger operation scale the chemicals can range up to 300 tons of chemicals. The chemicals used are also known to be hazardous and are recommend for immediate disposal and could potentially be injected into the underground system that produces our drinking water. 

The Environmental Protection Agency states that there have been no incidents reported regarding the contamination of water due to hydraulic fracturing however, there still remains much concerns regarding the fluids that are released that could be causing potential contamination. The chemicals are set to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the job but are still consider non-harmful by the EPA.

Not only does hydraulic fracturing have the compound released but it also Volatile Organic Compounds into the atmosphere. About 50 percent of hydraulic fracturing fluid is recovered from each process and the rest evaporates, resulting in acid rain and contaminated air. 

In conclusion, hydraulic fracturing is a new process that has not had much research done into it, although many suggest that it is problem to human health others have stated that they are not able to come to these conclusions just yet. 

Below is an image of how hydraulic fracturing works with the shallow aquifier, aquiclude and deep aquifer. There is also an image of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania.

http://www.dangersoffracking.com

http://www.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing/process-hydraulic-fracturing

https://www.propublica.org/special/hydraulic-fracturing-national

During class we conducted a different experiment using the same Lego Mindstorm robots. By using the Lego Mindstorm motor we operated a pulley system. The experiment was to teach us Newton’s 2nd Law which is “the acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.” The setup of the Lego Mindstorm for this experiment included connecting the Lego Mindstorm to the computer by using the USB cable followed by connecting port A to the Lego Mindstorm arm. We then had a string and some weights connected to the arm which worked by pulling up and down. Our’s was faulty at the start, where it would not stop through the computer to record the data, the string did get tangled several times until our Professor came and helped us with an new Lego Mindstorm robot. With her help we were able to record our results on the spreadsheet correctly. We programed our Lego Mindstorm by the power of weight and the mass of the weights at the base of the pulley system. Like stated before Dr. Shatz helped us change the power level on the computer to command the Lego Mindstorm because our results did not record correctly, we also changed the weights for a varied result. 

The controls were power and mass kg with the indicators on the program representing millivolts, rotation, battery discharge (mv), speed (rpm), time (s) and acceleration (rpm/s). 

In this experiment to represent Newton’s 2nd Law the power level was the force (f=ma). When the weight was lifted by the pulley system work was being done. By changing the energy applied by work of the weights (work=f) we changed the energy of the weights. 

In addition we learned that due to a loss in friction when the weight is being pulled up this causes not all of the energy to be put into lifting the weights up. 

Power = Work/Time 

Below are our results and an image of a pulley system which was similar to ours. 

Overall this experiment was great because it demonstrated Newton’s 2nd Law.

Reference:

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-3/Newton-s-Second-Law

Rob Bilott received a phone call from a cattle farmer in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The farmer Wilbur Tennant had suspected that the chemical company DuPont was responsible for the death of many of his cows. Unfortunately DuPont was extremely popular in this area that Wilbur Tennant did not receive any help locally and resulted in calling lawyer Rob Bilott who knew his grandmother. Rob Bilott was an environmental lawyer who worked for large corporate clients where he defended chemical companies, however this case was against the companies he had worked with such as DuPont several times. Due to his close connection with the community Rob agreed to take on the case. 

In the late 1980’s part of the land that Wilbur Tennant’s family had owned was sold to DuPont where they wanted to use the plot for waste from a factory nearby. The plot that was acquired by DuPont was now named Dry Run Landfill, where a creek that ran between this plot flowed down to where the Tennant’s cows were. 

Tennant took it upon himself to film the damage being done to his animals, he said “I’ve taken two dead deer and two dead cattle off this ripple” “the blood run out of their noses and out their mouths, they’re trying to cover this stuff up. But it’s not going to be covered up, because I’m going to bring it out in the open for people to see.” 

The large pipe that ran through the creek was discharging green water which the cows were drinking. Tennant also suspected some of his cows were suffering from kidney malfunction due to the size and patches of hair missing. Another issue were the teeth of the cow which were blackened, Tennant was told it was due to high levels of fluoride in the drinking water. All the issues that were pointed out by Tennant in regards to the cows called for Bilott’s attention for him to take on the case. 

Bilott went onto file a federal suit against DuPoint during the summer of 1999, where DuPont said they would conduct a study of the property that was apparently being affected. When the report came out DuPont was found not responsible for Tennant’s cattle health problems, instead it was said that poor nutrition was the cause. Bilott continued to help the Tennant’s but found little evidence of what was happening to the cattle. With little co-operation from DuPont, Bilott came across a chemical in the files called PFOA which stood for perfluorooctanoic acid. After going through thousands of documents Bilott discovered that the chemical DuPont was using as extremely harmful and they knew about it. They had began purchasing this chemical in 1951 and referred to it as C8. This was also known to be used for coating Teflon. The chemical was not classified by the government as hazardous and was disposed of by pumping it through Parkersburg into the Ohio River. Through the files Bilott learned that DuPont had been conducting their own studies of PFOA for about forty years. Through DuPont’s research they found that consumption of this chemical increased the liver size in rats and rabbits. By the 1990’s DuPont discovered that PFOA caused cancer in animals and previously they had issues of birth defects with employees in the Teflon division but did not make any of this information public. 

Bilott had now discovered the cause in the deaths of the cattle on Tennant’s farm and had called DuPont regarding this information. DuPont’s response was they would settle with the Tennant’s however Bilott was not satisfied with this outcome. 

In 2005, DuPont reached a $16.5 million settlement that had accused the company of concealing its knowledge of PFOA being toxic and present in the environment. 

Bilott did not represent a corporate client after this case which took him several years, in addition to this he focused on helping others who had been affected by PFOA and DuPont. Unfortunately the damage had already been done with all the other cases but Bilott was determined for justice for the others. By the phone call received from Tennant regarding his cows the discovery of what DuPont was doing to the community helped bring this issue to light. 

In regards to Teflon coated pans there still remains the issue of whether they are safe or not. Teflon pans have used the chemical since the 1940’s that has proven to cause harm through Bilott’s research. Unfortunately many are unaware of this. This has changed my mentality on Teflon pans in regards to if they are safe for us to use. 

One of our first assignments for this class (Contemporary Science and Innovation) was to assemble a lego robot with the materials given to us by our professor. We were given detailed instructions of how to assemble the Lego Mindstorm NXT robots which took approximately 30 minutes for myself and my partner Tania, by using the robots this helped explain sustainability. Assembling the robots was easy apart from several pieces missing from the materials in which we had to substitute for with other parts to ensure the robot worked properly. The following class we then connected our robots to the computer where we programmed different operations using LabView. Although LabView seemed confusing at first the detailed instructions from our professor allowed us to have a proper insight into how LabView works with the lego robot. While using LabView it became more difficult to program the robot to do exactly what we wanted it to do, this was my first time using this program and I was unfamiliar with some of the inputs. However, through trial and error it became interesting to see what the robot could and could not do through LabView. 

The robot was programmed to make moves such as moving straight, to turn right, to turn left and to go around in a full circle. After this we became more advanced with the program and we were able to make the robot play a song while making maneuvers. We then measured distance and velocity with our results varying. 

The two large wheels at the back of the robot is how we measured the circumference. 

The results from our wheels: 2.4in = 0.06096m 

Calculating circumference: Pi(diameter) > 3.14(0.06096) = 0.19141

After this calculation we recorded our results on LabView. 

Following this we then inputed this into LabView where the robot was able to move from the commands through the computer. Our robot drove around on the desk before stopping. Our robot rotated 2 times and then came to a halt. The 2 rotations equaled … m 

Our wheels spun for about 8 seconds = 8,000 milliseconds. 

We then measured the distance in which the robot had travelled, which was 0.23m. 

LabView measured 0.253213 m.

Percentage Error: |0.23 – 0.253213| / (0.23 + 0.25) / 2 x 100 

Overall the experiment using lego robots was enjoyable and I believe I learned a significant amount of information. 

Below is the Lego Robot fully assembled. 

The Flint water crisis only came to light in the past month or so, with many media channels carrying the issue. The city of more than 100,000 residents had their drinking water contaminated, the crisis was due to a number of factors which goes back to April 2014. During this period a switch was made from where the small town in Michigan received their water supply from. Flint is known to be surrounded near many lakes that provide water to many other cities. It was discovered that the drinking water had been contaminated by the change of water source from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River. The old pipes that pumped water from the Flint River into the homes of those in Flint was found to cause high levels of lead in the water. 

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a local doctor in the Flint area became aware of the situation when she started to see an increased number of children from the Flint area with high levels of lead in their blood. This immediately raised an alarm for her where she investigated the matter further. Now through the discovery of high levels of lead in their drinking water a major investigation has caused an uproar. Flint is known to be one of the poorest cities in Michigan and with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha trying to contact many officials all the way up to the Governors office, she was shut down and told to shut up. The issue of the quality of water in Flint also caused issues for nearby car manufactures who in 2014 had claimed that the water from the Flint river was eroding their car parts. Many questioned that if the water was not good enough at the auto factories then it could not be possibly good for the human body. Many who knew about the Flint water crisis had changed their supply of water to other methods like the car manufactures. 

The main issue with the Flint water crisis was the high levels of lead in the water. In January 2015 a year after the issue came into the media spotlight a public meeting was held by the residents of Flint where they complained about the quality of water, referring to the taste, the smell and the look. From those at the top they hit back with statements and papers that claimed the water in Flint was safe to consume. The elevated levels of lead in the blood of the children in Flint was researched deeper and the issues with high levels of lead was stated. The irreversible damage of lead in the blood was set to cause problems for those in Flint for the rest of their lives. The causes of high levels of lead in the blood is known to cause developmental delays, learning difficulties, loss of appetite, weight loss, vomiting, stomach pain, high blood pressure, brain damage and reproductive effects. All these issues were set to cost the state over $1 billion to ensure the best health care and necessary resources for the Flint residents for now and in the future. 

A large outdoor of donations of bottled water has come from across the United States and for a nation so great and powerful many were shocked that children in the United States were growing up without knowing what clean water was. Now the issue of water contamination in Flint has shed light on the situation other counties and cities across the United States are claiming they are experiencing similar issues like those in Flint. 

Sources 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/flint-water-crisis/flint-water-crisis-here-s-what-lead-can-do-you-n499916

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

http://dianeravitch.net/2016/02/01/michael-moore-10-things-you-dont-know-about-the-flint-water-crisis/