Senior project research on solar power by Dillon

Solar energy is collected by extracting energy from solar radiation using solar cells. The energy collected important to expanding our sources of alternative energy. Currently solar energy is low on the spectrum for energy production. According to the Energy Information Administration only solar energy only produces 0.4% of the world’s energy by 2014[Major energy Sources].  By figuring out how to maximize the efficiency of solar cells people and engineers can build better setups for homes and even in solar farms. 

Panels in solar farms are usually anchored in one direction. Their angle of incidence to the sun stays the same until they are changed depending on the season. This is effective but the panels are only at their peak performance during a specific time of the day, when the sun is perpendicular to the solar panels.[Optimum Tilt of Solar Panels]. Most solar panels are built in a horizontal position, so the tilt is not a problem.. The way the tilt is usually calculated is by making it 5° greater than the latitude of the general location it is placed. [The effect of Seasonal Variation and Angle…]. The size of a solar panel can also be affected by the location. An example given was San Diego San Diego has a latitude of 33° which means that they are able to reduce the size of panels because it gives a larger exposer of sun. [How does the tilt angle effect system performance]

The objective of my experiment was to find a distinct relationship between a solar cells power output its angle of incidence to the sun. I predicted that the solar cells would maintain a linear output until the angle became more radical and then start to fall off quickly. To set up my experiment I climbed a mountain where the sun was clear and un-obstructed thorough the day. I used a set of three solar cells attached to a backpack the three cells were already linked together and shared one output lead, therefor adding the voltage, current, and power they produced. Then I set up a two foot tall by 1 foot wide cardboard box lined in black paper to set over the backpack this was so any ambient light reflected from the ground would not be absorbed by the solar cells. Starting at approximately at 12:00 P.M I pointed the apparatus (solar cells and cardboard shield) to the sky and tested the output using a multi-meter for every degree of change (10° per change), I used a protractor to measure the angle . I collected data on the voltage, current and power up until 80°, after this point the data was unimportant because the decline was easily seen.

All of the data was collected at the same time  through the use of a multi-meter which uses two leads to find the power current and voltage in electrical equimpent. In order to find the measurements I simply touched the leads to the output cord on the backpack. But to find the current I needed to use a small lightbulb. I connected one lead to the lightbuld and then the lightbulb to the solar panels then another lead from the panels back to the multi- meter. This was so the electricity produced could travel through more than just the two objects, this is needed to read current.                                   

The results to my experiment were as expected, the graphs remained fairly linear until it reached an expected threshold (about 40°) and after wards a very steep decline happens. I believe the experiment went well. The day was not cloudy so there were no uncontrollable obstructions.  

   If there was anything I could to  improve on my results I believe that slight upgrades to my equipment would be best. this test were to be done in an area closer to the equator where the sun is more powerful, as well as if I used a type of black fabric instead of paper to line my cardboard shield I think the absorption would have been better because I could see slight reflection on the papers surface. My solar cells and multi-meter were also not entirely professional, but other than these small equipment changes the experiment could not have gone any better.

Cites:

1.      "U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis." What Is U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source? U.S Department of Energy, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

2.      Landau, Charles L. "Optimum Tilt of Solar Panels." Optimum Tilt of Solar Panels. N.p., 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 201

3.      N.V. Ogueke, F. Abam, K. N. Nwaigwe, C.A. Okoronkwo, P.E. Ugwuoke and E.E. Anyanwu, 2013. The Effect of Seasonal Variation and Angle of Inclination on the Performances of Photovoltaic Panels in South Eastern Nigeria.  Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 5(03): 794-800.

4.      B. Kamanga, J. S. P. Mlatho, C. Mikeka, and C. Kamunda, “Optimum Tilt Angle for Photovoltaic Solar Panels in Zomba District, Malawi,” Journal of Solar Energy, vol. 2014, Article ID 132950, 9 pages, 2014. doi:10.1155/2014/132950

5.      Zhou, Yutao, and Dan Frering. "How Does the Tilt Angle And/or Orientation of the PV Panel Affect System Performance?" Lightening Research Center. Ensselaer Polytechnic Institute, July 2006. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

       

Earth Science Website!

Take a gander at the amazing website the earth science class put together!

Biome Changes Website

Updates! The perfect morning cup and dinner at the senior center

Physical Science-
The students are learning about solubility through brewing the perfect cup of coffee/tea/hot cocoa. Ask them about how temperature, solute amount, and mixing/filtration time all effect a solution.

Advanced Biology-
Join us at the Senior Center today at 5:30 for a spaghetti dinner and a presentation of body systems.

Earth Science-
The students are putting the finishing touches on their website- it should be posted by tomorrow.

Kitchen Biology-
The students are learning excellent cooperative teamwork, and producing a multimedia presentation of the science behind food. It should be ready to be viewed in two weeks.

Biology-
Vertebrates! Students are discovering the wide array of traits within vertebrates.

 Here are some vertebrates I took pictures of in Australia.

 This little rail moved like a tiny velociraptor. It was my favorite.

Swimming with the sharks!

Chemistry-
Test day! Tomorrow we start on the exciting world of acids and bases.

Calorimetry by Zach

Summary:

            During this topic we learned about how to measure heat using calorimetry. There are two different types of chemical reactions, endothermic and exothermic reactions. An endothermic reaction is a reaction where heat is absorbed so the object would get cooler. An exothermic reaction releases heat so then the object undergoing the reaction would heat up. Heat is measured in a unit called calories. A calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise one gram of water one degree celsius.

Why is this important:

            This is an important topic because it helps the chemist know what will happen when some different reactants are mixed together. A chemist not only needs to know whether a reaction takes in energy or gives off energy but also needs to know exactly how great the energy change will be per mole of reactant. If this is known then the chemist will be able to control the reaction by limiting the total amount of reactants and by regulating the flow of energy into or out of the reaction vessel.

Question to the Public:

            How is calorimetry used in the real world?

Viruses by Michael

What is a virus? A virus is DNA or RNA enclosed in protein coat. They cannot grow, replicate or participate in respiration. To duplicate, they replicate their DNA or RNA. They require a host cell to be able to duplicate. They are almost always named after the disease they cause or the tissue they affect.

            The protein coat protects the DNA. This binds the protein to the cell. The protein then locks with the receptor on the cell. Viruses can only attach to certain cells because it’s like a key to a lock. The less specific a cell is, the harder it is to control the virus.

            To replicate means to copy exactly, but reproducing is to pass on traits, but not copy. This is usually sexual. They can replicate extremely fast and mutate at the same time, making it hard for vaccines to keep up.

           

            Viruses have a very unique shape. They are very complex, yet make themselves look so simple. Scientists are still in a debate over viruses being living or dead. What do you think, is a virus alive, or not?

Invertebrates by Luke

During our section on invertebrates, we learned where and how invertebrates fall into our ecosystems. When we were observing invertebrates we figured out that there are many different types of invertebrates in different habitats. All of the invertebrates have features like tentacles, shells, and exoskeletons to help them survive in their habitats. One thing that all Invertebrates have in common is the lack of a spine. Even though they have a lot in common, they are all split up into different phylums that include mollusks, roundworms, sponges, and arachnids. 

One question that you may be asking yourself is “What Invertebrates are in the ecosystem near me?” It is actually a pretty easy question to answer because it only takes a short trip outside to observe invertebrates. Invertebrates are important because they are a key part of ecosystems. They are a food source for others higher on the food chain. Without them every ecosystem in the world would collapse without warning.

Population and Carrying Capacity By Amaize

          The carrying capacity is the maximum amount of a species that the environment/area can sustain with it’s given resources, indefinitely. Most populations have growth rate that starts out slowly then enters a rapid phase of growth, and then the population hits the carrying capacity so the growth levels off. In most cases, the size of the population begins to fluctuate. This is normal, but there are certain things that can cause much more drastic changes for the population of that species. Some variables that end up causing changes for populations are:

          --births

          --deaths

          --immigration

          --emigration

          --competition of other species

          --predators

          --decrease in food

          --diseases 

Some random facts about carrying capacity are:

--The planet could support a lot more people that are living a simple rural village life compared to people living an American suburban life.

--A community that is degrading depends on using its community capital and is not living sustainably.

--Reproductive lag time is required when the birth rates need to decrease and death rates need to increase.

Question:

          Why are carrying capacities different depending on the species? Why is it important to have different carrying capacities.

Torpedo Report by Patrick

In class we were told to make torpedoes. Torpedoes have many different elements involved in making them propel. We were told to show how it related to stoichiometry, what the limiting and excess reactants and how they related in making the best torpedo in class.

So we began to write an explanation for how we would make the torpedo out of pipettes, baking soda and vinegar. How we were going to load the torpedo without it misfiring. We had to draw our prototypes and show how they worked.

After we had written our description plan we had to draw out a table explaining all of our different results and variables. We had variables like amount of baking soda, amount of vinegar, amount of acetic acid. Then we had to write how far the torpedo traveled in centimeters and how long it took to get there. We had to write another table under that one for overall class data, like name, time, and distance.   

The google definition of stoichiometry is: The relationship between the relative quantities of substances taking part in a reaction or forming a compound, typically a ratio of whole integers.

With that in mind it is easy to see how torpedoes are related to stoichiometry. We need to see how the amount of baking soda plus the amount of vinegar equaled how far the torpedo would end up going. Then theoretically we could devise a formula to see how much baking soda and how much vinegar are needed for optimum results in distance and time.

In my opinion the biggest variables came from how the launch actually occurred whether or not someone did not squeeze the tube correctly or too much vinegar got into the baking soda setting off a premature reaction.

I noticed that the more vinegar one had the better the reaction. Vinegar weighs 15.94 grams for every tablespoon while water only weighed 14.7 for every tablespoon. So I had to be careful about how much vinegar I used because my torpedo would sink. So I built a small flotation device out of another pipette to act as a flotation device. The ratio was about half the amount of baking soda to vinegar. In the pipette the max amount of vinegar I was able to fit in it was about 16.00 grams worth and I put about 8 grams worth of baking soda in the other pipette. I had the best reaction out of anyone I had seen of 120 centimeters in about 8 seconds.   

The three things that were the most interesting were watching Ms Raino make the trough for the torpedoes because it was leaking and very humorous.

It was very interesting to see how the science of adding things together could be broken down into a mathematical equation.

I think that it would be interesting to try and put something across the pipette to make a sort of flotation device out of the long sucky part of the pipette to counterbalance the weight instead of just going straight down into the water.

I think it would also be very interesting to add food coloring to the pipette’s vinegar portion like red or orange to simulate fire be propelled through the water. However I would be worried about the possibility that the food coloring would negate the chemical reaction that happens between the vinegar and baking soda.  

Ø  NaHCO₃ + HC₂H₃O₂ → NaC₂H₃O₂ + H₂CO₃   Normal reaction between baking soda and vinegar.  

What other things would make the reaction go off with more force? Like some sort of a third variable because you can only get so far with the amount of baking soda and vinegar. What else could you use to make it go off with more force?

This topic needs to be known because it is important to understand reactions. Not only that but if you ever want to do anything in college or most things, you will need to be able to understand a basic reaction and understanding how this works will help you know more complex reactions.

Here are some fun pictures of the final tests! 

Science Class Update

Physical Science

Ask you student how you can use knowledge of chemical reactions to remove tarnish from your silver without removing silver.

Advanced Biology

Come to the Senior Center dinner on April 28^th to see the body system projects and experiments the advanced biology students have been working on!

Earth Science

I have been so impressed by the students in Earth Science, as they self-regulate and motivate each other to get their project done. There has been a lot of great collaboration and group dynamics. Tuesday they did an experiment on factors that affect the temperature of a biome (surface composition and cloud cover) and it was really exciting to see everyone recording their data and making observations.

Kitchen Biology

Now that we have learned all the ways to coax bacteria into food (think yogurt and pickles) we are going to flip the story and explore all the ways we can prevent bacteria and other microbes from taking up residence in our food. Can you think of ways your prevent food spoilage?

Biology

Biology has been learning about the scientific process through individual invertebrate field experiments.  We found some incredibly neat invertebrates and dug a lot of pit traps. Coming up: Dissecting marine invertebrates.

Chemistry

Today is test day for the torpedoes! Stay tuned for Patrick’s report on how the process went.

News in science:

Brontosaurus is Back!

New lizard species

Long migrations

Chemical Formulas by Mikayla

This past week or so we have been learning about chemical formulas and how to balance them. When balancing chemical formulas you have to add numbers onto each side to make them even. You really just have to play with the numbers to see what will fit.  Also we learned  how to name formulas. When you name formulas that are ionic and covalent you add the suffix ide to the end of the second word. You also add a prefix for the number if needed on both words. Sometimes you only need it on one of the words.

     Some things that I find interesting about this topic are that they can be made into many different types of formulas. They also can have many different oxidation numbers. The last thing that I think is interesting is that you can figure many things with these formulas. My question

for you guys is how does chemical formulas apply to your daily life?

Invertebrates by Justus

This topic is all about invertebrates. Right now we are asking questions. Like what environments do they live in? Do only some of them like water? What do they eat? How do they eat? Invertebrates have no spine. Only some invertebrates can fly. And they are mostly small.

How do invertebrates support themselves since they have no spine?

This topic is important because it is a part of our ecosystem and every part of the ecosystem is important. It is also good to know so you can start to identify certain bugs.

The Making of Pickles by Marty

Wash jars sterilize the lids, wash veggies, put a in a bowl of spices, stuff in jar, boil water 78 % of water and salt mix in salt, stir until dissolved, Pour brine in jar, all veggies should be submerged, cover “Jar - not air tight sit @ air tem for 5 days, ferment in fridge.     

Pickles are known to be vinegar snacks. Vinegars are popular in America. Pickles are a fruit of the vine.

Does the sun help pickle the veggies?

This topic is important because we can  change things and make them better and this is important because we need to know how to make these things just in case any of us want to make pickles and it is also a fun thing to do.  It is important because pickled veggies and fruits might change them.