Chemistry
Power and place Project
Reflection:
In this project we debated the motion, “Nuclear power is a clean source of electrical energy and the United States Government should provide incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants throughout the United States including the Four Corners region.” I was the moderator of my debate. My initial position on this issue is for Nuclear Energy, and through the project my view is still the same, though now i have sufficient evidence to make a good point for either side. I found that the strongest argument on the against side was for radiated humans and nuclear melt downs. I also found that the most convincing argument on the for side was that it was cheap and emitted no greenhouse gasses. As a moderator is was actually very difficult to stay unbiased and not argue against either side. My personal ethic is that machinery and nature can both be beautiful, and i believe that nuclear power's low carbon footprint is preserving the nature that goes so beautifully with technology. If I were to do this again, i would have made sure the room was at a decent temperature, because I felt like I was nearly passing out on the podium. I feel like I would have done better if I were not in such a condition. After watching the debate over, I wish I could have interjected more probing questions into the debate. The debaters in my debate beat me to all of the questions I wanted to ask.
In this project we debated the motion, “Nuclear power is a clean source of electrical energy and the United States Government should provide incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants throughout the United States including the Four Corners region.” I was the moderator of my debate. My initial position on this issue is for Nuclear Energy, and through the project my view is still the same, though now i have sufficient evidence to make a good point for either side. I found that the strongest argument on the against side was for radiated humans and nuclear melt downs. I also found that the most convincing argument on the for side was that it was cheap and emitted no greenhouse gasses. As a moderator is was actually very difficult to stay unbiased and not argue against either side. My personal ethic is that machinery and nature can both be beautiful, and i believe that nuclear power's low carbon footprint is preserving the nature that goes so beautifully with technology. If I were to do this again, i would have made sure the room was at a decent temperature, because I felt like I was nearly passing out on the podium. I feel like I would have done better if I were not in such a condition. After watching the debate over, I wish I could have interjected more probing questions into the debate. The debaters in my debate beat me to all of the questions I wanted to ask.
Materials Project
The materials project was a project where we had to choose a material, old or new and research it. I chose lithium ion batteries because they are our future, and our current life depends so very heavily on them. we then had to present a shark tank style presentation, where we had to pitch our idea to potential "investors." I pitched the idea of a lithium ion battery that doesn't lose its total potential charge power every month.
ESSAY
Lithium-Ion Batteries
In modern times, Lithium-ion batteries shape the way we live our lives. Tablets, phones, and laptop computers: the things we depend on to keep our schedules, to communicate with our families, to share our family pictures on facebook- all run on lithium-ion batteries. Shouldn’t you know how these amazing batteries, that practically run your life, actually work, and where they came from?
The movement of an electron from one part of the battery to the other, anode to cathode, creates the electrical energy we all use today. There are two processes that have to be undergone to convert chemical energy to electrical energy: oxidation and reduction. The electrode at which oxidation occurs is called the anode, in lithium ion batteries, the anode is always made of lithium. The electrode at which reduction occurs is called the cathode, the cathode can be made out of numerous amounts of materials metal-ions, the best one we know of today is vanadium phosphate. In this case, vanadium phosphate is the cathode, and lithium is the anode. Electrons are transferred from lithium atoms to vanadium phosphate ions. The lithium atoms lose electrons as they are oxidized into lithium ion, while vanadium phosphate in the solution gain the electrons lost by lithium, reducing the vanadium phosphate ions to vanadium phosphate. The movement of the electron from the lithium to the vanadium phosphate creates electrical energy.
The lithium battery, though considered to be a new technology, has actually been around for a while now. The idea for a lithium-ion battery was first proposed in 1970, by a man called M. Stanley Whittingham, a worker for Exxon. He used titanium(IV) sulfide, and lithium metal as electrodes. People heard of this ‘lithium battery,’ and began to build off of it, adding more and more.
In 1991, Sony corporations and Asahi Kasei released the first commercial lithium-ion battery, which was then build off of for many many years, and is still being improved. As of this year, 2013, the lithium battery has progressed into the Lithium Vanadium Phosphate Battery. It is a battery that still utilizes Lithium ions as an anode, but uses vanadium phosphate as a cathode. It is currently the most updated, most superior version of the lithium ion battery today.
Unfortunately, lithium-ion batteries are not perfect, they lose their charge capacity over time. Recent studies show that they actually lose 5% of their charge capacity every month, so after a year of use, your devices are only holding 54% of their total charge. A fact that phone companies are aware of, and use to their advantage, having “2 year plans” rather than 1 year plans.
The question now is why do we use lithium in our batteries rather than some other material. First of all lithium is very lightweight, so its very portable. Second, Even though they lose their charge over time, the lithium-ion battery still lasts longer than other batteries. Also the production of them does not pollute as much as other batteries, and since they last longer, they don’t have to be disposed of as often, so they are more environmentally friendly than other batteries Lastly, many of them can be recharged, so you don’t have to replace them as often. The fact of the matter is that lithium ion technology is not perfect yet, and still has to be improved upon. It is currently the best portable energy source we have today.
Reflection:
Materials have always shaped history. The discovery of clay allowed people to shape it into various containers to hold water and produce. The discovery of iron allowed people to make better weapons than the classic wood spear or bow and arrow. The discovery of gunpowder allowed people to make cannons and guns and other explosives. The improvement of materials through history has shaped the world.
Materials act the way they do because of their microstructure. Iron was used in the past for weapons for a reason, the weapons shouldn't have broken after penetrating an enemy, so they used iron, because iron is a material that is not brittle, so it won’t snap in half. It is also very strong because of it’s molecular arrangement, it also has a high melting point, so it won’t melt in your hands when you are fighting on a hot day. This is only one example, another example of a material we use for it’s properties is the backing for my computer, It is made out of a mercury alloy, which is extremely light, and very strong even when extremely thin. It is used because we want our computers to not be heavy to lug around, or to bend or break under low pressure.
Materials have always shaped history. The discovery of clay allowed people to shape it into various containers to hold water and produce. The discovery of iron allowed people to make better weapons than the classic wood spear or bow and arrow. The discovery of gunpowder allowed people to make cannons and guns and other explosives. The improvement of materials through history has shaped the world.
Materials act the way they do because of their microstructure. Iron was used in the past for weapons for a reason, the weapons shouldn't have broken after penetrating an enemy, so they used iron, because iron is a material that is not brittle, so it won’t snap in half. It is also very strong because of it’s molecular arrangement, it also has a high melting point, so it won’t melt in your hands when you are fighting on a hot day. This is only one example, another example of a material we use for it’s properties is the backing for my computer, It is made out of a mercury alloy, which is extremely light, and very strong even when extremely thin. It is used because we want our computers to not be heavy to lug around, or to bend or break under low pressure.