Journal # 10 Energy Source- Solar Power

Solar power is a form of energy that utilizes the sun in order to power houses and other necessities that are part of our daily lives.  The New York Times Article I used called "Private Dollars Revive a Solar Panel Plan For Military Housing."  This article was about a California company called SolarCity.  SolarCity wants to install solar panels in over 100,000 military housing units over the next five years.  The residents of the military housing unit would pay SolarCity for electricity, and any power left over would go to the military base.   In order for this to work, SolarCity had to receive a loan of 350 million dollars from Bank of America.  By Bank of America doing this, the company was guaranteed a federal loan, which they had not had before.  According to Jonathan Plowe the managing director of the bank, this is a solid investment because "Photovoltaic technology is proven, the diversity of installation sites reduces the risk of a failure everywhere at one time, the electricity is relatively easy to transmit, construction time is short and there are few negative environmental consequences."

Link to the article
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/business/energy-environment/solarcity-wins-financing-for-military-housing-plan.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=solar%20power&st=cse

Cetyl Alcohol Lab

Members -Lydia Cline
                 -Kristen Rispoli

Group Job- Alternated between all the jobs.

Purpose- To figure out the temperature at which the phase of matter of cetyl alcohol changes

Materials-Hot plate, beaker, tap water, ice, thermometer, cetyl alcohol 

 Procedure

1) Make a 70 degrees Celsius water bath using a 400mL beaker and a hot plate.  Make an ice bath using another 400mL beaker, using tap water and ice.

2) Place the cetyl alcohol test tube in the hot water bath and take the temperature.  This will be time=0

3) Continue to take the temperature every 30 seconds until the temperature reaches 60 degrees Celsius.  Remove the test tube from the hot water bath and place it in the ice water bath while continuing to take the temperature at 30 second intervals until the original starting temperature is reached. 

4) Create a time versus temperature graph of your data on graph paper.

Our Data



Conclusion
Based off the data we collected, the melting point of cetyl alcohol is around 48 degrees Celsius.  43 degrees Celsius is probably the melting point because around this point, the rate at which the temperature is increasing starts to decrease and slightly plateau.  We cannot see the boiling point on this graph.  The reason why we cannot see the boiling point on this graph is because as soon as the cetyl alcohol reached a temperature above 60 degrees celsius, we put it into the ice bath, not allowing it to reach the boiling point.  After doing some research, I found that the boiling point of cetly alcohol is 334 degress Celsius.  Some possible sources of error during this lab was when the smart board turned off/ went blank.  This threw off the timing of the temperatures.  We also had a little bit of trouble maintaining a 70 degree Celsius water bath.  Most of the time it was just a little under or a little over.  It was also somewhat hard to keep exact time due to multi-tasking.  A way we could improve this lab is to have more people in our group...even though we worked in a group of two by choice.  Another way to imrpove this activity is to have individual timers, so we could easily see them, and keep exact time.  Another is that we could take the temperature of the cold water before placing the cetyl alcohol into it.  Lastly, we could use magnifying glasses in order to get a more accurate measure of the temperature.

Link to the boiling point of cetyl alcohol boiling point web site
http://chemicalland21.com/industrialchem/solalc/CETYL%20ALCOHOL.htm    
             

Journal #9 Web Site Evaluation

I think the information on my blog is pretty valid.  I think it is valid because it looks pretty organized and contains mostly accurate and current information.  Most of the information I post on the blogs has to do with what I learn in class, and I am pretty sure that what I learn in class is accurate.  One web site I visit on a regular basis is the new york times web site.  I love this web site, mostly because it has information on every current event imagineable.  I think this web site is very valid because it is very organized and easy to navigate.  The new york times web site is constantly being updated.  When searching for an article, you can easily find one posted three hours prior to your search. 

Web Site Ranking Class Activity

I thought the best web site was the "All About Water"  web site. I found this web site to be the best because it had the most information.  The information was presented in the least biased way, and the web site was very organized and easy to follow. 


I thought the worst web site was the "How Stuff Works"  web site.  This web site was kind of confusing.  It had ads in the middle of sections which were distracting and made the web site hard to follow. It did not have much information.


I am now more likely to drink from water bottles less often.  The plastic from the water bottles severely impacts our supply of fossil fuels.  Water bottles are not what the seem.  They are just tap water in a bottle, not "natural spring water."  And lastly, " In an interesting study conducted by Showtime television, the hosts found that 75% of tested New York City residents actually preferred tap water over bottled water in a blind taste test."  To me, this means the water bottle obsession is only psychological.  


I got all this information from http://www.allaboutwater.org/    

Journal #8 College Qualities

I know college is definitley going to be in my near future, but I do not yet have a college of my dreams.  I think one thing about me that should get me into the college of my dreams is that I strive for success.  I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I need things like homework, essays and projects to be done correctly.  Another quality I have is good study habits. Even though I don't like to study, I know that when I have a test I need to start studying a few days in advanced.  I study a little at a time, because if you just cram everything at once you will not remember anything.  I think the last, and probably the most important quality I consider myself lucky to have is that I absolutely love to read.  I am a very fast reader, and can understand what I am reading easily.  This, has benefitted me a lot throughout my academic career, and I think it will make my life easier when I go off to college.

Journal #7 Pogil

One way I find Pogil activities useful is by being allowed to work with other people in order to get the answer.  If you don't get a problem, then the chances are that someone in the group may get it.  The part of Pogils that are least useful to me are the cover pages with information and terms on the front.  I do not find them useful because sometimes they are not relevant to a few of the problems.  I would improve this activity by doing it as a class, or maybe trying it individually and then going over the answers in groups.  This way, instead of being given the answers, people have to actually try to figure it out.