Writings and videos about science activities with an emphasis on environmental science and energy measurement

Showing Tag: "photovoltaic" (Show all posts)

Solar Impulse Lands in Hawaii!

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, July 3, 2015, In : environmental news 
The Solar Impulse just landed in Hawaii after 5 days of solo flight from Nagoya, Japan. This is a big deal because it is perhaps the riskiest portion of the first RTW flight on a manned plane that is powered entirely by photovoltaic panels. Kudos to Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg for making it happen. As you may well know, the Piccard family has been setting records for dangerous pioneering research for generations. But how many of you know that Bertrand's grandfather served at the rea...
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Generating Electricity from Living Plants

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, January 15, 2015, In : environmental news 
This video was produced by a private company that found a way to generate electricity from plants without harming them. From what I gathered in the description, they accomplish this by placing electrodes in the soil in locations that have differing voltage potentials. This electrical gradient can be attributed to the the breakdown of photosynthetic products released from the plants' roots. Much like a hydrogen fuel cell, the product of this electrochemical reaction is water. I do not know how...
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Cost Effectiveness of Photovoltaics

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, December 15, 2014, In : environmental news 
This TED Talk is not that new, and a bit longer than usual, but the speaker does a pretty good job of summarizing how to set up photovoltaics in your home. The main reason I am posting this is because, much like Lab 3-9 (Photovoltaic Cell Dynamics)  and this corresponding video, the speaker presents a calculation for how many years are needed for the photovoltaic panels to pay for themselves. He bases his calculation on the "cost per watt hour" of photovoltaics. My calculation is based on "co...
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Measuring Electricity from a Photovoltaic

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, November 30, 2014, In : modified lab procedures 
I just posted a new video. The main difference with the lab manual is that instead of using a DC wattmeter I use two multimeters: One is set up to measure amps and the other is set up to measure volts. Most high schools and colleges already have multimeters (used is physics) so this can save you money. This is the same way I measured electricity generated from a cordless drill. In this new video I also incorporated a slightly more simplified equation for calculating the cost-effectiveness of ...
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Formula Sun Grand Prix

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, July 24, 2013, In : environmental news 
Even though these cars are not practical, I am amazed at how fast they move.

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About this blog

This blog was originally created in January 2013 to serve as a means for providing updates on science activities from the environmental science lab manual Ecology, Development, and Sustainability. I have now expanded its purpose to include other items of interest to science teachers. 

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