Is ITER good for the World?

The ITER machine, a device for unleashing mass amounts of energy to the world. The ITER is an investment from 35 countries to decrease the amount of pollution put into the atmosphere and increase the amount of usable energy in the world. This sounds like an amazing idea to anyone just reading an article on it off the street, but as we go  into depth we realize that it is a very expensive project to fund. The guesstimate for price is roughly twenty billion dollars. It is so expensive and funded by so many different countries that it needs it’s own currency.

The big question about the ITER machine is, is it worth it? Is it worth the amount of money, time and labor to build it? Everyone has their own opinions and ideas about the project. Personally we believe that it would be a smart investment. In the long run it seems that it could easily pay itself off if it works. The world would cut down its pollution and create large amounts of energy which could produce half a giga-watt of power. Which is half of the power a large power plant produces.

ITER summary

ITER

Throughout the last few days of science class we have been learning about energy and we were asked to read and article about ITER which is a giant device that uses nuclear fusion to create pollution free energy. Through the article it describes ITER or International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is a huge machine that weighs twice as much as the Eiffel tower. ITER uses hydrogen atoms and basically forces them together until the combine and release a lot of energy. In about one or two decades ITER will be turned on. Which will create the most amount of energy ever created from one machine.

ITER has potential to become a great machine and have a great impact on the earth but it comes with a price. ITER is a huge project that is projected to cost 20 billion dollars it is also taking up a huge amount of time and involves 35 countries in the project. But this effort will provide a great amount of energy enough to last the world 30 million years.

Image URL

https://www.iter.org/doc/all/content/com/img_galleries/In-cryostat%20Overview%20110824.jpg

Substance Identification Lab

A Forensics Lab

Yesterday at 3 AM, at Mike's Awesome Bakery in Francestown, NH the baker arrived to find his assistant baker dead: lying in a pool of blood.  The victim's body was covered in a white powder.  

In an attempt to find the source of the white powder, investigators collect multiple samples from the bakery (baking soda, flour, baking powder, powdered milk, cornstarch).
Investigators are in the process of interviewing employees of the bakery to narrow their field of suspects.  They are also gathering clothing samples from employees to find a match for the white powder.




Today in our science class we were assigned a lab. Our goal to find out an unknown substance by comparing it to other substances. The four known substances were Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Flour, and Cornstarch. We observed the substances' chemical reactions to different liquids. These different liquids were Water, Vinegar, Iodine, and Universal Indicator. Next, we compared the unknown substance to the known substances. In doing so, we were able to come to a conclusion on what the unknown substance was....

Procedure

Step 1: Gather necessary materials and equipment.

• Cups
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Flour
• Cornstarch
• Unknown Substance
• Iodine
• Water
• Vinegar
• Universal Indicator
• A Clean Surface
• Pencil
• Safety Glasses
• Paper
• Pipette

Step 2: One at a time, put the substances (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cornstarch) on the chart provided in the correct space.

Step 3: Take each chemical and put two to three drops of each chemical on each substance.

Step 4: Record the results on how each substance reacted to the chemical.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2-4 on all of the substances.

Step 6: Compare all the reactions and determine which  substance reacted the most alike the unknown substance.

Conclusion: After completing the procedure we came to the conclusion that our unknown substance was baking powder. We were able to determine this pretty easily because of the noticeable similarities with the way the chemicals reacted to the substances.

The Speed of Ice Melting

In our science class, we were asked to design our own science experiment. We chose to test how different platforms affect the speed of ice melting. We chose 3 different platforms to run the experiment on; a piece of cardboard, someone’s hand, and someone’s neck. After forming an observation question, researching, and creating a hypothesis, we were ready to run the experiment. After the experiment, we created a lab design sheet to display our test.

­Lab Design Sheet

Name of Experiment: Speed of Ice Melting Experiment.                             

Question to be answered: Which platform, Ryan’s neck, Michael’s hand or a piece of cardboard will melt ice the fastest?

Prior Knowledge: We knew that human skin is warmer than cardboard.

Hypothesis: If we melt ice on Ryan's neck, it will melt faster than it would on cardboard or Michael’s hand.

Rationale: This will happen because body heat is warmer than cardboard and will melt the ice faster.

Independent Variable: The platform that melted the ice.

Dependent Variable: The time it took the ice to melt on the platform.

Constants: The room temperature and the size of the ice cube.                  

Equipment: The equipment that we used consisted of a stopwatch, cardboard, Ryan’s neck, Michael’s hand, and ice cubes.

Procedure:

1) We gathered all materials needed. They are ice which we put into a beaker, cardboard, Ryan’s neck and Michael’s hand.

2)  We then placed 2 pieces of ice on each platform at the same time and timed it preiscely.

3) We waited monitoring the ice platforms.

4) We then recorded the time when each of the platforms ice melted.

ANALYSIS: At the end of our experiment the data showed that Ryan's neck melted the fastest with a time of 13.46 next was Michael’s hand which melted the ice in 18.32 minutes then came the cardboard which took 44.53 minutes.

CONCLUSION: Our experiment turned out the way we predicted in our hypothesis. The ice was proven to melt the fastest on Ryan’s neck, the second fastest on Michael’s hand, and the slowest on cardboard.