Energy and Place Project and Debate Reflection
Click HERE to see the Albuquerque Isotopes Joint Scientific Statement on Nuclear Energy.
Debate Opening Statement
The battle for energy continues and the demand for power, and electricity grows greater with each passing day. Nuclear power plants are sources of energy that produce a huge amount of what we love most, satisfying our high demands. Nuclear energy is the only source that produces no greenhouse gasses and has no impact on the environment. These power plants are very efficient in that they use the relatively cheap and abundant uranium 235 and produces, on average, 11.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. One kilogram of uranium 235 has the potential to produce 1,500,000 kilograms of coal and can generate electricity for America lasting up to 1000 days. Throughout the U.S., one hundred nuclear power plants, expand over 31 states to produce about 20% of all of the power in the country. The U.S. produces 5% of the world’s uranium but with how much we use, 90% of the worlds supply is imported into the United States. We, as a country, need to produce more uranium to become more independent and less of a burden. The nuclear industry has developed methods that are simple and safe to dispose of the used uranium. The used uranium waste is stored in steel-lined, water-filled concrete vaults, which keep the harmful substances away from the land and people. In 2012, nuclear power plants in the U.S. produces 769.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and prevented 569.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions from being released into the air.
Debate Closing Statement
Nuclear power is an efficient, cheap and reliable source of
energy that leaves very little trace in the air that we breath. Power plants
run 24/7 producing electricity that we, especially in this country, rely
heavily on. The tragic events that have occurred in Chernobyl and Three Mile
Island have left some with fears that nuclear power is immediately harmful and
should not be our primary source of energy, however, with what we know about
the benefits of nuclear energy, there should be no question that it should
stick around. The alternative to nuclear power is the renewable natural
resources such as sun and wind. These work great but are not as reliable as
nuclear. The sun won’t always shine and the wind won’t always blow and so we
should have this permanent source of energy to fall back upon.
Click HERE to watch the debate.
Project Reflection
For this debate I was fighting in favor of the production of nuclear energy. At the beginning of this project I had decided that I was completely against nuclear power, but honestly I didn't know enough to back up my decision or give an explanation for why I thought that. After writing my part in the joint scientific statement and taking part in the debate I decided that, yes, nuclear power is all of the things that I brought up in my opening and closing statements and is, in fact, very beneficial. Initially I thought, for some reason, that nuclear power plants were a huge contributer to climate change and air pollution. I was fooled by the billowing clouds of smoke rising from the cooling towers. After learning that those clouds are only steam, my mind started to change. This country can't depend on sources that are harming our environment and although I don't think that nuclear power should be our only source of energy I also don't think that it should be gotten rid of.
The strongest piece of evidence in favor of nuclear power is that there are no greenhouse gas emissions and no air pollution. The opposing side could argue that the radioactive material and waste that comes from the nuclear power plants is harmful and puts people in surrounding areas at risk of health problems. However, while the materials in these power plants are extremely harmful, they are stored in safe places away from where they could do any harm. If I choose to research this topic more I would like to look further into radioactivity in general; why substances are radioactive and in depth what it means.
The live debate was interesting. Because we had not done a practice run or anything of the sort it was pretty unfamiliar to participate but I played my part and tried to pull from what I have learned over the past few weeks to prove our point.
This project was jointed to the humanities Sense of Place project, they both went hand in hand to connect our sense of place and our environmental ethic. The essay that I wrote for my humanities project incorporated my preservationist ethic which, in a way, contradicts the position I played in the debate. However, I think that my performance in the debate and the presentation of my opening and closing statement convince people that I am in support of nuclear power and could possible sway them to think the same. If I could do the debate again I would hope to have more to say during open debate and be able to answer my opponent's questions in a more convincing manner.
The strongest piece of evidence in favor of nuclear power is that there are no greenhouse gas emissions and no air pollution. The opposing side could argue that the radioactive material and waste that comes from the nuclear power plants is harmful and puts people in surrounding areas at risk of health problems. However, while the materials in these power plants are extremely harmful, they are stored in safe places away from where they could do any harm. If I choose to research this topic more I would like to look further into radioactivity in general; why substances are radioactive and in depth what it means.
The live debate was interesting. Because we had not done a practice run or anything of the sort it was pretty unfamiliar to participate but I played my part and tried to pull from what I have learned over the past few weeks to prove our point.
This project was jointed to the humanities Sense of Place project, they both went hand in hand to connect our sense of place and our environmental ethic. The essay that I wrote for my humanities project incorporated my preservationist ethic which, in a way, contradicts the position I played in the debate. However, I think that my performance in the debate and the presentation of my opening and closing statement convince people that I am in support of nuclear power and could possible sway them to think the same. If I could do the debate again I would hope to have more to say during open debate and be able to answer my opponent's questions in a more convincing manner.
Click HERE to see my humanities Sense of Place project.
Materials Unit Project
Eno Restaurant
723 E 2nd Ave
Durango, CO 81301
12/17/13
To Whom It May Concern:
my name is Sarah Anthony, I am a junior at Animas High School. Currently in my chemistry class we are working on a project focused around the chemistry of materials. For my project I chose to look at molecular gastronomy, chemistry in the kitchen. I was researching spherification and thought that your restaurant might be interested in it, as your dishes are cutting edge as well as elegant.
I want to introduce to you a potential way of revolutionizing your menu through the process of culinary spherification. Spherification is a process that shapes liquids into caviar like spheres. They have a gel like skin as their outer shell and when bitten into you get a burst of flavor in your mouth. Many modern restaurants use this technique as a new way to add concentrated flavor. Spherification can be used in both food plates and drinks. You could put drops of salad dressing on a salad or sprits of a different flavor in a mixed drink or cocktail. Not only is it an exciting experience to eat them, its also an interesting and creative way of presenting a drink or food plate.
To make these spheres all you need is water, sodium alginate, calcium chloride, or calcium lactate, and a liquid of the flavor of your choosing. There are two techniques in this process: spherification and reverse spherification, the difference between the two depends on the properties of the flavored liquid. Spherification is made by thoroughly dissolving the sodium alginate in your flavored liquid. Then, you drop that solution in the droplet size of your preference into a solution of calcium chloride and distilled water. The calcium chloride causes the alginate in the first solution to form a thin layer of flexible skin around the outside of the drop. Reverse spherification is the exact opposite. You would dissolve the calcium chloride in the flavored liquid and drop it into the sodium alginate and water solution.
The chemistry behind this is quite complicated, but I will try to put it into simple terms. Sodium alginate is an extremely absorbent polymer. This is because the sodium ions have a positive charge. The water molecules are attracted to charges and so they make their way into the sodium ions. When it mixes with water it becomes a gelatinous and syrupy like substance. When the sodium alginate is dropped into the calcium ion bath, the calcium ions replace the sodium ions and then the alginate strands and the calcium ions bond together. Calcium ions have a positive two charge and it takes two bonds to complete their electron shell and for them to be stable. And because they are taking the place of the sodium ions they must make another bond to be complete. Now, the molecules are together in one huge network, semi rigidly bonded together. This is what makes the thin skin-like membrane of the sphere.
This kind of molecular gastronomy is super fun and creative once you get the technique down. It’s difficult at first to make a perfect sphere of the perfect size, I would recommend using a small syringe or a turkey baster, these worked best for me. It’s an interesting process and very fun to eat! These ingredients are relatively inexpensive and easy to get and the recipe is also quite simple. The entire process only takes about 10-20 minutes once the technique is mastered.
I appreciate your time and consideration of my idea and I hope you enjoyed reading about this. I would be happy to share more of my research if you have any further questions. My email is: [email protected]
Sincerely,
Sarah Anthony
723 E 2nd Ave
Durango, CO 81301
12/17/13
To Whom It May Concern:
my name is Sarah Anthony, I am a junior at Animas High School. Currently in my chemistry class we are working on a project focused around the chemistry of materials. For my project I chose to look at molecular gastronomy, chemistry in the kitchen. I was researching spherification and thought that your restaurant might be interested in it, as your dishes are cutting edge as well as elegant.
I want to introduce to you a potential way of revolutionizing your menu through the process of culinary spherification. Spherification is a process that shapes liquids into caviar like spheres. They have a gel like skin as their outer shell and when bitten into you get a burst of flavor in your mouth. Many modern restaurants use this technique as a new way to add concentrated flavor. Spherification can be used in both food plates and drinks. You could put drops of salad dressing on a salad or sprits of a different flavor in a mixed drink or cocktail. Not only is it an exciting experience to eat them, its also an interesting and creative way of presenting a drink or food plate.
To make these spheres all you need is water, sodium alginate, calcium chloride, or calcium lactate, and a liquid of the flavor of your choosing. There are two techniques in this process: spherification and reverse spherification, the difference between the two depends on the properties of the flavored liquid. Spherification is made by thoroughly dissolving the sodium alginate in your flavored liquid. Then, you drop that solution in the droplet size of your preference into a solution of calcium chloride and distilled water. The calcium chloride causes the alginate in the first solution to form a thin layer of flexible skin around the outside of the drop. Reverse spherification is the exact opposite. You would dissolve the calcium chloride in the flavored liquid and drop it into the sodium alginate and water solution.
The chemistry behind this is quite complicated, but I will try to put it into simple terms. Sodium alginate is an extremely absorbent polymer. This is because the sodium ions have a positive charge. The water molecules are attracted to charges and so they make their way into the sodium ions. When it mixes with water it becomes a gelatinous and syrupy like substance. When the sodium alginate is dropped into the calcium ion bath, the calcium ions replace the sodium ions and then the alginate strands and the calcium ions bond together. Calcium ions have a positive two charge and it takes two bonds to complete their electron shell and for them to be stable. And because they are taking the place of the sodium ions they must make another bond to be complete. Now, the molecules are together in one huge network, semi rigidly bonded together. This is what makes the thin skin-like membrane of the sphere.
This kind of molecular gastronomy is super fun and creative once you get the technique down. It’s difficult at first to make a perfect sphere of the perfect size, I would recommend using a small syringe or a turkey baster, these worked best for me. It’s an interesting process and very fun to eat! These ingredients are relatively inexpensive and easy to get and the recipe is also quite simple. The entire process only takes about 10-20 minutes once the technique is mastered.
I appreciate your time and consideration of my idea and I hope you enjoyed reading about this. I would be happy to share more of my research if you have any further questions. My email is: [email protected]
Sincerely,
Sarah Anthony
Project Reflection
The chemistry of materials has, is, and always will be shaping, maintaining, and transforming the way we live our lives. Since the very beginning of time humans have been using what they know about the chemistry of materials to survive and grow. Through the industrial revolution, knowledge of the science behind materials blew up. We used what we knew about the properties of materials to build building, tools, and utensils to simplify and better our lives. For example: if we didn’t know about the chemistry of different types of metal, we might not have known that it would be a bad idea to build a skyscraper out of tin because eventually it would crumble on top of us. Today, we continue to evolve and so does our knowledge of the materials around us. In the future we will surely see that things we use on a daily basis will get stronger, lighter, and better and will never stop changing.
The biggest thing that I have taken away from this first semester is how atomic, molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic levels affect the physical and chemical properties of materials. The atomic level affects the properties of a material because in this level the electrons are constantly jumping around in order to achieve stability and a full outer shell. The bonding between molecules is what determines the properties on a molecular level. The structure of the material depends on whether the molecules are bonded metallically, ionically, or covalently. The microscopic level affects a material’s properties when there is a build up of that substance. Take cross-lined polymers for an example.
The biggest thing that I have taken away from this first semester is how atomic, molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic levels affect the physical and chemical properties of materials. The atomic level affects the properties of a material because in this level the electrons are constantly jumping around in order to achieve stability and a full outer shell. The bonding between molecules is what determines the properties on a molecular level. The structure of the material depends on whether the molecules are bonded metallically, ionically, or covalently. The microscopic level affects a material’s properties when there is a build up of that substance. Take cross-lined polymers for an example.