Friday, May 20, 2011
Cermak Plaza goes Green!
Here is the link to the complete article:
Cleaner Air, One Bike at a Time
Its a great opportunity, so if you haven't already choosen to have a car on campus, you should check it out.
Alternative Energy in Chicago
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
high purity hydrogen
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512103946.htm
Biofuels in the aviation industry
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511134335.htm
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Windfarms Of The Water
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/electricity-from-wing-waves/
Algae For Energy
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/common-algae-biofuel-butanol-production/
War of the Atoms comic
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZXMZMqFPDf8Xotq9WCGFnFcIVewOWbnXDA8XAcb-rqkkEbAkymGuySPzkqNiy6C3MNpRbtANgbBA7jXZQI3eSi42zA91D6mnB_2Xvpzzp00FZJALxvq7fRQRVEKKOwvsjhq5lPQO3Lv8/s320/Atoms+pic.jpg)
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz220.jpg
Acid Rain Comic
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjglqHEoujLqgugzbHu5B7v7b5A2pm6qYhaUE3hDQonnUm_DM4fRXHnYu0YCsWvekW3pXzqhC957O87GT1MNnjOsX_Q8367JUr01WotBR3nM3C56_f4TF_mPgtxALhaF9KIM6xKMEKnc/s320/acid+rain.gif)
http://www.mchumor.com/chemistry3_bframe.html
Ionic Bonding Comic
Molecular Shape Comic
Friday, May 13, 2011
New Possible Alternative Energy Source
Baseball
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Burning Water - A Useful Oxymoron
Word spread like wildfire on what was being called the greatest water related discovery of 100 years. Holding the potential for being a huge source of alternative energy and water treatment, this discovery went to Rustum Roy, a university chemist at Penn State, to find how this happens. Roy discovered that as long as the radio waves are trained on the water, it would continue to burn. When the radio waves strike the water, the bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen begin to weaken, allowing them to burn. When burned the water breaks into hydrogen and oxygen gas with then immediately react back with each other to reform water. Because the salt water oceans cover the majority of the Earth, there is no lack of fuel for this process.
Now, the actual burning of the salt water isn't the new alternative energy, rather it is the hydrogen that is broken off from the water in this process that is so important. Hydrogen is a powerful alternative energy source that is almost never found by itself naturally. This process eliminates the need for expensive hydrogen extraction by other means. This process also rids the water of any chemicals within it, creating clean water from dirty ocean salt water. This process it truly useful and energy efficient. Even though the radio waves also require energy to be made, one could attach the radio emitter to something like a solar panel to limit the amount of fossil fuels being used.
THis discovery is probably one of the most important finding for alternative energy production in such a long time. Still, many things still need to be researched before this process can be used as an energy production technique. That does not deter scientists from becoming hopeful that this will one day become an important part in our energy production.
Links:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-burning-water_2.html
http://www.livescience.com/1861-remarkable-discovery-scientists-burn-saltwater.html
Monday, May 9, 2011
Water and Energy Use
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Nanocarbon Batteries
Researchers in Massachusetts are working on a new kind of battery. This battery, unlike current ones made of toxic metals like cadmium and lead, is made almost entirely of carbon. Essentially, this means it would just degrade after a time, or they could be incinerated though that risks releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. It would be a completely organic material, carbon, though in this case organic does not refer to being grown naturally. The new batteries would not release the heavy metal residue into the environment that current options release.
Another strength of the new development is the power packed into these much smaller batteries; smaller meaning up to ten times smaller. These smaller batteries however, would put out the same amount of energy as the currently used batteries. This means they will save energy. That may seem like an odd statement, but they really do save energy. They will not leak out energy like the batteries available today do when they are not being used. All those batteries sitting around on shelves leak out valuable energy but the new and smaller ones would do this significantly less or perhaps even not at all. Therefore, they would be saving energy by not letting it escape.
The new nanotechnology batteries operate by using carbon nanotubes. These are small wires that create a lot of energy. They are too small to be seen by the naked eye and can only be observed through a microscope. The wires receive a fuel coating and the resulting reaction involves thermopower waves. These waves move from one end of the battery to the other with the high level of energy needed for the operation of the battery. These new batteries could allow for many new developments in portable technology and energy saving fields.
All information in this post was found in the following web article: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-12/tech/mit.research.electricity_1_laptop-batteries-mit-researchers-power-electronics?_s=PM:TECH