Energy and Place
Essential Questions:
1. How does energy production impact place?
2. How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions relating to energy production and consumption?
1. How does energy production impact place?
2. How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions relating to energy production and consumption?
For this project, we studied different sources of energy and then focused on either nuclear or natural gas energy. My group focused on nuclear power, with our final product being a debate on the motion "Nuclear power is a clean source of electrical energy and the US government should provide incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants throughout the US including the Four Corners region." Our debate video is below, as is the joint scientific statement that I complied with my group. I served as moderator for our debate, so I guided the debate instead of debating during exhibition.
This was a joint project with Humanities. Click below to see my humanities project. |
Debate Intro
As moderator, I didn't have an opening or closing statement, but had to introduce the debate and debaters in addition to giving the topic context. Below is the intro that I used to start the debate.
Good evening everyone, I’m Gordon Gianniny and I’ll be the moderator for tonight’s debate.
In this country, we use about 25,155 terawatt hours of energy per year, giving us the largest energy consumption of any country in the world by about 635 terawatt hours, with China being the closest. That’s a lot of energy, and one of the big questions that we are struggling to answer right now is; where can we get all that energy?
Tonight, we will be debating on that topic, with a specific focus on nuclear energy. The motion is “Nuclear power is a clean source of electrical energy and the United States Government should provide incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants throughout the United States including the Four Corners region,” and arguing for the motion we have Beverly Sandovall, Ande Lloyd, and Cole Hawkins. Arguing against the motion are Joanna Lewis, Ashton Cornett, and Lana Clark. Before we get in to the opening statements, I’d like you all to vote either for the motion, against the motion, or undecided. Please take a moment to fill out your voting sheet, or, for our online audience, pause the video now and click on the link in the description. We will vote again at the end and whichever side has changed the most minds will be declared winner of the debate.
Good evening everyone, I’m Gordon Gianniny and I’ll be the moderator for tonight’s debate.
In this country, we use about 25,155 terawatt hours of energy per year, giving us the largest energy consumption of any country in the world by about 635 terawatt hours, with China being the closest. That’s a lot of energy, and one of the big questions that we are struggling to answer right now is; where can we get all that energy?
Tonight, we will be debating on that topic, with a specific focus on nuclear energy. The motion is “Nuclear power is a clean source of electrical energy and the United States Government should provide incentives for the construction of new nuclear power plants throughout the United States including the Four Corners region,” and arguing for the motion we have Beverly Sandovall, Ande Lloyd, and Cole Hawkins. Arguing against the motion are Joanna Lewis, Ashton Cornett, and Lana Clark. Before we get in to the opening statements, I’d like you all to vote either for the motion, against the motion, or undecided. Please take a moment to fill out your voting sheet, or, for our online audience, pause the video now and click on the link in the description. We will vote again at the end and whichever side has changed the most minds will be declared winner of the debate.
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Materials project
For this project, each student researched a different material that has either changed history, could improve a current product, or may be used in the future. I chose to do mine on the second option. By incorporating a self healing polymer in to inflatables, small leaks and holes would instantly be sealed. After writing a letter about my innovation to Jacks Plastics Welding, we tried to sell our ideas to the "investors" (attendees of the exhibition) at an exhibition at the Durango Recreation Center. I raised 1,700 osprey dollars for my idea. My letter and sales pitch are posted below. to view a larger version of the documents, click the rectangle icon in the bottom right corner.
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Materials unit reflection
“How has the chemistry of materials shaped our past, present and how may it shape our future?”
The chemistry of materials has shaped the past and continues to shape our future in many ways. One example of this that we learned about in class was the reasoning behind our value of gold. Gold has always been a symbol of wealth, and the amount of gold and now money that different countries have continues to be a defining feature of our politics and history. The reason that we value gold so much is that it is really the only element on the periodic table that could possibly be used for currency. Other elements, like sodium or potassium, are far too reactive and would explode upon contact with water. Yet other elements tarnish over time, rust away, or just don’t look nice. Due to its chemical makeup, gold avoids these faults, and as a result, our society centered around it for many years.
"How does the structure of matter on the atomic, molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic level determine a material's properties?"
The structure of materials is a clear indicator of what the properties of that material will be. For example, by looking at bonding, you can determine whether a material will be conductive. Covalent materials won’t be because their molecules have no charge. Ionic materials will conduct only when their crystal structure is broken down or dissolved. Metals are always conductive because in metallic bonding the electrons can move freely throughout the substance. This is just one example, but all characteristics of all materials are directly related to their structure.
The chemistry of materials has shaped the past and continues to shape our future in many ways. One example of this that we learned about in class was the reasoning behind our value of gold. Gold has always been a symbol of wealth, and the amount of gold and now money that different countries have continues to be a defining feature of our politics and history. The reason that we value gold so much is that it is really the only element on the periodic table that could possibly be used for currency. Other elements, like sodium or potassium, are far too reactive and would explode upon contact with water. Yet other elements tarnish over time, rust away, or just don’t look nice. Due to its chemical makeup, gold avoids these faults, and as a result, our society centered around it for many years.
"How does the structure of matter on the atomic, molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic level determine a material's properties?"
The structure of materials is a clear indicator of what the properties of that material will be. For example, by looking at bonding, you can determine whether a material will be conductive. Covalent materials won’t be because their molecules have no charge. Ionic materials will conduct only when their crystal structure is broken down or dissolved. Metals are always conductive because in metallic bonding the electrons can move freely throughout the substance. This is just one example, but all characteristics of all materials are directly related to their structure.
More of My work...
Below you'll find one of my lab reports from first semester. We do about one lab a month and completed four during the first semester. This lab report is the most recent one, from the polymer lab that we completed at the end of first semester. All of our labs are conducted in the Fort Lewis College chemistry lab.