Please excuse the absence of all the other proficiencies. My sub-page deleted itself just as I was finished with all proficiencies except one, and the fifth proficiency was all I could recover.
Fourth Proficiency - Simple Machines Utilizing Mechanical Energy to Transfer Energy
Our group has a Rube Goldberg. The object of our Rube Goldberg was to crack a nut with a nutcracker. Our Rube Goldberg involved one person holding a string that was attached to an elevator and a pulley. By pulling the string, the elevator, which housed a ball, went up. Then the ball rolled out a hole in the bottom of the elevator onto an inclined plane, and then into a set of dominoes. At the same time this is happening, a fan is turned on and blows a car with a sail into another set of dominoes. These two lines of dominoes with converge and hit a piece of wood standing up on one end. This piece of wood will then fall into a book that will proceed to fall onto the lever of the nutcracker, pushing down and cracking the nut.
this is the link to our Rube Goldberg
http://vimeo.com/17563624
this is the links to the explanations of our Rube Goldberg
http://vimeo.com/17640598
Fifth Proficiency - Alternate Energies
Only thirty years ago nuclear energy, then considered a futuristic technology, was created as an alternate energy for electricity. Since then, nuclear energy has become the United State's second largest source of electric power next to coal. Saving an approximate total of $44 billion since 1973, nuclear power is used by almost all Americans everyday in a wide variety of electrical possibilities. Nuclear power is a cost-effective solution to the rising electricity bills in the United States, and produces more power than oil, natural gas, and hydro power. Aside from the various economic benefits, nuclear power also has environmental pluses. Even thought nuclear power achieves all of these benefits, it also has its fall backs. Although using nuclear energy as a power source has risks, the benefits from this power far out-weigh any problems that could possibly evolve.
Ever since the oil embargo of 1973, Americans have used energy more wisely and more efficiently. The population for the United States then was 211 million people compared to the increase to over 280 million people now as well as an increase of economy 50 percent. Although the economy has doubled, our use of energy has only increased by 10 percent. However, our growth in economy has spiked mainly due to electric power. In fact, between 973 and 1990 our country's GDP, the measurement of a country's wealth, grew by approximately 50 percent. Also in this time, electricity usage grew by 58 percent, which leaves the conclusion that in order for our growing country to succeed, we must have dependable sources of electrical power. Also at the time of the 1973 oil embargo, 17 percent of U.S. electric supply was given by oil, and only 5 percent nuclear. A study 17 years later showed that only 4 percent of our country's electric supply was by oil and 21 percent nuclear power.
The world's environment is something sacred, and to be harming our environment -- as well as the environment of the millions of creatures that share this would with man-kind -- with tools that we use to make ourselves rise to power is a sin. Nuclear energy however, does not affect the environment in harmful ways. Nuclear power is produced by the burning of fission of uranium, which does not produce any of the harmful oxides or gases like carbon dioxide. America's nuclear energy plants reduce electrical utility emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 percent, or 128 trillion tons, per year. If we did not have nuclear power plants, our country's emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) would be 2 million tons higher per year, and emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) would be 5 million tons higher per year.
Another positive impact on our environment that nuclear energy has is that the waste produced by other forms of energy power sources are completely isolated from our environment, whereas, if we had produced the electricity with coal instead, at least 90,000 tons of toxic heavy metals, plus tremendous amounts of CO2, SO2, and NOx would have been released into the air and created massive pollution.
The benefits and draw backs of nuclear power is quite a controversial matter. Reasons for this would be the concern of safety, waste, and weapons that are created using nuclear energy. Nuclear energy can produce high, and even deadly, amounts of radioactivity, therefore making the safety of those around it a concern. Although, some of the waste that is produced by nuclear energy, such as radioactive materials, can remain dangerous for thousands of years, but some of the waste produced by coal will remain dangerous forever. This is because waste from nuclear energy is able to decrease over time, but waste from coal can never be deteriorated.
One of the most discussed draw backs of nuclear energy is the fact that it is allowed to produce nuclear weapons. Having the peaceful use of turning nuclear energy into electricity compared to being able to create bombs that are 1,000 times more powerful than that of the atom bomb is disturbing. Although nuclear energy has obvious benefits, the debate on whether it's capability to destroy entire nations within minutes and its creation electricity is an intense one.
Throughout the analyzing of the benefits and disadvantages of nuclear energy as a source of power, one has to take in account how beneficial this power has been to our society. As a result of this technology, the United States has decreased its dependence on other countries for oil, saving the United States $12 billion each year from its lack of foreign-imported oil. Not only does this energy save money, but it helps to save the environment. Nuclear energy has been been proven to be a protector of the environment due to its lack of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. However, there are disadvantages to nuclear power, including safety of nuclear power, the waste it can produce, and the weapons that are promoted by its energy. Though these drawbacks are serious, the benefits that this energy produces greatly outweighs any other energy source.
