Science Current Events 9/18/2011

Maria Los
Science 8B
Battery Powered to Heal by Stephen Ornes April 7th 2011 - http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/04/battery-powered-to-heal/
Batteries power everything from computers to toys, but batteries still have limits. After a battery has been used many times, the elements within it start to break down. Cracks that disrupt the flow of energy start to form. After a battery is broken it needs to be taken out and replaced with a new one. The concept behind these new types of batteries are that they should be able to patch up those internal cracks. Scott White, introduced this concept to the world in February, during a science convention. Having a battery that could fix itself would allow batteries that last much longer. This type of battery would be a lithium-ion type of battery. These types of batteries are often used in small electronics. There are three basic parts within this battery: A cathode at one end, with a positive electric charge. An anode at the other, which is negatively charged. Electrolyte, a type of liquid carries a charge between these two. Within this liquid there are ions (positively charged lithium atoms) The tiny cracks that form in over used batteries usually form in the anode. When they form they block the electric flow and kill the battery, to prevent this scientists added tiny plastic bubbles to the anode, that contain gallium indium (a liquid) that when the anode ends up having a crack within it, the break apart and the liquid inside the bubbles fills up the crack allowing electricity to flow. Not only will batteries that heal themselves last longer, but the can also be built on to be made safer, since lithium-ion batteries have been known to catch on fire, due to the fact that hydrogen a lithium react severely.
This article caught my eye because of the fact that our homework this week was to read about ions, and in class we were just recently talking about lithium batteries and a problem Apple computer had with them in sometime around 2009, because they were catching fire. So all around this article was very relevant to what we have been learning in class. I think this battery will be a great improvement to current batteries, not only will products last longer but there will not be as much trouble with people not recycling batteries because they will last for a much longer period of time.

                                   

Carbon Prezi

Below is the link to my Prezi, which talks about carbon.
http://prezi.com/hx8vvqlk9rmk/carbon/
 Site used to create this prezi:
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele006.html

A more complicated periodic table:

A picture of the periodic table with Metal, Non-Metals, and Metalloids highlighted:

Plant Powered Plastics

Maria Los                                          Plant Plastic                                                 Science 8B 9/4/11

If you took a very high-powered microscope and looked and looked at the plastic up close, you would see something that looks very much like a bunch of spaghetti dumped upon a plate. This is because, in
plastic the atoms are linked together in kind of chain form. These are called polymers. The reason
they look like spaghetti is because, like this pasta, when put together they become entangled around
each other. This is the reason it is so hard to break plastic, and why many companies use it in their
products. Yet the downside of this is that it takes a very long time to degrade, years and sometimes
even centuries! Some of these problems can be resolved by recycling this plastic but not everyone
recycles. Since there is so much plastisc, the product that we throw away or don't use is then put
into landfills. Another problem with plastic is what it is made of, crude oil. Crude oil but be taken out
of the ground, which mean trees are cut down, the homes of many animals are demolished, and the ground must to dug up. Also, since oil is a non-renewable resource, when we run out of it, there's no more.
Plus plastic takes up 8% of the worlds crude oil for the actual plastic and manufacturing. Yet how
much of this stuff do we use? In 2010, 1.5 metric tons of only transparent plastic was sold in North
America alone. Experts estimate that by year 2015, this will be 1.8 metric tons. Yet there are
alternatives, some scientists are using materials such as wood, the stalks and husks of corn, instead
of oil to create plastic. Not only will using plants mean that we will not have to dig into the earth to
make plastic but the plastic that we do make will be biodegradable. So why aren't we mass creating this type of plastic and getting rid of the old one? Well, because making plastic with plants is much harder.This because the structure of the polymers in plants are different from those in oil. This also means that the plastic made from plants is not waterproof, making it impractical to be used for everyday. Yet, there is, again, a solution! Scientists are now using enzymes to create plant polymers which makes them stronger, making the durable which is more practical. Hopefully we will be able to create many different products that replace the ones that we have but that are more eco-frindly.
I found this article very interesting because nowadays we are using so much plastic that is reassuring to know that even though you recycle there are people out there who are trying to find ways to help make the planet healthier in a way. I found this article while looking for something to do my current events about, this kind of popped out at me because of the comparison to spaghetti. I definitely agree with what this article is proposing, I think it is a much better alternative to what we are using now.
To read more visit: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/07/plant-powered-plastics/