Nuclear Fusion: Opinion: ITER

Money management and finances for ITER are so complicated that it needs its own currency. This is known as the ITER Unit of Account. Despite its cost and complexity, ITER will be a solution to the energy crisis.

In our opinion the investment of billions of dollars for ITER will be worth the cost. ITER will solve the worlds energy problems for the next 30 million years, a major return for the investment. In the near future the availability of fossil fuels will decline and if we do not find alternative energy sources the world will go into an energy crisis. Nuclear fusion is an option in alternative energy resources. The ITER proposes little danger to the world and will run on no more than seaweed and lithium.

Overall, the ITER is an investment that will pay off for 30 million years, and "will benefit everyone by providing, clean,near limitless energy" (West, 2014).

Nuclear Fusion: Future or Fantasy?

As we use energy, we use resources. Eventually, resources such as coal and oil will run out.
What will we do then? 

Through fusion, we can create electricity. Fusion is safe, but very tricky to do. In nuclear fusion, two isotopes such as deuterium and tritium will combine to create Helium-5. Helium is not an element that likes to hang on to extra neutrons, so it gets rid of it almost immediately. The discharge of helium's extra neutron creates a massive amount of energy.

In about a decade, the most complex machine ever built will be turned on. This massive machine is known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER. We are going to bottle a star.

ITER will be the hottest thing on the Earth's surface. The many particles whizzing around inside ITER will be contained by a sort of "magnetic bottle". Of course, ITER doesn't come cheap. The whole machine will take billions of dollars to create. It will become the most expensive scientific instrument.

(both images came from ITER - the way to new energy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iter.org/sci/whatisfusion)

Sodium and Water EXPLOSION!

Today in Honors Earth Science:

We put about a tablespoon of sodium into a bucket of water that was about one third of the way full. The result was quite explosive, along with some Hydrogen gas and some 2NaOH.

 This is 2NaOH. There are obviously more than 2 sodium atoms. The water doesn't actually turn pink right after the reaction. The coloring was caused by a universal indicator-type solution. It's still pretty awesome.

Experiment: Mixture Seperation

Objective: To separate a mixture of sand, salt, and iron.

Materials:

• Mixture of sand, salt, and iron
• Magnet
• Plastic bag
• coffee filters
• water
• Paper
• Lab materials (beakers, stirrers, hot plates, funnels, etc)

Procedure:

1. Arrange materials
2. Calculate the mass of the mixture
3. Remove the iron
1. Wrap the magnet with the plastic bag
2. Put the wrapped magnet in to the three substance mixture
3. Remove the magnet from the bag over a piece of paper
4. Repeat step 3a-b until there is no more iron in the mixture
4. Remove the sand
1. Mix the two substance mixture with water
2. Using the coffee filter, placed in a funnel, placed in a beaker, filter the sand from the salt-water
5. Remove the salt
1. Using the hot plate evaporate the water off the salt
6. Calculate the mass of each individual substance
7. Compare masses of the individual substances to the total mass of the mixture

Analysis:

Mixture- 14.15g

Iron- 6.45g

Sand- 3.8g

Salt- 3.9g

Experiment: Murder: A forensics lab

On March 6th at 3 am, an assistant baker at Mike’s Awesome bakery in Francestown, NH was found dead lying in a pool of blood. The assistant baker was found covered in a mysterious white powder in which the earth science class must identify.

Investigators collected samples of white powder they found in the bakery (baking soda, baking powder, flour, cornstarch, and the unknown substance found on the body.

As well as collecting substance samples, the investigators interviewed employees of the bakery and took clothing samples to see if any employee had traces of the substance on their person.

Materials:

• baking soda
• baking powder
• flour
• cornstarch
• unknown
• vinegar
• iodine solution
• universal indicator
• water
• lab materials (beakers, stirrers, pipettes, etc)

Objective:

Identify the unknown white powder found on the assistant baker.

Procedure:

1. Arrange materials
2. Test powders reaction with water
1. squeeze 3 drops of water into each substance
2. study and record the reaction
3. compare substances reactions
3. Test powders reaction with vinegar
1. Repeat step 2 using vinegar
4. Test powders reaction with iodine
1. Repeat step 2 using iodine
5. Test the powders pH
1. Repeat step 2 using the universal indicator
6. Clean up materials
7. Analyze collected data
8. Finalize conclusion and complete lab sheet

Analysis:

Test Solutions	Baking Soda	Baking Powder	Flour	Cornstarch	Unknown
Water	- no reaction	- mildly fizzy - mixes with water	- slightly sticky - runs off	- changes texture - Oobleck - consumption	- mildly fizzy
Vinegar	- fizzes	- fizzes	- no reaction	- no reaction	- fizzes
Iodine	- no reaction	- purple/indigo - bubbles/fizzes	- grayish/purple	- indigo/red	- purple/indigo -bubbles/fizzes
Indicator	- teal - more basic	- orange-yellow - more acidic	- orange -more acidic	- red-orange - more acidic	- orange-yellow - more acidic

Conclusion:

The investigators should be looking for baking soda on the suspects clothing. The unknown substances pH was the same as baking soda. The reaction of the unknown with water and the iodine solution is unique in baking soda. Before starting the experiment you could rule out many substance based on their appearance and texture when compared with the unknown. Therefore, I can conclude that the unknown substance is baking soda and the investigators should be looking for traces of it on the suspects clothing.

Experiment: Yeast

Yeast is one of the main ingredients in most breads, and it’s actually alive. It’s a fungus, so naturally, it needs food. Sugar is one of the best yeast foods, but what if we tried feeding the yeast another form of sugar, such as coke?

If we feed the yeast coke, then they will not grow as well as they would if they were fed sugar.

Independent variable	Yeast food (sugar vs coke)
Dependant variable	How much the yeast grows
Constants	2 graduated cylinders brand of active-dry yeast (initial) amount of active-dry yeast amount of coke and sugar
Equipment	(2) 10 mL graduated cylinders 2 mL of coke and water solution 2 mL of sugar and water mixture (2) 2 mL rations of yeast paper towels (the yeast tends to overflow)
Procedure	Put both beakers on top of a paper towel Add one ration of yeast to each of the two beakers Add the coke/water solution to one of the beakers Add the sugar/water mixture to the other one Mix the both of the beakers Watch and observe