Good hypothesis for solar energy

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Lab 4 – Energy Sources and Alternative Energy

Experiment 1: The Effects of Coal Mining

Table 1: pH of Water Samples

Water Sample

Initial pH

Final pH (after 48 hours)

Pyrite

6

5

Activated Carbon

5

7

Water

5

6

POST LAB QUESTIONS

1. Develop hypotheses predicting the effect of pyrite and coal (activated carbon) on the acidity of water?

a. Pyrite hypothesis = I think that the pyrite will have the most acidity effect on the water.

b. Coal (activated carbon) hypothesis = I think that the coal will have little to none acidity effect on the water even though its activated carbon I think it will clean the water more than make it acidic.

2. Based on the results of your experiment, would you reject or accept each hypothesis that you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.

a. Pyrite hypothesis accept/reject = I have to reject my hypothesis because my results were not accurate.

b. Coal (activated carbon) hypothesis accept/reject = I would reject my hypothesis of the coal left in water for 42 hours because I was wrong about it being able to clean the water more than make it acidic. It turns out that the Coal was the most acidic thing to add to the water.

3. Based on your data, what effect do you predict coal mining has on the environment?

Answer = I think that coal mining probably has a negative effect on our environment due to the fact that it makes our water so acidic. If there are any underground water sources it will definitely affect the water source and contaminate it

4. What can be done to prevent mine drainage from damaging the ecosystem? Utilize at least one scholarly resource to support your suggestions.

Answer =

Surface water diversion is something created to make sure that no harmful wastes from mining gets into our water system. It might be a costly way of doing things but it’s a better way to avoid sickness or eventually running out of drinkable water on earth. “This technique tries to reduce the water supply to those potentially acid-generating materials, by using safeguarding channels, pipes, waterproofed channels, slope changes around the material area, etc. The application of this technique should be preceded by accurate hydrological and hydrogeological studies, and it is precisely the lack of these which sometimes causes the unsuccessful application of this method [23,24].The systematic application of this technique can be erroneous, because an effort (which can be costly in time and money) to divert the surface water to reduce large masses of water supply to areas where subsequent acid production is not extremely high, can lead to the reduction of the quantities of water entering areas that a priori are most dangerous as they can have an extremely high production of acid. Even so, this is a cheap technique, easy to apply and that works well in conjunction with other techniques.” (Veiga-Ríos, María.2014). “

Experiment 2: Solar Energy

Table 2: Solar Energy Experiment Results

Environmental Descriptor/Variable

Observations

(Each should be compared against direct sunlight)

Weather of the Day

81 degrees Fahrenheit

Motor speed in direct sunlight

Very fast

Motor speed at 45 degree angle

Not moving

Motor speed under reflectors

Medium to fast pace

Motor speed with 25% shaded

fast

Motor speed with 50% shaded

medium

Motor speed with 75% shaded

slow

Motor speed under red filtration

medium

Motor speed under blue filtration

medium

Motor speed under green filtration

Medium/slow

Motor speed under yellow filtration

slow

Post-Lab Questions

1. Develop hypotheses predicting the efficiency of solar energy from direct sunlight against the four variables tested?

Direct vs indirect hypothesis = I think that the direct sunlight will obviously be more efficient than the indirect because solar energy is based off of the use of sunlight.

Direct vs reflected hypothesis = I think that both direct and reflected sunlight will be equal in the amount of energy produced.

Direct vs shaded hypothesis = The direct sunlight will produce more energy than the shaded but the shaded will still produce a good amount of energy because its not completely blocked out.

Direct vs filtered hypothesis = I think that the filtered process will have little to no effect on stopping the energy to flow to the motor.

2. Based on the results of your experiment, would you reject or accept each hypothesis that you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.

Direct vs indirect accept/reject = I would accept my hypothesis because I was correct that the direct sunlight would be more efficient than the indirect because the main source of power is the sunlight, without sunlight there is minimal chances of it working properly.

Direct vs reflected accept/reject = I was correct that the reflected sunlight was just as equal as the direct because the sunlight it being reflected back towards the solar panel not blocking the sun from reaching it.

Direct vs shaded accept/reject = I accept my hypothesis because the solar panel reacted the way I said it would. Even though certain percentages of sunlight was blocked from the solar panel it still worked just as good as if it were in full direct sunlight

Direct vs filtered accept/reject = I would accept my hypothesis because the solar panel still worked fine it just was slightly slower with one or two of the filters but not a very big change in the way it functioned with the filters used in the experiment.

3. Does increased exposure to the sun’s light produce more current? Explain how you know this based on your data.

Answer = I think increased sunlight does produce more current because that’s how solar energy works the more sunlight the more energy is stored to make the motor function, even with solar panels on my house the longer they are exposed to direct sunlight the more energy we save and less money we spend on paying for electricity because the solar panels are helping with the energy use of the whole house.

4. How could you increase the electricity generated by a solar cell during the day, when the sun’s angle is constantly changing?

Answer = I would move the panel every so often so that it stays in direct sunlight or have something that is reflective material that can be used to get sunlight to the panel from whatever way the sun is moving through the day.

5. Based on your data, could adding filters to solar panels increase the solar energy produced? Explain how you know this.

Answer = I don’t think that the filters make much of a difference but the foil did by helping get sunlight to the panel when the sun was not in its direct pathway.

References

Any sources utilized should be listed here.

Pozo-Antonio, Santiago, Puente-Luna, Iván, Lagüela-López, Susana, & Veiga-Ríos, María. (2014). Techniques to correct and prevent acid mine drainage: A review. DYNA, 81(186), 73-80. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0012-73532014000400009&lng=en&tlng=en. 10.15446/dyna.v81n186.38436.

© eScience Labs, 2015