Natural Gas,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Natural Gas
Activities
In the world of fossil fuels, natural gas is often the overlooked ugly duckling. It gets lumped in with oil, as in “oil and gas industry”, even though the discussion usually centers upon oil. It does not help that gasoline, which is derived from oil, is shortened to “gas”. In many people’s mind, the “gas” in “oil and gas” refers to gasoline, and not natural gas. However, natural gas has much to offer as an energy source that makes it preferable to other forms of fossil fuels. It burns much cleaner than coal or oil, and it produces far less …
Coal,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Coal
Activities
Coal has been a source of energy for almost as long as Homo sapiens have inhabited the planet. The earliest record for its use dates back more than 3000 years to China where it may have been used to smelt copper. In areas where coal seams intersected the surface, coal was a ready supply of energy just waiting to be exploited. It did have some drawbacks, though. Most of the coal near the surface burns dirty, requiring some form of chimney if it is to be used indoors. It is also heavy to transport, limiting its use to regions near …
Oil,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Oil
Activities
We are a country that runs on oil. From the gasoline in our cars to the plastic in our computers to the detergents that we put in our dishwashers, we rely on oil for our modern way of life. It cannot be understated just how strong of a role it plays in our economy and politics. It is used in tractors that plow and harvest food. It is used to power manufacturing plants and as feedstock in commercial goods. It powers all the trains and trucks that bring goods to market. It runs our cars, heats and cools our homes, …
Nuclear Energy Capstone,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Nuclear Energy Capstone
Activities
The United States has a problem with energy independence. The problem has nothing to do with a lack of energy production or availability. We are the largest producer of energy in the world, and have centuries’ worth of fossil fuels, as well as an enormous supply of nuclear and alternative energies, at our disposal. Our energy dependence on other countries is a result of the fact that we are also the leading consumers of energy in the world, being second only to Canada (population 32 million, compared to the 283 million in the U.S.) in per capita consumption of energy. …
Radiation Exposure,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Radiation Exposure
Activities
Nuclear energy was going to make the world a much better place during the 1950’s. The promise of an almost limitless supply of cheap energy that did not produce any soot or atmospheric pollutants almost seemed to good to be true. During the 1960's and 1970's, the United States nuclear industry expanded, as fears of a looming end to oil and gas reserves fueled construction. But by the late 1970’s, though, the wheels had come off of the nuclear wagon. The cheapness of the energy never did pan out, as prices of electricity from nuclear energy rivaled those of fossil …
Nuclear Power Plants,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Nuclear Power Plants
Activities
As we discussed in the last activity, energy is released when isotopes decay. This energy can either be in the form of electromagnetic radiation or the kinetic energy of the nuclear fragments. The important question for us is, “How can this energy be converted into a useful form like electricity?” The most obvious thing to do is to allow either of these forms of energy to be absorbed by a substance in order to increase its internal energy and thus, increase its temperature. As the substance warms up above its surroundings, a temperature difference is created, and allows for any …
Nuclear Decay,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Nuclear Decay
Activities
Almost any phrase that has the word “nuclear” in it has a bad reputation. The term conjures up images of mushroom clouds and radioactive mutants. It is interesting to note that in the 1940’s and 50’s, the term that applied to energy derived from the decay radioactive material was atomic energy. This term was somewhat correct, since the energy was coming from the breakdown of the atom. It was not until later that the more appropriate term nuclear energy was used as more people began to understand that the energy was coming from the breakdown of the nucleus of the …
Home Energy Capstone,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Home Energy Capstone
Activities
The other three weeks of the Home Energy Module study energy flow and usage in our homes. In the R-Factor activity, we observed that the material used in the construction of our homes has a tremendous impact on the rate at which heat flows through its exterior surfaces. In Home Audit and Home Analysis activities, we performed an energy audit of our homes to estimate the amount of money that it costs to power it. As you have seen during our studies, there are many factors that affect the cost of energy in our homes. The right choices of materials, …
Home Analysis,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Home Analysis
Activities
The average household spends over $1,300 a year for energy to run the many devices found in the home. In this week's lab, we are going to investigate ways to save both energy and money that will not seriously impact your current lifestyle, i.e. you can keep watching as much television as you like, but you might want to put on a sweater to do it. In order to do this, we are going to have to use the measurements of our homes that we made two weeks ago. Last week, we studied how different materials affect the amount of …
R-Factor Of Various Materials,
2017
Kennesaw State University
R-Factor Of Various Materials
Activities
Even though it has been over 150 years since the First Law of Thermodynamics was discovered, we still find that heat is misunderstood. For example, the many environmental science textbooks define heat as "the total kinetic energy of atoms or molecules in a substance not associated with bulk motion of the substance." THIS IS WRONG! What these books are describing is the thermal energy of a system. This is a common misconception. While heat is energy, it is not a containable form of energy since, by its very definition, heat is energy that is transferred. In particular, heat is the …
Home Energy Audit,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Home Energy Audit
Activities
In the 1800's, scientists found, empirically, that rules exist that determine how energy can be transferred. The first of these rules is called the First Law of Thermodynamics. This law is usually stated as, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred from one form to another." This often leads to the re-titling of this law as the Conservation of Energy Principle since it says that energy must be conserved. This statement of the First Law does not say anything about how energy can be transferred, though. It turns out that there are only two ways. …
Basic Skills Capstone B,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Basic Skills Capstone B
Activities
If you look at the leaves that fall off of the trees in autumn, you will notice that not all leaves of the same kind are alike. Some are larger than others, some are longer or wider, some have different stem lengths, and some may have slightly different shapes. This is not surprising if you consider that they may be from different trees. Just as two people have hands or feet of different sizes, so different trees may have leaves of different sizes. If you do further observations, however, separating out leaves found under one tree from leaves found under …
Basic Skills Capstone A,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Basic Skills Capstone A
Activities
In the late spring and summer, many parts of the United States experience smog alert days - days when the concentration of pollutants in the air has been considered unhealthy. Many of these pollutants are produced by automobiles - particularly hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and, indirectly, ozone. Most discussion of the adverse effects of smog center on humans, and the effects on other forms of life, such as plants, are scarcely mentioned. So how does air pollution from automobiles affect plant growth? Let's think about how this hypothesis might be tested. Two problems must be addressed. The first is …
Measurement,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Measurement
Activities
In general, you are quite familiar with measurements, as almost any occupation requires measurements of some kind. Carpenters measure boards for cutting, nurses measure blood pressure in patients, tailors measure fabric for garments, and advertising executives measure the public's acceptance of their sales pitches. You will therefore undoubtedly be utilizing measurement in your chosen career, regardless of the field you enter. Measurement plays a particularly large role in science. In their studies, scientists gather data, and to do this they use measurements. Scientists measure the concentration of gases in the atmosphere, the growth of organisms under varying conditions, the rate …
Statistics And Graphing,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Statistics And Graphing
Activities
Statistics - they're all around us, and we're exposed to them every day. They allow us to summarize large volumes of mathematical information, and so are found wherever there's data to be presented. Let's say you're watching your favorite college football team, and the game has come down to a last second thirty-five yard field goal attempt for the win. When describing the kicker's past performance in this range, the play-by-play announcer doesn't list all of the kicker's attempts one by one and their outcome, he simply states the percentage of kicks made in this yard range. If the kicker's …
Experimental Analysis,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Experimental Analysis
Activities
Central to good science are accurate observations, testable hypotheses, well-designed experiments or other tests, and reasonable data analyses. The purpose of Laboratory 1 is to introduce you to the basics of designing and analyzing experiments. The following two laboratory exercises will provide you with further steps in organizing and analyzing data. Many interesting experiments are impossible to do in a normal undergraduate science laboratory setting. For this reason, your introduction to designing an experiment that has relevance in “the real world” involves a computer simulation. The program involves a growing industry, that of farming fish. What is your favorite kind …
Walking As Ontological Shifter:
Thoughts In The Key Of Life,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space beyond the …
Towards Food Service Sustainability In Suburban Environments By Optimally Locating Shared Anaerobic Digester Units,
2017
University of Oklahoma
Towards Food Service Sustainability In Suburban Environments By Optimally Locating Shared Anaerobic Digester Units, Rebecca Loraamm, Joni Downs, Robert Alonso Bair, Daniel Yeh
Suburban Sustainability
Anaerobic digestion is an effective method for reducing food waste at the consumer level. Drawbacks associated with this strategy include high construction costs for multiple digester units and limited public awareness of the method’s commercial potential. Given the large scale problem of food waste, an approach establishing community partnerships between local businesses and primary schools is offered to combat the problem of food waste. Optimizing the placement of shared digester units enabling utilization by multiple stakeholders is the suggested mitigation method. This research explores application of the p-median problem to determine the set of optimal sites for shared anaerobic digester …
Acoustic Signatures Of Habitat Types In The Miombo Woodlands Of Western Tanzania,
2017
Universidad de Los Andes - Colombia
Acoustic Signatures Of Habitat Types In The Miombo Woodlands Of Western Tanzania, Sheryl Vanessa Amorocho, Dante Francomano, Kristen M. Bellisario, Ben Gottesman, Bryan C. Pijanowski
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium
The Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania comprise several habitat types that are home to a great number of flora and fauna. Understanding their responses to increasing human disturbance is important for conservation, especially in places where people depend so directly on their local ecosystem services to survive. Soundscapes are a powerful approach to study complex biomes undergoing change. The sounds emitted by soniferous fauna characterize the acoustic profile of the landscapes they inhabit such that habitats with the highest acoustic abundance are considered as the most diverse and possibly more ecologically resilient. However, acoustic variability within similar habitat types may pose …
University Sustainability: Assessing College Sustainability Rating Systems,
2017
Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
University Sustainability: Assessing College Sustainability Rating Systems, James M. Albis
Journal of Environmental Sustainability
This paper seeks to assess the three major university sustainability rating systems in the United States on their ability to drive positive sustainability outcomes. Since the mid-2000s the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Princeton Review, and the Sierra Club have attempted to rate universities on their sustainability policies and practices. A wide range of actions are rated by these organizations, from energy usage to transportation to procurement to academic offerings in the field of sustainability. This analysis shows that each organization values sustainability in different ways – for example, academics/co-curricular activities accounted for anywhere from 16%-49% …
