Category Archives: Science 9

Solar Energy – Power Information Fluency

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Benefits:

Solar panels gain energy from the sun and convert it to a reliable current electricity source. One of the primary benefits of solar energy is its environmental benefits. Solar energy runs on the sun, so there is no limit to its renewability and having no links to pollution in any way; thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Another benefit is that with technological improvement and the cost of producing solar panels will come down, resulting in making solar energy being the most economical way of producing electricity.

Challenges:

One of the biggest challenges is the weather and how it can affect the solar panels gaining energy. When the sun is not clear enough to produce electricity, it can have a drawback to energy production thus having energy limited. At times that the sky is cloudy, the solar panels can still produce electricity but not as much, which may or may not result in blackouts in small areas if we are not careful of the uses of batteries. Another drawback to the solar panels is the yearly maintenance cost to repair, and replace. As we move on into the future, technological improvement will resolve this issue thus having to batter long-lasting solar panels with greater energy production.

Issues:

An issue for solar panels is the breakage of the interior. Hotspot in the panel that accrues when the cells get overloaded. This can cause the cells of the panel to die and overtime slow’s down the production of energy for that panel. Another issue for solar energy is, having solar panels on everyone’s houses; this will be expensive and almost sound impossible. But a fix for this is solar panel farms and large areas where there are solar panels charging a city.

 

My Statement to Justin Trudeau

Dear Justin Trudeau,

M name is Adam Jalinous I go to Riverside secondary in BC Port Coquitlam. I am writing to you to share my findings on solar energy and how can we further improve in our energy making. What I have found in a short time and my personal interest was astounding. There is strong evidence and cited proof that if we switch to using solar energy more often, it can make a huge impact on the environmental health of Canada and its future environmental health concerns along with the earth’s health concerns. By funding more of the solar energy production, we can see a big electricity bill and other bills decrease for Canadians; which is a current problem that needs to be resolved. Of course, there are going to be some challenges such as minor blackouts in small areas and panel repair: but from further technological improvement and our opening in the new future, we can already see solar panels more durable and an increase in energy production. Another problem we have facing this subject is: installing panels on everyone’s houses. But an effective solution for this no one seems to see is solar panel farms. Having these farms around Canada will be cheaper and more effective by making things more organized. Now, Mr. Trudeau, I would like you to make this of one of your promises and help make this possible by issuing more and more solar panels around Canada.

Answers:

  1. What questions did you need to research in order to research your topic?                                  Answer: 1) what are the main benefits of solar panels? 2) what environmental benefits does it affect and resolve? 3) how could solar panels improve in the future? 4) how could solar energy be a reliable power source in further events? 5) how can the weather affect the production of solar energy? 6) how durable are solar panels? 7) how many times do solar panels need to be maintained and repaired? 8)  Are there better solutions for solar panels being on houses?
  2. What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?      Answer: The main tools I used for this project were google advanced search, to find what I am exactly looking for. Gale to get books on solar energy, and pixels for finding relevant images and proper citing.
  3. What was the process you used to investigate the topic?                                                                 Answer: My biggest challenge for this topic was: if I should use my own knowledge for most of this project or: should I just research the basics for it and use what I have found. What I ended up doing was starting from the beginning, First starting to look for an exact definition for solar energy then started looking at current benefits for solar energy and how it can reduce greenhouse gas. After I did that, I started looking for common challenges and how they can affect us and the modern-day.
  4. How did you verify and cite the information you found?                                                                   Answer: The first thing I did was looking for reliable sources and looking at their sources to make sure I was getting the information I needed. When I was looking at the information I got I copied the link and pasted a citation machine to make sure I can cite it correctly.
  5. How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better? Answer: The total process for the project went well, I got it done fast and got the right information I needed and made sure to cite everything correctly following the criteria and constantly looking at the marking sheet. The things I can do better is being more organized, my timing and my overthinking made it look kind of rushed and choppy (If that makes sense in any way). Another thing I could have done better was looking at more at images and more cites.

Cites:

Images:

Silver and Black Solar Panels on Snow Covered Ground by Pixabay

Black Solar Panel Near Calm Body of Water by Pixabay

White 2-storey House by Vivint Solar

Websites used:

“Solar Energy.” Alternative Energy, edited by Neil Schlager and Jayne Weisblatt, vol. 2: Hydrogen, Nuclear Energy, Solar Energy, UXL, 2006, pp. 209-259. Gale eBooks, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3451200023/GVRL?u=43sbo&sid=GVRL&xid=45bae7ea. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.

Corsolis.ca. (2019). The Many Benefits of Solar Systems –. [online] Available at: http://corsolis.ca/education-center/the-many-benefits-of-solar-systems [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].

“Alternative Energy.” Gale In Context Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Gale In Context: Canada, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EXDURI037292988/GPS?u=43sbo&sid=GPS&xid=2c68d374. Accessed 6 Dec. 2019.

“Switching to solar and wind will reduce groundwater use.” Ecology, Environment & Conservation, 22 Nov. 2019, p. 948. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606004319/GPS?u=43sbo&sid=GPS&xid=123140dd. Accessed 6 Dec. 2019.

Tools used

https://www.citethisforme.com/

https://www.google.com – advanced settings – solar panels research OR shows -what -i -think

https://www.pexels.com

 

 

A Fresh Look At The Periodic Table

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Define and discover:

  • We are trying to recreate the periodic in an innovated and simple way that is easy to use and understand.
  • Questions
  • How to develop the parodic table in a simple way that is easy to use?
  • How to colour code the table?
  • How to organize the table?
  • Would a legend improve the understanding of the table?

 

Dream:

  • That the information presented is organized and easy to use when you get to learn it.
  • The way we are going to arrange it is by having the metal elements beneath the non-metal elements and having the gas on top representing the earth layers. In each section, we are going to arrange the elements by least to greatest according to the atomic number of each element.
  • We are going to use squares to shape the periodic table into looking like a diamond.
  • For each section, we are going to use different colours and a legend to make our periodic table look as clean and easy to use as possible.

Design: We will be making a double-sided temple with 2 halves having the gases on top and metals on the bottom.

 

Deliver: On the sides, we are having 2 vertical polls on the right side consisting of alkaline earth metals and on the left, alkali metals. In the center of the temple will be the metalloids shaped in rectangles. At the very bottom will be the lanthanide and actinide elements separated from the other elements to save space. The elements within their sections will be organized by atomic mass by having the heaviest on the bottom and the lightest on the top

 

Debrief: The final product of our project was good, but we did everything at the last minute. The ways I can improve our Plan is by having better planning, we didn’t have anything organized and kind of just threw in ideas intel we got something. In the end, the final product was successful, and our table looks clean and easy to learn.