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Trapped in Our Own Emissions

Trapped in Our Own Emissions

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If we keep living how we are now, the world may not have a future. Not because of aliens, artificial intelligence, or an evil super villain, but from something far more subtle. Something that is slowly creeping in, quietly but relentlessly. Something that we are responsible for… Carbon Dioxide.

We recently finished a project called ChemHistory where we spent many classes reserching, learning, and creating, all while trying to answer the driving question, what impacts do elements and compounds have on history and modern day society?

Carbon Dioxide – Element Art

I made an art piece to symbolize carbon dioxide and what it is doing to our environment. This is not any old art peice, it wasn’t made out of paint or markers, but a chemical called cyanotype. Cyanotype is a light sensitive chemical, when it is coated on a surface (I used a piece of fabric), it reacts and turns blue. I created a stencil of what i wanted to be projected on my fabric, I then coated the fabric with cyanotype in a itchy back room.Then, I put my stencil on it, left it in the sun, and in a matter of minutes it was changing color. 

My Answer to the Driving Question

Carbon dioxide has a huge impact on our society today. Carbon Dioxide is a green house gas, it traps heat in the earths atmosphere. When too much of it builds up, it creates a blanket around earth that doesn’t let heat out. The amount of carbon dioxide is rapidly increasing because of our insensitive use of gas, coal, oil, etc. Earth is getting too hot, which is causing major problems in our environment. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, air quality is declining, and animals are losing their homes. If we don’t act soon, and start reducing our usage of fossil fuels, Earth will be no longer a safe place to live. It’s not too late, but we have to make a change.

How I Got There

Learning

Within this project I did a lot of learning. I learned about the periodic table where I was taught what it is, what elements are a why it is organized the at it is. I learned what a Bohr  and Lewis diagram is, why they are useful and how to draw them. I then learned about compounds and how elements combine to produce them. I then went through the struggling process of of trying to figure out/memorize ionic bonds and their formulas. Learning all of these things helped me answer the driving question because it taught me what an element and a compound is.

Ionic Compounds Quiz

Something that helped me answer the driving question and expand my knowlage on ionic compounds is the quiz I did on them. This is probably the first quiz i have ever done in PLP, and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I was educated very well and thoroughly before taking this quiz that It was a breeze. This quiz gave you many formulas of ionic compounds and we had to find the names of them, and then it gave you names in which you had to find formulas of.

F.A.I.L (First attempts in learning)

Art Gallery 

After we finished our artwork and paragraph we hosted an art gallery for the school. If I were to do anything different in this project, I would change how I acted during the art gallery. I would say public speaking is a strong suit of mine, but during this allergy I was jot enthusiastic at all. When people came by I only gave them a short boring description. Next time, I would be more prepared and use the gallery as a way to spread word about climate change and inspire people

Watt The Heck?!

Watt The Heck?!

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You are doing an intense surgery, one wrong move and it would be your patients last breaths. You are so close to finishing when your hand shakes a little and BUZZZZZZZZZZZ you are eliminated from the game. 

Everybody remembers the classic game of Operation, but only a few know how to actually  make it.

we recently finished a project called Watt the Heck?? where we spent many weeks learning about electricity and trying to answer the driving question How does electricity shape our society and how can we generate it more sustainably? All of the learning lead up to the final assignment when we created our own operation games.

My Answer to the Driving Question

Electricity builds up so much of our society, it is behind so many things that we rely on on a daily basis. It is behind how we live, work, communicate, and function. Without it, the world  would not be progressing like it is today. Although electricty is benefiting us, generating it can be extreamly harmful. There are several methods of electricity generation that are harming the environment, they cause pollution and climate change, which will kill the planet in the long run. In order to generate electricity sustainability we need to use cleaner energy sources such as hydro, wind, and solar power.

How I Got There

 Sustainability Infographic

We had to create an infographic about the sustainability of a type of electricity generation. Our infographic had to include the following criteria, where your type of electricity generation is used, the disadvantages and advantages of it, how it works, and how sustainable it is. I decided to make my infographic about Fossil Fuels. This helped me answer the driving question because through it I learned what sustainability is and why it is so important. If we have a way of generating electricity and it is fast and efficient but not sustainable, it may be benefiting the world now but it is setting us up for failure in the future.

Operation Board Game

To wrap this project up we learned how to create an operation board game. We used just tinfoil, tweezers, wires, and a light to create a circuit to generate electricity. We read this document to learn how to create our game:

After watching the video we got to creating. This was not an easy process for me, I drew my drawing, put it on my box and then followed the instructions to a tea yet my bulb didn’t light up, so i was forced to analyze what went wrong and then re execute it. I loved this project,  I really enjoyed creating a vision in my head and actually succeeding to make it a reality.

F.A.I.L (First attempt in learning)

If I were to do anything different in this project I would put more time into my sustainability infographic. I would add way more information and make th whole thing way more organized. While creating my infographic I did not manage my time very well at home which left me struggling to get it done in time. This led to work that was not up to my standards. 

What I Learned

Through this project I learned many things. I learned about how much of a huge role electricity plays in our society. I learned about both the positive and negative effects generating electricity can have on our planet.  I learned about open and closed circuts and what they do. While creating the game I learned several electrical concepts including a using closing circuit, when you touch the tinfoil with the tweezers you are closing the circuit causing Grinch’s heart to light up. I also learned the concept of electrical current, when the circuit is closed a flow of electrons move through the circuit lighting up the light. After applying these skills to my machine, I was successful in making it light up.

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