Energy and Place project
Essential Questions:
- How does energy production and consumption impact place?
- How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions relating to energy production and consumption?
Infographic
Scientific Paper
Project Reflection (Infographic)
I wanted to educate people about how plastic bottles are made, and how much energy is used to make them. I chose to specifically focus on bottled water because water is something the majority of Americans have easy access to right inside their houses, but choose to buy water in a disposable plastic bottle made on non-renewable resources. The use of plastics, specifically plastic water bottles, is an issue I am very passionate about. For years I have tried to encourage recycling and save when I can. This project was an opportunity for me to advocate my beliefs to the public using statistics and visually appealing images.
Through researching and designing this infographic, I learned some astounding statistics. I learned how much it costs to manufacture bottled water compared to the cost needed to provide tap water and there's a very large difference; the government spends billions on bottled water each year while tap water only costs a few cents per gallon. Also, I had no idea how much energy is required to produce the amount of plastic water bottles consumed each year. The US uses about 34 % of the world's plastic water bottles each year! After learning all these statistics I'm a lot more conscious about using water bottles. I've refused to use plastic water bottles unless absolutely necessary for several years now, but after learning these facts I feel even more aware about how many bottles end up in trash cans because there isn't a recycling bin, or it's around the corner.
Through researching and designing this infographic, I learned some astounding statistics. I learned how much it costs to manufacture bottled water compared to the cost needed to provide tap water and there's a very large difference; the government spends billions on bottled water each year while tap water only costs a few cents per gallon. Also, I had no idea how much energy is required to produce the amount of plastic water bottles consumed each year. The US uses about 34 % of the world's plastic water bottles each year! After learning all these statistics I'm a lot more conscious about using water bottles. I've refused to use plastic water bottles unless absolutely necessary for several years now, but after learning these facts I feel even more aware about how many bottles end up in trash cans because there isn't a recycling bin, or it's around the corner.
Materials Project
In this project we had the option to research a product and write a magazine article, or find ways to improve a product by looking at the materials used and write a letter to the company suggesting improvements. We studied what our product was made of and how the materials were formed, bonded, and used. Then we researched other materials and chemical properties to figure out if there was a way to improve the material. I wrote a letter, and my letter will be mailed to the company I chose. In past years many students have actually received replies.
Shark Tank Elevator Pitch
Hi I’m Bryce Ward. Imagine hiking for days on end with a heavy pack. Packing in all your food and packing out all the trash. As a backpacker, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just leave the trash from your dinner buried in the ground and know it will be gone within a week? I looked into biodegradable plastics, and although we haven’t gotten to this point yet, I did find a company that speeds up the process of biodegradation. One of the meals I enjoy is a pouch of pre-made rice. But see, for the one meal of 90 second rice, a lot of non-renewable resources are tossed into a landfill for thousands of years. The pouch the rice comes in, is called a multilayer retort pouch. It’s made of four layers: three consist of different kinds of plastics, and one layer is aluminum foil. A company called EcoPure creates biodegradable plastic additives that, when added, cause the plastics to biodegrade much, much faster. These additives don’t affect any of the qualities of the original packaging, yet can help decrease the waste we leave around for thousands of years. These plastic additives can be added to so much more, transforming many companies into environmentally friendly companies. But these plastic additives aren’t free. A fund can be established to help these companies become better for the environment. Donate and help me, help the world. I’m Bryce Ward, thanks for showing interest in my investment.
Project Reflection
How has the chemistry of materials shaped our past, present, and how may it shape our future?
Chemistry is the backbone of life and the materials we use to build it. People are always inventing new products to serve new purposes, and sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. A product that works only minimally will be examined with a new perspective and tweaked to improve it. It might be using a different material or changing the way the bonds form, or the amount of each substance. In this project we got to examine products we use in our daily lives and investigate ways to improve them. I worked on figuring out how to incorporate biodegradable plastics into products that are thrown away. This will help shape our future by decreasing our impact on the environment. My peers looked into materials that will help prevent injuries, or help heal people faster, or positively affect the environment. By altering the chemistry behind everyday products we can step towards our future with improved products that may shape the world.
How does the structure of matter on the atomic, molecular, microscopic and macroscopic levels determine a material’s properties?
The best way to explain this is with an analogy. In school for each class you have individual assignments, worth a small part of your grade. This is the molecular level of school. All the assignments add up to one grade in each class, which is the microscopic level. The average of your grades in all your classes equals your GPA, which is the macroscopic level, because it’s what the world most commonly sees. If you don’t do a small homework assignment it can cause you to fail a test which would lower your grade and could consequently lower your GPA. This shows how the properties of the different levels can affect the overall outcome.