Your Questions About Solar Generators Home Depot
Robert asks…
If All cars were Electric, we’d be screwed?
Think about it, right now the gas industry is huge, and people technically NEED gas,
in actuality you don’t need it to survive, so don’t say that, but in our society you pretty much NEED it, unless your taking the bus…
now, if every car were electric, the electric company’s would charge an arm and a leg, just as gas company’s, It would be the same thing!
only this time, you need electricity in your house much more than gas, so we would be even more screwed!
what do you guys think?
admin answers:
The electric utilities can’t hold us hostage the way the petroleum companies do – because you have more choices with electricity.
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If electricity prices get too steep, you can put up your own solar panels, or your own windmill, and make your own electricity. Or you can go to Home Depot right now and buy a generator that makes electricity from a natural gas hookup.
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Sure, solar panels and windmills are expensive, but you’d do it if you got mad enough at your electric bills. Utilities would be nuts to let prices get high enough for this to happen.
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Right now, electric utilities love the idea of electric cars. For the first time, they have people willing to buy electricity in the middle of the night. My own utility (here in Michigan) gave me a free electric car charger for my garage, and a special half-rate for overnight charging.
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Here’s a study that shows there’s enough electricity available overnight for nearly everyone to switch to electric cars:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061211221149.htm
Chris asks…
I really need to win the science fair, but how?
I’m having science fair in a month, I have some ideas on what to do, which are:
– which produces more electrical energy? dancing or cycling? (kinetic-electrical energy)
-something about mindball
–solar panel by silicon nanowire to charge phone batteries
-3D
the thing is, some of the ideas are kinda rejected because the teacher said it MUST have to be tested. I have to find some manipuklated variables to test it every experiment.
Please help me, how should i design the experiment etc ?
I really really need to win this. 10 points! 😀
if the ideas doesnt interest you, can you suggest some other ideas that can make me win>? thankyouverymuch
i want to go to ISEF. but first i have to compete with my school’s batch, then compete with the other schools in the country. i really like physics, not so much to bio. I also like gadgets, communication technology, sound waves, and ways to create energy and use it efficiently
admin answers:
You could certainly do some physics experiments with sound waves:
– Resonant frequencies of open and closed pipes, as a function of length. Can use cheap (black ABS plastic) pipe, at the plumbing isle of a Home Depot store.
– Resonant frequencies of guitar strings as a function of length, tension, mass of string.
Resonant frequencies of a cavity like a hollow-body (acoustic) guitar or violin. Compare how “harsh” the violin string sounds alone (without wood body), vs. The much more pleasing sound when the string’s harmonics are filtered by the resonance of the hollow-body.
– Resonant frequencies in a room in your house. There are multiple resonant modes, in a room with parallel walls, closed door. These are “standing waves”, so by moving the microphone to different points in the room, some points will have maximum intensity & other points will be a “null”.
Gadgets to use – Resonances: Use a variable-frequency sine generator, audio amplifier, speaker to generate the frequencies.
Gadgets to use to observe frequencies of guitar strings: You could use an oscilloscope and microphone to measure frequency. Can also observe harmonic structure of sound (shape of waveform, vs. Sinewave, as observed on an oscilloscope).
There are many possibilities. I’d recommend reading an introductory book on “musical acoustics”. For example, Chapters 1 of “Master Handbook of Acoustics” by Everest ($ 20), explains the basics of sound waves.
Note: As you compete in science fairs in subsequent years, you can continue to expand your investigation of sound waves to increasing levels of sophistication.
-> For example, you can investigate properties of human hearing — how our binaural hearing can determine the distance and angular location of a sound source. Ben Burtt at Lucas Film did pioneering work in this field, to create the 3D “soundfields” in the original Star Wars film.
-> As another example, you can investigate the relationship between construction techniques used to build violins, and subtle changes in the sound produced by the best violins.
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