Teaching High School Chemistry
  • Introduction
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Topic List
  • Teaching Resources
  • Biography
  • Contact

cleaner cookstoves

2/22/2017

0 Comments

 
I hope you are enjoying your vacation!  It's a good time to catch up on sleep and past articles in this Blog.  Check it out!
 

The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you --
Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“About 3 billion of the world’s poorest people burn wood, charcoal or dung in smoky, open fires to cook their food and heat their homes. Millions die annually from lung and heart ailments caused by cooking with solid fuels, according to
the World Health Organization.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-cheap-clean-stoves-were-supposed-to-save-millions-of-lives-what-happened/2015/10/29/c0b98f38-77fa-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html?utm_term=.83f2e546ccf1
 
In my experience, outdoor cooking fires are usually for summer barbeques and camping, not daily life.  At first I didn’t see the need for this technology, but after considering the effects of daily exposure to fire smoke, it made more sense. 
 
 “To address the increased environmental health risk faced by more than 3 billion people in the developing world who burn solid fuels (e.g. wood, charcoal, dung, crop residues and coal), EPA works to increase the use of home cooking and heating practices that are:
  • Affordable
  • Reliable
  • Clean
  • Efficient
  • Safe
Exposure to household air pollution (cookstove smoke) leads to roughly 4 million premature deaths each year and is the 4th worst health risk in the world so EPA works to improve health, livelihood and quality of life by reducing exposure to air pollution, primarily among women and children, from household energy use.”
https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/clean-cookstoves
 
Here is a PBS video report from 2015:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/building-cleaner-cookstoves/
 
The United Nations is involved:

http://www.unfoundation.org/what-we-do/campaigns-and-initiatives/cookstoves/
 
as is Nigeria:

“The Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will be governed by an Advisory Board that is made up of top representatives of government from the energy, health, finance and environment sectors, as well as the international community, NGO community, among others. The Advisory Board’s purpose is to guide the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in all matters, including decisions related to its mission, programmatic focus, policies, funding, and growth.”

http://nigeriacleancooking.org/
 
“Based on results reported by partners this year and careful analyses of the trends in available data, an estimated 20.6 million stoves and fuels were distributed in 2015, of which 13 million (63%) were clean and/or efficient. Cumulatively, an estimated 82 million stoves and fuels, including 53 million clean and/or efficient, have been distributed since 2010.”

http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/reports/2016progress.html
 
Another cook stove project in Latin America is Stove Team International:
“StoveTeam is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization, that helps local entrepreneurs establish factories in Latin America. These self-sustaining businesses produce safe, affordable, fuel-efficient cookstoves to replace dangerous open cooking fires. Ecocina factories have produced more than
56,334 stoves, improving the lives of more than 422,505 people.
StoveTeam's model has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Partnership for Clean Indoor Air Award for Developing Local Markets for our innovative approach creating local employment while improving health and reducing air pollution.”
http://www.stoveteam.org/
 
This 10/29/2015 editorial in the Washington Post provided various criticisms of this technology:
 
 “ ‘[C]lean’ is a nebulous term. Of those 28 million cookstoves, only 8.2 million — the ones that run on electricity or burn liquid fuels including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethanol and biogas — meet the health guidelines for indoor emissions set by the WHO. The vast majority of the stoves burn wood, charcoal, animal dung or agricultural waste — and aren’t, therefore, nearly as healthy as promised. Although these cookstoves produce fewer emissions than open fires, burning biomass fuels in them still releases plenty of toxins. ‘As yet, no biomass stove in the world is clean enough to be truly health protective in household use,’ says Kirk Smith, a professor of global environmental health at the University of California at Berkeley and the leading health researcher on cookstoves.
That’s not the only problem with the stoves. Some perform well in the lab but not in the field. Others crack or break under constant heat. The best cookstoves burning clean fuels won’t protect poor families from disease if those who use them continue to cook over open fires as well — which many do.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-cheap-clean-stoves-were-supposed-to-save-millions-of-lives-what-happened/2015/10/29/c0b98f38-77fa-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html?utm_term=.83f2e546ccf1
 
Past blog posts about Combustion reactions include:
01/22/2014      Combustion of a Hydrocarbon
05/28/2014      Organic Chemistry – Chemical Reactions
11/25/2014      Predicting Products of a Combustion
                           Reaction (5th Rxn Type)
 

*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
​
0 Comments

The Ocean Cleanup Project Revisited

2/15/2017

0 Comments

 
It’s the beginning of a vacation weekend – yay!  Some of you have a long weekend or the entire week off.  Get lots of sleep and use the time to catch up on various projects, including check out the past entries on this blog.
 

The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you --
Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
A past blog post on 6/25/2015 was titled “Ocean Clean-Up” about
The Ocean Cleanup Array, conceived by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat. 
 
This TED talk by Boyan Slat provides an 11 minute presentation about the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW9F-c0kIQ
 
This “Ocean Clean-up Project” has it’s own website for your further investigation:

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/
 
“On 3 June 2014, Boyan Slat presented The Ocean Cleanup’s feasibility study… proposing a viable method to clean half of the so-called ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ within ten years’ time. At the same time, a crowd funding campaign was launched, aiming to collect US$ 2 million within 100 days. Within 98 days, the US$ 2 million target had been reached. After completion, US$ 2,154,282 had been raised, making it ‘the most successful non-profit crowd funding campaign in history’, according to crowd funding platform ABN AMRO’s SEEDS, who facilitated the campaign.”

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/press/press-releases-show/item/crowd-funding-campaign-the-ocean-cleanup-successfully-completed/
 
Here is a brief 3-minute video about The Ocean Cleanup Project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjaZ2g-21E
 
“Last year, nonprofit foundation The Ocean Cleanup hit a milestone en route to its goal of deploying a large, floating structure to pull plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The organization…had completed a reconnaissance expedition that would pave the way for a June 2016 test of its prototype. With the help of $2.2m in crowdfunding, 21-year-old founder Boyan Slat announced his plans to deploy 100 kilometers of passive floating barriers in an effort to clean up 42% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s plastic pollution in 10 years.
Despite considerable online enthusiasm for the project, oceanographers and biologists are voicing less-publicized concerns. They question whether the design will work as described and survive the natural forces of the open ocean, how it will affect sea life, and whether this is actually the best way to tackle the problem of ocean plastic – or merely a distraction from the bigger problem of pollution prevention. Many have also expressed concern about the lack of an environmental impact statement prior to such a large push for funding.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/26/ocean-cleanup-project-environment-pollution-boyan-slat
 
“Following years of study, and seven expeditions into the gyres, the project has started to solidify. Drawing on technology found in offshore rigs that have moored to depths of 2,500 meters, the team 
concluded that ‘the tools and methods that are available to the offshore engineering world can readily be applied for the realization of this project.’ It also said that most of the plankton would pass underneath the barrier unharmed. Even in the worst case scenario that the plankton would be harmed, the feasibility study found that it would take ‘less than 7 seconds to reproduce’ whatever had been lost.
Expectations have also lowered slightly. The study — which answered many of the project’s critics, but
stirred fresh ones — found that a barrier that’s 100 kilometers (60 miles) long would clean up 42 percent of all of the plastic in the North Pacific gyre in 10 years.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/02/01/can-the-largest-cleanup-in-history-save-the-ocean/?utm_term=.524bb345d22f
 
Even though  there has been excitement generated about this idea, there has also been criticism.
According to Nicholas Mallos of the Ocean Conservancy, “Cleanups are a Band-Aid to this disease, and what we really need is a cure. And when we take that cleanup from the beach out into the ocean, we’re talking about an even more unfeasible solution. Cleaning up on land prevents debris from entering the ocean in the first place, whereas the Ocean Cleanup is looking to address this issue at the very, very end of this long ocean plastic pollution vector. And addressing this issue at the end of the pipe is not addressing the source.”

https://www.ecomagazine.com/featured-stories/ocean-debris-cleanup-project-makes-progress-battles-critics​
 
It is interesting to see the progress of this endeavor – one idea would be to have your class brainstorm the Pros and Cons of this Project.
 

*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great vacation!
0 Comments

High Fukushima Radiation Levels

2/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Just one week before some vacation time – this blog can provide some ideas for videos and class activities, take a look!
 

The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you --
Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown in March 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Co. [Tepco]. Holdings Inc. said.

Tepco said on Thursday [2/2/2017] that the blazing radiation reading was taken near the entrance to the space just below the pressure vessel, which contains the reactor core.
The high figure indicates that some of the melted fuel that escaped the pressure vessel is nearby.”

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/03/national/fukushima-radiation-level-highest-since-march-11/#.WJei3H_GDjL
 
A sievert [Sv] is defined as “the standard unit in the
International System of Units (SI) of dose equivalent having the same biological effect as one joule of x-rays per kilogram of recipient mass”.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sievert
 
According to a 2/6/2017 article, “Tepco, however, is not willing to confirm the find just yet. 'It may have been caused by nuclear fuel that would have melted and made a hole in the vessel, but it is only a hypothesis at this stage,' Tepco spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi tells
Agence France-Presse. 'We believe the captured images offer very useful information, but we still need to investigate given that it is very difficult to assume the actual condition inside.'

But exploring further may prove difficult. Examining the electronic noise caused by radiation in the images taken near the pressure vessel, Tepco analysts determined that the area is contaminated by 530 sieverts of radiation per hour. The previous high in the reactor was 73 sieverts recorded in 2012, reports
The Japan Times. Luckily, there is no indication that the radiation is leaking outside the reactor.
​
One sievert—the international measurement of radiation exposure—is enough to cause radiation sickness, infertility and cataracts. Exposure to 10 sieverts will lead to person’s death within weeks, reports McCurry. Tepco says that their estimate has a margin of error of 30 percent, but even then the radiation levels are off the charts. This does not, however, necessarily mean that radiation levels are increasing, notes
Safecast, an organization devoted to citizen science. Radiation has not previously been measured in this location.”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fukushima-reactor-shows-highest-radiation-level-initial-meltdown-180962050/
 
The article below contains a brief 48 second video of the robot exploration of the damaged reactor:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/08/japanese-nuclear-plant-just-recorded-an-astronomical-radiation-level-should-we-be-worried/?utm_term=.9a2c5be4a232
Also, a brief 54 second news segment follows describing the high cost of cleaning up this accident site, estimated at 20 trillion yen or $180 billion.
 

Past blog posts about Nuclear Chemistry and Nuclear Power include:
2/11/2015              Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
02/18/2015            Nuclear Chemistry – Part II (Fission,
                                 Fusion & Half-Life)
08/06/2015            Post-Fukushima Restarts
10/30/2015            Current Event – Radioactive Waste
                                 from WWII
10/22/2015            The Future of Nuclear Fusion​
02/20/2016            Nuclear Waste and Lake Huron
03/26/2016            Nuclear Waste Storage
05/01/2016            30th Anniversary of Chernobyl  
07/31/2016            Cost of Nuclear Shutdown in Germany
08/07/2016            Debate about Nuclear Power
11/25/2016            Tsunami Near Fukushima
 

*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
​
0 Comments

video: Search for the Super Battery

2/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Wow, it’s already February!  I hope your 2017 is going well so far.  Many of you will have a 3-day weekend or Winter Break soon and are finishing a class Unit before that vacation.  One video idea is described below.
 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
A recent NOVA presentation was titled “Search for the Super Battery” (53 minutes):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/super-battery.html
 
It includes a description of how an electrochemical battery is structured and continual reference to The Periodic Table.
 
The lithium in the batteries provides that electron donation for the electric current; but also the potentially dangerous flammability.
 
Just a reminder, even though electric cars don’t use gasoline, the electricity still has to be generated in some way, which brings the question of other energy sources (wind, solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear).
 
With the news about battery accidents, it is interesting to see how some tests are being conducted at the Sandia National Laboratories.
http://www.sandia.gov/
This segment includes description and animation of a battery fire at 27 minutes, and later compares several different battery designs.
 
Because the program length is 53 minutes, you may choose to show it during two class sessions.
 
Videos are always handy for sub plans – you have to check out your library if you don’t have Internet access in your classroom.  Check out if the library has a system for recording shows as well.
 
Two past blog posts that may be useful are “Your School Library” dated 3/25/2015 and “Your School Library II” dated 11/27/2015.
​
During the video, students could be kept on task by reporting ten (10) facts to be turned in at the end of the class session.  You could also use this information to prepare a worksheet for future use.
 
Past blog posts that might be useful include:
 
About The Periodic Table:
02/23/2014        The Periodic Table
12/03/2015        Periodic Table Trend Activities
12/09/2016        Cool Periodic Table


Regarding Electrochemistry:
05/04/2014        Electrochemistry – Redox Basics
05/07/2014        Electrochemistry – Balancing Redox Rxns
05/14/2014        Electrochemistry – Electrochemical Cells
05/18/2014        Electrochemistry – Electrolytic Cells

​Please let me know how you used this video in your classroom!
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

    Author

    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

    Archives

    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.