PHYS 310 Sp19 Wk3

Combustion and Efficiency


Monday’s Class : 1st assessment today

Before Class

  • Please make a USA wealth graph where the x-axis is each person in the USA ordered from poorest to richest, and the y-axis is how much money they have. That is if everyone had $200,000, it would look like the one on the left, and if each person had $10 more than the person before, it would look like the one on the right with the poorest person having nothing and the richest person having $3.2 billion. Please make two graphs: graph what you think the USA really looks like, and make a graph of how you think the USA would ideally look.
  • Only after you’ve done the above, please see Moyers: USA wealth gap
  • Please watch Conversion Efficiency with Slides (from Heat Engines Video)
  • Look up and read about cogeneration. What does it mean? How is it different from “combined cycle”?
  • Solutions to PS#2 posted.
  • If you’ve finished the one-week self intervention, please send me the narrative with a picture.
  • Prepare for first assessment: expect questions like the problem sets. Additionally, please know all the relevant heat engine cycles. Be able to draw pictures of them and explain how they work. It may be instrumental to look at MT#1 for past classes (see link on main class website), with an understanding that past MT#1 covered some material we haven’t done yet. Looking over 2017 MT#1, I see that I didn’t provide solutions to the thermal transfer problem, nor did I consider convection, so it would be better to look at the thermal transfer problem on our most recent problem set.

During Class

After Class

Wednesday: electricity generation

Before class

  • See Electricity Generation video, and the Electricity Slides
  • Please watch Electrical Transmission Transmission Slides
  • I’m giving the Physics Colloquium this Thursday UU in room 530-215. See the flyer: HOT DIODESDirect Solar Cooking and Electricity for the Global Poor…. and everyone else? While I would be delighted to have everyone come to the talk, it is most important for people involved in solar electricity and solar electric cooking. 
  • Bernard Amadei started Engineers Without Boarders. He’s talking at Cal Poly Friday, 11:00 at the ATL-007, next to Bonderson. I’m planning on going. For more details, please see the Bernard Amadei Flyer.
  • Read DH: section 14.7 and the last paragraph of section 14.8.5 
  • NPR on Coal and Nuclear. Important article about leveling grid!
  • Please read this NYTimes article with GREAT graphics on how each state is changing the mix of electricity generating technologies.
  • Please have a look at this article about silica-induced lung damage. Consider the issues of environmental justice (who suffered? who benefitted?), corporate accountability? “historical amnesia”?, and how people act?
  • Projects. This Saturday night, I will check to see the following on your websites:
    • A brief summary of what your project is about and why it might be interesting to the reader. I will take this statement and put it in the table on our project page, replacing the information that is presently there. 
    • Extract all the relevant information on your project page from your project because this present description is going to be removed.
    • Some background technical research. What has been done previously? What do you see as your contributions?
    • Some background demographic data. Please check Gapminder for some information about your target community.
    • A short bio on each of you.
    • It may be best to make your website short… just a page or two, and have it link to other websites that provide more detail. This may be especially important for things like the bio (with a link “about us”).
  • For anyone communicating with Malawi please get on WhatsApp, and please see the attached communication from RVB (visiting week 9) about how to move forward with communications. RVB April 16, 2019
  • PS#3 posted. Due Friday in class! These are the funnest problems I’ve ever written. Come into class Wednesday and tell me if you agree.
  • Solutions to Assessment posted on main class website.

During class

  • We will look at electricity generation hardware and transformers

Friday:

Before Class:

  • Please watch Carbon Intensity, and Carbon Intensity Slides.
  • Please have a look at this article about China’s decreasing carbon intensity to get a feel about how we use these terms… and see what China is doing.
  • Please read this article about the costs of treating coal miners with black lung. Consider the question: Is coal power cheap? What are some of the “external costs” or “externalities” (expect test questions on this)? How does society pay these external costs? How do you think society should pay these costs? Trump has promised to repeal regulations on corporations. How does this story highlight this repealing of regulations? The EJ (environmental justice) is who benefits from such an act (repealing regulations), and who suffers. Can repealing regulations be seen as a tax on the poor?
  • If you want full credit for self intervention #1, send me your picture and narrative by midnight Friday night.
  • Finish problem set #3, due in class!

During Class
Getting our projects set up: Starting Monday, one student group will give a presentation on their projects. We will follow the list on the project page from top to bottom. First one is Bicycle Taxi. First talk is way short. Introduce people and project and brief plan or challenges you face. You can use PPT, go to your website, or do interpretive dance.

After Class

What are you doing to celebrate our planet on Earth day?, This Saturday?