Chemistry

Energy and Place and Essential Questions

Joint Scientific Statement

Opening Statement-

The world we live in today demands energy in order to keep up with our lifestyle. The majority of the power we have comes from the consumption of fossil fuels. These immense sources of energy work to generate electricity. The United States alone uses seventeen million barrels of gasoline every day. The United States released 5,480.63 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2011. About 91 percent of this gas comes from the consumption of fossil fuels for energy creation. This amount of gas in affecting our environment, the greenhouse effect is warming the planet at a rate we have never seen before because of the gasses we are emitting. Nuclear energy is relatively clean and gives off no harmful emissions in the actual fission process, it produces an amazing amount of energy and if utilized could power the world on its own. However there is a reason why we haven’t built a Nuclear power plant in over 35 years. Perhaps you have heard of Chernobyl, Fukushima, or right here in the United States Three Mile Island. Nuclear power is dangerous; there is always the risk of a nuclear meltdown or explosion. No privatized energy company wants to take on the responsibility of running and maintaining a nuclear power plant. In the world there are roughly 400 working nuclear power plants in the world. It would take 17,000 to supply enough energy for the world. As you can imagine the risk involved in creating so many power plants is immense.  Nuclear power plants are extremely expensive and this is without considering the cost of cleaning up an accident.  The effects of uranium mining are disastrous. Contamination of local water supplies around uranium mines and processing plants has been documented in Brazil, Colorado, Texas, Australia, Namibia and several other sites. In the words of David Thorpe “To supply even a fraction of the power stations the industry expects to be online worldwide in 2020 would mean generating 50 million tons of toxic radioactive residues every single year.” In order to produce 25 tons of uranium fuel which would be about the amount to keep one reactor active for a year it would require 500,000 tons of waste rock which in turn means that there would be 100,000 tons of rock tailings as well. The tailings are highly toxic and in many cases leak into the ground water or contaminate local streams. The amount of waste and harm that mining uranium creates is nothing compared to the radioactive waste reactors produce. Nuclear energy is expensive, dangerous, and unethical for the conservation of the planet for generations to come.

Closing Statement- During my closing statement i did not follow my script but rather made a more relevant and convincing statement about all of our concerns with nuclear power. I made my stance clear and until i was cutoff did a great job.To watch my debate and see my closing statement click here.

Post-Debate Reflection

Please answer the following questions.  The length of your answer should be sufficient to answer the question clearly and completely.

-What motion did you debate and what side of the debate were you arguing?

The motion I was debating was that nuclear energy should become our main source of energy in the United States. I was debating against the motion.

-What was your initial position on the motion: for, against or undecided? Final position?

I was originally undecided on the motion in fact if anything I was probably leaning towards being for the motion. After the debate I feel more undecided than ever. There are so many good reasons for either side that it is difficult to figure out what is most important to me and our country.

-Discuss how your position on the motion changed over the course of this project.  What arguments, evidence and reflections on place either caused you to question your position, change your mind or solidified your opinion? 

The fact that there are such good arguments for either side really made the project extremely informative and it was difficult to really develop one side more than the other. I feel as though the dangers of nuclear power were the biggest concern and the clean emissions were the most convincing argument for the motion. Obviously there were many other valid concerns for either side of the argument, but everything seemed to come back to these two arguments.

- What question(s) would you like to research further to have better understanding of energy issues?  They can be related to the motion but do not need to be.

How has nuclear power become safer in the years we have advanced since the first nuclear power plant and if it hasn’t why not?

Exactly how many nuclear power plants exist across the planet?

How many people died from Fukishima?

It was honestly very confusing arguing against the motion because of the fact I had not made my mind up about the topic. After more intensively researching why nuclear power isn’t being used as much I have a better understanding of our country’s hesitance. I also feel as though the arguments for nuclear power are valid especially considering the rate at which our planet is heating.

-How does the personal environmental ethic and sense of place you developed in Humanities inform and affect the position you took on the motion?

Honestly it makes this decision extremely difficult because of the hazards involved with both arguments. On one hand you could reduce harmful emissions significantly by depending on nuclear energy but at the same time were creating radioactive waste and taking the risk of a possible nuclear meltdown.

-Watch your debate and assess your performance in the debate.  What aspects went well?  What aspects did not go as well as you would have liked?  If you had a chance to do it again what would you do differently?  Consider the arguments you used, how you responded to your opponents questions and how you presented yourself.

I feel as though my opening statement was my largest flaw in the debate. I had trouble forming my ideas in the beginning and continuing within the guidelines. Other than that I feel as though I answered questions and approached my opponents with respect and intelligence. I feel as though my comments were factual and important to the debate.

-Perform a fact check on two statements made by your opponents (or your teammates) during the debate.  Clearly indicate the statements you are checking and what you discovered.

Statement- 16:45 minute of the debate Elijah made a claim about a place in Africa where uranium built up and there was a chain reaction.

For the most part the claims that Elijah made were true the dating was a little off but the relevance that this data had in his argument did not make sense.

I also made a statement about the nuclear waste from power plants and was unclear to exactly what waste was considered. I was considering the talons to the fuel rods and everything between in my claim the fuel rods alone were not the only waste factor being considered. I found evidence to support this information on the epa website about nuclear waste.

To see my Humanities project with similar themes please click here.

Chemistry Project

How Iron Changed the World

My mom has always told me to eat all my vegetables to get my iron intake and my dad has always told me to finish all my steak, who is right and how does iron play a role in our bodies? Iron has changed the world in many ways, it’s allowed for mass industrial advancements, weapon technology’s, and even water purification methods. Iron has many qualities that make it so valuable to people in history or even current day society. Iron can be classified as a metal, mineral, and a vitamin. Without iron there would not be steel, water purification in sewage plants, or an excuse to eat lots of delicious steaks. Whatever way you slice It Iron has unique qualities that have it made it so significant in the past, present, and future.

Iron also plays a biological role in the world and in our bodies. Iron proteins are found in all living organisms on Earth. Iron is essential in its biological role in mammals for example hemoglobin is what colors our blood it has high amounts of iron. This is important because iron transports oxygen to different parts of our body. Iron is consumed every day whether it is in the form of red meat, lentils, beans, poultry, fish, leaf vegetables, watercress, tofu, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, blackstrap molasses, fortified bread, or fortified breakfast cereals. Fortified foods are foods with enriched flour containing high amounts of iron, boasted by labels on the box. Foods with high iron content are extremely important so that we can get the necessary dosage of iron per day.

Iron is absorbed through consumption. Iron is absorbed in the stomach when enzymes breakdown unneeded substances. Iron most commonly combine with proteins. As I did research regarding my parents claims there was not a clear winner. In a way they were both right and wrong. Plants have the most amount of protein by mass. However meats are a different type of protein that our bodies can absorb easier. There are different types of iron that are consumed. Vegetables and plant products come in a non-heme state. A non-heme state iron is absorbed poorly only 5 to 20 percent of the iron is absorbed. Heme iron is found in meats, poultry, and fish. Heme iron is absorbed well; in fact it absorbs 15 to 35 percent. While heme iron is not affected by other food eaten concurrently, there are many factors that affect the absorption of non-heme iron. For instance, the non-heme iron in spinach is bound to a substance called phytic acid, the storage form of phosphorus in plants.

Non-heme iron enzymes are different from heme iron enzymes on a chemical level that explains why one is absorbed better than the other. Non- heme enzymes catalyze a wide range of O₂ reactions, same as heme enzymes. This means that iron’s main use is for carrying oxygen through the blood. Understanding how heme and non heme iron are different is very difficult to see. A spectroscopic methodology was developed that provides significant mechanistic insight into the reactivity of non-heme enzymes. Heme iron is also known as ferrous iron (Fe II). Non-heme iron comes in the form of ferric iron (Fe III), which means it has to be reduced to ferrous iron (Fe II) in order to be taken by the duodenal entrocytes. This is the process of separating the iron for being used as an intracellular iron-binding protein or as a ferroportin. Iron that enters the internal environment of the body is rapidly bound to transferrin, an iron-binding protein of the blood. The conversion of non-heme iron explains why the non-heme iron is harder to absorb than heme iron.      

Iron is an essential mineral that keeps the body functioning properly. It is found in many forms of food. Some foods are a more effective source of iron but as long as you understand that some foods will supply more iron per bite. My mom and Dad were right in their own ways but I personally side with my dad. Who doesn’t love a big juicy steak full of healthy iron that is easily absorbed? However it is always important to remember that overconsumption of iron is never good and can also be harmful. When a proper amount of iron is consumed it will make your body healthier and function better.       

Reflecting questions   

Chemistry has affected our lives for thousands of years. Chemistry is the key behind all advancements, for example if the Chinese had not discovered how to make salt peter we would have not discovered or more recently discovered gun powder. Chemistry constantly affects our lives whether we know it or not. Chemistry will affect our future from finding a cure for aids to creating new elements. Chemical structures  give properties to elements. An example of this is if there are lots of unbalanced electrons with a strong connection to the nucleus the substance will be malleable. Knowing how chemical structure effects substances you can change there chemical structure to change their properties. To understand chemistry more in depth you must understand this.