BeckGroup Theoretical Chemistry: E-ProbSets
1. Read the first five "Energy basics" links in the online resources. (You can find the
link to online resources at the course homepage linked at the bottom of this page.)
2. Start discussing (with your classmates and friends) the role that energy
sources (electricity, gas, oil, natural gas, etc.) play
in your life. Are there any uses of energy that you would be willing to modify
or give up?
3. Read through the first 10 pages of the lecture notes posted on the course home page.
4. Start working on the problems listed below.
1. Give two or three definitions of energy.
2. List all the possible forms of energy you can think of.
3. As we did in class, go through your typical day in detail and write down
all the various ways you use energy.
4. Using online information, calculate the amount of energy you use
each day for the following things a) driving your car b) electronic devices
c) heating/cooling your home/apartment/dorm-room. Give your answers
in kWh.
5. Estimate roughly how many liters of oil this corresponds to.
6. If 1 inch equals 2.54 cm, how many cm in a foot?
7. How many Calories are in a gallon of gas? Based on this result what
is roughly the ratio of energy expended in riding a bike 5 mi to work
as opposed to driving? (1. cal = 4.184 J, and note the Calories we see
listed on food products are 1000 times the calorie energy unit).
1. Go to the UC Libraries website (this is linked on my homepage -- go to 'links' at
the top, then to 'UC-Sites', then the 'UCLib' link). Click on 'journals'. Locate two
papers in scientific journals: J. Phys. Chem. B, vol. 115 pg. 9776 (2011) and
Nano Letters vol. 12 pg. 839 (2012) and download the pdfs of these papers.
To do this, after you click on 'journals' above enter the
journal name (Journal of Physical Chemistry B
and Nano Letters above). Go to the journal webpage (both of these are American
Chemical Society journals). Click on 'citation' in the upper right, then enter
the volume number and page and it should go to the paper. Then you can download
the pdf file and read the paper. The first paper is by me, and the second is
an interesting paper that develops a desalination battery -- it uses electricity
to turn salt water into fresh water. Besides energy issues, water issues will
also become a major issue in your lifetime -- they are already very important
in California. Do a quick search on water issues in California and read a little
bit about that.
Computer searches like we just did should work fine on campus, but from off-campus sites
you likely will have to login to the UC Libraries site (off-campus access) in order
to download papers, just letting you know.
Another great place to find and/or
look up research papers (and lots else) is on Google Scholar. There is a link to
Google Scholar if you go to the top of this page and click on 'Home', then scroll
down to the link. See you if you can find the above two papers on Google
Scholar.
2. Read/study lecture notes up to page 20.
1. In the U.S. we use roughly 7.1 toe per person per year of energy. Express this number
in kWh per day. Note this is the TOTAL energy used in the U.S. so it includes industrial
processes, etc. Now if you use 2 gal of gas per day for commuting in your car, how much
energy in kWh is that? How does that compare with the total energy consumption
per person?
2. Calculate the energy a laptop uses if running for 24 hr. A laptop uses about
45-55 W of power.
3. Calculate the energy to heat a house in the winter, per day. Heating a 'typical'
home takes between 5000 and 30000 kWh per year; let's use the figure of 15000 kWh
per year.
4. What did we just learn from these calculations about major uses of energy
in the U.S.? Can you think of other important energy consumption processes?
5. From one of the websites on your reading list, it is estimated that computers
consume about 3% of US power. Besides laptops and mobile devices, can you think
of other major computing facilities that might be major contributors to
this energy use?
1. Listen to the online link "Science of Smart" posted on our online resources page
(under the Quantitative Reasoning.... section).
2. Start watching the video series "Powering the Future" on Netflix
(as of 2015 this has been removed from Netflix; do a search on YouTube
and you will find it there). If you don't have
access to Netflix, search on the Top Documentaries website (linked near bottom of
online resources page) for energy-related videos and watch one of those.
3. Read/study the lecture notes up to pg. 24.
4. Start reading through some of the links in in online resources on
renewable/sustainable energy, and start thinking about choosing one of those
energy sources for further study. We will soon discuss some class projects
related to these topics.
1. I just attended a meeting in Columbus, OH at the Ohio Supercomputer Center. My only
option for getting to Columbus was to drive. Roughly how many kWh of energy did I
consume travelling to and from Columbus? Now imagine there was a train line going
from Cincinnati through Columbus to Cleveland. Let's say each day 300 people ride
that train. Can you estimate how much energy
per person is used for a round trip between Cincinnati and Columbus?
2. Make a similar estimate for commuting from Mason to downtown Cincinnati, assuming
the same number of passengers on the train. On my trip back from Columbus this
morning, there was a huge traffice jam at 8 AM in the Mason to Kenwood area, so
the traffic was moving at only about 5 mph. You might also consider the loss in
worker productivity for time spent in those traffic jams. Is there a way to
estimate those losses too?
1. Watch an online video, either on Netflix or Top Documentaries, about Tesla.
Tesla was a fascinating genious who influenced the development of electricity
a lot. He was also a tragic figure who died in poverty, while Edison died rich.
What were some reasons for this?
2. Find information that discusses why AC is better than DC for electric power
transmission.
1. Look online for information about the area of solar panels necessary to power
the entire world at the present time. I found some information at this
site. How many
miles on a side is this? What fraction of the world's energy usage comes from
the U.S.? Based on this information, how many miles on a side would a huge
'solar panel square' have to be to power the U.S.? Roughly what are the
dimensions of the state of Ohio?
2. How many homes are in the U.S.? If each home had 400 sq. ft. of solar panels,
what fraction of the required area in problem 1 would be covered?
1. Read the first 3 links under "Quantitative reasoning,..." in the online page.
2. Read the links under "History of Energy" in the online page.
3. Start reading the links under "Fossil Fuels" in the online page.
4. Read the lecture notes up to pg. 37.
1. If I consume 1000 kWh, how many toe is that?
2. Estimate what you spent on gas last year based on how many miles you drove
and the current cost of gas.
3. Convert -40 F to Centigrade and Kelvin temperatures. Do the same for 98.6 F.
4. If you drive 70 mi in an hour and consume 90 kWh of energy, what was your
average power consumption during that hour? (in kW)
For your first project you should pick a topic related to the syllabus listing of topics. It can be specific or more general. You should ok the project with me before starting. You should assemble teams of 3-5 people. You should each contribute about 1 page (single spaced) of material to the paper, and your name should appear on that page. Total length should thus be 3-5 pages. An example topic might be: why does the U.S. consume twice the energy of European countries, even though we have comparable standards of living? Other topics could be something related to nuclear energy, fossil fuels, environmental issues related to fossil fuels, or one of the renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.). Make your paper clear and concise, and include references at the end to your sources of information. The format should be: 1) introductory paragraph introducing the topic and what your paper is about. 2) basic background information about the topic 3) some more details about the topic 4) brief summary of your conclusions 5) the outlook for the future related to the topic. If you include a figure or figures (these are not counted in the number of pages) then you need to cite where the figure came from. The project is due Fri. Oct. 23, 2015. When you submit the paper it should be in pdf format, and I will post them all on the course website (with your approval).
1. Read/study the lecture notes up to page 41 (the first exam will cover up
to page 41).
1. Complete the problem discussed in class where you go through the details of
your energy consumption per day. We learned that the average American consumes
226 kWh per day. Using the info under the "Energy consummption by appliance"
link in the online materials, add up all of the energy you use in an average
day and see what you get. Also consider items like transportation, etc.
Finally, think about places where you could save energy. What would you be
willing to give up? Assuming you come up with less than 226 kWh, where does the
rest go?
1. Read lecture notes pages 42-60.
2. Read in online resources 'More history of energy', 'electricity',
'Tesla' and 'Edison'.
3. Read in online resources 'Fossil Fuels'.
4. Read in online resources 'Global warming' and 'Fracking'.
5. Read up on 'nuclear power' and 'fusion' in online resources.
1. Do online research to find out the best data on the history of the
temperature on earth. What are the maximum and minumum average temperatures
since life began on earth?
2. Before humans were capable to alter the earth's climate, what caused
the temperature swings? For example, what caused the last ice age
(roughly 18000 years ago)?
3. What role can the sun play in earth's climate?
4. Make a rough plot of the atmospheric CO2 content starting in about
1850 and going to the present time? By what factor has the CO2 level
increased? From your plot, make a rough estimate of the CO2 level
100 years from now, assuming it keeps growing as in the last century.
5. Do some online research to look for data on the behavior of the average
earth temperature since 1850. What is your best estimate for the
temperature rise (or fall) so far? What is your best estimate for
earth's temperature 100 years from now?
6. When do you project we will reach the 'peak oil' level of production?
What is 'peak oil'?
7. Take Einstein's famous formula E=mc^2. Take 1 kg of matter and assume
all of that matter is converted directly to energy. How much energy
in kWh is this? In class we heard that this is enough energy to take
care of the energy needs of 500000 people (Europeans) for a year. Of
course when we use uranium for nuclear energy, not all of the mass is
converted to energy, but this problem shows you how much energy is
stored in mass.
8. When will we run out of uranium for nuclear energy?
1. Read the online links under "Impacts of fossil fuels": "Earth's temperature history", "More recent earth's temperature history", and "More on climate history".
2. Read the online links under "Renewable/Sustainable": "Concerns about renewables", "EROI and renewables", "Another view on renewables in Germany", and "Is renewable E economically viable?".
3. Read about "Thorium" under "Nuclear" in online resources.
1. Roughly 200 million Americans drive cars, and the average mileage
per year is 13,500 mi. How many total miles do Americans drive? If
the average mileage is 25 mpg (actually it is 23.6), how many
gallons of gas are consumed? How many gallons of oil does that corrspond
to? How many barrells of oil is that? Calculate the total energy that
all of that gas corresponds to in kWh. Look online to find out how much
energy a typical coal plant and a typical nuclear plant produces in
a year. So how many coal plants or nuclear plants would it take to
power all our cars by electricity?
2. In light of the readings above, discuss reasons we should or should not
still pursue renewable energy sources for our future. Part of your answer
might include a discussion of the future values of EROI for some of the
energy sources.
3. You will notice in your readings that the current EROI is quite low
for solar. Discuss possible reasons for this based on your online
research.
1. We watched a video lecture by Robert Laughlin of Stanford. He
talked about what the energy future might look like in 200 years.
He asked three questions: 1) Will we be driving cars then? 2) Will
we be flying in airplanes then? 3) If we hit the light switch, will
the lights come on? I'd like for you to think about these
questions based on what he said and we can discuss this in
class. (The major point he made, as we've discussed in class,
is that the various fossil fuels will run out, starting with
oil and ending with coal.)
2. What did Laughlin discuss as a likely direction people will follow
for energy in the future?
3. Why does he think we will never live in a carbon-free world?
4. Read the paper before yours on the posted Project 1 list. You
should prepare one question for the author of that paper. If you
are first on the list, read the last paper.
1. Start making a quantitative prediction of what we can expect from
solar power over the next 50 years (using online info and the simple
calculation methods we have developed).
1. We are into the renewable/sustainable power sources part of the course
now. Please read the online listings starting with 'Solar' and moving
down the list.
2. What kind of scientific breakthrough do we need in order to make
solar a viable large-scale source for energy? Consider the economics
here.
3. Find a copy of the November 2014 National Geographic, either at home
or at a library, and read the article by Robert Kunzig called "Carnivore's
Dilemma." National Geographic is running a lot of articles on energy
and the environment and it would be great for you to watch for those.
1. Start making a quantitative prediction of what we can expect from
hydro power over the next 50 years (using online info and the simple
calculation methods we have developed).
2. Where can we find new sources of hydro power? And can we further
develop hydro on rivers that have already been used for hydro?
3. Let's say we drive 25 mi and use one gallon of gas (thus
using 33 kWh of energy). How much CO2
goes into the atmosphere? Now say we charge our electric car
overnight and then drive 25 mi. Assume that electricity came from a coal-fired
power plant. How much CO2 is released for the 33 kWh of energy
you use?
4. Go through our list of potential renewable power sources (solar, biofuels,
hydro, oceans tides/waves, wind, geothermal, and hydrogen) and use
our online resources to find out what fraction of world energy
production is coming
from each of these today. What fraction of total world energy
used in recent years comes from renewables? Do the same for the US
alone.
5. A harder problem is to estimate the potential of each of these sources,
since clearly there will be major technological developments we don't
know about today. Try to make an estimate though for each of the
renewable sources as to what it likely will provide in 50 years.
1. Read the online links to 'Renewable in Germany', 'More renewable in
Germany', 'Another view on renewables in Germany', and 'Renewable
energy in the US' and be ready
to discuss.
1. From the 'Solar by country (per capita)' link, calculate the power
generated in Germany per person from solar PV. How many kWh per day
is this (per person)? How much energy per day does it take to heat
a typical home? If on average 3 people live in a German home, how
much solar power per home are they generating? The result shows
that currently Germany can heat ALL of its homes with solar PV.
Do the same calculation for the U.S.
The second project has the same guidelines as the first project, with
a few changes. You can keep the same teams if you want but it would
be good to consolidate into somewhat larger teams of possible.
The first project was aimed at studying existing energy sources
such as renewables and nuclear, and giving an overview.
For the second project, as discussed extensively in class, I'd like
for you to study and design a renewable energy plan for either a
small village or for a neighborhood in a larger city, where either
one is in a developing, relatively poor country. You will need to
investigate what the living conditions are in your chosen location
and go from there. Creative solutions are encouraged!
1. Read the lecture notes up to page 87.
2. Read/review the discussion about 'energy future' from
the same link location as the lecture notes.
1. If the world consumes roughly a cubic mile of oil (CMO) per year, in terms of
this energy unit how much total energy does the world consume?
2. If the world has 46 CMO in reserves, how long will the oil last?
3. So the total world energy use is now about 3 CMO (oil plus natural gas
plus coal). By 2050 we will need at least 6 CMO to support the
increased population. Let's say we want 1 CMO of the 3 CMO increase to come
from coal. It turns out in order to get 1 CMO from coal, we need 5000
coal power plants. How many per week do we (the world) need to build to
attain this goal within 50 years?
4. Nuclear power now provides 0.2 CMO per year of energy. The total
uranium reserves are about 28 CMO equivalents. How many years left
do we have with uranium if we consume it at the current rate?
Now 1 CMO of energy is the same as 15.3 trillion kWh. A typical
nuclear reactor puts out about 6.7 billion kWh per year. How
many new reactors do we need to produce 1 CMO of energy per year?
How many reactors per week do we have to build to achieve this over
the next 50 years?