Spring SAVY 2019, Day 5 – The Water-Energy Nexus (5th/6th)

Posted by morganr1 on Monday, February 25, 2019 in Grade 5, Grade 6, SAVY.

Water-Energy Nexus, Lesson 4: Biofuels and Transportation

The class this Saturday was a bit on the lighter side (8 or 9 students), but the tighter atmosphere allowed for deeper and more lengthy conversation.

· We began by going over the class expectations (respect, raise your hand, don’t touch the experimental materials until instructed) and the outline of events for the day

· Then we went over some of the items discussed in the previous class (oil-water separation, oil clean-up methods, and chemical polarity)

· Then, we completed a crossword puzzle that included descriptions of various forms of energy conversion, energy usage, and energy distribution

· Then, we discussed the answers to the crossword puzzle

· Then, we looked at a pie chart for the global carbon footprint by country, and discussed in small groups and as a class the potential reasons for the trends shown in the graph

· Then, we looked at the sectors of American society in which greenhouse gas emissions are concentrated

· Then, we discussed several background concepts related to biofuel production (ethanol, biodiesel, and fermentation)

· Then, we conducted our biofuels experiment and discussed the implications of the results, which we will view next week (the yeast takes about 1 week to produce observable fermentation products)

· Then, we discussed the forces acting on a moving car and the forces that are within our control to minimize to increase the efficiency of fuel usage

· Then, we conducted our balloon car experiments, which we will continue next week

· Lastly, we wrote journal entry summaries of the day and the class was dismissed

Kofi Christie