After performing our sunlight angle experiment with the Clinometers (I found out the proper name for them), we found the average sunlight angles. The average angle that sunlight hits our school from the West is 20°. The average angle East of our school is 30°. Using this data, we will know effective angles to set up solar panels on our schools roof so that we can potentially collect as much energy/power/electricity as possible to help towards making our school Green in the future. 

We have come to an agreement in class on what type of experiment to perform. In order to find the sunlight angles, we will be doing an experiment based on our 9th grade Geometry projects. We will have a viewing tube attached to protractors with sting and weights. As we look up to see the tops of the buildings where sunlight, the weight will pull the string down and show us the angle at which sunlight hits our school. Each group will have their own viewing/angle device and use it to find the sunlight angles at several different points to get an average sunlight angle in the polar directions, east and west from our school.

Now, we are in the midst of finding where the sun strikes the school at different positions. We are discussing how to set up an experiment that will allow us to find the angles that sunlight hits SLA with relative accuracy. Since there are many other buildings around the school, many taller in fact, we know the sunlight angles will be different depending on where we look, so we are also discussing a way to address this in our experiments.

Hannah Feldman
Blog Post 4

Coal is dirty. Now, I’m assuming we all know that, as coal is black and leaves coal powder on your hand if you touch it.  But what, then, is “clean coal”? I’m not about to rail on the dangers of coal and why we should just plain stop using it as an energy source, because we as a nation can’t just stop cold turkey.

My point: “More than 60 percent of all coal mined in the United States today, in fact, comes from strip mines.” This comes from an article in the Washington Post . “Millions of acres across 36 states have been dynamited, torn and churned into bits by strip mining in the last 150 years.” Is it because the coal companies couldn’t think of a better way to mine coal? Maybe. At least now there are other options.

Hopefully people will buy into alternate energy sources. My father’s house and synagogue are powered by wind energy, an option offered by PECO. My father reports that wind power (as opposed to whatever energy source is normal) costs him five extra dollars a month. That is it.

I cannot think of any real downfalls of wind energy. Taking the sleeper train from Philadelphia to Chicago, we passed through West Virginia. On top of many lovely mountains, we saw wind turbines. One argument I have heard against wind power is that the turbines mar the landscape. I have to disagree. I think they look nice. They’re tall and majestic. Also, I know they produce a fraction of the greenhouse gases of other energy sources, and that makes me like them even more.

I strongly encourage you to read the rest of the article. It is informative and scary. More later.