Today, our group managed to greatly improve on our experiments from last class. We managed to further compare different potential sources of energy to the miniature solar panels. This was done by hooking up an ammeter to a grapefruit, then the solar panel, then a battery. We found that the battery was the best source of electricity, but we know that the solar panel would last much longer since it can get recharged very easily by the sun and won’t need to be replaced. Overall, I think our second class with the miniature solar panel turned out well.

In Engineering class, we have started an experiment to see whether or not miniature sized solar panels could be useful and efficient to our class, and potentially the world. The group I was part of managed to compare the electricity potentially produced by the mini solar panel, versus that of a grapefruit. It turned out that the grapefruit gave off more electricity than the mini-solar panel, but this is more than likely because there was not a great multitude of light outside and the lights of the room were our main source for the panels. However, we will attempt to improve this upon our next class and try to achieve better results.

Stuff

    In our Advanced Engineering class, our teacher Mr. Van Kouwenberg had assigned us to make biodiesel. We had to draw up the blueprints, find materials, build the model, register for a patent on the design, and finally make the biodiesel using our design. We began building the biodiesel during November 2007. Mr. VK (Van Kouwenberg) split our class up into groups and assigned each group an area of the model to work on. My partner Mithun and I worked on the settling tanks. Cutting out the shape, molding the pieces to fit together, connecting the funnel to the bottom and such. Mithun and I did this for both for the large settling tanks and worked partially on the methanoic acid tank.

    We began this project so that cheaper, efficient, and cleaner fuel would be available to the world. This design would especially benifit South and Central America and developing countries. 

place your patent claim paragraphs here

1. The use of a flow process to produce biodiesel. A continuous method of producing the alternative fuel and purifying in it so that there is never a period of rest during the process. This process is more effective than a bathc process because it requires no time to stop and make changes, etc.

2. The order in which the tanks and materials were set up. A set order of where each part will be during the process in relation to the other parts. When each part of the process comes into use and where the substances inside the parts will be transferred is specifically set up.

16. The use of a jamming piece in the main container for the biodiesel. This is the small container with a sliding/hinged component that will allow the separation of lye from biodiesel. First, the lye will sink from the main container into the smaller container with the jamming piece because the lye is denser. Then, the jamming piece slides into place and keeps the biodiesel separated from the lye. Through the use of this component, the biodiesel that is produced from this process can be pure.

Please reply to this blog, we will use that as a way to brainstorm 

Here is a summary of some brainstorming about what we could/should film:

****Environmental effects of Biodiesel
***What is biodiesel
**How do you make biodiesel
*Why is Biodiesel better than other energy sources
*Positives/negatives of class project
Why should people care?
*Economic benefits
Political ramification

Environmental:
1) BD is a cleaner fuel source
6) We don’t want to die
Renewable resource
Recyclable
Less effort to produce
5) Lower emission/ less acid rain

how to tell the story?
Need a strong plan before you shot
Stick to story line

Class project:
SLA background info
Class background
Biodiesel
Batch vs flow
Blueprints
Construction
Testing
End goal: Ecuador and school energy

I'm sorry, but with my hard-drive crashing I don't have the earlier brainstorms. 

When Mr. Vank talked to us about the bio-diesel, none of us knew what it was. But then, as time passed by, we started to comprehend what bio-diesel is. We researched on the Internet how to make it and made up a list with all the procedures in order to actually produce this kind of combustible.
After a while Mr. VK explained to us that we weren’t going to make bio-diesel in the well-known way, which creates poor quality fuel. He described the “flow process”, a better method, which thanks to it, the BD is more efficient and effective. After that class, things started to get serious.
We created a series of blueprints, each of them representing the actual bio-diesel machine. We spent a lot of time in doing this. There was just another thing to do before acting practically: pricing all the component of the BD device. Mr. VK kind of “pressured” us in order to do it well. In fact we did it very accurately, counting every needed penny.
Finally it was time to get the stuff and build the bio-diesel implement. Now we are still working on it, by folding sheet of aluminum, cutting metal and bending tubes.
I didn’t imagine this project would have become so big: we found a way to improve the bio-diesel and we are actually building the machine. That’s just incredible. I hope our contribution will encourage other schools in order to research other environmentally friendly combustibles.

In September of 2007, my classmates and I at Science Ledership Academy began a project on bio-deisel and how to buid a reactor.During this project I have been researching bio-diesel, what it is, and how it works. Before I started my research, I did not know anything about bio-diesel, I have never even herd about it. I have also learned the importance of bio-diesel and why it could be such a big topic. When I first read about it, I thought it was genius. Who ever even though about inventing something so useful and easy to make was a very intelligent person. Then I thought about how much of a good idea it was for my classmates and I to begin a project to create our own bio-diesel. I knew that it would be both a fun and educational experience. One I would be learning about bio-diesel, and two I would be learning how to build my own.

    Well when we started this class back in September my immediate though was i should have picked art or maybe even digital video. It took me awhile to realize what would actually I had been getting myself into. After the first week of classes, I began to realize that my point of view on this class had changed. No longer did I think that I would like to be somewhere else ,but now i had realized what great I could do. After all that i had seen and did i could could create something great for a not only local problem but a global one. As the days began to progress more and more the possibility of building this became a reality. About a month into this project we were working on blueprints for different for all of the parts of the machine.  At that time was the time i realized that this was real and if we messed it wasn’t something where we could just start over we actually had someone depending on us other than just my teacher's hope of the project but we had real everyday living people, and once we realized that. That is when we began to propel in our work habits.