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Do Now. Justify why we use fossil fuels in power plants, even if they are bad for the environment. Why Not Battery Power?. Introduction. We hear a lot about the negative aspects of fossil fuels in the news
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Do Now • Justify why we use fossil fuels in power plants, even if they are bad for the environment.
Introduction • We hear a lot about the negative aspects of fossil fuels in the news • Being so progressive and environmentally-minded, we are going to design a house which runs completely on batteries • Unfortunately, high-voltage batteries can be expensive, so you need to try to keep the cost as low as possible
Your Goal • We have a 7 devices in our house that we need to power, and each device has a minimum voltage that it needs to run at (on the next slide) • You also have a list of half-reactions in front of you, along with their reduction potentials, and cost per unit • Your goal is to come up with the most cost-efficient combination of batteries to power all of the devices in your house
List of Devices and Minimum Required Voltages • 1) Pick two half-reactions • 2) Determine the number of batteries required • 3) Calculate the cost for each of the half-cells • 4) Calculate the total battery’s cost • 5) Multiply by the number of batteries required (if necessary) • Alarm clock: 0.6V • Microwave: 2V • TV: 24V • Xbox 360: 7V • Water heater: 3V • Laptop computer: 12V • Overhead light: 4V
Environmental Impact of Heavy Metal Mining • Heavy metals tend to gather in clusters underground • If you dig to reach heavy metals that you want, you can also disturb metals you don’t (e.g., arsenic, mercury) • If those metals end up reaching groundwater, it can have far-reaching environmental impacts • Copper mine near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Other Environmental Impacts of Heavy Metal Mining • Cost and danger of digging tunnels through the ground can be extremely high • Other methods besides tunneling: • Strip mining (deforestation) • Mountaintop removal mining • Fracking (hydraulic fracturing)
Battery Recycling • Even if we were able to get all of these batteries, what do we do with them after we are done? • Could just dump them in the trash – basically free • Where would chemicals in the landfill end up going? • Recycling the can be very expensive (in the chemistry classroom as well)