Visit to the Green Energy Center

A few weeks ago, our school visited a student-experiment center. Located in this center are a wide range of subjects, or careers that one can choose from. I decided to use this opportunity to visit the Green Energy Center where I could learn more about renewable energy.

To begin with, the center was well-facilitated with laboratory-style walls and materials. The walls were designed with picture tiles of different (chemical) elements. This enabled educators of the laboratory to point out specific elements needed for the given project. At the same time, students who were unfamiliar with the subject could easily learn the facts by simply looking around.

Provided with beakers, lab gowns, steel bowls and texting tools, the center was adequate for experimenting and learning.

The project that I would like to introduce today is the ?Hydride-Battery Design Program?.

In this program, students can hypothesize, construct, and share the results of a simple Hydride-Battery making experiment. With all the appropriate materials of a lab-environment, the experiment allows students to truly get involved.

People who are just a bit interested in science would surely know of Lavoisier?s experiments. One of the most notable was proving that ?water? was not an element, and it was a mixture of the elements ?H? and ?O?. In the experiment, he divided water with a special device.

After a long time, people started to wonder what would happen if we did the experiment the other way Mixing H and O would be a different experiment.

Of course, when they carried out the experiment, they discovered that 2 H  s and an O would make water.

This idea was what later led to creating today?s hydride-battery.

Now, lets quickly go over the steps and conditions of designing the battery.
 
Firstly, we must wear gloves to start the experiment. Then, we are to put thin layers of films on top of each other. The layers are placed on top of a glassy rectangular surface. After that, a few more layers are added and another glassy rectangle is placed on top of everything, like a sandwich. When this is over, we must put the screws and nuts in the right places. Without caution in the process, hydrogen gas may spill out in later steps. When the screws and nuts are fixed, a hose is connected to the battery. This is one battery. To make a mini-power runner, 20 of these batteries should be put together.

If you connect the 20 batteries together, you will notice that together, they are able to move a fan. The better the battery, the faster the fan runs.

In order to make a hydride-battery powered car, more than 200 of batteries are needed. Added up with the other car parts, the car will cost over $100, 000.

Now, you would wonder why this small battery costs so much.

 A hydride-battery is a battery powered by hydrogen (H), an element that many scientists are paying enormous attention on. Making a hydride-battery is not complicated, yet the cost for putting it to usage on a daily basis is considerably high. The battery is still facing many problems in terms of safety, because of the unstable properties of hydrogen. Yet if we find the right solutions to these problems, our homes would soon be powered by full-clean, renewable energy sources.

Remember the small films put in between the glassy rectangles? One of the films are made out of platinum, a catalyst. Yet..as we all know, platinum is one of the most valued, expensive elements. Due to this problem, it takes a lot to make even a single hydride-battery.

People have been making endless attempts to refine this matter. Some scientists tried using nickel as a catalyst instead of platinum. Using nickel noticeably lessened the cost, but its effectiveness was far behind platinum.

Still, we are not losing hope for the widespread of hydride-batteries. Down the line, scientists are hoping that hydrogen-powered cars will be utilized by the whole population.

As a part of all this, we can take action and get involved. Through laboratory programs and lectures like this, students can learn a lot about renewable, green energy sources that will help the future of our planet.