Elements Relfections

Think Past:
Before watching Hunting The Elements, I knew a moderate amout about atoms and elements. I knew that every atom had a proton, neutron, and electron. I also knew that ions have positive or negative charge and isotopes are different versions of an element because they have a different number of neutrons. I knew that the nucleus of an atom is very small to the scale of an atom. I knew that the elections were so small and fast, that all you can see in an electron microscope is just a small cloud surrounding the nucleus. I also knew that some atoms swap electoms, which can cause a big explosion. I knew that if you split a uranium or plutonium atom in half, it would cause a chain reaction and cause a big explosion.

Think Present:
I learned a lot from this video. I learned that atoms are highly organized and have distinct properties. I learned about atom decaying and radioactivity and learned about how people think carbon dating works. I also learned some atoms are willing to share electons more than others. Overall, I learned a lot from this video about atoms and elecments.

Think Future:
I will pit this knowledge to use someday. This will better help me understand how the world works and answere some of me curiosities. I'm not interested in science in the future, but it is pretty cool to know new things.

Solar Cookers. How They Work And Benefits.

Third world countries in Africa and all over the World use most of their income just on fossil fuels to cook their foods. These families are struggling just to make enough money to survive. In the jungles of Africa, trees are being chopped down faster than they grow back. This is also devastating for families in need of wood to cook their food. Fossil fuels are one of the most expensive type of fuels people can buy, but it doesn't keep as long. Families are dying from smoke and fumes caused by these fuels. But worst of all, people who can't event afford these types of energy are dying from starvation, infection and disease because they can pasteurize their water.

But, there is a solution to this problem...Solar Cookers! Solar cookers prevent disease, infection, toxic death, and are cost affective. Families don't have to worry about not affording any type of energy, so they can heat up their water, from the sun, to prevent diseases. Solar energy is clean, and don't have to worry about toxic fumes. The Jungles and forests can also benefit from this because there would be a decline in lumbering, which can allow more trees to grow and replenish the forests. 

There are 3 main types of solar cookers, panel, box, and parabolic cookers. You can't really cook with parabolic cookers because it would most likely burn your food. But you can still cook with a box and panel cooker. Well you may be asking then,"How do solar cookers work?" There are four main materials that you need to make a solar cooker: cardboard, black spray paint, aluminum foil or mirror,  and an insulator like plastic wrap to keep the heat in without letting it escape. 

1. When the sun comes out, the light rays will bounce off the reflective surface on one of the panels, and will redirect light to wherever its pointed. Remember, light bounces at the same angles it came in. 

2. Black spraypaint will  insulate the box by absorbing more of the Sun's heat.

3. The plastic wrap will further  insulate the box by making sure that no heat escapes. 

4. In no time, food will be cooked just right, it may not have the same taste as wood, but it is cheaper and lasts forever.

All in all, the solar cooker is the right thing to cook with in countries faced with poverty. And people looking to save money on cooking food. For more, check out this link:
http://www.solarcookers.org/

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Minimum-Solar-Box-Cooker.jpeg

Niemtschk,a.1-7-15. Bennefits to Solar Cooking.www.solarcookers.org. Accessed Jan, 2015.