For years, humans have been trying to find alternative sources of energy. Civil engineers have tried to find ways to have a cleaner environment, but at the same time, produce enough energy to make it practical. In the past, humans have relied heavily on fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil). More recently, scientists have experimented with cleaner sources of energy like solar, biofuels, and hydrogen-based energy. Early in the 21st century, civil engineers created a proof of concept of microbial fuel cell. These complex fuel cells mimic natural bacterial exchanges in nature and currents are created. The biggest hurdle civil engineers face is how to harvest the currents and how to convert them to energy. It is important to experiment with microbial fuel cells due to the fact that if scientists are able to magnify and collect the amount of electricity produced, the world will have a more reliable source of renewable energy cost effectively.
Today, microbial fuel cells are being used in breweries and wastewater treatment plants. In the case of breweries, the employees use microbial fuel cells to produce the energy that they need from their waste. This is more cost effective than coal or oil since the [fuel] cell runs off of the plant’s waste. A microbial fuel cell is a source of energy that harnesses bacteria to create electricity. In order for this reaction to start, there needs to be a catalyst between hydrogen and oxygen. A catalyst is a special material which facilitates a reaction between oxygen and hydrogen.
Microbial fuel cells use bacteria called exoelectrogens that can directly transfer electrons to a material or a chemical (the anode) that doesn’t normally accept electrons (Bruce E. Logan 12), to generate energy. The bacteria re...
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...or the best organism, the benthic mud should be retrieved from a lower order stream, or a stream with multiple sources.
Figure 1 demonstrates the design of a microbial fuel cell..
Figure 1(Mercer): 1 shows the bacteria on the anode. 2. shows the electron flow from the anode and into the circuit. 5. shows the creation of new water
The only way to make the fuel cells practical is if they can be scaled up and produce a larger amount of energy. The cost will also have to be balanced against the design to make the fuel cell a cost efficient way to generate power. The same constraints apply to solar panel, until recently, when researchers found a more cost effective way of making the cell. The goal of this project is to make a fully working microbial fuel cell (MFC) that is able to produce a volt with an amperage of 10 milliamps with a cost of under $150.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
A poem that incorporates the oppression of the people living in Martinique, and the political uprising of Martinique during French colonization would be “Out of Alien Days” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire especially uses examples of imagery and tone to express the ideas of oppression and political revolution to focus on the forms of literature he describes. Along with examples of the literary elements, there should be an explanation of Cesaire’s usage of image and tone that explains the author’s main message in “Out of Alien Days.” In “Out of Alien Days,” Aime Cesaire uses the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone to illustrate the problems of the French colonization in Martinique. Cesaire constructs a definitive path in his poem where he is calling for change in Martinique, and rallying his people against the French empire. This paper is about introducing the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone along with examples used by Cesaire in “Out of Alien Days,” and an interpretation of the literary elements in connection to Cesaire’s theme in the poem.
The literary device, author’s voice, is the individual writing style of an author. It is a combination of diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text. There are many examples of how author’s voice affects the meaning of a text in the classic book, Night, a book about the life and thoughts of a young Jewish boy going through the Holocaust, as well as in “A Spring Morning”, a short story about the results of having a kid while Germany is in control of Poland. These examples include: when the author is foreshadowing, when the author is writing about someone is being told to obey, and when the author is writing about a loved one dying.
In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” symbolism, allegory, and myth stand out when thinking about the characters, setting, and conflict in the story. The conflict is between the mother and her two daughters (Maggie and Dee). There is also the conflict between the family’s heritage (symbolized by the quilt, bench, and butter chum) and their different ways of life. Dee chose a new African name, moved to the city, and adopted a new way of life while Maggie and her mother have stay behind. The quilt (the most important symbol) represents the family’s heritage in that it is made of scraps of clothing worn by generations of family members. The quilt has been sewn by family hands and used on family beds. It has seen history and is history. Maggie and her mother see that that history is alive but Dee thinks it is as dead as her name. Dee does not see that name as part of her heritage. By analyzing these symbols, a number of possibilities for a theme can be seen. Walker could be suggesting that to understand the African-American heritage, readers have to include the present as well as the past. However, the theme could be that poverty and a lack of sophistication and education cannot be equated with ignorance. Lastly, she could be telling her readers that dignity or self-respect rise from and are virtually connected to one’s entire heritage- not just a selected part of it.
Fuel cells could create new markets for steel, electronics, electrical and control industries and other equipment suppliers. They could provide tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and reduce trade deficits.
“The Tired Man” Poem Anna Wickham -couples need to understand each other’s needs&desires-in a relationship, there must be give and take- couples must be alike to have a successful relationship. Simile – “wild as a hillstream”,“night as black as ink”RhymeRepetition –“sit I am a quiet gentle man” “ Oh give me a woman of my race”
The oxidized water that the unit produces has a low pH level of 4, the redox potential is between +700 to +800 mV, and it gains its ability to oxidize and sterilize due to its shortage of electrons.
In “Oxford Concise Dictionary Literary Terms” by Chris Baldick, characterization is defined as the representation of persons in narrative and dramatic works which include direct and indirect methods in inviting the readers to infer qualities from characters’ actions, speech, or appearance. However, modals in literature context serve as an eye opener to the personality and traits of the characters in short stories. It enables the readers to learn of the characters’ abilities, capabilities, prohibitions, obligations and so forth. The appearance of modals in literary texts serves its own specific purposes in accordance to the author’s wish. In David Leavitt’s “Territory” which describes the relationship between a mother (Mrs. Campbell) and her son (Neil) who is a homosexual, gives me an interest to explore and find out more about the characters. Through the use of modals found in the extract, it enables me to go in depth and examine the characterization in the story.
Fuel Cells” the author states, “ Sir William Grove discovered that it may be possible to generate electricity by reversing the electrolysis of water.” But it wasn’t until 1889 when two researchers looked further into Sir William Grove’s studies. In the article “History of Fuel Cells” the author says, “Charles Langer and Ludwig Mond, coined the term ‘fuel cell’ as they were trying to engineer the first practical fuel cell using air and coal gas.” After Langer and Mond’s discovery Frances Bacon developed what was close to being the first fuel cell in 1959. In the article “History of Fuel Cells” the author declares, “It was not until 1959 that Bacon and company first demonstrated a practical five-kilowatt fuel cell system.” In the late 1950’s NASA began experimenting with fuel cells by using them for compact electricity generators. Fuel cells have now supplied electricity for many space missions. In the article “History of Fuel Cells” the author states, “In more recent decades, a number of manufacturers - including major auto makers - and various federal agencies have supported ongoing research into the development of fuel cell technology for use in fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and other applications. Fuel cell energy is now expected to replace traditional power sources in coming years - from micro fuel cells to be used in cell phones to high-powered fuel cells for stock car racing.”
Bacterial cells, like plant cells, are surrounded by a cell wall. However, bacterial cell walls are made up of polysaccharide chains linked to amino acids, while plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, which contains no amino acids. Many bacteria secrete a slimy capsule around the outside of the cell wall. The capsule provides additional protection for the cell. Many of the bacteria that cause diseases in animals are surrounded by a capsule. The capsule prevents the white blood cells and antibodies from destroying the invading bacterium. Inside the capsule and the cell wall is the cell membrane. In aerobic bacteria, the reactions of cellular respiration take place on fingerlike infoldings of the cell membrane. Ribosomes are scattered throughout the cytoplasm, and the DNA is generally found in the center of the cell. Many bacilli and spirilla have flagella, which are used for locomotion in water. A few types of bacteria that lack flagella move by gliding on a surface. However, the mechanism of this gliding motion is unknown. Most bacteria are aerobic, they require free oxygen to carry on cellular respiration. Some bacteria, called facultatibe anaerobes can live in either the presence or absence of free oxygen. They obtain energy either by aerobic respiration when oxygen is present or by fermentation when oxygen is absent. Still other bacteria cannot live in the presence of oxygen. These are called obligate anaerobes. Such bacteria obtain energy only fermentation. Through fermentation, different groups of bacteria produce a wide variety of organic compounds. Besides ethyl alcohol and lactic acid, bacterial fermentation can produce acetic acid, acetone, butyl alcohol, glycol, butyric acid, propionic acid, and methane, the main component of natural gas. Most bacteria are heterotrophic bacteria are either saprophytes or parasites. Saprophytes feed on the remains of dead plants and animals, and ordinarily do not cause disease. They release digestive enzymes onto the organic matter. The enzymes breakdown the large food molecules into smaller molecules, which are absorbed by the bacterial cells. Parasites live on or in living organisms, and may cause disease. A few types of bacteria are Autotrophic, they can synthesize the organic nutrients they require from inorganic substances. Autotrophic bacteria are either photosynthetic or Chemosynthetic. The photosynthetic bacteria contain chlorophyll that are different from the plant chlorophyll. In bacterial photosynthesis, hydrogen is obtained by the splitting of compounds other than water.
Since development and invention takes time and money, some people question if it’s worth the effort. Some scientist are looking into another way for clean solution that doesn’t require as much funding and as much time.
The fuel cell manufactured by Ballard Power Systems is fuel cell that requires hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity. The fuel cell itself consists of two flow field plates, and two thin sheets of catalysts with a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane or Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) in between (see Figure 1). The hydrogen is fed in through one plate and oxygen collected from the air in another – on either side of the membrane. Of the two electrodes on is the anode and the other is the cathode. The hydrogen reaches the ano...
Water and energy are linked to each other. Making fresh water available is an energy-intensive process and generating power often requires a large amount of fresh water as saline water could not be used in machineries. As an emerging technology, forward osmosis has shown great promise in both water supply and energy
The energy extracted today by the burning of coal and petroleum products represents sunlight energy captured and stored by photosynthesis almost 200 million years ago. A third very interesting group of bacteria synthesize sugars, not by using sunlight’s energy, but by extracting energy from inorganic chemical compounds; In a (d) deep sea vent, chemoautotrophs, such as these (e) thermophilic bacteria, capture energy from inorganic compounds to produce organic compounds.
Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on the earth. It can be found in the oceans as well as the atmosphere. Over the last few years, talk about the future of hydrogen power has grown from a whisper to a roar. The use of hydrogen is not just the burning of the gas, but of its use in a fuel cell. Fuel cells might be the device that causes the extinction of the internal combustion engine. A fuel cell is a device that produces electricity from a fuel and an oxidizer, a substance that combines with the fuel. The fuel and oxidizer react chemically at two separate electrodes to produce the direct electric current; These cells use hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen as the oxidizer. Hydrogen power could be the silver bullet to the current and future energy situation.