Density Of Liquids

A couple of weeks ago, our class did a lab on density. Our task was to make a density column. Reading the lab instruction sheet sparked a couple of thoughts into my head. One was the approach I was to take for this lab assignment. The other thought was: Is the word "density column" was it a widely used word? Or was it made up for this experiment. Also, looking at the picture quickly reminded me of the lava lamp I made with oil and salt water a long time ago. During the two days I worked on the lab, I managed to look up "density column" and forget about my lava lamp.

The lab was really fun, I could remember everything precisely. My lab partners and I developed a strategy. When we arrived at our table we could smell the strong aroma of vinegar (ketchup). The approach we took was to measure the density of each liquid using a triple beam balance. After that, we would calculate the densities and place them in order from greatest to least. Finally, we would take the cup and replace the numbers with the actual liquids. This procedure worked out well, we created the density column with great precision. The liquids we never revealed to us, they were only labeled A, B, C, D, and G. My best guess was that G was corn syrup, D was molasses, C was certainly ketchup, I was told A was Kool-Aid, and B was antifreeze.

If you recall, as I was doing the lab, I tried to look up "density column". It turns out that that word was not listed in the dictionary. When I Googled the word, there was no Wikipedia article on it, and Although Wikipedia can not be trusted, the website has articles on practically everything. What I did get from Googling is many lab sheets like the ones we did at school.

I believe the experiment was great. The purpose I think was to aid and improve our density calculations. I believe we met the purpose. I also enjoyed working with the pipettes, graduate cylinder, and mostly, the triple beam balance. In my opinion, I think the density column should get a little more credit, maybe I can start a Wiki article on it!

Elec-TREE-city

Have you heard the warning that you should not be under a tree during a thunder storm? Have you wondered why? Well, Washington University's Babak Parviz is putting the answer to your wonder to use. For a long time, scientists have known that plants could conduct electricity. This sounds great for the energy crisis we have right now right? No, a Maple tree only generates a measly few hundred millivolts worth of electricity, barely enough to power a small, simple circuit, such as to power a LED light. The scientists built a device to amplify the voltage. They built something sinilar to a capacitor. It collects the volts, some as little as 20 millivolts and builds it up to as much as 1.1 volts, enough to run small sensors. The rig used to collect the electricity from the trees is different from a battery, but the two electrodes (zinc and copper) are the same. What practical use does this have? This electricity can run sensors that detect forest fires, an event that is increasing in these warmer times.

I think this is an excellent idea, though it does not seem like a practical one. yes, it can run sensors that detect forest fires, and that is a good thing of course, but I believe this could only be kept there. This could maybe run sensors to detect illigal logging. Other than that, there isn't much potential.

This article can be found by clicking on the followig link: http://www.livescience.com/environment/090915-trees-electricity.html