Luke+Swomley

One thing that I thought was interesting about this article was that the black rubber pieces used to cushion falls on an "Astroturf" field are recycled rubber from ground up tires. But, the rubber on the track is virgin rubber polymers, meaning it is the first time it is being used. It is also very good at absorbing heat, I have noticed this through my own experiences as well.
 * Polymers in the Field**

I read the article titled Turning the Tide on Harnessing the Ocean's Abundant Energy. One thing that I found was interesting was that different types of turbines are used in different locations. A tube like structure is used in the ocean to collect tidal power, where in rivers, the power is harnessed from turning a windmill-like turbine. This subject applies to our thermochemistry unit in class because they talk about how many megawatts and kilowatt-hours of electrical energy they can produce. I found it interesting that one area could create 10 megawatts of power. One megawatt of power, according to the article could power about 800 homes, wich means a total o 8,000 homes. Althought per unit it is currently more expensive than other types of energy, with more testing and researching, it can become competitively priced.
 * Harnessing Tidal Power of Oceans and Rivers**

Einstein's Miracle year In the article Einstein's miracle year, the thing that I found most interesting was that the type of light is more important for getting photons to be released rather than intensity. Einstein also helped in calculating the dimensions of an atom through using an experiment using dust particles and their affect on water, Through this, he was able to compute the dimensions of a molecule. This is pertinent to what we are doing in class because often times, we need the dimensions of am atom to figure out how much energy a substance can produce. I also thought it was interesting how when traveling the speed of light, time on a clock from the original source does not change because in relation to you the light will never reach you, therefore you can only see the clock in the state that it was. So, it appears not to change.

=Different Looks of the Periodic Table= In the article the Many Looks of the Periodic Table, I found it interesting that the table was not always a table, and the elements had previously been aranged in the shape of circles, spirals, and other curves. I particularly liked the idea of moving hydrogen to the halogen row. This would make it right next to helium on the original table and make a perfect triad with Fluorine and Chlorine. I also think that the changed configuration suggested by Scerri makes the table easier to understand, making the noble gases at the beginning of the table because they are the least reactive. This connects to what we have learned in class because it would mess up the trends in the current table. With the halogens also jumping to the beginning of the period, ionization energy, atomic radius, and effective nuclear charge would change.