Chelsea+Bush


 * Polymers in the Field**

I knew that a track or football field could be made from artificial surfaces, but I found it interesting that tennis courts could be made from artificial surfaces as well. The tennis courts are poured, and have no seams, or uneven surfaces like there are on clay courts or grass courts. These courts are 100% acrylic with added pigments. The courts are also cushioned more because of the polymeric fibers. The added cushioning can prove beneficial to people with joint problems. Tennis is hard on your joints, but the new cushioned acrylic courts could be easier on your body, which would work well with elderly people. I hope that sometime I can play on a tennis court made with an acrylic surface.


 * How Does Solar Power Work?**

I read the article "How does solar power work," and I learned a few interesting things. I have seen solar panels on houses and satellites before, but I never really knew what they were made of, and how they were able to harness the energy from sunlight and convert it into usable energy for powering homes. The older technology uses silicon crystals, and when light hits the silicon, the electrons move up an energy level to create usable energy. I did not know this before, and I realized that solar power does have a direct correlation to chemistry. There are now newer materials that are being used for solar powered energy, however they are not as effective at absorbing heat energy as the silicon. Scientists are trying to shy away from using silicon for solar power, because the crystals are very expensive to grow, but as of now, the silicon crystals are still the most effective. If scientists want to retire fossil fuels, then they need to develop cheaper, more effective ways to harness light energy, and that would involve finding new materials to use in solar power. Perhaps a synthetic mixture of elements would work better?

I thought it was really interesting how the photoelectric effect was discovered. Based on Newton's laws, it was assumed that the more intense the light, the more electrons would leave a metal surface. But when experimenting, the amount of electrons that were left the metal remained unaffected by the intensity of the light. They kept increasing, and increasing the intensity, and still, nothing happened. But when Einstein started changing the frequency of the light that was being reflected off of the metal, there were electrons that started coming off. The higher the frequency was increased, the more electrons were reflected. From this initial discovery, he also found that each individual metal has a threshold for frequency. The intensity of the light comes into play when the metal is at its threshold frequency. The higher intensity of the light causes the electrons to leave the metal faster than they would at a lower intensity. This can be explained by the higher frequency giving the electrons enough energy to leave the metal. The effect of intensity is that the more intense the light, the more photons are being transferred to the metal, therefore the electrons leave faster. I can't imagine the amount of patience required to make that kind of a discovery. I wonder how long Einstein attempted this experiment before finding conclusive results.
 * Einstein's Miracle Year**

While reading this article, I was surprised to find that there was more than one type of layout for the periodic table. In addition to the traditional periodic table there are also Scerri's periodic table, the Chemical Galaxy, the Periodic Spiral, and the periodic table in three dimensions. I think that I will stick to the traditional periodic table because some of the other options sounded pretty confusing. I thought that Scerri's periodic table sounded like a lot of trouble to understand, when the classic periodic table is readily available. However, I did like the look of the periodic spiral. It looks like it may be easier to spot elements, and it just was visually appealing. I wonder if future chemistry teachers will use some of the newer periodic table trends in for teaching instead of the traditional periodic table...
 * The Many Looks of the Periodic Table****