Help

[Ashun]

I'm very new in sci. Buddy.
May be this not right place.
I want to ask what are the basic things to do for my National level science project "ENERGY:Exploration, harness & conservation"(I'm from India)
Thanks.

[Ashun]

How smoke from polythene burning or vehicles can be converted into electricity.
Please give me some idea for my Project:Energy & society.

[Ashun]

I need! I need quick reply.

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

Welcome to Science Buddies!

There are several energy-related project ideas on the Science Buddies website. Please review these and pick a topic that you are interested in investigating further:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... vanced&p=1

You seem to be interested in doing a project on recycled energy, and this would definitely be a unique and challenging project. Here is a general article on this topic.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialse ... -Heat.html

I recommend doing additional background reading by searching on topics like “recycled energy” and “smoke to energy” preferably using for articles that have been published in the scientific literature. This will help narrow your topic down so that you will be able to ask a question that will be answered by your carefully controlled experiment.

The guide for doing a science project on the Science Buddies Website should provide helpful information also:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-93346]

Donna gave good advice when she said "I recommend doing additional background reading by searching on topics like “recycled energy” and “smoke to energy” preferably using for articles that have been published in the scientific literature". A tip for searching is to use Google Scholar to do the web searches -- it searches preferentially for scientific and other scholarly articles. The URL for this search engine is:

scholar.google.com/

Good luck with your project.

[Ashun]

Thank you guys for your kind replies.
I observed project ideas but they seems expensive or too old ideas.
The central theme of the project is how you get energy & what you do it for poor villages of India like country.
In what time I should do it?
I will keep up further problems regarding the project.
Thanks
Ashun

[deleted-73970]

Hi Ashun,

It's best when choosing projects to make a list of all the ones that seem interesting to you. What I would do is compile ideas from both Science Buddies and Google Scholar using the helpful links provided above by the other Experts. If you've decided that some are too expensive and others are too old, try to consider what parts could be changed in order for them to be more affordable or relevant in today's society.

Also, I'm not sure I quite understand your latest question. Are you asking whether you should do your experiment during the day, the afternoon, etc? That could be one variable to think about!

[Ashun]

Thank u all scholars here!
O.k, how I should collect important datas for my projeat "electricity from polythenes & plastic wastes".(no recycling)
Plz guide me as how I can make my project better.
Thanks
Ashun

[Jacobie09]

I hope Im allowed to say this but LOL, making the topic name 'Help' really gets replies. I might have to try this tactic. Anyway, I don't know about energy but good-luck on your national campaign.

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

I am not certain what you are planning to do for an experiment.

Petroleum is used to make polyethylene and other types of plastics, and it can be recycled into other products, but it is not clear how it can be used to generate electricity other than to incinerate it to produce heat that can be converted to electrical energy. Is this the process that you want to investigate?


For a science project, you need to ask a question that can be answered by doing a carefully controlled experiment. Here is the basic step-by-step guide for doing a project:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

What is your research question? Maybe that would be a good place to start. If you have a specific question, you should be able to identify a suitable experiment to do.

Donna Hardy

[Jacobie09]

To quote

"I am not certain what you are planning to do for an experiment."

I want to put emphasis on this statement because this is important. You need to figure this out. Also, try to make one that breaks ground. I know that's hard, but this is what they are looking for. Think hard.

[Ashun]

Yeah, it's incernation!
Considering plastics & petroleum both hydrocarbons, I decided to work on this.But seeing no other option, I thaught abt Incernation.
I made some hypothesis & questions through keywords,(it helps) but the EXPERIMENTS are still a problem for me.
I couldn't think any planning for experiments which cud give better results.
Thanks!(especially Donna)

[Ashun]

Agarrrrrh....!!!!!
My experiments are not giving desired results!
Or, i'm not able to find experimentation for my desired results!

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

This is an excellent topic for a science project, but you need to identify a purpose for your experiments. Please read the following article to understand some of the problems involved in incineration of plastics:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678072/why- ... for-energy

You need to design an experiment that will either help improve the design for incineration of plastics or solve one of the environmental problems. So, do you want to work on a process that will convert the heat to electricity more efficiently, or work on eliminating the dangerous chemicals-hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, or heavy metals?

Once you decide on the problem you want to solve, do an internet search and look for scientific papers on the topic. You can design the details of your experiment based on recently scientific papers.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-93346]

Dona's excellent advice included "do an internet search and look for scientific papers on the topic". This will be MUCH easier if you can get access to a large university library. Since you do not subscribe to the journals in which most papers are published, you won't be able to read the papers you find. This problem is avoided if you can access the on-line journals from a university IP address. If you cannot go to such a library physically, you could attempt to find someone in the world who does have such access and would be willing to download the papers you need and then email them to you. I would help but I no longer have such access. This system is very unfair, especially for researchers living in less wealthy countries, but that can't be helped. There are a few journals that have been set up in an attempt to begin to remedy this problem. They go by the name PLoS, Public Library of Science. Articles in their journals are free for all to use.

Good luck researching!

[Jacobie09]

Internet research is very helpful indeed, BUT I've noticed that most teachers want you too use books to show that you are working hard.

[Ashun]

I don't think books will be more helping me.yes, I'm searching for magzines,journels,science reports(as Donna says). Yeah! I've selected very interesting topic.

O.k, how should I collect datas for the better result?
Thanks!
Ashun

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

John has given you some really good suggestions for finding the scientific papers that you need for this project. You need to find any scientific source of information that will help you learn more about your subject, and use as a basis for designing your experiment. John is correct; a university library would be the best place to find the complete articles.

And Jacobie has also brought up a good point about the class assignments. Your teacher wants you to go through the process of finding pertinent background information for your project. You need to understand the scientific principle behind your project and usually a good science textbook will provide that information. But you also need recent scientific articles for specific details, and also to give you an idea of how to set up an experiment that will give you measurable results.

Here is an example of how you can proceed. First, do an internet search for "Google scholar," and then type in your search terms, for example "incineration of plastic." This will bring up a list of scientific articles with no commercials. Unfortunately, as John has pointed out, most of the complete articles are not available, but reading the abstracts should be helpful and you should be able to find some complete articles to read.

Here is an abstract that describes the design of a new machine that will pull up plastic mulch from a soil bed of strawberry or pepper plants and incinerate it. Please note that the project was not successful and the machine method did not improve manual methods of plastic mulch removal. So this would be a great topic for you to investigate. It's a problem that still needs to be solved. Perfect subject for a science project!

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1 ... 8v06n01_03

Here is an abstract that includes the tables and figures from the paper. This research report describes a research project that optimized the dehydrochlorination of plastic as it is incinerated. This is an interesting chemistry problem. Please note the data included in the graphs. This is the type of measurable result that you need for your project board.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 7098001247

And here is an article that you can download and see all of the details. This was an investigation on the incomplete combustion of plastic waste as it is incinerated in a kiln. Please note the detailed protocol in the article. The primary purpose of this article is to describe a method for measuring the problem, but the authors do not offer a solution to the problem of incomplete combustion of the plastics. Again, this is another problem that needs to be solved by additional scientific research, perhaps in your science project.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1 ... 7.10466202

I hope these examples will give you a good idea on how to proceed. You have not explained exactly what problem you are trying to solve, so please let us know what you want to do.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-93346]

Awesome work, Donna.

Jacobie, this site is not the place to discuss creationism. It would be courteous to remove the reference to this topic from your signature.

[Jacobie09]

No disrespect meant when I say this. Since this is a science site, don't I have the right to say that? I might be wrong, but this is a GOOD place to put that.

[donnahardy2]

Hi John,

Thanks!

Jacobie,

I agree with John. We're very serious about science projects on this website and we are trying to help everyone who needs help be successful with their project. It's OK to post comments on other students threads as long as you are trying to be helpful. However, the reference to creationism is distracting and not really appropriate for this site, and especially not in someone else's thread. You are correct, you have the right to say what you want, but John was just pointing out that this is not the right place for statements on creationism.

Ashun,

Your project is very important! Please let us know if you have any questions about the last post I made. I know it's a lot of information to go through, but I think it will help you be successful with your project. Be sure to let me know what resources you have available, because I'm sure that you will have to adapt the experimental design.


Donna

[Jacobie09]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean but I will remove it. Sorry if I've made a disturbance.

[donnahardy2]

Hi Jacobie,

Thanks!

Donna

[Jacobie09]

I guess we just added a whole lot of Off Topic posts. Sorry Ashun.

[Ashun]

Nice collections of sites(it's really helping) Donna!
But unfortunately I've not acess to any library & full articles are unavailable.
O.k, I'm working to get more energy or electricity from these
wastes(theme of the project) including that I will be able to reduce it's ill effects on environment(i.e environmental problems will be treated as the main problem in the project).

Is it true that complete combustion releases only co2 & water particles?
I wonder if complete combustion of plastics are possible.
Thanks!
Ashun

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

It’s OK if you don’t have access to a library. You can still have a great project. Reading the abstracts on this subject will help you understand what is being done on the subject. Have you tried doing any more searches in Google scholar?

Also, producing more energy and reducing the environmental effects of incinerating plastic are two separate major projects. I think you are trying to do too much! Try to narrow your topic so you are only working on one project. Remember the paper from my last post; the paper only documented the problem of incomplete incineration of plastics.

Here is an abstract only, which compares energy production from 4 different methods, including incinerating plastic:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 8103003951

Here is a patent from 1986 describing an incinerator system. Can you think of a better design? This could be an engineering project.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr= ... ic&f=false

Here’s an abstract that evaluates the best way to recover energy from the plastic used in discarded TV sets. You can look at the figures and tables to get an idea of what was done to measure results.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 2606003465

Here is the first page of an article on incineration of municipal solid wastes to produce energy. An e-mail address for the primary author is included. Why don’t you write to the author and request additional information?

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n21m81771783r17t/

Why don’t you visit your local landfill site and find out what is happening with plastic wastes in your community. Perhaps you could identify a topic that would benefit your community.

Does this give you any ideas?

Donna

[Ashun]

I was not on net for a long time.
O.k, just I had to participate in state level science congress for the same project.
Yeah! I was selected for state awardee.
Now, I've got chance to get participate in national level.
Thanks Donna & sc. Buddies for kind help & important links.
My presentation will be on 27th of December.


Yes, about narrowing the project, I want to say that ENERGY is the central theme.
And if we make use of these wastes to produce energy, then we will be automatically able to solve it's environmental problems.
Most of your links were really exceiting & I'm trying more on G.Scholar.
Thank u!

[deleted-93346]

Congratulations, Ashun and best wishes for the nationals.

[Ashun]

Thanks, thanks a lot.

[donnahardy2]

Hi Ashun,

I would like to send my congratulations to you as well. This is really good news that you won at the state level, and I know that was a lot of work. Good luck to you at the nationals! Please let us know if you need any more advice.

Donna Hardy