Colorado Spring vs Manitou Springs

Manitou Springs' water comes from snowmelt and natural springs on Pikes Peak. Because Manitou is closer to Pikes Peak, they get the first of the pure water that hasn't been recycled yet. Manitou uses the Manitou Springs reservoir, high up on Pikes Peak, to get their water, which has 720 acre feet of water. The water from the reservoir goes through a water treatment plant and arrives at the Mesa and Crystal Hill water storage tanks. It then is sent down to Manitou's businesses and houses, and eventually out of our faucets.

Colorado Springs' water has 200 miles to travel and must pass through 25 reservoirs to get to the city. The water must also travel through four different pump stations, as opposed to Manitou's water which doesn't have any pump stations and only one reservoir. Colorado Springs water also passes through treatment plants to get cleaned. After being through 25 different reservoirs, traveling 200 miles, treating plants, and four different pump stations, the water finally reaches Colorado Springs.

Fuel-Efficient Cars

Annotated Bibliography

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/biodiesel_what_is.html
I used this website to research Biodiesel Fuel.

http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/electricity/f/electricity101.htm
I used this website to research Electricity as a fuel source.

http://www.energyrefuge.com/archives/ethanol-fuel.htm
I used this website to research Ethanol as a fuel source.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/
I used this website to research Hydrogen as a fuel source.

http://www.whynot.net/ideas/928
I used this website to research Natural Gas a fuel source.

http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/2008propanevehicles/a/2008propaneveh.htm
I used this website to research Propane as a fuel source.

Evaluation Questions

1. What, specifically about your topic, are you going to research?
I will research alternative fuel sources that are not harmful.

2. What conclusions did you come to? What do you recommend average citizens do to make a difference? Be specific. This is the main part of your assignment.
There are many alternative fuel sources. Six major types of those sources are biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, natural gas, and propane. Biodiesel fuel is renewable and is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. Diesel vehicles can be fueled with pure biodiesel fuel or biodiesel fuel mixed with petroleum. This type of fuel is energy efficient and safe.

Electricity is also a very useful form of fuel. It is used to power or plug in electric hybrids. Electric vehicles have no tailpipe exhaust, which is very good for the environment. Electric vehicles are usually only good for short-range driving.
Ethanol is made from sugar canes, sugar beets, switch grass, corn, and barley. It can be combined with gasoline, or just be used pure. Not every vehicle can run on pure ethanol though. It is much better for the environment than gasoline.
Hydrogen is also an alternative fuel source. It is an energy carrier and can be produced from domestic resources. Fuel cells and hydrogen combine to be a new fuel source. Hydrogen can limit our dependence on foreign oil greatly.
Natural gas has been used as motor fuel previously but has never been used directly for fueling cars. Almost any car can be fueled by natural gas. It is sent to millions of our homes anyway, so distributing it to fuel cars is not an unreachable task. This, like hydrogen, can also limit foreign oil dependency greatly.
Propane is also known as liquefied petroleum gas. This powers over 10 million vehicles, which actually is not saying much. There could be many more cars using this fuel source, just like any other I have listed. Propane can fuel cars, only if the car has been converted to be able to use the fuel source.

3. What would happen if, worst-case scenario, nobody listened to your recommendations?
If nobody listened to the suggestions of using alternative fuels, peoples' health and the environment could take serious damage. Peoples' health can be affected negatively by diesel fuel exhaust in many ways. One way is that long term exposure can cause severe lung damage and even lung cancer. It can also cause constant coughing and bronchitis.
Environmental problems occur greatly due to the fuel sources we use now. The hydrocarbons and CO2 released from exhaust destroy ozone molecules in the atmosphere. Alternative fuel sources would limit this greatly.

4. What would happen if, best-case scenario, everybody listened to your recommendations?
The ozone would be in much better shape and there wouldn't be as much of a global rise in temperature. People wouldn't get sick from breathing in exhaust and the skies in Los Angeles and New York City wouldn't be blanketed with smog.

Penny Lab

For this lab, the materials required were a penny, a cup of water, and a water dropper. The way the lab was performed was that the water dropper was filled with water. One drop at a time was dropped onto the penny. This was done because our class wanted to see how many drops of water could be dropped onto a penny before the water overflowed off of it.

I thought that the penny couldn't hold more than maybe 3 or 4 drops of water. I figured the water would just slide right off the penny.

The actual outcome was very different from my prediction. The penny that I applied the drops of water to held 17 drops of water before it overflowed.

The explanation for this is that the property of water called adhesion was in effect. Adhesion means that the molecules of water clump together. As I applied the drops onto the penny, the water clumped together more and more with each drop, forming a large drop of water ontop of the penny. The drop of course became too big after the 17th drop and flowed off the penny.

Universal Solvent

This is an example of how water dissolves substances. 

Water dissolves substances by linking up with the molecules of that substance. The molecules then spread out and the substance is dissolved into part of the liquid.