Lecture 1
Sorry for the late links everyone. (Click the link above or picture above to be taken to the video)
Lecture 2
http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/2016/supercharged-fuelling-the-future/people-power
Lecture 3
http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/2016/supercharged-fuelling-the-future/fully-charged
Sorry for the late links – I hope you enjoyed the lectures.
Leave a comment below
Mr G says “What did you learn?” Leave your comments below.
Remember the school rules
- Be Kind
- Do not mention anyone’s names including your own.
Comment Help
Remember, your comments are reflective comments just like your smiley face comments at school. You can share what you’ve learnt, what you enjoyed and ask any questions you may have. Also, don’t forget to write full sentences with the correct punctuation!
A bad example: ‘I’ve learnt loads, that was great’
A good example: ‘I’ve learnt that the Sun is in the centre of our solar system and that it is really big’
Never Use a Full Name
Use other names, but nothing silly as this name appears for everyone to see. Names that are full names or silly names will not be posted. Use abbreviations like Mr G or Miss P or your initials will do.
From watching Let There Be Light I have learnt that when you light a candle it is actually the wax that burns. I have also learnt that all the time the sun converts an enormous amount of mass into light and energy. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and methane are used because they contain lots of energy. I have also learnt that electrons always follow metal pathways and that energy can never be destroyed nor created. When energy is converted we can actually make it do work.
I Watched Lecture 1 and here is some interesting things that I learned:
Energy can’t be created nor destroyed, but you can convert it from one form to another.
Energy can be converted into lots of different forms.
Changing the frequency of sparks (bursts of electricity) can make musical notes.
Electrons always take the fastest route to where they want to go.
You can generate electricity from magnetic energy and movement.
You can power things by steam.
Plasma is a very energetic gas.
Overall I really enjoyed the first lecture!
When a candle is lit, the wick doesn’t burn but the wax does. Power is how fast energy is transferred. Energy comes in different forms; like motion, heat, light and sound. Electrons always take the fastest route.
In the third lecture, I came to understand that the battery helps to power lots of different things. I also learnt that you would need lots of batteries to power your phone for a whole year. It is much better to have smaller batteries that can store lots of energy.
I really enjoyed this year’s lectures. I loved learning about how many batteries it would take to power the lecture theatre. It was interesting to find out that power and energy are two different things. The Richard Dawkins experiment showed that objects do not gain or lose energy – energy just transforms from one form to another. It was fascinating to learn that we generate 20x as much energy as we did 80 years ago – when the Christmas lectures were first broadcasted.
Without batteries, we would not have phones, laptops, tablets, computers, alarm clocks, remote controls, lights and TVs etc.
From this lecture, I have learnt that you would need 800 AA batteries to power a phone for a whole year. Everybody gives off heat and so do really powerful light bulbs.
There are many items that are powered by electricity such as electric cars, DVD players, sound systems, hair dryers, game stations, cinema screens, street lamps much more.
There are 2 types of electricity providers: mains and battery.
The mains power is much more powerful than batteries and is more efficient.
LECTURE 1.
In the first lecture I learnt that air conditioning, cameras and lights all take up energy. You could call them energy guzzlers. On the giant meter, I saw the lecture theatre needed 21,567 AA batteries to power everything. The last thing I learnt in the first lecture, was that when energy is converted, you could use it for work.
LECTURE 2.
In the second lecture I learnt that everybody contributes by generating energy. When you move around a lot your heart rate increases, so I enjoyed it when they stood up and danced. We also learnt that all food has different components , so they would use different amounts of energy.
LECTURE 3.
In the third lecture, I came to understand that the battery helps to power lots of different things. I also learnt that you would need lots of batteries to power your phone for a whole year. It is much better to have smaller batteries that can store lots of energy. I was intrigued by the voltaic pile and what they was used years ago. I was surprised that you could have a lemon battery even more so when I saw that so many lemons could produce lots of energy. I was very excited when it went into the Guinness book of records.
I watched Science Lecture 1. I did not need the link as I watched it on T.V..
I learnt very interesting facts such as…..
. Michael Faraday discovered energy
. 21,567 AA batteries would be used to run the theatre.
And so on………….
I really enjoyed the lecture and I will be exited to watch next year’s
Lecture 1
. Michael Faraday founded the Christmas lectures.
. To run the theatre you need 21567 AA batteries.
. The wig of a candle isn’t actually burning, the wax vapour comes off he candle and that is the chemical stall.
. Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
. There is not much difference between the wax candle and the gun-cotton candle. But it seems that the gun-cotton candle had more energy,this is not true. The difference between the candles where that the gun-cotton let its energy out all at once whereas the wax candle let it out in sections so it seems that the gun-cotton candle was the most powerful (by a great amount).
. The wax candle is equivalent to 31 AA batteries.
.You can convert energy from 1 form to another.
. Electrons always take the shortest route.
. I found it fascinating that if you are in a Faraday cage, the electrons go on the outside of the cage and don’t go in.
. I REALLY enjoyed this lecture.
The Royal Institution lectures this year were about energy. I watched the first lecture. Here are some of the things that I found interesting.
1. Energy cannot be made or destroyed it can only be converted from one type of energy to another. Of course the starting energy can get lost and go into another type of energy – like friction. This idea was demonstrated with the ball running through all these different tunnels and obstacles just like in a big domino chain reaction. This showed all the different energy conversions that were going on. 111 different conversions. It also explains why the spiked ball didn’t hit Professor Dawkins in the face. Friction must have slowed it down.
2. Although I liked the bits about different energy generators (pee-power, wind power and footstep-power), I especially enjoyed understanding how a real life power generator works. The pressure cooker experiment was very good at explaining this. The steam from the pressure cooker turned a wheel which made the magnet turn in the coil of copper wires and this made electricity. Which is exactly what happens in a big power station. The difference is what fuel you use to make the steam. In the pressure cooker they used gas. A power station can use gas, coal, nuclear energy and even bio-mass pellets. Bio-mass pellets are animal poo and waste stuff.
3. There are problems with burning fossil fuel (coal, gas and oil). They all create carbon which makes the world warm up which is called global warming.
4. I now understanding a little bit about what Einstein’s formula E=mc2 means. Energy = mass x speed of light. Another way of saying this is that energy is the ability to do work. All energy seems to come from the sun.
Despite all the different energy sources they used, Saiful Islam did not produce enough power to run the studio. This goes to show that we use a lot of power in modern times but we definitely use less coal than we did 80 years ago. This is good news for the climate but we need to keep on producing more power in better ways.
I watched the first lecture and the interesting points that I would like to share are:
1. it is not possible to make or destroy energy. Energy can only be converted. The energy-domino experiment showed us this with 111 different energy conversions. I also learned that energy from your muscles can be changed into kinetic energy (movement) and then into electricity. They used magnets and copper wire twisted into circles to do this.
2. It was also cool how it was possible to generate energy from wee – ‘pee power’. It was a microbial generator (just like you can use poo pellets to burn in a power generator instead of coal). Although it did not create much energy – only 2 AA batteries – I thought it was still amazing that it generated any at all.
3. It was interesting to find out about renewable energy that is supplied from sources that are naturally supplied, for example the wind turbine.
I’m especially looking forward to the lecture 2 about human energy sources. I will comment on the other two lectures if I’m allowed more screen time!!
I learnt that Tesla Coils can make music.
I also learnt that each colour in Isaac Newton’s Colour spectrum has a different amount of power in it : Red has the least amount of power in it.
Lecture 2
I was shocked by how much the temperature of the room went up when it was filled.This happens because humans transfer heat as well as receiving it. I was fascinated by how many AA batteries were equal to a bowl of meringue,pork scratch-ins and protein powder and I predicted the results to be different as I chose sugar to be the most energetic.I have learnt that a sheep needs 3kg of hay per day to survive and that it would take a lot of people to power a house with electricity by using a bike.
Lecture 1
I found it fascinating how Professor Saiful Islam turned 1 form of movement into 111 and how it circulated around the building. I also found it interesting when he found out how many AA batteries equal things such as candles and urine were. I have learnt that plasma reacts to magnets and how if you use all the atoms in a pair of pants you could power Birmingham for a year.
Lecture 3: Fully Charged
Batteries are very important, they are used in many things like mobile phones, laptops and remote controls. Batteries store energy and lemons can be used to make lemon batteries!!
Lithium is a chemical element and it is highly flammable. It can be found in batteries. Sometimes batteries overheat. Lithium-oxygen batteries can produce light. Petrol is made up of long chains of hydrocarbons (hydrogen and carbon). A petrol car uses gears. An electric car doesn’t need gears( it can have gears but it’s absolutely unnecessary).
Lecture 2: People Power
Humans burn energy when they exercise. Food is mainly made up of water and when it comes out as waste, it weighs less. A kilocalorie is a measure of energy.
Mice eat about one third of their body weight everyday to stay alive. In the human body, enzymes( which are chemical substances) break down complex molecules into sugar called glucose. Then the glucose goes into the blood. We can ‘supercharge’ ourselves using sugar. Human fat looks orange and it produces a lot of energy.
The human body is electric. A single nerve firing produces a bit of electricity. We have more than 80 billion nerves in our brains. Caffeine has a strong effect on the body, it gives the body energy. Caffeine is a drug put in tea and coffee. People burn energy even when they do nothing.
Lecture 1: Energy
I found the Christmas lecture very interesting and informative. Energy is the ability to do work. Lights, cameras and air conditioners consume energy.
When a candle is lit, the wick doesn’t burn but the wax does. Power is how fast energy is transferred. Energy comes in different forms; like motion, heat, light and sound. Electrons always take the fastest route.
Tesla coils produce energy that look like lightning(sparks). Urine can actually be converted into energy!!! Power stations can be viewed as giant kettles with steam. The steam is used to make electricity
Turbine energy gets converted into heat, then into motion and finally into electricity. Fossil fuel like coal, gas and petroleum are useful sources of energy.
Albert Einstein derived the equation:E=mc2
Where, E= unit of energy, m= unit of mass and c2= speed of light squared. For nuclear fusion to occur, fuel needs to be extremely hot. Plasma (hot ionized gas) is the fourth state of matter. Solar panels absorb the sun’s ray but they can’t capture all wave lengths of light.
Watching the christmas leactures were fun
Did you know
-The royal institution recreates demonstrations.
-The lectures go back to their founder.
-The leacture room uses a huge amount of energy for example:
– The lights
– The cameras
– and air conditioning
– they are all scources of energy
– to power the chrismas leactures they need to use 21 567 batteries
– candles are a scource of light.
– did you know you can relight candles without touching the wick
– wax stores energy inside it
– energy cannot be creates or destroyed
– candles give you 31 aa bateries
– A gun cotton candles discharges all of its energy at one go
– Candles turn wax into light and energy
– There are lots of other forms of light
– I have also learnt that is you push cannon ball from your face it would not hit you as it is using up energy.
–
there are 111 different energy sources
– the tesla coils build up a huge amount of energy and releses them together.
– The tesla coils creates lightning
– cars are faradea cadges
– the machine makes sparks
To know about these facts are amazing
Here are some more
– You can make power with coper wires rapped around in sever coils then spinning magnets underneath them quickly will generate energy or electricale charges.
– you can change our muscular energy into genetic energy.