Category: Activities

{ Energy Use Contents } { All GSS Books } CONSTRUCTION 1. Make a parabolic curve template by drawing a parabola approximately 32″ (80 cm) wide with a focal length (f)  of about 8″ (20cm). You can plot a number of “x” and “y” points according to the following formula for a parabola: y = […]

{ Energy Use Contents } { All GSS Books } There are many types and designs of solar cookers. They all involve focusing a large area of light into a small region where the food is placed. In general, the sunlight is reflected into the food cooking chamber using inexpensive reflecting surfaces. The reflecting surfaces […]

Chapter 9 { Energy Use Contents } There’s an old song from the early days of automobiling. “Come away with me Lucille. In my merry Oldsmobile.”  You don’t know that one? How about this? “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” No? Well you probably know some car song. After all, people in […]

Chapter 8 { Energy Use Contents } I. Controlling the Flow of Heat Keeping comfortable, or simply staying alive, requires a temperature that’s not too hot and not too cold. As warm-blooded creatures, we have a built-in system for heat control. As intelligent humans, we augment our built-in systems with technologies—clothing, housing, and fire—that enable […]

{ Energy Use Contents } { All GSS Books } Many types of lights can be found in a hardware store. There are energy-saver incandescent bulbs, fluorescent bulbs, long-life bulbs, low-cost light bulbs, LED lights and specialty lights of all kinds. Work with a team to examine a collection of light bulbs. Find the wattage printed […]

Chapter 7 { Energy Use Contents } The continental United States viewed from space at night reveals the tremendous amount of energy we use for lighting. Where is your hometown? An astronomical observatory near Tucson, Arizona, found the quality of its observing conditions seriously impaired by the street lights of a small neighboring community.  The […]

Chapter 6 { Energy Use Contents } I. The Big Picture The flow chart above may look complicated, but it’s really not difficult to interpret. It provides THE BIG PICTURE of how the United States uses its energy resources. The boxes on the left side of the chart show the major primary sources that humans […]

{ Energy Use Contents } { All GSS Books } You are browsing in a store to buy a light bulb to replace a burnt-out bulb. Will a 60-watt bulb be bright enough? Were you satisfied with its brightness? How about a 75-watt bulb? Why not a 100-watt bulb? What is a watt anyway? Watts […]

Chapter 5 { Energy Use Contents } In Thomas Edison’s view, persistence was a key to success: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” In his endeavor to build a better storage battery, he made 8,000 attempts. “Well, at least we know 8,000 things that don’t work,” he is reported to have said. Returning to […]

Chapter 4 { Energy Use Contents } Electricity, from your toaster to the power plant Marty Hunt told us the power plant would be on the right, when we turn onto Tenth Street, and we couldn’t miss it. There is no question we are headed in the right direction. Steel towers loom over the countryside […]