Unit 3: Environmental managers - Investigating carbon dioxide monitoring

In this session we looked at carbon dioxide monitoring. We set up an investigation to answer this question: How might high carbon dioxide concentrations affect seawater and sea life?

In the investigation we tested the pH of 4 samples (distilled water, carbonated water, salt water, vinegar) and then looked what happens when crushed shells are added:

We are going to leave our experiment for a week to see the long term effects.

Unit 3: Geologists: investigating rock porosity

Dense and porous rock formations can be used to permanently store carbon dioxide underground. We started the session by looking at different types of rocks and writing down observations:

We then chose sandstone to check its porosity:

 

Here are our findings:

Testing rock porosity – sandstone

Sample number	Mass before (g)	Mass after  (g)	Difference  (g)
1	68.0	68.7	0.7
2	60.3	64.6	4.3
3	79.8	85.5	5.7
4	54.2	58.1	3.9
5	72.8	78.3	5.5
6	82.6	88.8	6.2
7	38.7	41.3	2.6
8	27.2	27.9	0.7
9	88.8	93.7	4.9
10	53.8	57.9	4.1

Unit 3: Transport Engineers: Investigating Pressure and Transport

To transport carbon dioxide in a safe and efficient way, we need to consider a number of factors. For example, how pressure is going to affect it.

Experiment 1 - what happens to the pressure of a gas when it is contained in a small space?

Experiment 2 - how can carbon dioxide be transported most efficiently?

Unit 3: Carbon Dioxide Properties and Capture - Chemists

In today's session we looked at the properties of carbon dioxide. This is important because we need to know if it is suitable for underground storage. This will also help to check if it leaks into groundwater or into the surface. 

Carbon dioxide is denser than air:
Experiment 1

Experiment 2:

Carbon dioxide turns limewater milky/cloudy. This is because white solid, calcium carbonate, is formed:

 

We noted down our findings on the worksheet: 

 

Shell Challenge - the report

Our session on Wednesday was dedicated to completing our reports for the Shell Challenge. Final discussions and final touches done, wish us luck!

Shell Challenge

We decided to take part in The Bright Ideas Challenge. Here are the details:

We had a lot of fun building our prototypes that we came up with to tackle different energy problems of the future: