Nano High Trip at Berkeley Lab

I felt this was a great experience. The presentation was very challenging but it was not beyond my reach at all. I understood every thing. It will be a great addition to my resume. I really enjoyed the location as well. The Berkeley hills are fantastic! The presentation was fast and to the point.
The professor had talked about atoms and electricity. He talked about radiation, nuclear power, neutrons, electrons, electromagnetic waves and electricity recycling. In his lecture he describes what radiation is (energy in the form of particles and electromagnetic waves). Professor Wright broke it down to us on how the U.S.A and Europe have higher electricity power than anywhere else. The professors also explained to us how electricity is recycled through a canister.

Today we had a lecture on nuclear energy by Professor Brian Wirth. We discussed radiation; Alpha, beta and gamma particles and their ability to penetrate materials such as lead and aluminum. We went over the 2 types of Nuclear power plants, pressureize3d water boilers and water boilers. Uranium is very unstable and if you add a neutron to it will split and release 2-3 neutrons casing a reaction, which release tremendous energy. This heat is used to boil water into steam and driver a turbine. Nuclear power plants are a great option for the USA because it has no Co2 emissions and it requires far less resource consumption. 1 ton of uranium is enough for one year in a nuclear power plant, but a coal power station requires more than 100 tons a day for its operation. Instead of burying nuclear waste we can reuse it as other resources, possibly even enriching the waste to be used in the reactors once more.

Said Mentese

Nano High Response at UC Berkeley

It was very interesting and felt good learning more about science and technology.
The stuff I learned was how atoms change depending on the different types of radiation. I learned the different types of radiation like: X-Ray, gamma-Ray,    microwaves, and ultra violet rays. Another thing I learned was how nuclear factories run. Now I know more about atoms and how they reform and leave 2 to 3 neutrons and leave two extra nucleus’s overtime. One of the most fascinating things was the used energy from atoms were buried in a capsule like thing in a mountain 100 meters deep the mountain is called yucca mountain it is somewhere in the USA.
After we were through with the introduction the group went around UC Berkeley and saw the good view of Berkeley we also took pictures. At the end of the visit we went to Starbucks coffee.