Day One: October 6, 2008
Today we are driving to West Virginia. It is a beautiful state, full of red, orange and yellow trees. We took about three hours to get there. Then we had dinner. I got full and it was kind of late. But we needed to go to the NETL for a presentation about what we were going to be seeing. We finished by 10:40 p.m. and got to the hotel at 10:45 p.m. I liked this day.
Day Two: October 7, 2008
Today I woke up at 6:30 a.m. This was too early because I was ready by 6:50 and breakfast was at 7:45 a.m. Argo Jackie and I started taking pictures of the hotel and talked about our countries. My parents were right; it is cold here in WV. It doesn't compare to the hot weather in Mexico. I had breakfast and we went to NETL, we did great experiments, the first one was with magnets, we put iron filings to show the magnetic field and forces between them. Poles, forces, attractions…we had a great time.
The second experiment was about electricity, can we actually generate it? Yes! If we pass a magnet through coils of wire, the attraction of electrons will make them move producing an electric current. The more wire and more magnets, more electricity. To measure it, we used a multimeter. At the beginning of this experiment I was nervous, but I left my nerves aside and used my time to learn more.
The third experiment consisted in making a generator, based on our knowledge from the first two experiments. We couldn't make a light bulb light up, so we needed more energy. Imagine all of the energy needed to keep Las Vegas on! Then we ate and Dr. Geo explained information about the use of coal. I like the way he explains. Then we had dinner and we met our Host Researcher Larry Shadle. We saw Congressman Molhollan and thanked him for the great opportunity we had in WV.
Day Three: October 8, 2008
Today was an amazing day! First of all we had breakfast and we were told about the circulating fluidized bed. It is an awesome way of removing CO2 out of coal.
Each time you learn something new, you discover you know almost nothing at all. There is so much still to be discovered, too many mysteries for a single person, that's why we all need to put in our efforts and try to develop new ways to make Earth a better place.
We went to NETL and saw for the first time the mysterious and secret building B-22, kind of Larry's "sandbox." This building has a model of the circulating fluidized bed. Instead of coal, it uses a material called polyethylene and instead of CO2 it uses air. So Larry explained to us how coal enters and CO2 is separated from it in a cyclone shaped structure. Then the solid gets in the sand pipe and with air pressure, it gets into the cycle again. After we thanked Larry on behalf of the Argos and JASON crew.
The earth is a mystery box; you never know what you can get from it. I learned that even though this energy and pollution problem seems an impossible mission to solve, we can actually improve the situation and not just by relying on the idea of using renewable resources. We need to maintain a certain balance between human necessities and nature and that way life can be much better and we can develop and grow.
Clean coal is a clear example of the innovations and technological improvements mankind has made. The CO2 can be sequestrated and used for sodas or pushed into the ground.
We shouldn't be thinking that Earth is just getting filled up with things, because everything is here, we have a long way to travel and discover, and well, what else can you ask for, this is pure science.
Day Four: October 9, 2008
Today is the last day at NETL, I am very sad we are leaving because this has been an amazing week and I will always remember it. We woke up at 8:15, late compared to other days, but it was because Larry Shadle had his interview before us. We arrived at NETL by 10:30 a.m. and Chris guided us in a tour around NETL, we were being filmed by Kenny and had some shots in B-22.
Then we made a video piece. We had lots of fun making the shoot. First we started with a call and it was a Mission Impossible about energy supply. Then we were playing with magnets and Argo Tim took all of them and said "attraction," he had some glasses on and that made him look like the handsome man in movies. We laughed a lot. After that we went for dinner and saw some great guys cooking in front of us. I wish I could stop time and stay here, but nature has its laws!