April 22, 2023
POWER visits Branham Highschool for Electric Vehicle workshop
Our second workshop in the 2023 Spring was all about transportation. Particularly, we learnt how electric vehicles impact the CO2 emissions and how much they cost. An expert on designing the battery charging processes that are optimised for the renewable grid, Sonia Martin taught us about the basic economy of electric vehicles. The students learnt how to calculate CO2 emission and electricity costs. They found that, once the an EV is bought, it is much cheaper in maintenance and much more eco-friendly in California’s electricity grid.
In two interactive examples, Sonia showed how optimising the car size and battery range are significant challenges to reduce the cost of the cars.
While during the work shop not many experiments were performed, the student still liked how they could calculate the CO2 emissions and costs of the car and to talk to their peers about the results.
April 3, 2023
POWER visits Branham Highschool for Heat Radiation workshop
To kick off our Spring 2023 Series, the POWER team set out to Branham High School in San Jose, CA. Joining us this time was Jiawei Lu, a PostDoc from the Material Science Department at Stanford University and expert on textiles that tune heat radiation.
In a first set of experiments, the 15 students from Branham learnt the concept of heat radiation on different objects ranging from their own hands to water beakers. They then learnt that materials such as aluminium sheets can reflect those heat waves, effectively keeping the heat at the object (and our body warm). In the end Jiawei showed part of his research where he designed textile fabrics that are breathable but can change the heat radiation such that it cools the body, eventually allowing to reduce residential cooling of rooms and saving energy.
Similar to the last work shops, the school children loved doing the experiments. Especially popular was the IR camera that could show the heat radiation of different objects.
Finally, the POWER team handed out a certificate of attendance for all students who dedicated their time to learn about energy sciences .
December 7, 2022
POWER visits Branham Highschool for Climate Science workshop
For the last event in 2022, the POWER team set out to Branham High School in San Jose, CA. After talking about new technologies that can disrupt the fossil-fuel based economy and mitigate the carbon dioxide emission to our atmosphere, the POWER team decided to talk more about how certain gases in the atmosphere can lead to climate change. For this, we invited Evan Carlson, a graduated student for Stanford University.
After a short introduction about green house effect, the 17 students attending the workshop could build their own small green houses. Using their own self-made thermometers, they could then measure the variation in temperature when different gases are present in the atmosphere.
Similar to the last work shops, the school children loved doing the experiments. Especially popular was learning how to use a thermistor to measure the temperature in different systems.
November 3, 2022
POWER hosts Hydrogen workshop at Branham Highschool
After their successful first workshop about batteries, the POWER team left to Branham High School in San Jose, CA to talk about the generation of Hydrogen and the Hydrogen economy. In addition to the POWER team, three experts were invited: Rachel Spurlock, Ryan Hannagan, and Johanna Schroeder.
This time, 23 students from Branham High School joined the afternoon workshop. After a short introduction about chemical reactions and the carbon cycle, the students learnt more about the hydrogen economy. They then went on and found their own way of making Hydrogen via the electrolysis of water, first using electricity from a battery and, then using the afternoon sun in San Jose.
As in the first event, the students were very engaged, particularly during the experiments. Some of them started combining batteries to increase the current to create Hydrogen while some others wanted to learn more about the chemical reactions that take place during the electrolysis.
After the class, most students stated that they loved the different aspects of the experiments: i) Seeing how electricity can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, forming bubbles, ii) going outside to get more sun for the experiments, and iii) the small “plop“ sound every time the hydrogen was burnt in the air - all feedback was very positive!
The POWER team is looking forward to going next month again to Branham Highschool! The topic then will be Climate Science!
October 6, 2022
POWER hosts Battery workshop at Branham Highschool
To kick of our series of off-campus workshops, the POWER team left to at Branham High School in San Jose, CA. As the first of three workshops in the Fall, the POWER team gave a class about batteries.
Over twenty people from Branham High School visited POWER’s afternoon work shop. After a short introduction about the main concepts of batteries and electrical energy storage, the attendees, composed of Branham students ranging from Sophomore to Senior level, learnt how to build their own paper towel batteries and how to combine them to light up a battery.
Being a big event at the Branham High School, the local BHS Bear Witness student newspaper came to visit. Their article is available on their instagram page.
Overall, the students were engaged with the class and enjoyed the event. Here is what Junior Alex Klimovich said to the BHS Witness after our session:
“I liked the hands-on aspect and the fact that it was taught by Stanford students, so I can not only learn more about actual batteries, but also talk to them about Stanford in general.”
Pictures of the Branham Battery workshop.
May 16, 2022
POWER hosts workshop at Stanford splash
The POWER leadership team is passionate about understanding how a battery work and how to improve it, so they thought “why not teach about batteries in our first workshop?” and began their Splash journey.
Stanford Splash invites high school students around the bay area to campus and attend classes taught by Stanford undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs. During Splash, POWER hosted “How Batteries Power our World: electric vehicles, biomedical devices, and more!”, a hands-on workshop to teach students about the different form factors to consider when designing batteries for unique applications, such as cars, planes, and phones. Students also got the chance to make their very own “paper towel” battery to light up LED.
Here’s what our students thought after attending our workshop:
“[I learned] how voltage, current, materials, volume, and shape affect batteries.”
“[My favorite part is] getting to actually do a hands-on experiment, and being able to ask a lot of questions.”
“[I learned] depending on the material, [a battery] has more voltage. The bigger voltage is higher energy.”
“[My favorite part was being able to turn the LED light on, and also measuring the voltage of the circuit.”
POWER teacher Juliana shows students coin cell components used in battery research labs.
“What is an aluminum air battery?” Using an analogy of water in a bucket, the POWER team teaches the basics of how voltage difference leads to a charging or discharging battery.