Woodpile

When you heat your home with a log burner I guess you will get through a lot of wood, and apparently it has to dry out so that it burns hotter and steadily? This is what’s left of a friends store and she hopes this will last for a few months. The only problem that has been found is that wood fires give off carbon Dioxide and tiny particulates.

I guess eventually we will all have to shift our energy sources. My hubby says there is a hydrogen pipe line in the north west of England and that there is talk of adding it to gas supplies and even converting them to hydrogen only in time. I know some vehicles run on hydrogen fuel cells. The emissions when hydrogen is burnt is water, the hydrogen is produced by splitting the hydrogen and oxygen from water…. A circular system? All we need is energy to create it, solar power? And safety systems to make it safe as it has a higher burning temperature.

My hubby says it has a higher calorific value and has weaker electron bonds so its easier to split the bonds between the hydrogen atoms. Anyone who saw it being lit in chemistry class will know it ignites with an explosive bang! You can’t just use hydrogen for cooking and heating on its own as it burns too hot. The cookers and boilers will probably be OK with a mixture of hydrogen and methane. If they use hydrogen only they will need modifying or replacing. But that is for the future. In the meantime I hope my friend has enough wood for the rest of the winter.

Birthday balloon

Helium is the second element in the periodic table, atomic number two. It was first discovered when they measured the spectrum of the Sun. It was found as a line in the spectrum that did not appear to be on Earth.

Balloons like this are filled with this dwindling resource, if I remember correctly it’s from a place in America. I think there is a world shortage.

Helium is the second lightest element, but unlike Hydrogen which is the lightest, it doesn’t react with anything. So Helium stays on its own, it escapes out of our atmosphere. Hydrogen on the other hand reacts with many elements and this results in H2O, water, as two hydrogen atoms link with one oxygen.

Coventry University had a whole series of videos on YouTube that was about the elements if I remember. It was very interesting and they discussed all the elements in the periodic table. It was presented by a professor with mad grey curly hair….

Helium balloon…

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I was given a Helium balloon by a friend for our anniversary and its gradually losing Helium as the days go by. Helium can escape because it has the second smallest atom in the periodic table, and can diffuse through the skin of the balloon. Helium is also inert so unlike Hydrogen that has the smallest atoms, it won’t burn. (Hydrogen on the other hand is very reactive and burns with Oxygen in the atmosphere to make water).

The balloon has gradually sunk in the air as its buoyancy has reduced. We gradually cut off the ribbon on it and as that reduced its weight it flew higher. Its also following air currents and drifted around the house. Rather like a drop of water floating in the international space station the balloon has drifted up and down the stairs. When it gets above a radiator it ascends, and when it drifts out of the warm air it descends again. At the moment it’s bobbing around the living room, like one of the giant bubbles in the 1960s series ‘the prisoner’….

A not very interesting anecdote…..