Whitney Bean Bunny Bear

At 12 years old the hormones have got to be roiling.  Sometimes she is good, very, very good and other times she is horrid. Most of the time she is very, very good, and sometimes she will practice. I figure she won't see this post because I'm sure she'd rip my head off.

Lava Hot Springs November 23, 2011

Lava Hot Springs November 2011

Shannon's New Dooooooooo

A little Christmas present for Shannon a bit early.  Haley McIntosh did a good job cutting Shan's hair according to Shan's specifications.  I discovered it's called an "A-line"--I also say a "bob," too.  It's darling.

Ocean of Clouds

Bob captured a couple of HDR photos of the sunset two days ago.  Very, very nice--

Shannon's Birthday Chullo Hat

Hey, I finished it one month from the time I received the kit from knitpicks.com.  Shannon picked out this chullo hat for her birthday which was in October.  She really, really likes the llama patterns, so I squeezed them all in. She looks great in it and you know a teenager likes it if she wears it to school:) Shannon also picked "autumn colors" for her ortho rubberbands.  Very complementary I think.

Autumn Light

I love it.  I love the colors of autumn light.  Here's an HDR(high dynamic range) photo of our front porch.

Autumn Color

I love it--all the color on the trees and bushes.  I had spotted a beautiful maple on Bonneville Shoreline Trail while I was biking, so I hauled the family up there for some family portraits and solo portraits.  Everyone kept asking, "What about Aynie?"  Well,  that girl has grown up a moved across the old US of A:)  Here are the results:

So, serious, hummmmmmmm.

Here's the band, cause it looks like an album cover.

Happy Birthday, Whitney

Whitney is soooo smart she doesn't need to go to school on her birthday.  She helped me take Hazel to the vet again.  Last week we had a foxtail removed from Hazel's paw.  It had abscessed.  Since then she developed a patch on her lip that lost pigmentation and now has become ulcerated.  Lovely, NOT! Maybe its chew toys.  She's a little young for an autoimmune disease Vet Benson said.  She does have indications of allergies.  She's licking the bottom of her paws a lot and they are red. --Treatment--  Benadryl and wait and see.
Whitney needs a better birthday post than this.  Let's get mak'in a cake.

Ayn & Bryce Graduate from BYU

YES! Click here for more photos.

Mark's Homecoming Dance 2011

Mark "be the man" in that TUX! Here's a link to a few more photos--More of Mark

TOGOF 2011

Aunt Janelle is awesome.  She and some friends threw together a "homemade" sprint triathlon--shirts and everything.  Here is a link to some photos of the tri:) Awesome people doing TOGOF 2011.

Kitchen Makeover Hangover

We're not done yet, but at least the sink is in!  Two weeks without the sink--awful. But the stove--didn't matter.  Bob has bought the 2" alder lumber to make the end grain high bar counter next.  Ayn calls the wall color "pumpkin pie."  Behr calls it Butter Rum.  Both sound good to me.

I'm like'in this medallion over the stove.

Remember the BEFORE?

Yeah! He looks young. This photo was in 2002 when the cabinets looked newer and spiffier.

Cone of Shame

I was mountain biking with Hazel.  I heard her yelp and then she continued on.  She's a trooper because she finished the ride with me.  The next morning Shannon and Whitney found her wound.  We think she ran into a broken off stick.

Challah or Egg Bread

10 egg yolks!  Can you believe it?  I guess this makes two 2 lbs. loaves.  Five egg yolks a piece is not that bad:)

Every recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day is awesome.  This type of enriched egg bread recipe can be used for dinner rolls, cinnamon buns, yeasted coffee cake and sweet or savory swirl breads.

In this recipe you make the dough and refrigerate it overnight or up to 4 days.

2 1/4 C (18oz/510g) lukewarm water (about 95F or 35C).
1 1/2 T (0.5 oz/14g) instant yeast (I use Dry Active Yeast and its OK, too)
10 egg yolks (6 oz/170g) depending on weight
5 T (2.5 oz/71g) vegetable oil
6 T (3 oz/85g) sugar, or 4 1/2 T honey or agave nectar
1 T (0.75oz/21g) vanilla extract (optional) --I used it. It was good!
7 1/2 C (34 oz/ 964g) unbleached bread flour
2 1/2 tsp (0.66/ 19g) salt, or 4 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 egg white or whole egg, for egg wash
2 T water, for egg wash
2 T poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or a combination, for garnish (optional)--I used poppy seeds.

Do Ahead
Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to dissolve.  Add the egg yolks, oil, sugar, and vanilla and whisk lightly to break up the egg yolks, then add the flour and salt.  If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and stir for about 2 minutes.  The dough should be coarse and shaggy.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or continue to mix by hand using a large, wet spoon, for 4 minutes.

Use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour.  Lightly knead for 1 to 2 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking.  The dough should be soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky.  Form the dough into a ball, place it in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Immediately refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 4 days.  It will double in size as it cools.  (If you plan to bake the dough in batches over different days, you can portion the dough and place it into two or more oiled bowls at this stage.)

On Baking Day
Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours and 10 minutes before you plan to bake.  Transfer it to alightly floured work sufrface and cut it into the desired number of pieces to make strands for braiding, making sure all of the pieces are the same weight.  Flatten each piece with your hand, then roll the pieces into a cigar or torpedo shape.  After doing this with each piece, return to the first one and roll it out into a rope 10 to 14 inches long.  (The bigger the piece of dough, the longer the rope.)  Make sure each rope is the same length. 
I checked YouTube for ways to braid the Challah.  I like this five strand braid.  Once the loaves are braided, transfer them to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Make an egg wash by combining the egg white (or a whole egg) and the 2 T of water and whisking briskly until thoroughly combined.  Brush the entire visible surface of the loaves with the egg wash, then refrigerate any remaining egg wash and let the loaves rise.  Brush with the egg wash again, then sprinkle on the optional seeds.  A combination of poppy and sesame looks very impressive.  Let the loaves rise at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until increased to about 1 1/2 times their original size.

About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350F (177C), or 300F (149C) for a convection oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 15-30 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow when thumped on the bottom and the internal temperature is about 190F (88) in the center.  If you used a whole egg in the egg wash, the crust will get darker than with an egg white wash;  don't be fooled into thinking the bread is done until it passes the thump and temperature test.  The crust of the loaf will seem hard when it first comes out of the oven, but it will soften as it cools.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving.

What a Terrific Email I Received from Shannon

A Mother's Love 

I love you like a mom would her child

Her child so meek and mild

But then her child begins to grow

And then out of the house she will go

That mom will always love that child

And that mother will never let that child go. 

This is a little poem I made up just now.

Love,  

Shannon

P.S.  A mother's love

P.P.S.  You sould send it to your mom 

April Fools--I've Got Truck Nuts

These make me look tougher.

I've always wanted them.  They are a bit small, but small is better than none.  Wow!  Bob was thinking ahead when he was at Home Depot the other day.

Off to Prom Mark Goes

He seems a little eager to me.

A water balloon answer at the front porch. We all got wet.  I've filled water balloons and this had to have taken hours.  The letters were in the balloons--in a few of the many, many balloons.

Kale Chips

That asparagus photo of Bob inspired me, so I made kale chips. Douse the clean kale pieces in olive oil. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, salt and peper. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and voila'. They are crisp and delicate, but never mind the veggy burps later.

Asparagus Boogers

I gotta keep Bob humble by publishing this wacky photo.  We all know how guapo he is when not modeling veggies.

Shannon's Science Fair

Shannon and Bob worked on an awesome science project together.  It involved an effort to make the process of hydrolysis more efficient because hydrogen is a useful fuel.  Shan was the only 7-8th grader from Oak Canyon to compete--so, not much competition at the school level.  At the district level she was awarded the opportunity to attend the regional science fair called the Central Engineering and Science Fair at BYU.  Shan said that it was fun to perform the experiments with dad, but the research paper and sitting around at the fairs was BORING!

Learning Can Be Fun!

Shannon's Science Fair Paper

A Science Fair Project

Hydrogen
Fuel of the Future

Shannon L. Smith
2/28/2011 

Introduction and Hypothesis

Hydrogen sounds like a terrific fuel source. Hydrogen may be a clean, green alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be made from hydrolysis of water, but this hydrolysis process requires energy. “Hydrolysis: is a chemical reaction involving water as one of the reacting substances. Its name comes from two Greek words meaning water and loosening. In industry, hydrolysis is important in making soap, sugar, alcohols, hydroxides, and silicones.” (Adewumi) Can hydrolysis be made more efficient in order to provide a clean alternative fuel source, hydrogen, in order supplement fossil fuels upon which we are so dependant?

Why Hydrogen?

Hydrogen is a fuel for the future because it is clean when burned. Fossil fuels are running out, but there is a lot of hydrogen to be made.

Hydrogen could someday replace both gas and oil as a fuel. It burns easily, giving off huge amounts of heat and one harmless by-product, water. Chilled to liquid form, hydrogen can be transported in pipelines and stored in tanks. Aircraft and automobiles may someday use this nonpolluting, lightweight, and efficient fuel. Hydrogen is removed from water by a process called hydrolysis, which involves running an electric current through the water. But the process requires enormous amounts of electric power, making hydrogen a costly energy source. (Adewumi)

Right now there are some hydrogen powered cars on the road. For example there are some fuel cell cars like “Honda's new hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity, which hit the market this week leasing for $600 a month, as well as the hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Equinox test-vehicle fleet from General Motors—part of a pilot program that aims to determine how hydrogen cars might function in everyday life. Both the Japanese and U.S. automakers are betting that these nonpolluting cars will one day replace the internal combustion engine.” (Biello) Auto makers are pursuing hydrogen fueled vehicles:

”Hydrogen (H2) is being aggressively explored as a fuel for passenger vehicles. It can be used in fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines (ICEs). It is an environmentally friendly fuel that has the potential to dramatically reduce our dependence on imported oil, but several significant challenges must be overcome before it can be widely used.” (Fuel Economy.Gov. “Hydrogen.”)

Hydrogen is a useful, clean fuel source. However, the electricity needs to come from a clean source like solar power in order to avoid burning fossil fuels to make clean hydrogen. Also, people with solar powered homes may be able to store hydrogen to use as fuel during cloudy weather when they are unable to generate electricity from their solar cells. Mike Strizki has powered his home, cars and lawn mower in this manner.

A home owner could pay a lot of power and heating bills with the cost of solar/hydrogen equipment used in this “hydrogen house.” At this time hydrogen is really expensive to produce, but it could be made here, where we live, instead of us importing fossil fuel from oil producing countries. (Fuel Economy. Gov. “Benefits.”) Mike Strizki says his equipment cost $500,000. (Biello) That’s very expensive, a lot more expensive than fossil fuels. Besides the costly equipment there are some other draw backs to hydrogen fuel at this time. It does not have the same energy output we are used to.

Hydrogen contains much less energy than gasoline or diesel on a per-volume basis, making it difficult for hydrogen vehicles to go as far as gasoline vehicles between fill ups—about 300 miles. Technology is improving, but the onboard hydrogen storage systems do not yet meet size, weight, and cost goals for commercialization. (Fuel Economy.Gov)

My Experiment

I wanted to see whether I could make hydrolysis a more efficient process.

Apparatus

I conducted my experiment using a plastic tank to hold the water with a wooden slat to hold the electrodes. We purchased two test tubes to hold and measure the hydrogen that is being generated. The two test tubes are held upside down over the electrodes. The electrodes are made of graphite that we had gotten out of a large pencil and to which we attached wires leading to a car battery. We used an instant read thermometer to measure the temperature of the water. We also used a stop watch to measure the amount of time it took to generate one ml of hydrogen. We used a car battery instead of a solar cell because it can be used indoors and provides a more consistent source of electricity.

Procedure

In each test, I filled the tank with water at the right temperature. Then I put the electrodes in the bottom of the tank, and filled the test tubes with water. I then put the test tubes upside down in a holder over each electrode. Then I hooked up the wire to the battery and started the stop watch. I watched the test tube until one ml of hydrogen was generated and stopped the watch. The test was repeated for each temperature and for each amount of salt.

Test Runs

I ran two types of tests. During the first test I added heat in varying increments to tap water. I measured how long it took to generate one ml of hydrogen at that specific temperature.

My Results for Test #1






In my second test I measured how fast the hydrogen is produced with various measurements of salt dissolved in tap water.

My Results of Test #2



Analysis

Warmer water speeds up the hydrolysis process. I found that if I increased the temperature of the tap water to 140F in the hydrolysis process, I collected three times the amount of hydrogen in the same time period as I collected when the water was 40F. The sun could be used to heat the water in hydrolysis. In the solar-powered hydrolysis system, the sun produces the electricity and also heats up the water.

Also, adding salt to the water speeds up the hydrolysis process even farther. Salt increases the conductivity of the water, so electricity flows more easily through the water. ”When salt is added (NaCl) to the system, the conductivity of the system increases considerably.” (Silva, Water Conductivity). Because salt increases the conductivity of water to electricity, more electricity is used in the process. Thus, hydrogen is generated faster, but not necessarily more efficiently. There are limits to the effects of salt. Once the water reaches a saturation point with salt, the rate of collection of hydrogen does not increase.

Regarding the cleanliness of the hydrolysis process, when I used warmer water in the hydrolysis process I collected hydrogen more quickly; however, because more electricity is used in the presence of salt and more energy is needed to preheat the water the addition of these factors, salt and heat, may not create a more efficient hydrolysis process. The use of solar power may be a more “green” and economical option, however. (Cullen)





Further Research

There are more experiments that I could do to see what may make hydrolysis faster. I could try other chemicals, such as lime, potassium salt, vinegar, or baking soda to see if they would speed up the hydrolysis process. I could also try different materials for the electrodes. In my experiments, the electrodes were made of graphite from pencil leads. Other things I could try may be different metals, such as aluminum, iron, copper, and platinum.



Conclusion

I have found that adding salt to water increases the speed at which hydrolysis occurs. I have also found that raising the temperature of the water increases the speed at which hydrolysis occurs. In both cases hydrogen is produced from hydrolysis more quickly. Although hydrogen is produced more quickly, this does not mean that increasing the salt content or the water temperature is a means to more efficiently extracting hydrogen. The process may use more electrical power when it is accelerated; however, measuring the output of energy required to cause hydrolysis was beyond the scope of my project.





 

Bibliography



Adewumi, Michael A. "Energy supply." World Book Student. World Book, 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.

Biello, David. “House: No More Power Bills—Ever.” Scientific American. June 19, 2008.

Cullen, T. Pure Energy Solutions.Com. News. “Sunlight Used to Produce Hydrogen from Water: Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation Has Demonstrated That Solar Energy can be Concentrated to 1500F and used to Produce Hydrogen.” http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2004/07/09/6900033_Solar_Hydrogen/. July 9, 2004. Accessed February 26, 2011.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hydrogen-house. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.

Hydrogen. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hydrogen.shtm. Site updated February 25, 2011. Accessed February 26, 2011.

Silva, Vasco. Water Conductivity: Science at Home. Http://scienceathome.cienciaviva.pt/conduti_agua_eng.html. 2003. Accessed February 26, 2011.

You Know You're a Utahn When...

The Hills are Alive

With the sounds of the Smiths hollering down the slopes
The two behind me are NOT "high-fiving."

Major hat hair.