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Eighth journal
3 years ago
Two days ago I, alongside my school colleagues, visited the power plant Krško which is located in Slovenia, on the left shore of the river Sava, 3 km from the town of Krško. The powerplant generates energy for both Croatia and Slovenia such that half of the generated energy is provided to both countries. Since I live in Croatia and my school is located only around 1 hour from the Slovenian border, it organized a trip to the power plant.
I`m not going to go into much detail here, just to share what I find most interesting and what I've learned from the trip.
We didn't go into the actual building where the generator is, but a building built relatively far from the generator. When we got there, we were divided into 3 groups. Each group got a trip guide. The guide my group got held one of 3 lectures they organized for us. On it, we were discussing global warming and pollution using an interactive calculator that was made by MIT (https://www.climateinteractive.org/en-roads/). Essentially, the calculator is made of multiple sliders that represent the current values of elements of our economic and ecological reality. The calculator predicts the rise of global temperature till the year 2100. Its current prediction is +4.1°C. We were given the task to lower the temperature from +4.1°C to +2.1°C. We were also advised not to slide the values of the elements to their extremes since those scenarios would be very unlikely in the real world. When allowed to change the values, we were surprised by how hard it is to lower the temperature. The reason for this is the fact that the calculator uses dynamic algebra to calculate the temperature but also takes every single detail into account (such as the amount of pollution caused while producing solar panels, windmills, and so on).
After that, we were given a different guide who showed us a movie the facility made. It was about what energy is, how we get it, and so on. Nothing too special. Then we were guided to a room that contained various models that represent how the power plant works. Some of them were also interactive, like a model that displays how a water mill works by making you pump water into a tank until it tips over and falls down a tube leading into the generator. It also had a model of how the reactor works, but I'm not going to bore you with that, since you can just look that up on Google. However, honestly, this part wasn't as interesting as some would think. Sure, it showed how the actual generator functions and it was fun playing around with the models, but most of the time I found myself roaming around aimlessly. Luckily, I was able to take a picture of uranium. Something to show my family I guess.
Lastly, we were led to a room with various physics experiments related to electricity. That was the best part in my opinion, because of how interactive and varied all the experiments were. The experiments ranged from an electric generator in the form of a bicycle or a simulation of a magnetic field with magnetic arrows to a plasma ball. The experiment that got the most attention however was an electro shocker circuit. How it works, essentially, is you would put your hands on two metal plates that were connected to a circuit. The circuit would gain electricity by spinning a handle connected to a generator. When you would put your hands on the plates and someone else would spin the handle, you would feel your hand muscles twitch because of the current. Luckily, the current and the voltage were low enough for the experience not to be painful, but also not so pleasant (at least for me). We would also form a wire by holding each other's hands and closing the circuit (something similar to this: https://youtu.be/jMQL4boocgk). At some point, however, some of us were having a little bit too much fun with it and constantly returning to it after being done experimenting with it. We were even joking that it could help you discover new kinks, by how some of us were obsessed with it. In the end, the guide was conducting some experiments with a Tesla coil.
The experience was honestly amazing. Especially after being promised for 2 years that we would travel a lot, only to end up not traveling at all because of the pandemic. It thought me a lot, from how "fucked" we are ecologically or how nuclear power plants aren't as bad of pollution makers as some people see them, to how some people find electric stimulation quite entertaining. Furthermore, I was finally able to cross the border again and see my neighboring country Slovenia, a country I only visited once before. The only thing I can say about Slovenia, based on the trip, is that, no matter how close I am to it, the difference between being in Croatia and being in Slovenia is massive. The reason for this is the economical difference and the ecological awareness. Just seeing all the solar panels on almost all the houses we passed to seeing no trash beside the road can tell you how more advanced Slovenia is compared to Croatia. The only thing that I regret was not going into the actual building where the reactor is. I suppose they didn't lead us there because of the lack of activities we could partake in and to just keep us safe.
I`m not going to go into much detail here, just to share what I find most interesting and what I've learned from the trip.
We didn't go into the actual building where the generator is, but a building built relatively far from the generator. When we got there, we were divided into 3 groups. Each group got a trip guide. The guide my group got held one of 3 lectures they organized for us. On it, we were discussing global warming and pollution using an interactive calculator that was made by MIT (https://www.climateinteractive.org/en-roads/). Essentially, the calculator is made of multiple sliders that represent the current values of elements of our economic and ecological reality. The calculator predicts the rise of global temperature till the year 2100. Its current prediction is +4.1°C. We were given the task to lower the temperature from +4.1°C to +2.1°C. We were also advised not to slide the values of the elements to their extremes since those scenarios would be very unlikely in the real world. When allowed to change the values, we were surprised by how hard it is to lower the temperature. The reason for this is the fact that the calculator uses dynamic algebra to calculate the temperature but also takes every single detail into account (such as the amount of pollution caused while producing solar panels, windmills, and so on).
After that, we were given a different guide who showed us a movie the facility made. It was about what energy is, how we get it, and so on. Nothing too special. Then we were guided to a room that contained various models that represent how the power plant works. Some of them were also interactive, like a model that displays how a water mill works by making you pump water into a tank until it tips over and falls down a tube leading into the generator. It also had a model of how the reactor works, but I'm not going to bore you with that, since you can just look that up on Google. However, honestly, this part wasn't as interesting as some would think. Sure, it showed how the actual generator functions and it was fun playing around with the models, but most of the time I found myself roaming around aimlessly. Luckily, I was able to take a picture of uranium. Something to show my family I guess.
Lastly, we were led to a room with various physics experiments related to electricity. That was the best part in my opinion, because of how interactive and varied all the experiments were. The experiments ranged from an electric generator in the form of a bicycle or a simulation of a magnetic field with magnetic arrows to a plasma ball. The experiment that got the most attention however was an electro shocker circuit. How it works, essentially, is you would put your hands on two metal plates that were connected to a circuit. The circuit would gain electricity by spinning a handle connected to a generator. When you would put your hands on the plates and someone else would spin the handle, you would feel your hand muscles twitch because of the current. Luckily, the current and the voltage were low enough for the experience not to be painful, but also not so pleasant (at least for me). We would also form a wire by holding each other's hands and closing the circuit (something similar to this: https://youtu.be/jMQL4boocgk). At some point, however, some of us were having a little bit too much fun with it and constantly returning to it after being done experimenting with it. We were even joking that it could help you discover new kinks, by how some of us were obsessed with it. In the end, the guide was conducting some experiments with a Tesla coil.
The experience was honestly amazing. Especially after being promised for 2 years that we would travel a lot, only to end up not traveling at all because of the pandemic. It thought me a lot, from how "fucked" we are ecologically or how nuclear power plants aren't as bad of pollution makers as some people see them, to how some people find electric stimulation quite entertaining. Furthermore, I was finally able to cross the border again and see my neighboring country Slovenia, a country I only visited once before. The only thing I can say about Slovenia, based on the trip, is that, no matter how close I am to it, the difference between being in Croatia and being in Slovenia is massive. The reason for this is the economical difference and the ecological awareness. Just seeing all the solar panels on almost all the houses we passed to seeing no trash beside the road can tell you how more advanced Slovenia is compared to Croatia. The only thing that I regret was not going into the actual building where the reactor is. I suppose they didn't lead us there because of the lack of activities we could partake in and to just keep us safe.
