U.S. Battery And The Physics Factory Team-Up To Give Young Students An Education On Solar Power And More
To help the Physics Factory share its enthusiasm for physics to young students across the country, U.S. Battery donated several of its deep-cycle batteries that will be used along with a solar panel array mounted on the Physics Factory’s Physics Bus. The bus is a rolling science museum that makes appearances at schools and science fairs across the country, providing demonstrations of physics in a fun and entertaining way. “We supplied the Physics Factory with our L16 deep cycle batteries that will work well with the solar panels they placed on top of their bus,” says Mike Wallace, U.S. Battery Creative Manager. “This helps to provide power for demonstrations and will also help to showcase the benefits of solar power to students at a young age.”
“To allow a full eight hour day exhibition that’s completely off-the-grid, we needed batteries that were incredibly efficient and long lasting,” says Erik Herman, Physics Factory Instructor. “That’s why we were absolutely delighted to receive a donation of eight L16 XC2’s from U.S. Battery. We now have the convenience to simply pull up anywhere, flick a switch, and open the doors for kids to come aboard and enjoy science. Whether it’s along a sidewalk downtown, in a school playground, a park, or even at a camp or reservation, we have allowed this physics experience to be free and un-tethered.”
To date, the Physics Bus has showcased its exhibition at 51 events between October 2014 and October 2015. “From a combination of photo/video documentation, and our handy Arduino infrared-beam people-counter, we estimate 7720 people passing through our doors, with over 6580 of them K-12 students,” said Herman.
Ensuring that the Physics Bus always has power readily available, U.S. Battery’s L16 deep-cycle batteries are built with exclusive Diamond Plate Xtreme Capacity technology that provides higher peak capacity, improved watt-hours per liter, and watt-hours per kilogram. In addition, L16 batteries feature an Outside Positive (OSP™) plate design, which mitigates the effects of positive plate deterioration and further increases battery life, capacity and performance. The use of the batteries on the Physics Bus will help to provide reliable power stored from the photovoltaic power system mounted on the roof, that was provided by New York-based Taitem Engineering. “Unlike typical residential or RV use, we will be discharging, in one day, three days worth of energy collected from our four roof-mounted panels,” says Herman.
U.S. Battery L16 deep-cycle batteries will store power from the solar panels mounted on the roof of the Physics Bus.
Reliable power is essential for the Physics Bus, as the results of their exhibitions are easily visible through the expression on student’s faces. “Students are awe-struck by our exhibits. They usually enter not knowing what to expect, but then they start experiencing never-before-seen physics phenomena coming from common everyday appliances,” says Herman. “Electromagnetic waves sending energy through space to create a light show inside a microwave oven, an otherwise average-looking guitar whose strings make the sound visible as well as audible, a TV whose beam dances to the vibrations of your voice. Half way through, kids’ eyes are popping out of their heads and their mouths are hanging open in amazement.
The donation of the deep-cycle batteries will hopefully allow the Physics Factory to continue their goal to bring education to students and adults across the country. ” We’re planning a cross-country tour, New York to California, for a showcase at the Maker Faire in San Mateo in May 2015, and the wheels are already in motion to cultivate other Physics Buses in other locations around the U.S., says Herman.
The Physics Factory is a non-profit organization that provides educators and students additional opportunities to learn more about the science of physics by mentoring, educating and demonstrations. For more information on the Physics Factory and where the Physics Bus is scheduled to appear, visit their website at www.physicsfactory.org.
U.S. Battery manufactures a variety of deep-cycle batteries that are all manufactured in the U.S.A. and are distributed worldwide. For more information, contact U.S. Battery Manufacturing, 1675 Sampson Ave. Corona, CA 92879. (800) 695-0945. Visit www.usbattery.com.
