FALL 2021
The Hydrogen Edition
How do you get electricity from hydrogen hydrogen? Check inside for the answer!
Hydrogen! The most common element on the planet, and possibly the most interesting as well. Hydrogen has applications in everything from the manufacturing of computer chips, to making fertilizer used to grow our fruit and veggies. Here at CNL, we have been working in hydrogen for more than 70 years. The CANDU reactors that power our homes and businesses are cooled with heavy water (which is water with an isotope of hydrogen called deuterium); we are conducting research into batteries that are powered by another isotope of hydrogen called tritium; and of course we are looking into lots of different ways to store and use protium (regular hydrogen) safely in things like cars, trucks and equipment. Our hydrogen science work explores four key areas: production, storage, safety and use. Research in each of these areas is important as hydrogen becomes more common in our day-to-day lives. It’s a fascinating topic, so we decided to dedicate this whole issue to this really simple but really interesting element. Philip Kompass, Editor communications@cnl.ca
As we head into winter, many of us use woodstoves, furnaces or heaters to keep the chill away. So, that means fall is a good season to make sure our smoke detectors are in good shape and will do their job to alert us in case of a fire. But, we also have a part to play in knowing what the different ‘sounds’ mean, so we can do the right thing in response to the alarms. • A continued set of three loud- beep, beep, beepmeans smoke or fire. Get out and call 9-1-1 and stay out. • A single “chirp” every 30 or 60 seconds means the battery is low and must be changed. • All smoke alarms must be replaced after 10 years. • Chirping that continues after the battery has been replaced means the alarm is at the end of its life and the unit must be replaced. Talk to an adult and make sure your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are in good shape, and meet the needs of everyone in your home!
WHAT IS YOUR ALARM TELLING YOU?
Know the sounds of safety! 2
Crossing Paths: The Science of Sport in Cross-country Skiing In this issue of Kids CONTACT, we reached out to Ailsa Eyvindson, a mechanical engineer and manager of CNL’s Fluids Engineering branch. Her branch develops various tools, techniques and systems to address fluids-related challenges in the nuclear industry. Along with Ailsa’s love of science, she also has a love of cross-country skiing and was once a highly competitive cross-country skier. We asked her to tell us a bit more about the science of sport in cross-country skiing. “Cross-country skiing is fun and it also involves a lot of science. This includes biomechanics (ski technique), physiology (effect of training on the body), mechanical engineering (design of skis, poles, boots, and bindings), psychology (mental preparation for racing), and chemistry (ski wax). With regards to ski wax, early skiers used pine tar on wooden skis which prevented the skis from soaking up moisture and provided grip to prevent back-slipping.”
CNL is a proud sponsor of the 2022 Ontario Winter Games that will be hosted in Renfrew County the weekends of February 25 to 27 and March 4 to 7, 2022. The winter games will see over 2,300 athletes and their families, and coaches come to the area!
A basic ski wax is made up of something called a paraffin. A paraffin is a molecule comprised of hydrogen and carbon atoms lined up in a row. The length of this row determines the properties of the wax. Generally the longer the chain the harder the wax. Wax is hydrophobic, which means it repels water which helps the ski slide and avoids snow and slush from sticking to it. Nowadays, most skiers use waxes and synthetic waxes, which have increasing proportions of carbon and are suited to different temperature ranges. These waxes can also include various additives such as graphite, Teflon, silicon, and molybdenum to repel even more water and dirt. The wax must be carefully selected considering the temperature, age, crystalline structure and moisture content of the snow. As you can imagine, for a race lasting one or more hours, with changing weather conditions, this can be quite a challenge. Being a wax technician at a major ski race can be very stressful!” Keen skiers and scientists continue to work in labs and on the ski trails investigating new potential waxes for future use. Who knows what the next big innovation will be?
Renfrew County 2022 Ontario Winter Games Jeux d’hiver de l’Ontario
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TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? Understanding hydrogen in reactor components While there are lots of really great things about hydrogen, if you work in the nuclear industry, there are a few things about hydrogen that we need to be careful to watch out for. You see, sort of how a sponge soaks up water, in the right conditions metals inside a reactor can soak up hydrogen and form hydrides. If enough of these hydrides form it could lead to cracking. Here at CNL we do research to help reactor operators know when to change components in their reactors.
A special tool is used to reach inside the reactor and ‘scrape’ out a thin sample of material from the surface of the component.
Then our team in Analytical Chemistry conducts Hot Vacuum Mass Spectrometry, heating the scrapes to 1,100 degrees Celsius, We measure the hydrogen that is released, and make a calculation about the concentration of hydrides in the sample.
These scrapes are then sent to the Chalk River Laboratories for analysis in our Shielded Facilities, which protect the workers from the radioactive sample.
The metal scrapes are flattened into a compact pellet. Sometimes, they are also polished and inspected under a microscope to see the hydrides in the metal.
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To see Rita's 'soap bubble experiment visit www.cnl.ca/soap.
Cool Careers! Rita Liang, Combustion Scientist How did you get interested in hydrogen research?
What is the most interesting part of your work?
Hydrogen is a really fascinating gas to work with! It can be used to power vehicles and the only products are water and heat – no pollutants or greenhouse gases are produced which makes it a really good clean energy source. But, the atoms in hydrogen gas are also so small that it can easily escape from tanks and pipes. Therefore we must detect and remove hydrogen if it is leaked accidentally.
Hydrogen is colourless, odourless and tasteless. Hydrogen flames are not visible in daylight, but we can see them in our experiments with special camera equipment. At CNL we have hydrogen facilities that are carefully designed so that we can do these energetic combustion experiments safely. Even after many years of this work, it is still exciting whenever we do one of these explosive tests! (See the picture at the top!)
Could you describe your work? As a combustion scientist, my work is focused on understanding how things burn. In my current job, I conduct experiments and calculations to understand the behavior of hydrogen gas. I work to understand how hydrogen gas moves around in the environment, under what conditions a hydrogen cloud will ignite, and importantly, how the hydrogen gas can be removed to prevent an explosion.
What has been your most unique project? I had a collaboration with a university professor. We studied hydrogen combustion using soap bubbles. Soap bubbles were formed by blowing hydrogen-air mixtures toward soap solution on a table surface. We would ignite the bubbles and study how the flame expanded and moved from one bubble to another. The experiment helped us to understand how to place hydrogen equipment safely.
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A HYDROGEN BATTERY? In order to use hydrogen as a clean energy source, we need to store it. In most cases, it needs to be stored as a gas in high pressure tanks, or as a liquid in really cold ‘cryogenic’ tanks (cooled to – 250 degrees Celcius). Not really an ideal option! At CNL we are exploring a few other ways to store hydrogen, including bonding it with other liquids, storing it as a gas in gigantic caves, and, recently we have successfully stored hydrogen as a solid. Think of it as a hydrogen battery. This is a safer and more cost effective way to store hydrogen because we don’t have to keep the liquid cold, and we avoid the safety issues that come with high pressure tanks.
Believe it or not, the tiny vial of magnesium alloy (powder) holds as much hydrogen as this entire balloon. That's awesome!
We recently discovered an alloy (a mix of different metals) based on magnesium which can be used to store hydrogen through the use of a catalyst, a material which helps us to make and break hydrogen bonds. When we heat up the metal, it releases the hydrogen as a gas which can then be used to power a fuel cell. The material can be used over and over, like a rechargeable battery, but one which is charged with hydrogen instead. Right now, this alloy is just a good idea that CNL needs to explore. We have produced it in small amounts, and tested it for over 1,000 cycles. In the future we will be working to produce larger amounts of the alloy and continue our testing with the hope of bringing another clean energy technology to the world.
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How do you get electricity from hydrogen? If you are like me, for many years I thought that hydrogen cars burned hydrogen, the same way that a gasoline car burns gasoline. In fact, a hydrogen car is really more like an electric car, and that is thanks to a technology called a ‘fuel cell’. In a fuel cell, a chemical reaction occurs when hydrogen and oxygen mix together. This mixing creates heat, water and yes, electricity. And, it is much more efficient than a standard gasoline combustion engine; for the same weight hydrogen contains three times as much energy! In a simple explanation, a hydrogen fuel cell contains two metal plates, separated by a special membrane, and connected at the top by a wire or cable. Hydrogen flows in past one plate, and oxygen from the air flows in to another. The membrane between the two plates allows the positively charged particles (protons) from the hydrogen to pass through leaving the negatively charged electrons behind on the metal plate. These electrons, which would really rather bond with an oxygen atom, travel through the cable. This flow of electrons is the electricity that drives the car motor. The electrons, on reaching the other plate, can now bond with the oxygen in the air which instantly hooks up with the protons coming through the membrane to form… regular water (H2O; two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom). Pure water and a little bit of heat are the only emissions from this clean power source.
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Word Wo rd Scramble! Are you able to unscramble these key words from this issue of Kids CONTACT?
Your Artwork...
Send in a picture of your completed page to communications@cnl.ca and you just might win a prize!
DGYRNHEO Willow
EYRNGE EARTW HO2 UMTPORI
Isla
Elissa
RIUTTMI NECAL NCCEISE OOIUCSBNTM
Olivia
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“Picture This” Challenge! We're getting closer to the 2022 Ontario Winter Games. For this issue's art challenge, we are asking you to draw us a picture of your favourite winter sport. When you are finished your artwork, send in a photo to communications@cnl.ca.
Aliya
Westin
Eva
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In “Under The Microscope” we’ll feature a sample image taken in our materials science laboratories, allowing you a close up view of the world we live in. In this case, we are featuring a closer look of the hydrogen storage alloy we discussed on page 6.
oy, rage all o t s n e drog owder, The hy e in a p erent r e h n show to diff made in cks or bars can be , blo . : plates at is needed s e p a h h s w n o ing depend
ION IFICAT MAGN X 0 0 50,0
ATION GNIFIC A M X 1,500
N ICATIO AGNIF 50 X M
CNL Corporate Communications 286 Plant Road, Stn 700 A Chalk River ON, K0J 1J0 1-800-364-6989 communications@cnl.ca www.cnl.ca
The rough edge s that look a bit like snowfla kes work like a sponge, soakin g up the hydrogen and al lowing it to bond with the m etal.
of the article he p le g t a sin s in t ows jus dges and gap illing This sh e f the m r. The powde are a result o alloy. l he materia ss to create t e c pro
A Chemistry Poem Oxygen U played Hydrogen Tech and the game had just begun, When Hydrogen racked up two quick scores while Oxygen still had none. Then Oxygen scored a single run and thus it did remain, at Hydrogen 2, Oxygen 1, called because of rain.
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