Homework answers / question archive / When composing your response, you will probably want to write it out first, and a good guideline for the length of your response is about 300 words (which is about 1 to 1

When composing your response, you will probably want to write it out first, and a good guideline for the length of your response is about 300 words (which is about 1 to 1

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When composing your response, you will probably want to write it out first, and a good guideline for the length of your response is about 300 words (which is about 1 to 1.5 pages of a double-spaced essay in Word). Instead of turning in a paper, create a few slides (generally 4-5 plus a slide of references) that support your response. List bullet points on the slides with your main thoughts and include pictures if you think they are appropriate. It seems to be better to have more slides and make them less cluttered. Don't let the presentation get too long. If it gets to be more than seven slides total, you should try to do less.

You will find instructions for using VoiceThread in the VoiceThread Tutorials link in the course navigation menu. Pay special attention to the videos created by BW IT which walk you through the process step by step. When your presentation is complete, you will submit it in a blog using the Mini Presentation link above. Your classmates will be able to view your presentation. You should view the submissions of your classmates and leave comments if you wish.

Now, the topics. Choose one:

Everything that we use in everyday life uses energy in some way. In today's electronic world, batteries are a bottleneck. There are many issues with batteries from manufacturing to disposal. These issues are both political and scientific. Here is a partial list:

• Burning phones.
• Conflict minerals.
• Cost and weight (think electric cars, the battery pack for the Nissan leaf weighs 480 lbs, its estimated cost is about $5500 at today's prices).
• What is the source of energy for charging them? Do we need power plants? How many?
• Can they be used for mass storage? For instance, to store excess power from solar panels for overnight use. This is done on a small scale (home use), what about for a city? (Google Elon Musk and Australia).
• Can they be reused when dead? Recycled? Hazardous waste?
• What about "solid state" batteries, safer and lighter in weight but not as easily rechargable (flashlight batteries)?