Desolation: STEM Total Redox™ Fuel Cells

Grade 6 and up. To provide the most up-to-date information on Desolation products, all the instructional material (teacher's manual, student guides, and supplemental resources) are online only. Each kit contains a special access code and instructions on how to retrieve the online resources.

Energy Modeling Lab Procedure
In addition to the Fuel Cell Lab, there is a supplementary Energy Modeling Lab included in this kit. The procedure is written at a college freshman level. If your students have difficulty with this lab, there is a slide show presentation titled Modeling Lab Tutorial, which contains an in-depth explanation (including pictures) of how to perform this lab.

The Desolation: STEM Series compels students to solve problems through a hands-on process involving design, development, evaluation, and improvement.

Backstory
In the year 2040, the world's energy crisis has been mitigated. Nuclear fusion reactors power the electrical grid. The source of a critical element for fusion, helium-3, is the moon. Government oversight of helium-3 mining operations is a hotly contested issue in the international community. With the world on the brink of war, all travel to and from the moon has been suspended indefinitely. Four lunar miners from the High Altitude Work Corporation (HAWC) are trapped at the moon's South Pole in a malfunctioning outpost with only their equipment, emergency rations, and problem-solving skills to survive desolation.

Desolation: STEM Total Redox™ Fuel Cells
Experiments

• Design and optimize a zinc-air fuel cell and test its power output
• Use 3-D modeling to determine the most efficient path back to the outpost using satellite topology data

• Measure and model electrical potential, current, power, and energy
• Read and write chemical equations
• Calculate theoretical cell potential
• Develop an understanding of redox reactions
• Explain the difference between anions and cations
• Describe the efficiency of various power sources (coal, gas, nuclear, solar, and fuel cells)
• Describe the relationship between electrolysis and electrochemical cells
• Explain what the standard conditions for measurement are and how they affect experimental results
• Create models for kinetic energy, potential energy, electrical energy, and rolling resistance
• Create models for various energy conversion processes
• Scale measurement datasets to fit a range of values
• Extrapolate classroom experimental results to make predictions about models that are orders of magnitude larger