Experiment 5 Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Experiment 5 - Lab Report Example The solar cells are not only cheap, but they are also safe for the environmental use because they do not result in pollution. In electrolyzing water using solar energy, dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells are used. The sensitizer absorbs light that excites the chromophore leading to the production of electrons that undergo a series of processes within the cell to produce electric current for electrolyzing water. It is hypothesized that dyes or quantum dots can be used to sensitize the semiconductor oxide films of a solar cell to generate electricity (Gratzel 6841). Thus, this experiment aims to construct a dye-sensitized solar cell and to measure its current and voltage as well as using the cell to convert light into electricity for electrolysis of water. The materials required for this experiment included a multimeter for measuring resistance, a candle flame for producing carbon powder, and a piece of wire for connecting glass layers. Two pieces of glass and a piece of tissue paper are also required. The chemicals included ethanol for removing dirt on the surfaces of the glass, anthocyanin dye, titanium dioxide paste, potassium triiodide (KI3) electrolyte. In addition, a lab coat, goggles, and tongs were required for safety reasons. We assembled the cell in the first lab session and determined the current and voltage. During this process, we identified the conducting side of a tin-oxide piece of glass by a multimeter and wiped off the surface with an ethanol-moistened tissue to remove dirt. We then added a small amount of titanium dioxide paste and heated the glass on a hot plate in a hood for 20 minutes until it turned green. On cooling to room temperature, we introduced anthocyanin dye. We coated the second piece of tin oxide glass with carbon powder by passing it through a candle flame. After which, we assembled the two glasses by putting the coated sides together

Structuralism in Marxist theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Structuralism in Marxist theories - Essay Example Marxism has left a legacy of social theory upon which to critics construct literary theories in order to gain deeper insight into the belief systems of authors and the societies they represent. This kind of criticism is materialist; that is, deeply rooted in the economic structure of societies. Such theorists as Louis Althusser and Terry Eagleton represented structuralist ideas that built upon or added to the Marxist theory, and contributed new ways of deconstructing literature. The Marxist concept of base and superstructure considers the economic structure of the society as the base upon which all other components of society rested. Out of this base grows the superstructure, which contains all the ideologies and systems that are extant in a given society. Marxist theory states that "ideological positions are a function of class positions, and the dominant ideology in society is the ideology of its dominant class" (Chandler). Therefore the general beliefs that can be detected in any of a society's subjects would have been inculcated from birth, and would reflect ideas necessary to keep the ruling class in power. According to the way Althusser fashioned this idea, beliefs arising from these can all be traced back to the economic base, and all ideological aspects of the superstructure reflect man's interpretation of his own relationship to his environment. This relationship, though complicated, can be applied to all the forms of culture or ideological state a pparatuses that derive from the base, and of these literature is one. Because literature is a part of a society's superstructure it must represent the ideology dominant in a given society. Literature may, therefore, represent or even appear to legitimise the economy upon which a society rests, but in its representation it also uncovers the beliefs of the writer and the framework of the society in which the writer lives. So it is that in this framework, characters in literature are considered in terms of their roles. Structuralism seeks to establish a connection between appearance and meaning. It is involved with the knowledge of and interactions between subject and object, and this with all the use of metaphorical and mimetic language, wherein one thing represents another ("Louis Althusser and the theory of ideology"). According to Althusser, ideology as a structure is rigid, but its contents are variable. In this way Marxist ideas lend their contents to ideological structure in the production of literature. Works of literature lend themselves to this kind of treatment as texts can be considered objects and the relationships contained in them can be fit into a structural or ideological framework. Althusser's view of history as a "process without a subject" reflects a certain level of belief in the unimportance of the individual. It views "historical materialism [as] a science whose methods should describe the patterns of multiple interactions and reciprocal causations among different levels in a social formation" ("Louis Althusser and the theory of ideology"). Therefore, works of art such as literature, produced as they are by artists locked into ideologies based on the economic and social milieu, illustrate in their structures the interactions and causations of the