This project will investigate current and anticipated production of nuclear power in the next twenty years, both in the United States and in other countries. Although nuclear energy production is projected to decrease worldwide, some countries will increase their capacity while others plan to decrease their capacity.

Physics or chemistry students who are studying nuclear energy. Mathematics students studying slope of lines would find this data useful in comparing rates of change in nuclear capacities of different countries.

Students should be familiar with using a search engine on the Internet. They should understand slope, be able to find the slope of a best-fit line and be able to create scatterplots of data using the spreadsheet. Use of a spreadsheet is recommended.

Internet access. This project was written for use with a spreadsheet. However, if spreadsheet software is not available, it could be adapted for the graphing calculator or for graph paper only.

To access tables of statistical data about nuclear energy use from the Internet.

To cut tables of statistical data from the Internet and paste them into a spreadsheet.

To find the slope of a best-fit line to a set of data.

To interpret the notion of "slope" as a rate of change.

To create graphs from data and compare different sets of data relative to their slopes.

To learn about projected nuclear energy use.

If students are not acquainted with the available spreadsheet, show them how to graph data and find the slope of a fitted line. After students are acquainted with these spreadsheet functions, they can work on the Nuclear Energy Activity Sheet.

See points assigned on the Nuclear Energy Worksheet.

Students may research reasons for anticipated increase or decrease of nuclear energy in various countries.

!!!! Warning !!!! The Web sites given in this lesson may have changed! Before using this lesson with your students, be sure to check if the sites are still working or if you must find another site. Sometimes the sites still have the relevant data but you may need to change the directions to access the data.

If students have had little experience using a spreadsheet, you may wish to assign "Graphing Data with the Spreadsheet Excel" before doing this project. This worksheet was written for Microsoft Excel 97. If you have a different spreadsheet, you may need to revise the commands. Each spreadsheet is somewhat different and you should be sure to know the exact commands. Also, be sure to experiment with cutting from a data table on the Internet and pasting into the spreadsheet. Sometimes the data is not displayed on the spreadsheet exactly how it looked on the original table. If this is the case, the data might have to be moved or copied into different cells in the spreadsheet. The 97 version of Excel usually pastes data exactly how the original table looked.

If a spreadsheet is not available, a graphing calculator may be substituted. If neither spreadsheet nor graphing calculator is available, students may do this lesson "by hand". In order to find the slope of the best-fit line, students should make a scatterplot of the data, draw what looks like a line that "follows" or "fits" the data points, and then find the slope of this line by using the formula slope = rise/run.

If you wish more background about the statistical concepts involved in the lesson, some good sites to check are:

http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/index.html

http://www.anu.edu.au/nceph/surfstat/surfstat-home/surfstat.html

http://www.math.unb.ca/~maureen/SSCEdCom/basicstats/basicstats.html

http://www.math.unb.ca/~knight/BasicStat/$content.htm

http://www.bbns.org/us/math/ap_stats

http://www.grad.cgs.edu/wise/linksf.shtml

http://www.cvgs.k12.va.us/DIGSTATS

http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html

http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/steps/glossary/index.html

http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/GT/sboone/Lessons/lptitle.html

http://forum.swarthmore.edu/library/topics/statistics

http://www.psychstat.smsu.edu/introbook/skb00.htm

TI-83 instructions:

http://www.ti.com/calc/docs/act/koehler001.htm

http://www.wku.edu/~neal/manual/ti83.html

The Calculator website at the Mathematics Department of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will perform basic statistical calculations. If you do not have access to a simple statistical computer package or calculators with statistics options, your students may access http://www.compute.uwlax.edu/stats_htdocs/newmenu.html to perform statistical computations on-line.

In order to print out just a copy of the student worksheet, highlight this section, then copy and paste it into your word processor. You may then revise the worksheet if you wish. 

1. Open Excel and enter the following data in rows 1 through 8 using columns A through G.

2. Find the slope of a line fitted to each type of expense, to see how that expense changed during the time period 1990 through 1995. To find the slope for Rent/House Payments, position the cursor in, say, cell H4 and type =SLOPE(B4:G4,B3:G3). The slope of the best-fitting line will be displayed. Cursor to cell H5 and similarly type =SLOPE(B5:G5,B3:G3). Notice that the first cell range denotes the expenses and the second cell range denotes the year. Continue to find these slopes for all the five types of expenses.

If you have had some experience with cutting and pasting Excel formulas, you could type =SLOPE(B4:G4,B$3:G$3) in cell H4 and then copy this formula to cells H5 through H8.

The slope indicates approximately how much the expenses are increasing or decreasing per year. For example Rent/House Payments increased approximately $23.43 per year. Transportation decreased approximately $4.83 per year.

3. Now make a graph showing how all these expenses changed between 1990 and 1995.

Highlight cells B3 through G8 and click on the graph icon. Choose XY(Scatter) and then click on the fourth subtype picture "Scatter with data points connected by lines." Then click Next.

Click on the Series Tab and type in the names of the five types of expenses. Click Next.

Click on the Titles tab and type "Monthly Expenses" for the Chart Title. Type "Year" for the Value(X)Axis and "Dollars" for the Value(Y)Axis. Click Next.

Click on As Object in and then click Finish. You can move or resize your graph as you wish. By clicking or double-clicking on any part of your graph, you can change the size, font, placement, etc. of that part. Your final graph should look similar to the following graph.

4. You can choose to graph only some of these expenses. For example, suppose you want the graph to show only Utility and Entertainment expenses. Highlight cells B3 through G3. Then hold down the Ctrl key and highlight cells B5 through G5. Next hold down the Ctrl key again and highlight cells B8 through G8. (All three of these rows should now be highlighted.) Next click on the graph icon and proceed as before. Your graph should look something like this:

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1. (3 points) Access the site http://www.eia.doe.gov and search for Nuclear Capacities. Find the table giving Historical and Projected Operable Nuclear Capacities by Region.

2. (3 points) Name three countries whose projected nuclear capacities are increasing over the next twenty years.

3. (3 points) Name three countries whose projected nuclear capacities are decreasing over the next twenty years.

4. (3 points) You should now copy Table 1 to your spreadsheet. Click and highlight the whole table, then click on Edit and then on Copy. Next open your spreadsheet. Click on cell A1, then click on Edit and then on Paste. All the data from Table 1 should now be transferred to the spreadsheet into columns A through G.

5. (12 points) Calculate the slope of the best-fit line for the data of each of your six countries. You might record this data in Column I. In Excel, for example, if the Country A data were in row 12, and since the years are in row 3, you would position the cursor at cell I1 and then type the command

6. (15 points) Make a scatterplot with the data connected by line segments for these six countries. Print out a copy of your spreadsheet.

7. (5 points) Which of these six countries will be increasing their nuclear power the fastest? What is the "rate of change" of nuclear power in this country? Interpret this value.

8. (5 points) Which of these six countries will be decreasing their nuclear power the fastest? What is the "rate of change" of nuclear power in this country? Interpret this value.

9. (5 points) Which of these six countries has the smallest "rate of change" of their nuclear capacity? Explain why. What is this rate of change?

10. (5 points) In the year 2020, which of these six countries will be producing the most nuclear power? Which will be producing the least?

11. (5 points) Look at your original table with all the data for all the countries. In the year 2020, which country will be producing the most nuclear power? Which will be producing the least?

12. (5 points) Is there any country for which the rate of change of its nuclear power production is zero? Describe this country’s production.

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1. (3 points) Access the site http://www.eia.doe.gov and search for Nuclear Capacities. Find the table giving Historical and Projected Operable Nuclear Capacities by Region.

2. (3 points) Name three countries whose projected nuclear capacities are increasing over the next twenty years.

India, China, Japan

3. (3 points) Name three countries whose projected nuclear capacities are decreasing over the next twenty years.

United States, Bulgaria, Germany

4. (3 points) You should now copy Table 1 to your spreadsheet. Click and highlight the whole table, then click on Edit and then on Copy. Next open your spreadsheet. Click on cell A1, then click on Edit and then on Paste. All the data from Table 1 should now be transferred to the spreadsheet into Columns A through G.

Data for the above countries:

5. (6 points) Calculate the slope of the best-fit line for the data of each of your six countries. You might record this data in Column I. In Excel, for example, if the Country A data were in row 12, , and since the years are in row 3, you would position the cursor at cell I1 and then type the command

6. (6 points) Make a scatterplot with the data connected by line segments for these six countries. Print out a copy of your graph.

7. (2 points) Which of these six countries will be increasing their nuclear power the fastest? What is the "rate of change" of nuclear power in this country? Interpret this value.

China. The slope of the best-fit line is 740, the largest positive slope. This means that China intends to increase its production by about 740 megawatts every year. The rate of change of nuclear power in China is an increase of approximately 740 megawatts per year.

8. (2 points) Which of these six countries will be decreasing their nuclear power the fastest? What is the "rate of change" of nuclear power in this country? Interpret this value.

United States. The slope of the best-fit line is –2123. This means that the US intends to decrease its production by about 2123 megawatts per year. The rate of change is a decrease of approximately 2123 megawatts per year.

9. Which of these six countries has the smallest "rate of change" of their nuclear capacity? Explain why. What is this rate of change?

Bulgaria. The slope of the best-fit line is -77. This is the smallest of all slopes in absolute value. Bulgaria will decrease its production by about 77 megawatts per year. This change is much smaller than the anticipated change in any of the other six countries.

10. In the year 2020, which of these six countries will be producing the most nuclear power? Which will be producing the least?

Japan will be producing the most: 54,107 megawatts; Bulgaria will be producing the least: 1,906 megawatts.

11. Look at your original table with all the data for all the countries. In the year 2020, which country will be producing the most nuclear power? Which will be producing the least?

France will be producing the most, 62,950 megawatts. Finland, Netherlands and Slovenia will be producing the least, 0 megawatts.

12. Is there any country for which the rate of change of its nuclear power production is zero? Describe this country’s production.

Mexico will be producing a constant 1308 megawatts each year. Since Mexico will neither increase nor decrease its production, its rate of change is zero.