Section IV: Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering and Technology

8:00 CONVERSION OF A PETROLEUM COMBUSTION ENGINE TO HYDROGEN FUEL **, Jeremy Robinson *, Phil Hines *, Alexander Bauer * and Richard Gamble *, Augusta State University, Augusta, GA 30904-2200. The use of petroleum in combustion engines has numerous adverse environmental and economic consequences. By replacing non-renewable petroleum fuel with a clean and renewable fuel, these problems can be avoided. Previous projects have demonstrated the generation of clean hydrogen gas to power a fuel cell or combustion vehicle. This project will use hydrogen gas to power a commercial combustion engine, previously suited for petroleum fuel. The exothermic reaction of hydrogen with atmospheric oxygen will provide the required energy, and will produce only water and heat as a result of the process. A variety of aspects of the engine's performance will be analyzed to indicate the feasibility of this technology. In particular, the dependency of engine power and maximum efficiency upon ignition timing and injection parameters will be explored using a two cylinder 1983 Suzuki GS300L motorcycle with commercially available hydrogen gas. We are currently in the early stages of the research and are expecting results in the future. 8:15 DYNAMIC PHASE TRANSITION IN THE NEXT-NEAREST NEIGHBOR KINETIC ISING MODEL, William D. Baez * and Trinanjan Datta, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Augusta State University, Augusta, GA 30904. We investigate the effects of next-nearest neighbor interactions on the dynamic phase transition (DPT) of the two-dimensional kinetic Ising model subject to a spatially homogeneous AC field. Using the period-averaged magnetization as the order parameter for the DPT, we study the cross-over from the multi-droplet regime to the strong-field regime. We compute the probability densities of the period averaged magnetization to study the nature of the phase transition, the susceptibility, and the correlation between the external field and the system magnetization. We also explore the effects of frustration in this model.