For our passive solar heating project we did several labs and tests to look at how we could heat this home without the use of electricity. Our first lab was to build a solar water heater. My group had some trouble with it, in fact I think almost every other group had trouble with it as well. But, the groups that did succeed had really nice results that the rest of us couldn't match.
Our next lab (to the left) was to see how different day lighting techniques could be used to light a house. We were to use a light bulb in a dark room to see how the sun, at different times of day, could get into our house. My groups design worked well on the left side of the house, but not nearly as much as the right side. This lab proved to be very useful in our actual project.
The last lab we did was to test how much heat was able to get into the building materials over a long period of time. After that, we then waited to see how much heat was lost over the same amount of time. By the end of the testing we had found out which materials would gather and retain heat the best.
The last lab we did was to test how much heat was able to get into the building materials over a long period of time. After that, we then waited to see how much heat was lost over the same amount of time. By the end of the testing we had found out which materials would gather and retain heat the best.
After all the labs, we finally got to work on our design. We spent more than half the time researching all of our different building materials and at the same time trying to stay under our $5,000 budget. The rest of our project was spent making blueprints and models to show to everyone during our presentation. We encountered several set backs which required us to redraw blueprints or research even more materials.
Presentation night was a flop for our group. One of our group members, Mikayla, couldn't show up because of a varsity basketball game (Go Mustangs!), so we had to cover for her. Turns out she had the biggest part which I did my best to present but I messed up both times due to stuttering or forgetting to mention something important. In the end Toran, Joe, and I put up a good fight, but we were not chosen as the design that would be built.
Presentation night was a flop for our group. One of our group members, Mikayla, couldn't show up because of a varsity basketball game (Go Mustangs!), so we had to cover for her. Turns out she had the biggest part which I did my best to present but I messed up both times due to stuttering or forgetting to mention something important. In the end Toran, Joe, and I put up a good fight, but we were not chosen as the design that would be built.
Concepts
Radiant Energy- any energy, including heat, light, and X-rays, that is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves.
Convection- a means of heat transfer by movement of the heated object, such as currents in a fluid
Conduction- energy that is transferred when two objects make direct contact
Specific Heat Capacity- quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit of mass of a substance by 1 degree Celsius
Laws of Thermodynamics- 0- if 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they are also in equilibrium with each other
1- energy isn't created or destroyed, heat is a form of energy
2- as heat rises, so does the disorder of atoms
3- temperature can never go to absolute zero, heat always exists
Temperature- property of a material that tells how warm or cold it is relative to some standard
Heat- energy transfer via random molecular motions, resulting in gain or loss of internal energy
Reflection
I liked this project because it taught us a lot of important things we'll need to know for the future. Well except for maybe the hours of research, but that's only because it was boring. When I look back on this I find things that my group did right and other things we screwed up.
We had a really organized presentation board and we found all of our materials staying well under our budget. We also worked well as a team and helped each other out, we divided the work evenly amongst each other and no one got upset at each other (except when Toran made too many puns). We did however make a few mistakes, mostly just our randomized approach to work, getting sidetracked, and not focusing on the dialogue side of the presentation, which all may or may not have led to our downfall.
Radiant Energy- any energy, including heat, light, and X-rays, that is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves.
Convection- a means of heat transfer by movement of the heated object, such as currents in a fluid
Conduction- energy that is transferred when two objects make direct contact
Specific Heat Capacity- quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit of mass of a substance by 1 degree Celsius
Laws of Thermodynamics- 0- if 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they are also in equilibrium with each other
1- energy isn't created or destroyed, heat is a form of energy
2- as heat rises, so does the disorder of atoms
3- temperature can never go to absolute zero, heat always exists
Temperature- property of a material that tells how warm or cold it is relative to some standard
Heat- energy transfer via random molecular motions, resulting in gain or loss of internal energy
Reflection
I liked this project because it taught us a lot of important things we'll need to know for the future. Well except for maybe the hours of research, but that's only because it was boring. When I look back on this I find things that my group did right and other things we screwed up.
We had a really organized presentation board and we found all of our materials staying well under our budget. We also worked well as a team and helped each other out, we divided the work evenly amongst each other and no one got upset at each other (except when Toran made too many puns). We did however make a few mistakes, mostly just our randomized approach to work, getting sidetracked, and not focusing on the dialogue side of the presentation, which all may or may not have led to our downfall.