Over the past few weeks we have been working on an energy efficient house that was a sequence of labs and a lot of research. We started off by making a solar water heater design and model, a solar daylighting house design and model, house site selection, wind turbine energy generator, cold frame, north window reflector, and bonus plan.
Projects:
Solar Water Heater: In this project we learned about radiation, convection, and conduction we deigned a solar water heater. We started off by using a shoe box and cutting off the top of it.We then decided to paint the box black because we knew that that would absorb more sunlight. We then put insulation in by using a bubble wrap. Then we used a black tinfoil over the whole inside of the box because it will absorb more heat. We then ran a copper bar through the box and one side was connected to the water bottle putting water into it and then the other side was connected so the water would pour out. We had plastic wrap over the whole entire thing to keep the heat in.
Solar Daylighting House Design:We designed a solar house that would provide sunlight throughout the house by placing windows and solar reflectors in the house. We made a house that was a 1,000 square foot house with lights, windows and skylights in an attempt to get the maximum amount of natural light into the house.We made our house out of cardboard and cut windows and skylights out of the roofs and walls. We scaled our house to a much smaller scale, because we wanted to have a sizable end product that could be easily visualized as a real home.Finally, we turned out the lights and used a light bulb to simulate the sun. The point of that experiment was to see how much natural light would actually be in the house during the day.
Site Selection: For this project we were asked to go around the whole San Marin High School campus and find the best site selection for a solar home. We walked around the whole school and choose the best site where our house would reach a lot of sun, have privacy,and easy access to for entering and leaving. Our group chose a place in a secluded area near the upper baseball fields. Our site unfortunately did not win, but a fellow classmates group did. Their site was behind our art building and was under a few trees but still absorbed a lot of sun, and was in a beautiful area.
Wind Turbine Energy Generator:- For this project we were told to design the two types of wind turbines. Horizontal and Vertical wind turbines.We built the turbine's blades out of cardboard and wood and were tilted at an angle so they would be able to catch air and generate electricity. The goal was to generate the most electricity when our turbine was put up in front of a fan. We learned from building that the more surface area you can have on each blade without them interfering too much or weighing the turbine down, the better.
Vertical Wind Turbine:
Horizontal Wind Turbine:
Cold Frame, Solar Reflector, STEM House In this series of projects we created a cold frame for the garden, solar reflector for the stem house, and a upgrade for the stem house. This project was not focused as much on building but more on designing and planning. Each group designed and built three scale models of each project along with a material lists. Our cold frame was unique due to its small and easy to store design. Our solar reflector was unique due to its ability to tilt using motors. Our STEM house was unique due to its simplicity of solar panels yet it was a very affective plan. We presented all our projects to three sets of judges and got good feed back from all of them.
Cold Frame:
STEM House/Solar Panels:
North Window Reflector:
New Vocabulary:
Archimedes Principle- This principle states the correlation between buoyancy and displaced fluid. The weight of the displaced fluid of an object is equal to the force acting on it. Bernoulli's Principle- The principle basically states that a fluid's pressure decreases when the fluid's speed increases. This principle is often associated to a diagram with the cross section of a plane's wing. Buoyancy- Buoyancy deals with a liquid's power that can allow a submerged object to float. In order to float in a liquid, an object's density must be less than the density of the liquid. If not, the object will either sink or stay submerged at one level. For example, a rock often sinks in water, because it is denser, while a lily pad just floats on the water. Buoyancy Force- All the force acting upward by a fluid on a submerged object. Conduction- This is when heat transfer through materials Convection- This is when heater transfer through fluids (air, water, etc) Radiation- Energy transmitted as waves , rays, or particles. Heat- Energy transfer through molecular movement. Laws of Thermodynamics- There are four laws of thermodynamics. They are all fairly simple. 0th Law: This law explains temperature (if 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium with another system, they are all in equilibrium with each other.) 1st Law: This law states that energy is neither created or destroyed. 2nd Law: This law states that as entropy increases, so does disorder. 3rd Law: This law states that the temperature can never get to absolute zero (0 degrees on the Kelvin scale). Insulator- A material that keeps in heat, or rather is a poor conductor that doesn't allow heat to pass by too quickly. Fluid- A substance that flows (liquid or gas) that has no specific shape. Pressure- Pressure=Force/Area (Force on a surface, fluid, etc.) Boyle's law- This principle states that volume and gas have an inversely proportional relationship. As the pressure goes up, the volume come down. As the volume goes up, the pressure comes down. Specific Heat Capacity- The amount of heat energy required to raise an objects temperature by one degree Celsius. Water, for example, has a higher heat capacity than land. The formula is Q=mcDELTAt. Temperature- Temperature is the measure of heat in an object (solid, fluid, etc.). Conductor- A material that heat can transfer through. Absorption- Absorption basically states how much heat a material can take in. Reflection- The throwback of light, heat, or sound by a material.
Concepts:
Vertical light is the brightest and most concentrated, therefore there is more light and heat per unit area
Slanted Light is more spread out, therefore less concentrated, with less heat and less brightness
Solids = Molecules are held in place with minimal movement Liquids = All molecules are bonded, but can flow and is a fluid Gases = Is not bonded and moves more freely and is a fluid
Heat = A measure of the Kinetic energy of atoms (and also Thermal Energy) Thermal Conductivity = The rate at which a material transfers heat Thermal Resistance = The ability of a material to resist the transferring of heat
Materials Testing Lab
What materials are most conductive of heat? Most affective insulator? Best absorption of heat? conduction
black tin foil
coppers
screws/nails
steel
Insulating
expanding foam
rigid foam
single pane glass
double pane glass
Absorb
glue
paint
plastic sheets
tar paper
Reflection:
This was our longest unit and I liked it very much. I enjoyed learning about all the different solar projects and how everything worked. It was pretty cool getting to know the different formulas and how new things work. In my group, we all got along perfectly but sometimes there was a lot of craziness. We started off this whole solar project about two months ago and i had a blast. I never really knew about constructing houses and realized that you need the windows to position a certain way for them to have sunlight shine through. Also the lab with the wind turbines was cool, mrs.havel had a leaf blower and we all calculated the amount of energy the turbines consumed. When we presented the cold frame, north window reflector, and our bonus STEM house idea, it was scary but also so fun. I had a lot of nerves going into it, but we finished it pretty well. They didn't pick our cold frame design but ours was close. I had a ton of fun on this project, and as i keep learning new things in STEM I'm loving it more and more.