Over the past few weeks, my group and I were very busy with several different projects including a solar water heater, vertical and horizontal wind turbines, a day lighting design activity, a testing materials lab, a cold frame, a light reflector, and a bonus project. For the bonus project, my group and I decided to add solar panels to the roof of the school's STEM house, which I have explained down below.
New Physics 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
Our Projects:
Solar panels bonus project:
Preview attachment Solar Panels STEM.pdfSolar Panels STEM.pdf1.2 MB
Cold Frame:
Preview attachment Cold Frame STEM.pdfCold Frame STEM.pdf1.5 MB
North Window Reflector:
Preview attachment Reflector STEM.pdfReflector STEM.pdf1.1 MB
Daylighting design activity:
For this lab, we were told to design a house that would let in as much daylight as possible without the help of artificial light. We used solar tubing, reflectors, and open windows to create the most effective light.
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. The we place insulation and black aluminum foil to keep in the heat. We ran copper tubes through it so when we ran water through the device it would heat up. After about 30 minutes, our water got 7 degrees warmer!
Materials Testing Lab:
Problem:
What building material is the most conductive of heat? most effective insulator of heat? best at absorbing and sustaining heat?
Materials:
Conduction
-black tin foil
-copper
-steel
-screws/nails
Insulating
-expanding foam/cellulose
-rigid foam
-single pane
-double pane
Absorb and Hold
-glue
-blue, green, red, brown, yellow, black , and white paint
- plastic sheeting
-tar paper
Procedure:
1. Place tested material on cardboard to insulate from the counter top
2. a. Place 1 ft of tested material 12 cm below 60 watt incandescent bulb
2. b. For insulation, make a box, place hot water in beaker in box. Test decrease in temperature for 20 minutes
3. Take initial temperature of tested material
4. Turn on light bulb
5. Take temperature every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
6. Turn off light bulb
7. Take temperature every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
8. Find total temperature gain and loss
Reflection: I really enjoyed doing this project. Most people in my group were very helpful and did everything they could to make this experience as enjoyable as possible. A few things that went really well
were we worked really well together and went above and beyond what was asked of us to get things done. What didn't work was that we spent too much time on beautification and not enough time on the actual project, which led to us not having the perfect results that we wanted. Next time, I will try to pay less attention to the actual project and pay more attention to the physics behind it.
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
Our Projects:
Solar panels bonus project:
Preview attachment Solar Panels STEM.pdfSolar Panels STEM.pdf1.2 MB
Cold Frame:
Preview attachment Cold Frame STEM.pdfCold Frame STEM.pdf1.5 MB
North Window Reflector:
Preview attachment Reflector STEM.pdfReflector STEM.pdf1.1 MB
Daylighting design activity:
For this lab, we were told to design a house that would let in as much daylight as possible without the help of artificial light. We used solar tubing, reflectors, and open windows to create the most effective light.
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. The we place insulation and black aluminum foil to keep in the heat. We ran copper tubes through it so when we ran water through the device it would heat up. After about 30 minutes, our water got 7 degrees warmer!
Materials Testing Lab:
Problem:
What building material is the most conductive of heat? most effective insulator of heat? best at absorbing and sustaining heat?
Materials:
Conduction
-black tin foil
-copper
-steel
-screws/nails
Insulating
-expanding foam/cellulose
-rigid foam
-single pane
-double pane
Absorb and Hold
-glue
-blue, green, red, brown, yellow, black , and white paint
- plastic sheeting
-tar paper
Procedure:
1. Place tested material on cardboard to insulate from the counter top
2. a. Place 1 ft of tested material 12 cm below 60 watt incandescent bulb
2. b. For insulation, make a box, place hot water in beaker in box. Test decrease in temperature for 20 minutes
3. Take initial temperature of tested material
4. Turn on light bulb
5. Take temperature every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
6. Turn off light bulb
7. Take temperature every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
8. Find total temperature gain and loss
Reflection: I really enjoyed doing this project. Most people in my group were very helpful and did everything they could to make this experience as enjoyable as possible. A few things that went really well
were we worked really well together and went above and beyond what was asked of us to get things done. What didn't work was that we spent too much time on beautification and not enough time on the actual project, which led to us not having the perfect results that we wanted. Next time, I will try to pay less attention to the actual project and pay more attention to the physics behind it.