Client Need Survey
In order to figure out what we needed to build, we first had to determine what our target audience wanted. We decided our target audience was mainly students, but we also wanted to take teacher preferences into account. So we designed a survey to figure out the name, seating, necessities and design that students and teachers wanted. In the end we created the survey, the results of which are linked below, and used the results to design our outdoor classroom.
SURVEY
Material Testing Lab
Now that we know what we wanted to build, we needed to figure out what we wanted to build it out of. First, we decided what attributes we wanted to test. We decided we wanted to test how well they conduct heat and how they absorb water. Using this we figured out we primarily wanted to use pressure treated wood due to its rot resistance and its desirable properties.
MATERIAL TESTING LAB
Wind Turbine Lab
Next we designed a wind turbine that efficiently generated electricity when put in front of a fan and a leaf blower. My group tested out various designs, including wide, heavy blades, pinwheel blades, and long thin metal blades. The metal pinwheel generated the most energy. This is due to its light weight properties, rigidity, and lack of drag. Its four blades optimize the amount of wind caught, but minimize drag.
Solar Hot Water Heater
For this part of the project we created a water heater powered by direct sunlight. We started out learning about heat transfer, as well as conductors and insulators. Heat transfers can be through radiation, convection, and conduction. Conductors are materials that transfer heat easily, whereas insulators transfer heat poorly. Our project consisted of leaving our contraption in the sun for thirty minutes and seeing how much our device raised the temperature of the water contained within it. Our heater was a cardboard cup shape lined in Mylar sheeting to reflect light back at a copper tube stretched through the middle. Our hater heater raised 30 Ml of water 20 degrees Celsius. This translates to a 1,381.38 J difference.
Content
Atoms- The building block of all matter. These particles make up molecules, and can be negatively or positively charged. The movement of these particles is what cause temperature. The faster the atoms the atoms are moving the hotter an object feels.
Specific Heat- an objects specific heat is how easily heat is transferred to it.
Radiation- This form of heat transfer is similar to a transverse wave and requires no medium to travel through.
Convection- The most efficient way to transfer heat, convection is a circular process in which hot fluid moves upward away from a heat source and then proceeds to cool down and travel back towards the heat source, where the process repeats.
Conduction- Conduction is the transfer of heat through an object. As part of an object heats up, the atoms move faster, these faster atoms bump into the slower(colder) atoms causing those to move faster while the formerly faster atoms slow down. This will continue until equilibrium is reached.
Laws of Thermodynamics-
0th: If two systems are in equilibrium with a third system then both are in equilibrium with each other.
1st: energy cannot be created or destroyed
2nd: entropy will always increase
3rd: nothing will ever reach absolute zero
Why We Should Use Less Electricity- This is a chart showing the pros and cons of various forms of obtaining electricity. You can avoid all of the cons if you simply don't use electricity.
Angles of The Sun- The earth spins on a tilted axis, this means that different parts of the earth receive sunlight from different angles. Throughout the year the northern hemisphere receives light at different angles. The graph of the angles at which we see the sun relative to the horizon is below.
Reflection
This was a very long project. This resulted in a lot of time spent with group mates. I think everybody was ready for new groups by the time we were done. I think one of the things we didn't do so well as a group was communicate. Often, two or three members would agree on something, but when checked with the remaining group member afterward, they weren't in agreement and forced the rest to change it. Or one person would do something without checking with the others, and the rest of us would get confused when we found it. We also weren't good at agreeing on things. Very frequently when deciding on something one of us would disagree, and wouldn't compromise. This resulted in a lot of time spent arguing, and perpetuated our lack of communication. One thing we did do well was come up with ideas. We were able to quickly come up with our design and we were also very good at coming up with solutions to problems. Another thing we were good at is dividing work. We were almost always working at different things. This made us efficient but was not a good mix when combined with our lack of communication. All-in-all I thought it was an okay group but I definitely could have had worse.
Atoms- The building block of all matter. These particles make up molecules, and can be negatively or positively charged. The movement of these particles is what cause temperature. The faster the atoms the atoms are moving the hotter an object feels.
Specific Heat- an objects specific heat is how easily heat is transferred to it.
Radiation- This form of heat transfer is similar to a transverse wave and requires no medium to travel through.
Convection- The most efficient way to transfer heat, convection is a circular process in which hot fluid moves upward away from a heat source and then proceeds to cool down and travel back towards the heat source, where the process repeats.
Conduction- Conduction is the transfer of heat through an object. As part of an object heats up, the atoms move faster, these faster atoms bump into the slower(colder) atoms causing those to move faster while the formerly faster atoms slow down. This will continue until equilibrium is reached.
Laws of Thermodynamics-
0th: If two systems are in equilibrium with a third system then both are in equilibrium with each other.
1st: energy cannot be created or destroyed
2nd: entropy will always increase
3rd: nothing will ever reach absolute zero
Why We Should Use Less Electricity- This is a chart showing the pros and cons of various forms of obtaining electricity. You can avoid all of the cons if you simply don't use electricity.
Angles of The Sun- The earth spins on a tilted axis, this means that different parts of the earth receive sunlight from different angles. Throughout the year the northern hemisphere receives light at different angles. The graph of the angles at which we see the sun relative to the horizon is below.
Reflection
This was a very long project. This resulted in a lot of time spent with group mates. I think everybody was ready for new groups by the time we were done. I think one of the things we didn't do so well as a group was communicate. Often, two or three members would agree on something, but when checked with the remaining group member afterward, they weren't in agreement and forced the rest to change it. Or one person would do something without checking with the others, and the rest of us would get confused when we found it. We also weren't good at agreeing on things. Very frequently when deciding on something one of us would disagree, and wouldn't compromise. This resulted in a lot of time spent arguing, and perpetuated our lack of communication. One thing we did do well was come up with ideas. We were able to quickly come up with our design and we were also very good at coming up with solutions to problems. Another thing we were good at is dividing work. We were almost always working at different things. This made us efficient but was not a good mix when combined with our lack of communication. All-in-all I thought it was an okay group but I definitely could have had worse.