In this project we designed and presented a plan for an outside classroom. To do this we studied the angles of the sun atomic structure and heat transfer in order to design the most comfortable and affordable out side class room.
Hot water
During this lab we designed a hot water heater that was powered mainly by the sun. Despite this being a minor lab for the project we spent a very long time doing this. Along with this lab we were taught how these could be designed and the best ways to make them. This was also my third time designing one so naturally it was the worst one I ever made. So i can safely tell you what not to do to make a success full design. The first thing is to not make a cup shape as if you angle it incorrectly all the sun light will miss and it will be almost completely pointless. The next thing is to not let the what constantly drip out of the pipe as that means you are slightly cooling down the pipe and not really warming up the water. The final thing is to make sure the pipe isn't leaking so you don't consistently lose what and again cool down the pipe. Based on what I said I hope you predicted that mine had the lowest at an impressive 251 J. To compare to this amazingness other groups got 4437 J and the morale crushing 14232 J. So we totally got the highest Joule increase out of any group.
Client Needs survey
To help design our project so it would be used by the most people we designed and analyzed a client needs survey that was taken by people at the school to see what people want. This let us come up with the most effective design with out trying to build for everything. Do to this survey my group and I decided to do an amphitheater style seating, in a quiet location near many buildings.
SIte selection
Before we began creating our design for the project we had to pick a location to build it in so to begin doing that we had to look at the client needs survey to see where people might want it, as well as choosing a location that is available and good to build at. The key features we knew we needed for the building site was good ground quality, a spot where there was to much shade or sun and somewhere the wind wasn't going to blow away peoples papers. With this and the client needs survey we decided on 3 location that could work one was behind the cafeteria near the street, another one was toward the back of the school behind the Spanish class rooms and the last was in an area which used to be a play ground that is between the art building and cafeteria. For our final decision we chose option three as it full filled most of the goals as well as being near the center of campus and being in a quiet spot.
Materials testing
After choosing a site we started to test materials. This was important as you don't want to choose a wood that will rot quickly outside nor do you want seats that will get incredibly cold or hot. In this lab we used took many different materials and tested how they reacted to water and how quickly they gained and lost heat. After this lab we got a good idea of what materials we should use and the pros and cons of each material.
The design
For our design we focused on presentations and lectures. To do this we had a large stage in the front of the class room with a white broad to write on as well as curved seating. So people would focus primarily on the speaker. We had wood chip floors along the ground to level it we also had a gravel path way through the center to add contrast to all the brown of the wind. Most of the things in our design were made out of pressure treated plywood so it could be left out side with out the need to worry about it breaking as well as it being sturdy so it can support the wear-and-tear of being in a high school. My group also did a very good job at budgeting because we only spent $1900 out of the allowed $3000.
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wind turbine lab
In theme to our out door classroom and green designs our class did a lab on wind turbines to see if we could come up with the most efficient design for vertical wind axis and horizontal wind axis. To do this we could use paper, card stock, card board and metal. The first design I made was based off an airplane propeller and had decent success reaching 3 volts of electricity. After I designed one based of a windmill and it had much less success at about .75 volts. After those designs a group member came up with using a metal pin wheel and got 4.75 volts which became our highest. When we tried to figure out why this worked so well we got 2 main conclusions. The first is that metal is the best material for turbines as it is sturdy enough to not bend do to the wind as well as having enough weight to be able to go through the air easily. The second is that a pin wheel design is best as it can rotate the very quickly in the wind. This lab also had flaws do to it measuring in volts which meant that it was really measuring how quickly it rotated a second instead of over all power out put. The second problem this lab had is that we were using fans inside to get the different wind speeds so we could angle the wind is such away so that you could get the wind to hit your fan in exactly the right position.
Why
Designing and constructing an out door class room that requires no electricity may seam difficult and you might be wondering why go through all the trouble to make one. The reason why is that energy is not cheep and no form of getting it is with out its cons so it is important to think of ways to use less of it. Most energy sources also destroy the environment by releasing CO2
Concepts
States of matter
There are four states of matter in which stuff in the universe exists in. The first and coldest is solids which are tightly packed molecules with close to no movement only vibrations in its place. The second state is liquids this state has a similar density to solid and stays the same shape as its contain and flows. The third state is gas which flies every where only stay with the shape of a container. The final form is plasma which is when the electrons fly off of a gas to form ions and the gas and emits light.
Atomic structure
In the beginning of the second semester our teacher opened up by talking about quantum physics and atomic structure as a way to say you still have a lot to learn to the class and to most it was very mind blowing, thinking about how we were made of cells which were made of molecules which was made of atoms and then those of quarks and leptons. Which is usually incredibly confusing to most people trying to under stand something like the nature of light or how electrons can teleport using quantum tunneling, but to me it wasn't to me this mainly do caused by me already knowing a lot about things like atoms and objects and laws contained with in the quantum realm so when this was talked about I was quite entertained as I got to answer questions other people had as well as getting an excuse to memorize all fundamental particles and their specific details. Along with the quantum physics we also went over how small an atom is and how most of it is empty space (about 99%). We also learned how these parts were discovered.
Conduction
The transfer of heat through an object by physically touching a solid object. An example would be your pan getting hot after you put it on the hot stove.
Convection
The heat transferred through a gas and liquid. It is more about the flow of the substance that your heating as the less dense heated parts rise to the top and the colder parts sink to the bottom. The clearest example of this is a lava lamp as the "lava" that is heated rises to the top and the parts at the sink to the bottom to be heated again.
Radiation
Energy and heat transferred with out a medium. This how you get warm when your near a camp fire, as well as how the sun heats us through space.
Angles of the sun
The sun through out the year changes its angle as the earths tilt on it axis change. In California the sun hits its peak distance at about 75 degrees above the horizon where as in the winter it hits only 27 at its highest point. Do to this you can design structures that will only get sunlight certain times of the year and block out sun light during other times.
Specific heat capacity
This how well an object can contain heat. The general rule about this is that something that heats up quickly will usually have a low specific heat. Water has a very high specific heat capacity for an every day object.
Laws of thermodynamics
0th- If object A is the same temperature as object C and object B is the same temperature as object C. Then object A is the same temperature as object B.
1st- Energy can not be created nor can it be destroyed in an isolated system.
2nd- Energy in an isolated system not in thermal equilibrium will go toward thermal equilibrium. Like how if you put a frozen pizza in a hot oven and thenn turn off the oven the frozen pizza will get warmer while the oven and the air inside cools down until both are the same temperature.
3rd- You cannot reach absolute zero and as you approach it entropy increases
1st- Energy can not be created nor can it be destroyed in an isolated system.
2nd- Energy in an isolated system not in thermal equilibrium will go toward thermal equilibrium. Like how if you put a frozen pizza in a hot oven and thenn turn off the oven the frozen pizza will get warmer while the oven and the air inside cools down until both are the same temperature.
3rd- You cannot reach absolute zero and as you approach it entropy increases
Reflection
This project was massive probably the largest project we will do all year so there are many things that I learned and found fun and just as many things I could improve on for future projects. The first thing I learned was during the solar water heater lab and the thing I learned was to not be over confident in your self. I found this as I was working on as I had an idea I'v bean wanting to try out so when I was building my third solar heater I thought I could never make a mistake. But at the time of testing I knew I made many mistakes and did not listen to my teammates enough so I blame my self for how poorly our design paid off. The second thing I learned was the importance of having a grand plan. I realized this toward the end of the project as I felt we could have done more with it. Although we had all the key features that we wanted in our design we were lacking in any big selling features other than an incredibly low budget. I think this is primarily do to us have a small vision on what we wanted to do and stuck purely to that vision which caused it to not have many big features. I also learned that I am incredibly good at budgeting money for supplies. I discovered this when I was making the materials list as I was able to balance how much money we needed very well never adding any thing that was unneeded which kept out project very cheap. The second thing I have learned about myself is that I can be very good at taking over and leading a group I found this out twice the first time was during the solar water heater lab as I was able to get my group to follow my idea very easily. The second time I found this was In the middle of the project design as I was able to success fully direct people to do things that need to be done.