In this project, we had to design an outdoor classroom that is accessible to students and teachers to use. We had to take into mind what materials would be best to use in which weather, such as rain or wind. This was a very big project, and we had to go through many steps to achieve our final goal. We first had to create a solar water heater, then a survey, and then we had to select the site we wanted to build on. Next we tested the materials we were thinking about building with, and then another lab which included testing windmills and energy. We then teamed up with other groups to learn about different sources of energy, and then last, but definitely not least, we presented our building design to a panel of judges.
Concepts
Heat- Energy due to movement of molecules. Measured in Joules
Specific Heat- Amount of heat required to heat up a specific material by 1 degree Celsius. Measured in J/g degrees Celsius.
HAWT- Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
VAWT- Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Conduction- Transfer of heat through a solid
Convection- Transfer of heat through a fluid
Laws of Thermodynamics:
Zeroth Law- If 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium independently with a 3rd system, they must be in thermal equilibrium with each other.
First Law- Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Second Law- Entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems increase.
Third Law- Heat always exists, so it is impossible for anything to reach absolute zero.
Specific Heat- Amount of heat required to heat up a specific material by 1 degree Celsius. Measured in J/g degrees Celsius.
HAWT- Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
VAWT- Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Conduction- Transfer of heat through a solid
Convection- Transfer of heat through a fluid
Laws of Thermodynamics:
Zeroth Law- If 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium independently with a 3rd system, they must be in thermal equilibrium with each other.
First Law- Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Second Law- Entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems increase.
Third Law- Heat always exists, so it is impossible for anything to reach absolute zero.
Solar Water Heater
For this lab, we had to design and build a solar powered water heater. We first took two 1 liter plastic bottles, and wrapped 1 in a blue pool noodle for insulation. We then took a 24 cm by 33 cm by 8 cm box and covered the inside with tinfoil. We then took a large copper tube and curved it along from 1 corner of the box, to the other corner on the same side. We cut a hole in the clear box, and placed the tube inside, and put the other end of the tube inside the bottle opening of the insulated bottle. We angled the box so the side with the clear bottle was higher than the other. We did this so the water could drain down the tube easily. We placed 200 mL of water in the clear bottle and had it drain down the tube. Although, there was a leak and at the end, we were left with 20 mL of water. The tinfoil was designed to reflect the Sun's rays back at the copper tube so it could warm the water up. Our design was not very efficient, and did not work nearly as well as some of the other groups.
Client Needs Survey
We then created a survey for the students and teachers at San Marin. We asked them everything we needed to know about what they wanted. My group asked the question "What tools/materials would make this space functional for you?" The top two answers were wifi, mostly requested by students, and whiteboard, mostly requested by staff. There were other somewhat funky answers, such as most people wanting an amphitheater seating layout, but barely anyone wanted to call it an amphitheater.
Site Selection
For this section, we created a list of what values we found most important in an area, and we rated several areas around the school based on these values. We did not select the highest rated area, because it turned out we would not be allowed to build there. Instead, we had to select the second highest rated site. This site is behind the Spanish building, near the back parking lot.
Materials Testing Lab
For this lab, we were supposed to test different materials of their ability to absorb and retain heat, and their ability to absorb water and dry out. We put the materials under heat lamps and took the temperature every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Then we weighed the materials. We then soaked the materials in water for 10 minutes, and recorded the weight again to see if they absorbed much water. Finally, we let the wood sit on the counter for 10 more minutes, and recorded the weight again to see how much water it had lost.
Wind Turbine Lab
In this lab, we had to create and test different types of wind turbines to see how many volts it can create at 3 different levels of wind. We were asked to test 2 different types of wind turbines: VAWTs (vertical axis wind turbine) and HAWTs (horizontal axis wind turbines). We tested many separate designs under each type of wind.
HAWT VAWT
Energy Justification
In this section, we teamed up with other groups to write about different types of energy. Each group was assigned a different type of energy sources to say how it works and to list the pros and cons. My group was assigned nuclear/uranium. We found out that there are much more pros than cons, but the cons are huge to nuclear energy. One pro is that it is very safe and things rarrely go wrong. One con is that when things do go wrong, it is very, very lethal and many people can die or be seriously injured. Tens of thousands of people have died from nuclear explosions before.
Presentation and Slideshow
After doing everything above, we presented all of our research and blueprints for our outdoor classroom in front of an auditorium full of people and a panel of judges. We created a slideshow and a script.
Reflection
I am very proud of what my group and I accomplished in this project. Although, I am not proud of myself. I was off task a lot during this project. I even managed to get my group members off task at times. I personally did not like this project. I thought it was very boring, but some labs were very interesting to me. I did like learning about nuclear energy. I think I was very off task during some labs, because I was very bored. I have learned that I become very off task when I do not like a project, and that I am much more inclined to learn when I do like the project. I will continue to work on becoming a much more productive student and teammate, whether I like the project or not.