Energy Efficient House
This project in STEM we worked on improving the previous year's solar home and we worked on a cold frame to help our high school's community garden. We started by learning about the atomic structure of atoms and how the state of molecules is changed by heat. Such as water going from cold sold ice, to room temperature liquid, and then to a hot humid gas. After, using what we learned, we designed and created a small water heater.
Solar thermal water heater
This part of our project we were tasked with creating a miniature water heater that was completely reliant on the sun. Our design started with a water bottle inside of a cardboard box. The water bottle was put in the box and stuffed on the outside with newspaper to retain the heat created. We then had a tube from the bottle, through the cardboard box, and into the shoebox that we used as our heater. The plastic tube was then connected to a small copper tube that was painted black. The copper tube ran through the inside of the shoebox and out into a cup. The shoebox was open with an aluminum lining on the inside. The opening was also surrounded in clear rap. From there our experiment began. We started by pouring the initial amount of water in the tank. The water flowed through the entire design and out the spout at the end. Throughout the entire experiment we lost water but not enough to completely fail the experiment. By the end of the experiment our design had increased its water temperature by 6 degrees.
Solar thermal water heater
This part of our project we were tasked with creating a miniature water heater that was completely reliant on the sun. Our design started with a water bottle inside of a cardboard box. The water bottle was put in the box and stuffed on the outside with newspaper to retain the heat created. We then had a tube from the bottle, through the cardboard box, and into the shoebox that we used as our heater. The plastic tube was then connected to a small copper tube that was painted black. The copper tube ran through the inside of the shoebox and out into a cup. The shoebox was open with an aluminum lining on the inside. The opening was also surrounded in clear rap. From there our experiment began. We started by pouring the initial amount of water in the tank. The water flowed through the entire design and out the spout at the end. Throughout the entire experiment we lost water but not enough to completely fail the experiment. By the end of the experiment our design had increased its water temperature by 6 degrees.
Daylighting Design
Next we experimented with different ways to use the sun for light rather than electricity. We did this by making a house out of cardboard and shining a flashlight in a darkroom from different angles. The angles we shined them at were angles that the sun would be at during one time of the year (winter, summer, fall, spring).
Site Selection
In the next part of our project each of our individual groups had to find a site to put our house on. We had to find a suitable location that included its noise level, sunlight, and how accessible it was. My group picked a location right behind the football field. This location is a great location because the noise level is ok, it is great accessibility, and it gets great sunlight.
Materials Testing
For the next part of our lab we tested different kinds of materials. These materials would prove what would work best as an insulator, a firm structural building, and what would reflect light the best in a room.
Building Design
The last part of our project was designing a cold frame for our garden club and designing a reflector to get light into the north window of the current STEM house.
Cold Frame
Our presentation
Solar Reflector
Our presentation
Concepts
Temperature- a measure of how hot or cold something is
Heat- the amount of thermal energy in an object
Specific heat- a measure of how much heat a specific substance can hold
Reflection
Overall I believe this was quite a cool project. It was cool that we were able to design, test, and present our own ideas. My group did have some disagreements but we got our work done on time and we did it well. The overall project could have been shorter, since it did take about three months, and the project could have been a little more organized. The STEM classes were basically told what we were doing, a good way to do it, and what we were graded on. After that we were off to do our own thing. Another thing that could have been better about the project would be if we were able to actually make our own house instead of just editing the one we had already. Though in the end this project was pretty cool. I am happy with what I have accomplished and learned.