Project Decription
This project was more of a long term lesson, and we had many small projects in between. We also covered a lot of physics concepts over this time period. For this reason, this website update will be a bit lengthier. The end goal of this was to design an outdoor class space that is comfortable and pleasant in all conditions without the use of electricity.
Client Needs Survey
We designed and conducted a survey to find the preferences of students and teachers for an outdoor classroom. There were questions asking what people would like the space to be called,what they would use it for, and what seating arrangement would be most functional. Here's a few examples of the questions that were in the survey:
What location factors are most important / convenient for your use of this space?
What subjects would you want to teach / be taught in this classroom?
What would you want the outdoor classroom to look like?
Some of the most useful information that we found was that the most wanted material was wifi. This was very commonly chosen, especially by students. Students and teachers alike said it would mostly be used for group work. The results of the survey showed that the highest valued qualities of location were quiet and shade.
What location factors are most important / convenient for your use of this space?
What subjects would you want to teach / be taught in this classroom?
What would you want the outdoor classroom to look like?
Some of the most useful information that we found was that the most wanted material was wifi. This was very commonly chosen, especially by students. Students and teachers alike said it would mostly be used for group work. The results of the survey showed that the highest valued qualities of location were quiet and shade.
Solar Water Heater
The solar water heater was sort of a miniature project within the outdoor classroom design. We had to design a water heater with mylar sheeting, copper tubing, cardboard, and plastic wrap. My groups design was a simple open sided box , completely surfaced with mylar. The copper tubing was wound through one side and out of the other. We thought that this would be a good way to reflect as much light and radiation onto the copper tubing as possible. We repeatedly poured water through the tube and took the temperature at specific increments of time. In thirty minutes, the water gained five degrees celsius, or around nine degrees fahrenheit. We calculated that the water gained 6,279 Jules. After this test, we compared results as a class. We calculated how much heat each groups design had collected. We found that the most efficient way of heating the water was to keep the water still, instead of running water through a pipe repeatedly. We also found that it was best to get as much surface area as possible touching the water. The group that was most successful had little bits of copper tubing sitting in a tub lined with mylar and filled with water. Because the water could touch both inside and outside of the pieces of pipe, it gained the most amount of heat from the sunlight. |
Site Selection
The next phase of the project that we went through was site selection. We needed to find a site that would suit our design best. We built criteria for our site with differentiating multipliers. We rated each site out of ten, for each section of criteria. Then we multiplied each section by its preset multiplier. For example, accessibility had a multiplier of three, so that it had more weight in the over all rating. In the end, we chose a location behind the Spanish buildings, in the south west corner of the campus. Here is a picture of the site.
Materials Testing Lab
In this lab, we conducted trials on multiple materials that could be used in an outdoor classroom environment. The goal was to find which materials would be best in different situations heat wise. The way we did this was by placing a heat lamp a specific distance from the materials, and taking the temperature of each material every five minutes. Then we turned off the heat lamp, and took temperatures, once again every five minutes. After that, we placed it in the refrigerator and took temperatures. We tested wood, ground covers, paint colors, plastic, rubber, and other building materials like steel and cement. For the ground covers, we found that gravel stays cool, but doesn't seem to keep heat well. In the building materials area, we found that the steel fluctuates temperature very quickly. The aluminum didn't heat up much with the light on it, but cooled very quickly when placed in the refrigerator. For the paint colors range, we found that the dark colors, green and black, heated up the most under the heat lamp, but cooled to similar temperatures as the white and yellow paint. All of the wood types were fairly consistent, except for redwood, which heated up to 8.5°C more than pressure treated wood.
Structure of Atoms
We also studied the basic structure of atoms. We learned how they interact, what they are made of, and what the irregularities are. I will go over each concept that we learned.
An atom is the basic structure for all matter. They make up everything. Atoms are constructed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Of these three, only two actually have mass. Electrons do not. Protons, however, do. Protons are found in the nucleus. They are positively charged. The number of protons in an atom is called the atomic number. Neutrons are also found in the nucleus. They do not have a charge. The number of neutrons combined with the number of protons is called the atomic mass. An electron is negatively charged, and there are normally the same amount as protons. The electrons move around the nucleus and create a buffer against other atoms.
Every material is made up of a standard atom with consistent numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons. For example, the normal carbon atom has six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons. An atom with an abnormal number of neutrons is called an isotope. An example of this is carbon fourteen, which has eight neutrons. An ion is an atom with an abnormal number of electrons.
An atom is the basic structure for all matter. They make up everything. Atoms are constructed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Of these three, only two actually have mass. Electrons do not. Protons, however, do. Protons are found in the nucleus. They are positively charged. The number of protons in an atom is called the atomic number. Neutrons are also found in the nucleus. They do not have a charge. The number of neutrons combined with the number of protons is called the atomic mass. An electron is negatively charged, and there are normally the same amount as protons. The electrons move around the nucleus and create a buffer against other atoms.
Every material is made up of a standard atom with consistent numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons. For example, the normal carbon atom has six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons. An atom with an abnormal number of neutrons is called an isotope. An example of this is carbon fourteen, which has eight neutrons. An ion is an atom with an abnormal number of electrons.
Physics Concepts
Heat- the energy due to the movement of molecules or particles. Heat should not be confused with temperature. The equation to find heat is Q=mct , where Q represents heat, 'm' represents mass, c represents specific heat, and 't' represents the change in temperature. Heat is measured in calories. There is technically no such thing as cold, there is only the absence of heat. Heat always flows from hot to cold.
Specific Heat- the constant for each natural element indicating how slowly it heats up or cools down with the amount of heat applied. The unit of specific heat is J/gc, or Jules per gram degrees Celsius. This shows how many Jules it takes to change one gram of a material by a degree Celsius. A material with a high specific heat will hold its heat for a long time, but will take a long time to heat up.
Conduction- the transfer of heat through a solid. Some solids are better at conducting, such as copper and aluminum.
Convection-the transfer of heat through fluid. This includes liquids and gases.
Radiation- the transfer of heat through waves, rays, or particles. There is no medium required, which means radiation can travel though space.
Specific Heat- the constant for each natural element indicating how slowly it heats up or cools down with the amount of heat applied. The unit of specific heat is J/gc, or Jules per gram degrees Celsius. This shows how many Jules it takes to change one gram of a material by a degree Celsius. A material with a high specific heat will hold its heat for a long time, but will take a long time to heat up.
Conduction- the transfer of heat through a solid. Some solids are better at conducting, such as copper and aluminum.
Convection-the transfer of heat through fluid. This includes liquids and gases.
Radiation- the transfer of heat through waves, rays, or particles. There is no medium required, which means radiation can travel though space.
Energy Saving Justification
Here I am going to write about why it is so important that we save energy. Most forms or energy, in some way, at some point, harm the environment. Not all do, but the few that don't will definitely harm your wallet. For example, solar panels have almost no negative effects on the environment, but they are extremely expensive and do not produce nearly as much energy as other things that are less expensive. Almost every other energy source hurts wildlife in some way. Wind turbines, which produces plenty of electricity when the winds are right, kill lots of birds. Up to 368,000 bird fatalities are estimated to be caused by wind turbines.
Hydro power, which typically requires a dam, causes massive disruptions to nature. Fish migration patterns may be completely blocked off, if proper adjustments are not made. Also, for fish that can stay in the newly made lake, the oxygen levels in the water can be lowered because of less moving water. Yet another example is oil and natural gases. When these are burned to produce energy, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, polluting the air and damaging the environment. Coal has a similar effect.
This is why everyone needs to do their best to conserve energy. People may not realize it, but every time they turn on the lights or start the car, they are either directly or indirectly hurting the environment. Everybody should always be doing their best to be energy efficient.
Here is a link to an energy justification document that my class made.
Hydro power, which typically requires a dam, causes massive disruptions to nature. Fish migration patterns may be completely blocked off, if proper adjustments are not made. Also, for fish that can stay in the newly made lake, the oxygen levels in the water can be lowered because of less moving water. Yet another example is oil and natural gases. When these are burned to produce energy, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, polluting the air and damaging the environment. Coal has a similar effect.
This is why everyone needs to do their best to conserve energy. People may not realize it, but every time they turn on the lights or start the car, they are either directly or indirectly hurting the environment. Everybody should always be doing their best to be energy efficient.
Here is a link to an energy justification document that my class made.
Angles of the Sun
Because of the earth's tilt and the way it rotates around the sun, angles of sunlight are constantly changing. In the winter, the sun never gets quite as high in the sky as in summer. This means the rays of light are less direct. Because of this, the light is less focused. This is why it is colder in the winter. Most people won't notice that it is actually notably darker in the winter, because the change is very gradual. The reason that the angles are important is because you don't want to block the lower angles of the sun, because that is the only light that you will get in the winter. If a shade structure is more directly overhead, however, it will block the sun when it gets higher in the sky, during the summer. Here is a diagram of the sun's angles throughout the year.
Wind Turbine Lab
In this lab, the objective was to find what blade design would generate the most voltage on a small scale wind turbine. We would connect each turbine to a voltage meter with a fan on to test how much it would generate. We did this for both HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine) and VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine). Our group conclusion was that on a small scale, a pinwheel generates the most voltage in a HAWT. Our evidence for this is that the pinwheel generated 1.1 volts on low wind speed, 1.38 volts on medium, and 7.7 on high. The next best design only generated .18 volts, .26 volts, and .87 volts on the different wind speeds. My reasoning for this is that the blades are close to the center. This would allow the rotor to spin faster. Also the curved blades catch all angles of the wind, so there is maximum push from the wind. Lastly, there were no pegs in the pinwheel design, while all of the other designs had small wooden pegs holding the turbine blades.
Building Design
Our classroom design is fairly simple. There are eight 4 feet by four feet tables, arranged in a U shape around the whiteboard. The tables have a plastic top to provide a smooth surface. The chairs are stumps, painted a happy green color. There is no shade structure, as there is already a large tree providing shade in the area. The whiteboard is actually whiteboard paint on a smooth wooden surface. There is a teacher's desk, which is essentially one of the other tables, halved. There are lattice fences on two sides, one side to block the road and the other to block the parking lot. These serve as a privacy fence, a distraction block, a slight noise barrier, and decoration. There is a five foot space along the fence for flowers and other plants. At the entrance there is a welcome sign and a pathway lined with stepping stones. Here is a link to the presentation that we made.
Reflection
This was a very long project, and was one of the more difficult ones. It was a lot of work and it was difficult to stay focused. One of the pits of this project was when we were initially deciding what we were going to do for the design. We had some trouble communicating what each of us was thinking for the class space. A peak of this project was when designed the lattice fences. It was very nice touch that added a unique private area. Before the fences, the design was sort of bland, but when we added the fences, it was a big improvement.
A personal pit for me during this project was my work ethic. Because of the length and type of work that this project involved, it was very difficult for me to stay focused. The middle of the project was hardest for me, but by the end I was able to stay on task. A peak for me was the point at which I finished the three dimensional design. It was a lot of work and the design was constantly evolving, so the design had to be updated. When it was finally finished, it was a big accomplishment for me.
A personal pit for me during this project was my work ethic. Because of the length and type of work that this project involved, it was very difficult for me to stay focused. The middle of the project was hardest for me, but by the end I was able to stay on task. A peak for me was the point at which I finished the three dimensional design. It was a lot of work and the design was constantly evolving, so the design had to be updated. When it was finally finished, it was a big accomplishment for me.