For this project, we built an outdoor classroom within the budget of $3000 to $5000. Before we started working on this, we had to figure out what structure we were going to design, how to keep it insulated, how the sunlight would affect it and solar angles, how to build a solar water heater, how heat affects the state of matter, and finally where to build it. By the way, we weren't allowed to use electricity and it had to regulate heat on its own. This solar home took two months to plan out and lots of focus and time.
Solar Water Heater
One of the many things that came into play for this project was a solar water heater. We had to build this to insulate water and make hot water. For my groups solar water heater, we had a cardboard box covered in mylar which is like aluminum foil. The mylar was supposed to reflect sunlight onto the white pipes and the copper pipes. We had a wooden bock on the bottom to tilt the white pipes. The white pipes were storing the water and there are two pipes taped and caulked together to keep it water tight. Jutting out of the white pipes are 10 copper pipes that were six inches long. They had rubber stoppers on the end. The focus was for the water in the white pipes to go into the copper pipes and heat up. The rubber stoppers were supposed to keep the water from going out but didn't work as well as we thought. Also, water spilled at the start of going into the copper tubes which lead to much of the water we put in to the white pipes ending up falling out. The initial temperature of our water when we put it into the white pipes was 15 degrees Celsius. As time went on, it slowly went up in temperature. In 20 minutes, it only went up three degrees to 18 degrees Celsius. But in the next 10 minutes it went up five degrees to 23 degrees Celsius. This was a big shock but still our water heater did not work as well as others.
Solar Angles
Creating Survey for Students/Teachers
Before we started designing our outdoor classroom, we made a survey to give to San Marin students and teachers. It included questions like which of the following spaces would you use, and what type of seating would you prefer. Most students chose group work and projects for the use of the outdoor classroom. Also, pretty much everyone wanted wi-fi access. Ampitheater seating and group work seating were the most requested also. This helped to shape our outdoor design and make the most convenient outdoor classroom we could for everyone to use.
Site Selection
The next step of making an outdoor classroom was to pick a location. Some factors that went into picking a location were noise level, aesthetics, distance from buildings, and water/ electricity accessibly. Many groups picked the same location, which was the foundation near the cafeteria. It is a great spot and could the most logical. The place my group picked is great too. It is behind the art building which is pretty close to the other spot and the cafeteria. It is on the hill side near the road and it is on grass. There is a tree next to it for good shade. Also, our location is unique because the hill side plays a big part in our outdoor classroom.
Materials Heat Testing Lab
We tested different materials like wood and brick to find the best supplies to use for our outdoor classroom. We tested the materials' heat conductivity and water resistance.
Design and Presentation
Wind Turbine Lab
Physics Concepts
Atomic State- Depends on the energy of the atoms, can be solid, with the least energy, liquid, with enough energy to let the atoms move a bit more freely, and gaseous, which have enough energy to completely break the bonds.
Proton- A subatomic particle composing the nucleus of the atom with the neutron, and it has a positive charge
Neutron- A subatomic particle composing the nucleus of the atom with the proton, and it has a neutral charge.
Electron- A subatomic particle located outside of the nucleus, and it has a negative charge.
Ion- An atom with an amount of electrons that are not proportional to the amount of protons it contains.
Pressure- The amount of force exerted over a unit of area, calculated by P=Force/Area.
Density- The amount of mass in a certain space, calculated by D=Mass/Volume.
Volume- The amount of space that is contained within an object or how much space it takes up, calculated by height x width x length.
Conduction- Heat transfer through solids.
Convection- Movement of heat through a fluid.
Radiation- Transfer of heat through waves, rays, or particles.
0th Law of Thermodynamics- If two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in equilibrium with each other
1st Law of Thermodynamics- Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but transferred from one from to another
2nd Law of Thermodynamics- Entropy always increases; Entropy is a measure of disorder, or for heat, over time, everything becomes the same temperature.
3rd Law of Thermodynamics- Temperature can never reach absolute zero, meaning that heat will always exist, and at absolute zero, all molecules and atoms stop vibrating.
Proton- A subatomic particle composing the nucleus of the atom with the neutron, and it has a positive charge
Neutron- A subatomic particle composing the nucleus of the atom with the proton, and it has a neutral charge.
Electron- A subatomic particle located outside of the nucleus, and it has a negative charge.
Ion- An atom with an amount of electrons that are not proportional to the amount of protons it contains.
Pressure- The amount of force exerted over a unit of area, calculated by P=Force/Area.
Density- The amount of mass in a certain space, calculated by D=Mass/Volume.
Volume- The amount of space that is contained within an object or how much space it takes up, calculated by height x width x length.
Conduction- Heat transfer through solids.
Convection- Movement of heat through a fluid.
Radiation- Transfer of heat through waves, rays, or particles.
0th Law of Thermodynamics- If two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in equilibrium with each other
1st Law of Thermodynamics- Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but transferred from one from to another
2nd Law of Thermodynamics- Entropy always increases; Entropy is a measure of disorder, or for heat, over time, everything becomes the same temperature.
3rd Law of Thermodynamics- Temperature can never reach absolute zero, meaning that heat will always exist, and at absolute zero, all molecules and atoms stop vibrating.
Reflection
This project was the most strenuous but entertaining project we have ever done. The idea of what we were trying to do was to make an energy efficient outdoor classroom that functions just as a normal classroom would. This means we were not able to use electricity and the classroom had to generate heat on its own. My group consisted of Nathan, James, and Alex. We were a very functional group and had very few disagreements. Some things that went well are our design. I thought that the judges really liked our design because of the unique amphitheater seating along with many other things in our classroom. Another thing that went well was the model. Alex and I did the model and it was a blast. We built the seating arrangement which took a lot of time and hot glue but in the end turned out great. One thing that went poorly was my work ethic and productivity at the beginning of the project. I did not really understand the concepts we were learning and was not very interested and focused as I usually am. Then, I started to understand it and the project more and more and then it got very enjoyable and I was working hard. Another thing that went poorly was some blueprints. It took a while for us to make our blueprints and even though they turned out great, we had trouble making them. There were many discussions that we had about the measurements and angles of all the objects but in the end it was all good. I learned a lot about thermodynamics and the way molecules work. I also learned that I can be even more helpful when I truly enjoy the subject and the objective. I could have worked harder at the beginning of the project. I also could have put more time into the model and building all parts of it and not just the seating. A peak of our project is when we found our location. It was very unique and had us all very excited of what we could build using the hillside to our advantage. A pit or downside of our project is that it would take a long time to build our outdoor classroom. This is because we would have to dig into the hill and that takes a lot more time than just using cement or other materials to stabilize the structure. Building an outdoor classroom design has been very fun and taught me a lot on physics, engineering, and many other things.