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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Earth's Resources

Solar Energy Webquest
Creating a Solar Cooker

Guiding Question

How can we harness the power of the sun and use it as an alternative form of energy?

Introduction

Solar energy is energy that comes from the sun. The sun produces nearly all the heat on the planet, and is responsible for all life on our planet. Without it, the earth would be freezing cold--minus hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit, almost as cold as space. The sun also makes the wind blow and the ocean currents flow. Its heat makes clouds, rain, snow, and all the weather on our planet, too.

To learn more, read about how solar energy is used to make electricity at The Energy Story. Scroll down to Solar Thermal Electricity.

Please answer the follow questions by clicking on the comment link below.

1. How does a parabolic trough work?

2. How does a Central Tower Power Plant work?

3. What is one of the problems with using the sun as a source of energy?

»Tuesday, March 28, 2006 29 comments

Posted by: jtubbs

Modified on March 28, 2006 at 5:33 PM

Monday, March 27, 2006

Task

You will decide on a container— a shoe box, cardboard box, plastic bucket, paper bag, or similar object—to use as a solar collector to harness the sun's energy. Then you will figure out what colors and textures to use on the inside surfaces of it, how to point it, and how to insulate it to make the most of the amount of sunshine the collector catches.

In the comment section below, please list the three different styles of cooker designs and then find a plan that looks interesting and list the materials that you would need to build it.

»Monday, March 27, 2006 20 comments

Posted by: jtubbs

Modified on March 28, 2006 at 5:43 PM

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Process

1. You have already completed the first step--learning about solar energy and solar collectors. The next step will be to find out how to build your solar collector. To do this, you will need to go to a few websites and answers a few questions. Please click on the comment link to post your answers.

How does the sun heat a solar collector? Click here to get your answer.

What materials will I need? What are some designs I might use?

2. Next, you will design your solar collector. Here are some things to remember when designing your collector. For this part, you will actually to draw out a plan and have a materials list ready for Mr. Tubbs before you can begin. With this design, you will need to come up with a question that you want to answer about your solar cooker. Some possible questions are:

Does the size and/or shape of a container affect temperature increase?

Does the texture of the materials lining the cooker affect temperature increase?

Does changing the angle of the collector change the temperature?

Click below to download a list of questions that need to be answered and given to Mr. Tubbs before you can begin. Solar_Cooker_Planning_Sheet.doc

3. You will build your solar collector.

4. You will test your solar collector. You will do this by recording the temperature of the air outside and then the temperature of the air inside the solar collector after specified time periods.

»Sunday, March 26, 2006 No comments

Posted by: jtubbs

Modified on March 30, 2006 at 2:44 PM

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Evaluation

You will explain the entire project in a blog entry. Here's how I will grade it:

1. I will look at the quality of the question you ask and the hypothesis you state from it.

2. You will collect data about the temperature inside your collector. Using this data, you will create a line graph using a spreadsheet.

3. Your description of the procedure.

4. What you conclude from your data.

5. Your discussion section:

> Through this project, you've learned a little about how to harness the power of the sun for energy use. Talk about why solar energy use reduces environmental pollution? (Hint: Click here to see how the resource we use for energy now, coal, affects the environment.)

> Why do you think I wanted you to either test your solar collector twice or compare your results to somebody else's?

> Write down one observation from your test and one inference that you made from it.

Download the assessment criteria for the solar collector project.

Solar_Collector_Rubric.pdf

»Saturday, March 25, 2006 No comments

Posted by: jtubbs

Modified on April 17, 2006 at 3:00 AM

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Do equal volumes of different substances always have the same mass?

The bowling ball and the balloon take up the same amount of space, or have equal volumes. However, we know that the mass of the bowling ball is much greater than that of the balloon. Your assignment is to find two objects which appear to have equal volumes, but unequal masses. Click on the comment link and type their names in the text box. Why does one object have more mass than the other?

»Tuesday, November 15, 2005 27 comments

Posted by: jtubbs

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