DESIGN:
In this lab we designed a hot water heater to show us how heat transferred. We learned that heat is transferred though radiation, convection, and conduction. Our only source of light was from the sun. Each group was to design a portable water heater using the sun's rays as the heat source, Our goal being to increase our water's temperature as much as we could. In creating our water heater we used: Three boxes that fit inside each other to increase insulation, Aluminum foal to reflect the sun, paper being a good insulator, copper tubing used to conduct heat, plastic tubing to transport the water where it was needed, saran wrap to help keep in heat, and lastly two bottles to move the water in and out of the plastic tube.
PROCESS:
After finishing the heater the next step was running the lab. We conducted the lab on a sunny day with good weather conditions. Our lab was approximately 30 minutes, collecting tons of data. The temperature of the water at the start was 18°C and by the end of the lab rose to 32°C. We were checking the lap every 5 minutes and the temperature rose quickly. It had raised a total of 14 degrees! I learned a lot about the transfer of heat which I thought was pretty cool and also how the sun transfers its energy through radiation, conduction, and convection.