Student Names: Ethan and Carter
The mission of our project
The mission of our project is to identify if solar panels will be effective in the martian conditions for the space camp mission to Mars.
to see what effect does the dust storms have on the solar pannels because if it did it will not be a livable plase if we have no reliable source of energy
in general if solar pannels are the best idea of humans decided to settle in mars
Why this was the mission of our experiment?
We chose testing how efficent solar panels are in Mars conditions as our mission because energy is vital to the whole space camp on Mars and the solar panels will produce a similar amout of electricity to the solar panels on Earth.
seeing how stable solar pannels would be in all the living conditions in mars and if it would produce enough energy for humans to settle there
What were our experiments?
Our experiment was recreating a martian dust storm to identify if solar panels will still be effective in a martian dust storm. To recrate the martian dust storm, we used a sealed box that was filled with 400ml of sand and then we used a blow dryer to create a sand storm while five solar panels are in the box with four LED light on the box's lid. A voltmeter was used to record the average minimum and maximum voltage that was produced by the solar panels.
What we learned in grade 9 science and incorperated in the design?
We have learnt many things in this grade 9 science class; however, the most important thing that stood out was the unit about atoms. This unit taught us about voltage and building circuits, which were both heavily used in our experiment, as we had to build a circuit for our solar panels and voltmeter.
How does your project relate to the other projects in our class?
We find that our project fits in well with the other projects in our class about the space camp on Mars because the space camp needs to have some sort of sufficient energy source to run all of the other experiments in our class, which all require a heavy amount of energy. Also, our results might have related to other experiments in the class because we might have used same items like soilds, liquids and of course gases. Which in this case we used a blow dryer. In addition, energy is a key factor for sustaining life on Mars.
Are we living sustainably on Mars
Our planet that we live on does not use sustainable energy as a primary energy source, so we made sure that we would be living sustainably by using solar panels to produce clean and renewable energy generated from the sun.
we would be living sustainably if we had enough resources and strong structured houses because the dust storms will deffinately make tents fly away!
sun is a reliable source in mars the dust storms would not affect it as an energy source
How successful was our action? Did we meet our goal?
As a whole, our experiment was mostly successful because we were able to go through with our experiment; however, there were a few things that could have been improved in our experiment such as when the Microbit couldn't give use a light level reading, the outlier in trial 1, and we could have introduced a second independent variable in the volume of sand. In the end, I think we met our goal for the experiment because the solar panels were generating a decent amount of electricity with fairly accurate and consistent results.
What contributed to our groups success and lack of success?
The main factors that lead to our groups success was some of the members ability to colaborate and to work hard. These factors lead our group success thoughout our project; however, there were several negative factors that stood out in our group. The negative factors included not staying on task, not using class time efficiently and an unequal level of engagement/participation by all members. Some were getting distracted by friends or did not know what task they were supposed to be working on. Collaboration was somewhat good in our group but not when we needed to communicate ideas. That made members in the group struggle to get assignmengts done on time.
What would we do differently if we could?
If we could do something differently, we would try to plan ahead more, so we could avoid future problems. A big problem that could have been avoided if we thought a few steps ahead was struggling to meet the deadline of this assignment. In addition, more support could have been obtained to increase the level of engagement and participation by some group members.
we could have changed the approach to group communaction by making a list of tasks for each group member to not have any confuision throughout the project with communication.
The next phase for our project
The next phase for our project would be understanding the differences between the various conditions between Earth and Mars including:
The size and mass of the dust grains
Gravity
Wind speed
Moisture content
Temperature.
amount of dust grains
where the wind would enter from
Inspire a future group of students to pick up where we left off
Some ideas for a future group of students to pick up where we left off include:
Testing how accurate our data is
Testing the solar panels in dust storm with cold temperatures to have a more acurate recreation
Introducing another independent variable by changing the volume of sand
Finding out how many solar panels are needed for the space camp.
Why is this an important cause? Why should they continue with it?
Our data that we collected does not account for the factor of temperature, which is important because Mars has a different temperature than Earth's tempurature which would alter the efficiency of the solar panels.
We would recommend the future group of student to check over and re-test our work to ensure the accuracy and consistency of our data.
The idea of testing solar panels in Mars' conditions has a lot of potetial and our group has only scratched the surface of this idea.
getting stronger/ faster wind source
they shoul try their best to have better communication even in the expirement
Where would you like to see it go next.
We would like to see solar panels being used as the primary energy source for a real- life space camp on Mars in the near future, as they have so much potential to become a great clean,and renewable energy source! We would also like to see how dust storms really happen on mars. Maybe our experiment wasn't exactly accurate, so that would be something intereststing to research more on.
Each member of the group should reflect on what they learned. You may have learned some neat stuff about science, but you also learned some other great skills like time management, goal setting, collaboration, and problem solving.
Carter - I feel that I have learned a bit from this project. I feel that my team skills have improved a bit and I have learned things about mars,solar panels,energy and much more from my research. I have also learned just how much sand it takes to bring down the input/output of solar panels.
Ethan - During my time on working on the space camp, I learnt many valuable lessons from both a scientific and team work perspective including:
Differences in the conditions on Mars and Earth
The science behind solar panels and key factors that impact their efficiency
Designing and building an experiment to recreate conditions
Circuits and voltage
Leadership skills
The importance of teamwork, collaboration, time management and communication
The impact of disengagement and unequal participation/effort.
Rasha- Something I learned about this project was how not everything can go as planned but there would always be a way to solve the problem. I learned that working on what you are assigned helps with time management. Also next time I will try to communicate with my group more so I would know what everyone is doing. I wish I would have used the space camp group chat more to help and receive help from my members. Overall, this whole assignment really taught me to always finish my tasks on time and not fool around.
ryan
I have learned that no matter what the conditions are in mars (dust storms) sunlight manages to make it through to produce enough energy for us humans to live and settle for a while, but what we should actually be worried about is how strong our houses are after seeing the strengh of the dust storms