Thermal Heater

In your house you could find the common water heater, the thing that is controls the temperature of your water in the sink in the shower or any type of water that runs in your home. Water is a main source of everything it is it makes up most of our earth and can is used for many things. A Water Heater works by flowing cold water though a tank it being heated up by a gas burner and that water flows out.

The average cost of one meter of hot water is around $15.21. The cost is so high because in order to make the hot water a gas burner is on. There are diffrent types of water heaters that would run on natural heat would cost less; such as water being warmed by natural sun or by heat that comes from our very own earth. These things already exist but i made one to see how it works and how they are used. The one I'll be making is a panel being heated by the sun. Another type (and probably most common) are pipes running underground garbing heat from dirt that is close to lava.

Materials:

For this project I needed:

• A Copper Pipe

• A Plastic tube that connects tightly around the ends of the pipe.

• A mirror or foil( what ever will be fine ill explain later.)

• A piece of hard plastic sheet

• 2 buckets

• And Plenty of duct tape.( Thermal is preferred)

• A wooden panel.

The panel could be what ever size you want i did mine around 1" by 1.5"

Procedures:

1. Place the mirror or foil on top of the wooden panel and secure then with tape.

2. After place the coil pipe on top, make sure you use plenty of pipe. I used copper because its a good conductor.

3. (before doing this part make sure two ends of the coil are stuck out at the end)After place the plastic pane on top of the copper and secure everything with duct tape. The reason for the plastic and the mirror foil is to magnify the heat and warm the coil.

4. Cut the plastic hose in half, and place each one on the ends of the copper that stuck out.

5. After place one bucket with water in a high area and put one of the plastic tubes in one. place the other bucket (no water) lower than the other one and place the other tube.

6. You proceed with sucking out the water from the tube in the bucket with out water. Make sure the water is flowing from one bucket to the other. You can record your results better on a sunny day in noon when the sun is at its highest.

Physics behind It

The physics behind the transfer of thermal energy explains how we are able to harness renewable energy from the sun and convert it to energy that we can use in our daily lives. The transfer of heat between substances at different temperatures occurs in three different ways: conduction, convection, and radiation. All three are part of our everyday experiences. Conduction is the transfer of heat through a specific material, such as heat moving through a metal pot being heated on the stove. Convection is the transfer of heat through a fluid such as water or air, instead of a material. You can experience this by lying down on the floor of your house. The air down low is cooler, right? This is because warmer air rises towards the ceiling, leaving the cool air behind, low to the ground. Situations in which heat is transferred through a fluid medium (air) are examples of convection. Radiation is energy that is radiated or transmitted in the form of rays, waves or particles. An everyday example of this is the heat that you feel on your skin from sunlight.

http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/cub_/lessons/cub_housing/cub_housing_lesson01.xml

Results

Saturday 2:30pm to 6:00pm