You Have the power!
The Task
Our driving question for this project was: How can we convert Chemical Energy into another form of useful energy and how can we measure the amount of energy transferred between their systems?
We began the process of the project by brainstorming as many ideas possible on ways we could convert chemical energy into any other form of energy. We had our fair share of good and bad ideas, but that is the point of thinking of as my ideas as possible. Then after further consideration you can weed them out and find which idea will work best.
Our initial idea was to have animal running on a wheel in order to power a device like a blender but we decided that it may be very inconsistent and a blender takes a lot of power to operate. Our next and main idea for the project was to use a type of water wheel in order to create energy and turn on a light bulb. This idea seemed much more reasonable and a light bulb did not require as many volts to function.
Evidence of work
Slideshow Presentation
Proof Of Efficacy Document
The Process
The process of our energy device project is explained in more depth within our slideshow and our Proof of Efficacy Documents.
We began our process drawing up blueprints and finalizing exactly how we wanted our machine to work. Our machine would consist of a water tank that would poor water down onto our water wheel which would then spin from the mechanical energy transferred from each step. Next the wheel would be connected to the motor via a piece of string tied in a circle, and whenever the wheel turned it would also spin the motor thus powering it. Finally the motor was connected to an LED through two wires and when the wheel is spun by the string it would send power to the LED.
We had to make many adjustments and modifications while working on this project and that is why there is usually a prototype built before the final device is complete. Many of these modifications included different materials used because the other was not suitable for the device. An example of one of these modifications was using thin pieces of wood for our base to hold the wheel because after continued use we realized that cardboard was very susceptible to deteriorated when wet. I was glad that we went through those rough patches and re-dos because we learned from them, and next time we do project related to this we will have a better idea was what not to do and what will work better.
Content
Potential energy: is stored energy and the energy of position (gravitational)
Kinetic energy: is motion-the motion of waves, electrons, atoms, molecules and substances
Chemical Energy: The energy of chemical substances that is released when they undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances.
Electromagnetic Energy: The form of energy that is reflected or emitted from objects in the form of electrical and magnetic waves that can travel through space.
Nuclear Energy: The use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions.
Thermal Energy: The movement of molecules and heat within an object or substance.
Elastic Energy: The mechanical potential energy stored in the configuration of a material or physical system as it is subjected to elastic deformation.
Mechanical Energy: The sum of the kinetic energy, or energy of motion, and the potential energy, or energy stored in a system by reason of the position of its parts.
Gravitational Energy: The potential energy a massive object has in relation to another massive object due to gravity.
Sound Energy: Sound energy produces moving energy by using longitudinal waves. Sound is caused by the vibrations on or from an object.
Electrical Energy: Is the energy that is needed to move a charge against an electric field. You need more energy to move a charge further in the electric field.
Energy transformation: is the process of changing energy from one form to another. In physics, energy is a quantity that provides the capacity to perform work or provides heat.
Blueprints
Reflection
I really enjoyed this project and I believe it was a great project to end the year on. I also liked being able to see all the other projects and ideas our classmates had because this was a project where you could take it anywhere you wanted. You could do anything you could think of that involved the transfer of chemical energy and that is what made it so interesting.
I feel like the project went smoothly and there were only a couple bumps throughout. One thing our group did well on was collaboration. Our group worked very well together and we communicated a lot which is a plus when working with a team. We were able to choose our groups for this project which can be a good and bad thing at the same time because we all get along great together but that could lead to slacking off and messing around. Which did not happen as much as I thought it would, probably because we did not have a ton of time for this project. Another thing we could have improved on was focusing a little more on the chemistry aspect of the project instead of just trying to build our device.
One thing I wish that I could do this year was a "Do It Better Project" . The "Do it better" project was a final, end of the year project, where we could pick any project we had done previously and revise it and make it better. I felt like we were pressed on time during this project and if were given a little bit more time we could make our machine run a lot more efficiently. Other than that I really enjoyed this project and I cannot wait to see what kinds of projects are waiting for us next year in Senior Engineering.