Final Project

A Cool Breeze and LEDs

In order to wrap up our semester, we ended with a final project to display what we learned throughout the course. From chemical equations to energy transfers, a year of chemistry was condensed into four months. For this project we were given a lot of creative freedom and tasked with making a machine that is powered by energy transfer whether that be chemical, mechanical, thermal, etc. The projects varied heavily because we were doing them in our own homes and of course had different resources available, but with the help of my teacher, I was able to create a working energy machine to power a small LED light. In order to give proof of work, we created a proof of efficacy document.

Reflection

This was an individual project, so a lot of the focus was on communication with our teacher. Because we were doing our project at home and without a group, we have no one to rely on or reference other than our teacher. It was really up to me to be responsible for my own education and reach out when i needed help. With limited introduction to this project I also had to do a lot of individual research to find an idea that was not only interesting, but doable with the lack of time and resources, which required a bit of critical thinking; not only did I have to be creative, I had to be realistic. When I came up with my idea, I honestly over compensated. It ended up being a very simple machine, and I think the reason why was because the blow dryer was so powerful. Natural wind from outside just was not concentrated enough, so I used a blow dryer on high which provided a consistently strong wind source. This worked very effectively, but it was a waste of power, as it was only lighting a small 2 watt LED. So I switched to an LED of about 6 watts, but I still feel as though energy was lost. I believe I could do this project again, yet improved, still from my home if I was able to have more time to research a more complex idea.