Experiment Manual. sustainable living in the 21 st century

Transcription

1 Experiment Manual sustainable living in the st century

2 Your Thames & Kosmos Power House contains the following parts: No. escription Qty Part No. No. escription Qty Part No Wooden arm piece (5 x 50 x 0 mm) Wooden base piece (00 x 0 x 0 mm) Wooden cross brace (80 x 0 X 0 mm) Magnet (Iron core) Tube piece Magnet (magnetized rod) Wooden dowel pole (00 x 8 mm) Perforated metal strip Wooden skewers ( x 00 mm) Putty/modeling lay Test tube holder/wooden clip rane beam (5 x 5 x 80 mm) owel (5 x 5 mm) Plastic tube Quick attachment band (metal strip) Wooden yoke for oil press (5 x 5 x 80 mm) Wood glue bottle ompass Wire coiled on a roll Light emitting diode (LE) Solar cell String Battery holder (for type batteries) Socket for small bulb Small light bulb Electric motor/generator Magnifying glass Bag with 5 rubber bands: a 0 mm, a 50 mm, two 5 mm (wide) and a 60 mm Bag with small parts: paper clip, short screws, large washers, wing nuts, lead sinker, long screws, tension springs, 7 metal fasteners, and 8 small washers Bag with 6 metal connector clips Rotor (impeller), blades Iron powder, in safety bottle Bag of wires: four red 0 mm wires, four black 0 mm wires, one red 00 mm wire, one black wire 00 mm wire, one red 60 mm wire, one black 60 mm wire, three red 00 mm wires, three black 00 mm wires Fan propeller, blades Ring magnet Plastic Wheels Black plastic bottle (aka Solar ollector Tank) Thermometer (-0 to +0 ) Measuring beaker Sand paper opper foil (self adhesive) Zinc plate 0.7 mm Wire mesh opper plate 0. mm Bolt (M6x0 mm) Set of 9 Styrofoam house parts: Base plate, outer walls, inner wall, roof pieces and a circular cover for the refrigerator. Transparent plastic greenhouse sheet ardboard cut-out sheets, through 6 Pre-cut sheet of silver reflector pieces Piece of black construction paper

3 B 8 8. Train chassis B. urrent Indicator housing. Hygrometer, and red needle for Hygrometer. Inner door 8 8. Train tracks. Solar Oven back. Sun ollector housing B. Solar Oven base. Motor housing. Motor armature (coil tubes and ends) B Notes to read before you begin: Important! The house parts are made of Styrofoam. To glue these parts together and to attach parts to the Styrofoam, use only the wood glue included. Other glues may destroy the Styrofoam. Most cardboard parts have pre-pressed folding lines. Before you glue these parts together, make a sharp crease by folding the parts along the edge of a ruler or desk. You can open the little bottle with glue by cutting off the orange tip with sturdy scissors. fter you are done gluing, remember to put the little orange cap on the tube so that the glue in it will not dry. If you should forget it at some point, you can clear out the tube with a needle. The small plastic wheels are attached to small rods. When you break them off, small burrs may remain on the wheels. You can smooth these burrs out with the sandpaper provided. Keep the small wires together with a rubber band so that you do not lose them. When you unpack the solar cells, do not throw the three pieces of bubble wrap away. You will actually need them for several experiments. Several components of the kit for example the wires, the small electric motor and the long wooden dowel are used for more than one experiment. For some of the experiments, you will need two size rechargeable batteries. For safety reasons, we cannot include these with the kit. You can obtain these at the mall or in a specialty store. To obtain the small, oz. tea light cups referred to in a number of experiments, you may reuse a cleaned tin from a votive candle, a chaffing dish candle, or even a small tuna fish can. Important! If you cannot conduct the experiments outdoors in sunshine, you must use a reading lamp equipped with a 60-Watt light bulb. For some experiments, you will need Sunflower Seeds, Watercress Seeds and Runner Bean Seeds. You can get these from a garden store or home center. B E F E B Transfer Switch B. Windmill tail piece. Windmill body piece. House Windows () E. House oor F. Pieces for Flow Tests. Piece for Flow Tests B. olor Wheel. rane Housing. Engine Stripes ( long, short) E. White circle for solar oven experiment Note: Logos and text are printed on the six pre-cut cards but not shown in these diagrams. 7 50

4 THE SUN OLLETOR How to collect the Sun's rays to heat water hapter With the heat from the Sun, it is possible to heat not only the house and the air in it, but also water for hot showers, dish washing and laundry. The Sun can also heat the water for the central heating system. Water that has been heated during the summer may even be saved for the winter. nd all this can be done without great damage to the environment. This chapter is about the Sun ollector, a solar-powered water heater. It begins with a small series of experiments: This is how we read the temperature in the shade on the roof of the house. November : Our house is now very comfortable. Stephanie has built a large round table for the eat-in kitchen. Everyone sleeps in a bed with a firm and warm straw mattress. Only our six-foot-six-inch tall Michael with his 00 pounds is still uncomfortable. He now sleeps on a pile of foam pads. The former coat closet has a new coat of blue paint and serves as kitchen cabinet. November 5: Unfortunately, right now we can neither shower nor take a bath. The old water heater that was heated with wood or coal has been removed by Benny and converted to a warm water tank for our solar heating system. We want to save on fuel and convert to the energy from the Sun. aniel s tests and calculations have shown that theoretically every one of us should be able to take a shower every day, even in the Winter. Unfortunately, right now we do not have any water heated by the Sun. Oh, how we miss the simple comfort of a daily shower! uring the day, Stephanie, Michael and Benny are installing the frames for the Sun ollector on the south roof. The absorbers are ready. They are heating elements painted black that fit into the frames and are insulated underneath with straw. In the old carpenter shop on the island, there was still some plate glass left for a cover. nn made fine glazing putty of crushed chalk and linseed oil. o you know someone like our ingenious nn? Experiment How hot is it outside in the shade? We want to find out how we might achieve higher temperatures with the Sun s heat than with the greenhouse. For this you need: Power House with Sun ollector thermometer, part 8 paper and pencil, not included matchbox, painted white or covered with white paper, not included Build the Sun ollector and install it on the underside of the roof, as described on the next page. Take the black Solar ollector Tank out of the Sun ollector compartment. Then put the roof on the house again. Next, measure the outside air temperature in the shade. To do this, attach the cover of the matchbox that is painted white or covered with white paper to the roof of the house with a piece of tape. Now turn the house towards the Sun or hold the reading lamp about one hand s length from the roof. Insert the thermometer into the shaded space of the matchbox cover and read the temperature when the red liquid no longer rises and write down the value. 8

5 Heat and Temperature Heat and temperature are not the same. Temperature is a value that describes the heat condition of an object or substance. In the U.S., temperature is measured in Fahrenheit degrees. Internationally, it is measured in elsius degrees. In physics, we use the Kelvin scale, which begins at the absolute zero of -7. The greater the weight (mass) of an object, the more heat must be added to Sun ollector Solar ollector Tank, part 7 Sun ollector housing, card The Sun ollector will be used to heat water or air with sunlight. To assemble the Sun ollector, first punch the pre-cut cardboard Sun-ollector piece out of card. Fold along all the pre-creased fold lines to form a box (See figure ). Then, put a thin layer of glue on the two glue flaps on the side of the box with the circular hole in it. Put one of the bubble wrap pads (from the solar cells) as insulation on the backside of the box, using two pieces of adhesive tape. Put a layer of glue on the long glue flaps and. Glue this flap to roof bottom Glue flaps here on t glue this side. the bubble wrap from the solar cells onto the inside of the cardboard Sun ollector. Glue this flap to roof bottom B u z z w o r d it to increase its temperature by a certain number of degrees. In other words, the body absorbs heat and its temperature goes up. If, for example, you wish to heat it by 0, it must absorb twice as much heat as if it were to be heated by only 0. The quantity of heat is the measure of the heat energy. It is expressed in units called Joules. To heat a liter of water from 0 to requires 86 Joules. B u i l d I t! glue the box to the underside of the shorter roof piece, under the rectangular hole (See figure ). Now, slide the black plastic Solar ollector Tank, with the opening upwards, into the cardboard Sun ollector housing. lose the bottom flap of the housing and put the roof back on the house. over the rectangular opening in the roof with the rectangular piece of clear plastic left over from the greenhouse piece... tank areful! Use only wood glue for Styrofoam, not regular white glue. Experiment Heating water in the greenhouse Fill the black plastic bottle (part 7), the Solar ollector Tank, to the brim with tap water. Insert the thermometer into the bottom of the bottle so that a small amount of water runs over. Now read the temperature and write it down on a piece of paper. Pour the water into the trough in the floor of the greenhouse and put the clear cover on top. Then, put the reading lamp over it at a distance of about 0 cm. Of course, you can also put your house and greenhouse out in the yard or on the balcony if it is sunny, but not behind a window because the window pane absorbs energy. Let the heat from the lamp or Sun heat the house for an hour, then take the cover off and measure the water temperature in the greenhouse trough. Write it down on the piece of paper. By how many degrees did the water temperature rise? You can record it in the table in the back of this manual. Now soak up the water from the trough with a rag or sponge, put the lamp aside, and wait a few minutes so that the trough can cool down to the temperature of the environment. Experiment oubling the amount of water lowers the temperature Now repeat the previous experiment under nearly the same conditions: begin by measuring the temperature of the tap water, let the lamp or Sun shine on the house from the same distance for one hour. But this time, fill the trough with two full Solar ollector Tank bottles of water. fter one hour, read the temperature again to determine how many degrees it has risen. In this second experiment, the temperature will only have risen by about half as much as it rose in the first experiment, in spite of the fact that the heat source (lamp or Sun) heated for exactly the same length of time and hence delivered the same amount of heat. Why? Because for the second experiment, twice as much water had to be heated with the same amount of heat. The result is a lower water temperature. 9

6 The first electric trolley line in the world in Lichterfelde near Berlin, built by Siemens, 88. The power from German wind power plants is sufficient to pull 00 freight trains. Transfer Switch When we wanted to change the direction of the current, we have simply interchanged the connectors and thereby switched the polarity. This can be done more smartly with a transfer switch. For example, during the operation of the electric crane and the railroad, such a switch will come in handy. You will need: transfer switch, card 5 metal fasteners, part 9 connector clips, part 0 pairs of connection wires, part On one of the pre-cut cardboard sheets, find the pre-stamped cardboard part for your transfer switch. Bend the side flaps up along the folding lines. Those are the switch levers. Now put one metal fastener through each of the ring terminals of a red and a black connection wire, put them through the slots in the levers and bend them downward. The drawing will show you how. Put the free ends through the holes in the fold, so that they are not in the way. Now, when you push on the lever with a finger, one of the tabs of the metal fasteners will touch a connector clip. o exactly the same with the opposite switch lever. Only initially, let the ends of the wires hang down. Then you run the wires of the first switch lever through between the connector clips, crossing them, and through the wire slots of the second lever. ontinue on its topside to the bent tabs of the metal fasteners. Lift the tabs briefly with your fingernail, stick the wires in and press the tabs back firmly. Now press the connector clips into the cutouts in the center part of the switch. onnect the free ends of the transfer switch to the connector clips in the house wall that you designated for the house crane. Put the wires from dhesive dhesive onnection wire onnection wire onnection wire onnection wire dhesive B u i l d I t! your power source into the connector clips of the transfer switch. The power source can be either the solar cells or the battery. epending on whether you push on the left or right lever, the hook of the crane (see next page) will move up or down. Take good care of the transfer switch: you will soon need it for the railroad. So that it doesn t slide off the table, put it on one of the air bubble pads. You can also easily hold it in your hands. onnector lip Press here dhesive Folded together Wire Wire Fastener Fastener Open, inside 7