Student Blog

This is your climate change blog.  Click on it for this unit to get additional information about the assignments.


http://wdclimatechange2013.blogspot.com/


It belongs to you.

Your table has to build your page.   First, I have posted the six links.  But how do you edit something on the web?

Well, the names on the top of the page are the authorsfor that page.  If your name is not listed and you want it to be, let me know.

The authors of the page have all been invited to become editors using their school email address.  That means I sent you an email asking you to contribute to your blog.

You can edit it by accepting the invitation and then creating a limited Blogger profile.  Use your name.

The Perils of Climate Change Opinion

Today, you will be asked to take a look at the issue of climate change.  To do this, you will need to find three print resources and three video resources on each side of the debate.  In addition, you must watch at least ONE clip from Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth and ONE clip from an opponent of global change.  As you do this, you will need to keep track of a) the arguments and b) the quality of the resource being used.  Some of the places below may help you in your search (they are not highlighted as links because I want you to be purposeful in your searching....copy or paste these into the browser, as desired.


Keep track of your URLs as you go

Solar Oven Questions

1.  What was the temperature change for the

• chocolate
• marshmallow
• oven temp

2.  How many data points did you take for the marshmallow?  Can you tell if the marshmallow heated at a constant rate/min or a changing rate from your graph?  Why or why not?

3.  Which got hotter--the chocolate or the marshmallow?  How can you tell?

4.  Did you use insulation in your oven?  Why or why not?

5.  Did you use reflection in your oven?  Where or why?

6.  Did the color of the oven matter to you?  Why or why not?

7.  How often would your oven need to be adjusted for the moving sun?  Why do you believe that?

8.  Compare your data to another group.  Look at a picture of their oven and make a sketch.  Write the group names down.   Which oven was better and how do the designs compare?

9.  Draw a sketch of your oven.

10. Where is radiation, conduction, and convection present in the design of this oven?

11.  If you had to depend on your oven to sterilize water or cook food, how high are the odds of your survival?

12.  Why is solar power such a big idea for the world?






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Windmill redux.   Most of you have not been able to wrap your mind around the shape and design of angles in windmills.


Check out this resource to help you

What is the ideal when designing a windmill?

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil3.html
Draw your top three designs and specifications.

Read and summarize:  http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/2025/

Where are the windmills located?   http://www.caller.com/data/economy/windfarms/

What about wind in Iowa?   http://www.iowawindenergy.org/whywind.php

Find the average wind at three locations in the West Delaware school district:   http://www.iowaenergycenter.org/wind-calculator-tool/

Watch the videos found here:


Advances in Wind Power. A&E Television Networks. 2006 Learn360. 31 August 2012http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?ID=350393


Humongous Wind Turbines. A&E Television Networks. 2002 Learn360. 31 August 2012http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?ID=366420

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A whirligig is a design that captures wind energy and makes something spin.

Here is one design for a whirligig that travels up and down, like a helicopter.

Here is a pinwheel

http://www.leslietryon.com/3dcolorcutout/makepinw/makepinwheel.html



Each person should make a whirligig and a pinwheel.   You can use the paper that is located in the southwest corner of the room.

Figure out how to make the whirligig spin clockwise or counterclockwise.  Explain your reasoning in your notebook.



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Design a lab that will allow me to see which designs are most effective when subjected to a constant wind (someone will have to borrow a fan from PT to use).  You need to have a

CLAIM

EVIDENCE

REASONING.

Tape your whirligig and pinwheel into your book (but not the stick)

Solar Cooker Designs and the Power of Insulation

Home Insulation

Part 1:   House R-value simulation

We discussed r-value and insulation sandwiches last week.  Today, you are going to do work to check your understanding.  Make certain you leave your notebook in the classroom at the end of the day.

Choose from the three choices below to answer the questions.

House 1: a cathedral ceiling house, mock-log cabin, with 2 x 4 walls and cedar wall siding
House 2: a traditional house with an attic, with 2 x 6 OVE wall cavity
House 3: a traditional house with an attic, with 2 x 4 wall cavity , with brick facing.

1.  Which house would work best for passive solar heating?  Explain why you believe that.
2.  Pick ONE of the houses and go to Insulation Design    Decide what type of heat you want and where you are going to build it (you need a zip code).  Make a table from the data you find.

FEATURE	R-VALUE
attic
Cathedral ceiling
wall cavity
OVE-wall cavity
floor
type of heat
zipcode

3.  Use the Table of Common R-values to calculate R-values for your House Ceiling, Walls, and Floor.  This will show as three different sketches, and must equal or exceed the R-value in the table you just made. 

Just because something is thicker doesn't necessarily mean it is better.  Sometimes, though, higher R-value material is more expensive.  It's a trade-off, just like many things in life.

4. Also, when it comes to windows, we have a problem...It is going to be a very thin sandwich, unless we put up drapes (curtains) or some sort of a quilted batting at night.  Even so, that part of the wall will be colder.   The other trade-off is that windows that have bigger R-values have a bigger cost.
Based on this, what type of windows do you think your house should have?

Be ready to share.  When you get done, you can start building your solar oven.  You will have half of the period tomorrow to work on them as well, and we will be using them on Wednesday.

Questions?  Call me at five-six-three six-zero-eight one-nine-0-0