Bring Science Alive! Weather and Climate The Atmosphere and Energy Engineering Challenge

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T H E AT M O S P H E R E A N D E N E R G Y ENGINEERING CHALLENGE

Minimizing and Maximizing the Rate of Heat Transfer Defining the Engineering Problem Contest rules • • • • • • •

Device must contain a 250 mL beaker with 200 g of ice water Materials must be at room temperature Device must be exposed to a strong light source for exactly 20 minutes Water temperature will be measured and recorded before starting Water temperature will be measured and recorded after 20 minutes Minimizers: have the least temperature change Maximizers: have the most temperature change

1. Based on the Contest Rules, define the criteria and constraints for your device.

Criteria

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Constraints

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2. What relevant scientific knowledge do you need to consider in your design?

3. Based on the information that the users of your device are explorers, what other limits might you have on your solution?

4. Record your ideas for which materials you will use in your initial design. Which are the best conductors? The best insulators? What other properties make these materials useful for building the device?

Conductors

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Insulators

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5. Identify the variables in your experiment, including the dependent variable, the independent variable, and the controls.

6. What tools will you need to gather data?

7. How will you record your measurements? How much data will you need to support your claim about maximizing or minimizing thermal energy transfer?

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Developing Possible Solutions 1. Before designing your device, reflect on these two questions about heat transfer.

• Describe the proportional relationship between the amount of energy that flows through an object and the amount of mass the energy traveled through.

• Given two objects of equal mass, and equal temperatures, how can you determine which is a better conductor and which is a better insulator?

2. Write detailed procedures for building and testing your device.

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3. Draw a diagram of your prototype.

4. Record the control data for your first trial.

Controls

Masses of Device Materials Composition of Device Materials Mass of Water

200 g

Air Temperature (°C) Surface Temperature (°C) 5. Record the variable factors of your first trial.

Independent Variable: Time (Minutes)

Dependent Variable: Water Temperature (°C)

0 min 20 min

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Optimizing the Solution 1. Now that you have tested your first design, evaluate its performance. What aspects worked well?

How could it perform better? Use your results to improve your design.

2. How was the performance of your prototype affected by the nature of the materials you used?

3. How was the performance of your prototype affected by the masses of the materials you used?

4. How was the performance of your prototype affected by the environment in which you tested it?

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5. Record the control data for your trials.

Controls Trial 2

Trial 3

200 g

200 g

Masses of Device Materials Composition of Device Materials Mass of Water Air Temperature (°C) Surface Temperature (°C) 6. Record the variable factors for your trials.

Independent Variable: Time (Minutes)

Dependent Variable: Water Temperature (°C)

Trial 2: 0 min Trial 2: 20 min Trial 3: 0 min Trial 3: 20 min 7. Based on the evidence you gathered during the investigation, write an argument that uses scientific reasoning to explain why your final prototype performed differently than previous prototypes.

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Engineering Challenge Assessment Use the rubric below to evaluate your work on this engineering task. Then record your score in the Score column.

Engineering Process

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Achievement Levels Proficient (2 points)

Emergent (1 point)

Not Present (0 points)

Defining the Engineering Problem

Identified the design criteria and constraints with precision and clarity.

Understood the engineering tasks but the design criteria and constraint are not clearly identified.

Did not identify the design criteria and constraints of the engineering problem.

Developing Possible Solutions

Identified components of the system in the design, including how thermal energy would be transferred and tracked.

Identified some components of the system in the design, but labeling may be incomplete or identification of how energy is tracked is incomplete.

Identified few to no components of the system in the design, or did not identify how energy is tracked.

Optimizing the Design Solution

Testing was done in a logical, systematic way and produced results showing how well the device solved the problem.

Testing was done randomly or incompletely and produced incomplete results.

Conducted one or not tests.

Modified the design of the device based on testing, improving the design relative to the criteria and constraints.

Modified the device, but in ways unrelated to testing results to to the criteria and constraints.

Did not modify the design of the device.

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Score

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