Category: Science 9
Electric House Project
Introduction: For our Electric House Project, we were assigned to create, design, and build a house with four distinct rooms and 4 different circuits. We had to have one series circuit with a minimum of two lights, a parallel circuit with a minimum of two lights, a complex circuit with a minimum of three lights and a custom circuit. We were supposed to draw out the circuits and connect them together within the house to make functional lights within the room. The lights should’ve turned on by a switch (Paper clip). My group and I built four distinct rooms with 4 different circuits. (One in each room.) Kitchen and living room on the first floor, and bathroom and bedroom on the second floor.
Pictures of house and drawn diagrams of the circuits:
Questions:
You have 3 light bulbs. All have the same intensity when lit. Explain how you can prove to a classmate that they are connected to series by unscrewing one light bulb.
A series circuit is a circuit in which there is only one path for the electrons to flow through. If you remove a lightbulb, that means that the circuit is broken and the electrons have no way of flowing through to the other lightbulbs. Therefore, if one f the light bulbs is unscrewed, all of them will not work.
You have 3 light bulbs. All have the same intensity when lit. Explain how you can prove to a classmate that they are all connected in a parallel by unscrewing one light bulb.
Unlike the series circuit, a parallel circuit allows the electrons to flow through two different pathways. If one lightbulb is unscrewed in a parallel circuit, the other lightbulbs should still be turned on. (If one lightbulb is unscrewed, it only breaks one pathway. There is still another pathway for the electrons to flow through.)
You have 3 light bulbs. Two are connected in a parallel. This parallel combination is connected in series with the third light bulb. Describe the relative intensity of each bulb.
If you have a parallel and a series in one circuit, it is called a complex circuit. Since the electrons in a parallel circuit have two different pathways to go through, the lightbulbs that are part of the parallel circuit will be dimmer. But in the series circuit, the electrons only have one pathway to flow thorough so the lights were be more strongly and equally lit.
In question number 3, describe the relative intensities of the two remaining lit bulbs if one of the bulbs in parallel was unscrewed.
If one of the light bulbs that is part of the parallel circuit is unscrewed, the other parallel light will be part of the series circuit with the other light bulb. The two lights will have equal intensity. The electrons now only have one pathway to flow through and will act like a series circuit.
Self Reflection:
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Open in new tab Green House – Solution Fluency
Define: I have been given a challenge by being hired by my family to make our 2 floored, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, no self efficient windows, LED lights house, more energy sufficient. I will have to generate 3 different ideas on how I could make this house more energy efficient and friendly to the Earth.
This is the house:
Discover:
I started to look into the lighting in the house and debating if it is a smart 
decision to get new lighting in the house. Firstly, I had to research and discover about the current LED lights that are in the house. I had to research how energy efficient they really are and if there are other, better options for lighting that we could consider placing in the house. Throughout researching this question, I found out that LED light ARE more energy efficient than incandescent
lights. They are more expensive to buy, but later save you money, because they use up less energy than incandescent lights. They also tend to last longer, so you wont have to buy light bulbs as often. In conclusion of this research question, I decided that it’s a good idea for the family to stay with the LED lighting in the house. But this hasn’t stopped me yet from looking into the lighting side of the house. LED light STILL use up energy, what if the house gets skylights installed in the roof?
Watch this video on the 4 steps to picking out the perfect LED lighting for YOUR home:
or watch it here on YouTube
Dream:
These are some creative ways that you can make your home more energy efficient:
- Energy sufficient lighting
- Energy sufficient windows
- Solar Electric Panels
- Energy sufficient heating and cooling system
- Air sealing
- Energy star appliances
- Solar thermal
- Water heating
- Producing energy from body heat
- Jellyfish
- Trash
- Onion
- Sweat
Watch this video on how we can get energy from trash:
or watch it here on YouTube
Deliver:
These are the 3 ways I am going to make my clients house more energy efficient:
#1: Skylights are beneficial for minimizing your costs for heating, cooling and lighting. They are also good for bringing in that natural, beautiful sunshine into your own home. You won’t have to turn on the lights during most of the day, so it will make your house way more energy sufficient. We should be using our natural lighting because not only is it completely free, but it is also an unlimited natural resource. The cost of an average skylight is roughly $200 and to get it installed is on an average between $400- $1300. There are some drawbacks you should know about to installing skylights such as moisture problems, leaks, too much heat ect. But if the skylights are installed properly, there shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Check out this Pdf by Bill Hawker on how skylights save energy: http://rci-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2006-03-hawker.pdf
#2: Energy Floors or Pavegen’s are floors that convert kinetic energy into usable electricity. They produce energy from footsteps. These energy floors have been found in football fields, airports, stations and nightclubs where there is high trafficking (a lot of people.) We can place this under the flooring of the house where your own footsteps could turn on a lamp or turn the light on and off as you enter and leave a room. As it states on the creators of the Pavegen’s website: As people step on the tiles, their weight causes electromagnetic induction generators to vertically displace, which results in a rotatory motion that generates off-grid electricity. Additionally, each tile is equipped with a wireless API that transmits real-time movement data analytics, whilst directly producing power when and where it is needed. Pavegen is also able to connect to a range of mobile devices and building management systems. Even though I could not find the cost of installing these self sufficient energy floors, I estimate them to be quite expensive. One drawback is, is that if you want that energy to last for a long time, you need quite a bit of people to make it work. But in a house, it should be fine if it’s something as small as turning on a light.
Watch this short video to learn more about Pavegen’s:
or watch it here on YouTube
#3: Pedal Power is an amazing and unexpected way that we can produce electricity. Peddling can power small appliances in your home and will have more then enough energy to use. You can watch television while giving it energy while riding on a bike or even running on a treadmill. The cost of this shouldn’t be too high as you can make one yourself! A drawback is, is that it probably won’t produce too much energy, but once again, if it’s just in your home, it should be able to power small appliances just not the WHOLE house.
Watch this video on why you cannot power your whole house using a bicycle:
or watch it here on YouTube
I hope that you enjoyed my Green House Solution Fluency post and that you learned something new from it.
Sources used:
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/save-electricity-and-fuel/lighting-choices-save-you-money
https://www.energystar.gov/products/lighting_fans/light_bulbs/learn_about_led_bulbs
https://www.eonenergy.com/blog/2016/May/eight-weird-ways-to-generate-energy
https://www.amigoenergy.com/blog/9-weird-ways-to-generate-electricity/
https://matadornetwork.com/change/8-ingenious-ways-of-generating-electricity/
https://www.wired.com/2008/06/two-prototypes/
http://www.bristolite.com/blog/how-energy-efficient-are-skylights/
Supernatural Set BC- Colony Farms
This is our Supernatural Set BC video project. Our essential question was about Colony Farms. Colony farms has over 200 species of animals and it is currently going under construction. We want to make sure that the construction workers (audience) are fully aware of the animals they are working with and that they are fully respectful of them. These amazing species are just as important as us.
https://youtu.be/qCAXeATq-hI
Collaboration Fluency Reflection
I think that all of us as a group did a very well job. We all followed our assigned due dates and communicated throughout the process of the project. We asked each other for advice and helped each other when we needed guidance. We respectfully suggested ideas and we were open to all of them even if we didn’t quite agree with them. I think that overall our group worked very well together and we all had a good time working with each other. We put out a successful, powerful, and meaningful project in the end.
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Is our universe only a small part of what’s actually out there?
The Universe is known to be infinite by most people but is it really? Or could the universe we live in be one of many? Could it be both? There is nothing new about the idea of there being a parallel universe or “multiverse” but they are known to be almost impossible to travel to due to the laws of physics so the question is, could it be possible to actually travel to a whole other universe? There are two types of people. People who think that the universe is finite and people who think the universe is in fact infinite. I will try to give you a point of view from wether or not you see the universe to be finite or infinite because that is a really main factor of these theories and the answers for both could be drastically different. Finite universe means that the size of the universe is limited and there is an exact measurement to it. One of the biggest reasons that us humans on Earth think of the universe to be finite is because the universe has only been here for a finite amount of time. (13.7 billion light years.) An infinite universe means that the universe is never ending and goes on forever which a lot of people also seem to believe.
The universe is known to be expanding by many scientists but is that really the case? What is it expanding into then? If we look at the point of view of the universe being “infinite” the answer would be that instead of the universe expanding into something, its simply just becoming bigger within itself, or as you might want to call it “stretching.” What that means is that every distance between a pair of galaxies is becoming stretched but the universe’s size does not change. On the other hand, if we think of the universe as being “finite”, there might actually be something “outside of the universe” and our universe is expanding into something. But since we are known to be “stuck” in our universe by most scientists, we really don’t know what out universe is expanding into if it is.
Another way we can look at it is that if the universe really is infinite, it would have to start repeating at some point because the number of ways particles can be arranged is finite. In fact, there are infinite versions of you out there and some are even doing and thinking the exact same things as you. So could you call that alien life? A “parallel version” of you is reading these exact same words right now and thinking how insane this actually is. Crazy right? That University you declined that would transfer you to Asia, a “parallel version”of you could’ve actually accepted it and it would show the outcome of what would actually happen if you decided to actually accept that offer. If arguing against the chances of there actually being a parallel universe, the problem is that the universe is just under 14 billion years. So the universes age could happen to be “finite”. This means that the number of possibilities that particles could be arranged could be even smaller and sadly means that there is less of a chance for you to actually take the trip to Asia in a parallel universe.
If the observable universe only extends 13.7 billion years as said by scientists, that would be 13.7 billion light years. So the space-time beyond that could be considered a whole other universe. If that is the case, once the light will pass the dividing point of the “universes,” they could then be considered one universe. In 2015, a cold spot was discovered in our universe that is 1.8 billion light years wide and it was estimated that there is roughly over 10,000 galaxies missing in that area. The area contains 20 percent less matter than it should and scientists believe that it’s that a possibly that another universe that has bumped into ours. Does that mean that our universes or “all” universes move? Or are they actually all inside something else and are getting bigger?
In the end, you can’t just take a space ship and fly to the edge of the universe and see if its touching another. It’s takes a lot of work and time for scientists and astronomers to research and answer the age old question of the possibilities of a “multiverse.” And who knows if the government and or scientists will actually allow that information to be released to the public. Maybe the question has already been answered all this time. But I guess were just going to have to wait and see.
Watch this video if you would like to get more information about the possibility of a “multiverse.”
Reflection
What questions did you need to research in order to research your topic?
For my topic even though I had one big question, there were many small questions I needed to answer and research to lead me to the big answer. I had to ask questions such as “is the universe infinite or finite?” and “why hasn’t anyone found out if there was another universe?” These smaller questions took more time then my big “wonder” question but they did teach me a lot and helped me in the end. I figured out that we really don’t know if the universe is finite or infinite so that made my big question slightly more harder because I would have to research and look into it even more. As I was doing my research I also figured out why there is no exact answer to a possible multiverse because there is so many answers out there and so many more questions needed to be answered.
What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?
As I was researching and writing this project I had to use a variety of different digital tools and sources to get the most accurate information I could get. One of the main digital tools I used was Google. I searched up a variety of different websites using Google but made sure that the authors of all the articles I used were in the science community and/or had very good knowledge of science.
What was the process you used to investigate your topic?
To investigate my topic and find the most accurate information I could get my hands on, I followed a lot of steps. First, I searched up my question to make sure that there wasn’t an immediate answer to it, and Im happy there wasn’t because If there was, it wouldn’t be a “big question.” Then I proceeded to research using different websites and I gathered information that I would be useful for when I would write out my “wonder assignment.” After gathering all the information I thought I needed, I thought of my structure of my write up and how I was going to bring upon the information I learned in the most affective way possible so other readers would understand easily. Writing the post took a lot of time and effort because I really wanted the readers to experience the same wow factor as I had when researching.
How did you verify and cite the information you found?
Since I used Google I was extremely careful when researching to get accurate information. I made sure that all of the websites I was using had an authors name on it. I also searched up the names to make sure that they were either in the science community or had very good knowledge of science in general. I also made sure that all of the articles I used had dates on them and I made sure not to use older articles to get the most updated information I could get. I used scientific websites and encyclopedias when writing my research as well.
How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?
The process of this challenge wen’t really well. It opened me up to so many other questions even though science isn’t even an interest topic of mine. I genuinely enjoyed researching and writing all of this information and Im glad I got to learn so much throughout the project. If I had more time I think I could’ve gone in deeper into the question and I could’ve researched even more theories of a “multiverse” because when researching I stumbled upon much more information that I didn’t include in my actual post. Even after I was done my project, I found myself scrolling through science related videos on YouTube.