Expirament Ideas

[Mini]

Hello
i am a junior in high school and i am doing a research expo in rio rancho , new Mexico. i have a general area i want to explore but i cant think of any ideas . if you can , can you please help me i want to do a continuation from last year, last year i took different insulations and tested their thermal effeciencies.(if you need more details just tell me). this year i want to incorporate passive, or active solar heating/cooling. if you can please help me it will be greatly appreciated. thank you so much. sincerely Mini

[tdaly]

Mini,

I am going to need a lot more information if I am to be of use to you. I think that you have a really good idea. I need to know exaclty what you did last year, and what your general ideas for this year are.

[davidkallman2]

Hi Terik,

Thanks for your help on this bulletin board item. Thursday was my day staffing the bulletin board, and I'm glad you responded.

[Mini]

Mini,

I am going to need a lot more information if I am to be of use to you. I think that you have a really good idea. I need to know exaclty what you did last year, and what your general ideas for this year are.

Terik Daly,
Thank you so much for answering my email.
Last year I wanted to see out of three different insulation which one would have the most stable temperatrues.So I built four boxes and put different insulations in them. one i left empty that was my control, the other three i put Rastra, Urethane, and Fiberglass. I then set them outside over night. the next morning at 5:00 am i checked the temperatures for every hour until 8:00pm. I recorded the temperatures for each box and the outside temperatures. for several days and then put the temperatures into a graph. my conclusion was the rastra had the most stable temperatures. That was last years project. this year i have some ideas but Im not for sure what how to get started heres some of the questions:
What angle of a solar roof would absorb the most sunlight energy?; Which insulation will keep heat in longer? ; or how could glass foam be used to make a strong building materials with high insulation properties. these are just some of the ideas. now before i turn this into a book i'll let you go. thank you so much. your help is very much appreciated
Sincerely Mini

[davidkallman2]

Hi Mini,

Interesting thoughts all! Too bad, as that say "reality bites!" (don't ask what era that quote is from) and you can't do all of them.

One can't do science asking where the upfront proven ideas are. Someone has to blaze the trail.

So, in my humble opinion, experiment on as many of your ideas as you can, and report on the results.

[tdaly]

Mini,

I think that your ideas are excellent! I agree with Mr. Kallman, try as many ideas as possilbe, and record the data for all of them. I would start with the one about how well insulation keeps heat in because you can use the data from your previous project as the basis for your hypothesis.

[Mini]

Hi Mini,

Interesting thoughts all! Too bad, as that say "reality bites!" (don't ask what era that quote is from) and you can't do all of them.

One can't do science asking where the upfront proven ideas are. Someone has to blaze the trail.

So, in my humble opinion, experiment on as many of your ideas as you can, and report on the results.

Thank you for your help, it is appreciated greatly. I think I am going to answer "Does the angle of the solar panel, or solar window, affect how much solar energy is absorbed", But i dont know how i would measure the solar energy can you help me with this idea? thats pretty much it. i was wondering if i could put you down as a consultant of some sort, because i need one more if that is okay with you. thank you for your time.
Sincerley Mini

[Mini]

Mini,

I think that your ideas are excellent! I agree with Mr. Kallman, try as many ideas as possilbe, and record the data for all of them. I would start with the one about how well insulation keeps heat in because you can use the data from your previous project as the basis for your hypothesis.

Thanks so much for your help i plan to post my results, to share what i learned. thank you so much it was greatly appreciated.
Sincerely Mini