Cool House Texas A&M University

Cool House Problem You and your team are shipwrecked! You’re on an atoll (a tiny, flat, ring-shaped island with little or not plant life) in the North Pacific Ocean, just above the equator. It is very hot, and no trees or plants grow on the atoll to provide shelter from the sun. The remains of a very large packing crate perched on its side lie at the far end of the beach. Its previous contents, food and other items, are scattered along the shore. The bottom and three sides of the crate are still intact, but the side facing up is gone. It is too heavy to be moved or turn over. Your goal is to use the materials that have washed up on shore to construct a flat roof that will cover the crate so that the temperature inside will remain cool under the hot sun.

Objectives Construct a roof that will allow the interior of the house (standard base) to maintain the coolest temperature possible during a 3- minute heating trial. You can only test a combination of two materials at a time in any one trail Which pair of materials will keep the house at the lowest temperature?

Testing Station

MATERIALS Aluminum foil Styrofoam Shingles Cardboard Cellophane tape Overhead transparencies Stopwatch Balsa wood Paper (colors) Index cards Masking tape Thermometer Data sheet

PROCEDURE Construct the base of a house using 3 index cards for the walls and a piece of transparency for the window Place the thermometer inside the house Record initial temperature on data sheet Record temperature every 30 seconds for 3 minutes for each pair of materials you test Calculate  T, record the difference in temperature Repeat the procedure testing the materials provided for the activity Graph results Present findings

Data table Roof materialStart temperature End temperature ΔTΔT Aluminum foil Shingles Construction paper Styrofoam Balsa wood Cardboard Clear acetate

Record test results at 30 second interval TEST RESULTSTemperatureΔTΔT Start 30 seconds 60 seconds 90 seconds 120 seconds 150 seconds 180 seconds

Make a line graph of your temperature data. Remember to label the vertical axis.

Talk about content… Mathematics –Linear equations Science –Thermal insulators –Energy transference Conduction Convection Radiation

Re-teaching: When, Where, and How Mathematics –Linear equations Science –Thermal insulators –Energy transference Conduction Convection Radiation