Problems we had:
The weather was cloudy, so we couldn’t get a sun light. We used a lamb (solar light) instead sun light.
We couldn’t transform the unit of the light density (LUX) to the unit of energy (watt).
We didn’t do the experiment several times, so we couldn’t determine the accuracy.
We didn’t use the photovoltaic panel that we sat to measure the sun energy.
In order in improve the lab:
Find sunny day to do the experiment, using the photovoltaic panel to measure the sun energy and how it will affect the water.
Do the experiment several times to get accurate value.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Improved lab on Thursday
Based on what we got on last Saturday, we performed another experiment on Thursday. It was a very nice afternoon and it was sunny.
Aim:
We wish to study how much solar power is needed to evaporate water, and compare the results with the fresh water system in race rocks.
Procedure:
This lab is quite straightforward and easy.
Put the same amount of ocean water into 2 small beakers
Measure the weight of beakers and water with a electronic weight scale
Put the beakers at sunny place on the dock
Take down the data of humidity, outside temperature, and the solar power
Leave them for 3 hours
Take down the data of humidity, outside temperature, and the solar power after 3 hours
Measure the weight of beakers and water with a electronic weight scale again
Data:
The diameter of the beaker: 6.52cm
Before 3 hours
Time 12:35 Temperature 12⁰C Humidity 57% Solar energy: 856W/m^2.
Weight 1: 74.486g Weight 2: 75.034g
After 3 hours
Time 3:35 Temperature 11.6 ⁰C Humidity 54% Solar energy: 543W/m^2
Weight 1: 63.534g Weight 2: 65.869g
Data Analysis:
Let us assume that the change of solar energy is linear, so that the power can be calculated as below:
The surface area of the beaker = 3.14×〖(6.52×〖10〗^(-2))〗^2=0.0133 m^2
Solar power received=surface area×solar energy×time=0.0018×((856+542))/(2×〖10〗^(-3) )×3=1.26×〖10〗^(-3) kw∙h
For group 1, the fresh water that produce=74.486g-63.534g=10.592g
For group 2, the fresh water that produce=75.034g-65.869g= 9.165g
Average fresh water that produced=(10.592+9.165)/2=9.879g
Conclusion
To sum up, we managed to produce 9.879g fresh water with 1.26×〖10〗^(-3) kw∙h solar power.
Therefore, to produce 1kg fresh water in 3 hour, we will need:
0.128 kw∙h of energy
Surface area of 1.346m^2
(Note that this lab is done on the afternoon of a sunny day)
(The blogger is a little bit retarded at showing equations, you can access if you email: peirui422@hotmail.com rui)
Aim:
We wish to study how much solar power is needed to evaporate water, and compare the results with the fresh water system in race rocks.
Procedure:
This lab is quite straightforward and easy.
Put the same amount of ocean water into 2 small beakers
Measure the weight of beakers and water with a electronic weight scale
Put the beakers at sunny place on the dock
Take down the data of humidity, outside temperature, and the solar power
Leave them for 3 hours
Take down the data of humidity, outside temperature, and the solar power after 3 hours
Measure the weight of beakers and water with a electronic weight scale again
Data:
The diameter of the beaker: 6.52cm
Before 3 hours
Time 12:35 Temperature 12⁰C Humidity 57% Solar energy: 856W/m^2.
Weight 1: 74.486g Weight 2: 75.034g
After 3 hours
Time 3:35 Temperature 11.6 ⁰C Humidity 54% Solar energy: 543W/m^2
Weight 1: 63.534g Weight 2: 65.869g
Data Analysis:
Let us assume that the change of solar energy is linear, so that the power can be calculated as below:
The surface area of the beaker = 3.14×〖(6.52×〖10〗^(-2))〗^2=0.0133 m^2
Solar power received=surface area×solar energy×time=0.0018×((856+542))/(2×〖10〗^(-3) )×3=1.26×〖10〗^(-3) kw∙h
For group 1, the fresh water that produce=74.486g-63.534g=10.592g
For group 2, the fresh water that produce=75.034g-65.869g= 9.165g
Average fresh water that produced=(10.592+9.165)/2=9.879g
Conclusion
To sum up, we managed to produce 9.879g fresh water with 1.26×〖10〗^(-3) kw∙h solar power.
Therefore, to produce 1kg fresh water in 3 hour, we will need:
0.128 kw∙h of energy
Surface area of 1.346m^2
(Note that this lab is done on the afternoon of a sunny day)
(The blogger is a little bit retarded at showing equations, you can access if you email: peirui422@hotmail.com rui)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Unfavourable lab results
Unfavourable lab results
Last Saturday we performed our lab “water evaporation” as Piotr has mentioned in the last few blogs. Surprisingly, we got totally opposite results--- we predicted the salinity to increase overtime, however the salinity decreased significantly. These days we were doing researches and were trying to find out the problem. “Failure is the mother of success”; there are lots to learn from failures.
So here I am going to present the data and evaluation of the Lab performed on Saturday. This is base on the procedures from “”.
Data
In this lab we used logger pro as our data receptor and processor. We measured the change in salinity and temperature with respect to time. We set up the logger pro so that it takes 37 measurements in a time period of 3 hours, so that the number of data sets is manageable. The diagram below shows the result of our experiment.
time(h) Salinity(ppt) temperature(c)
0 31.70053 21.74952
0.083333 31.27608 21.74952
0.166667 30.92891 21.56202
0.25 30.62014 21.74952
0.333333 30.40792 21.99952
0.416667 30.04131 22.24952
0.5 29.86765 22.43702
0.583333 29.71326 22.62452
0.666667 29.59759 22.74952
0.75 29.46248 22.87452
0.833333 29.3081 23.06202
0.916667 29.25026 23.18702
1 29.17299 23.24952
1.083333 29.05732 23.31202
1.166667 28.96077 23.37452
1.25 28.80638 23.37452
1.333333 28.72927 23.43702
1.416667 28.65215 23.49952
1.5 27.74527 23.31202
1.583333 27.72599 23.43702
1.666667 27.66816 23.43702
1.75 27.62944 23.43702
1.833333 27.55233 23.43702
1.916667 27.53305 23.49952
2 27.47521 23.56202
2.083333 27.41722 23.56202
2.166667 27.34011 23.62452
2.25 27.28227 23.68702
2.333333 27.24355 23.68702
2.416667 27.205 23.68702
2.5 27.18572 23.74952
2.583333 27.14716 23.81202
2.666667 27.12788 23.87452
2.75 27.10861 23.93702
2.833333 27.08933 23.99952
2.916667 27.06989 23.99952
3 27.08933 23.99952
The light intensity is 237 lux, and the humidity of air is 86%.
Last Saturday we performed our lab “water evaporation” as Piotr has mentioned in the last few blogs. Surprisingly, we got totally opposite results--- we predicted the salinity to increase overtime, however the salinity decreased significantly. These days we were doing researches and were trying to find out the problem. “Failure is the mother of success”; there are lots to learn from failures.
So here I am going to present the data and evaluation of the Lab performed on Saturday. This is base on the procedures from “”.
Data
In this lab we used logger pro as our data receptor and processor. We measured the change in salinity and temperature with respect to time. We set up the logger pro so that it takes 37 measurements in a time period of 3 hours, so that the number of data sets is manageable. The diagram below shows the result of our experiment.
time(h) Salinity(ppt) temperature(c)
0 31.70053 21.74952
0.083333 31.27608 21.74952
0.166667 30.92891 21.56202
0.25 30.62014 21.74952
0.333333 30.40792 21.99952
0.416667 30.04131 22.24952
0.5 29.86765 22.43702
0.583333 29.71326 22.62452
0.666667 29.59759 22.74952
0.75 29.46248 22.87452
0.833333 29.3081 23.06202
0.916667 29.25026 23.18702
1 29.17299 23.24952
1.083333 29.05732 23.31202
1.166667 28.96077 23.37452
1.25 28.80638 23.37452
1.333333 28.72927 23.43702
1.416667 28.65215 23.49952
1.5 27.74527 23.31202
1.583333 27.72599 23.43702
1.666667 27.66816 23.43702
1.75 27.62944 23.43702
1.833333 27.55233 23.43702
1.916667 27.53305 23.49952
2 27.47521 23.56202
2.083333 27.41722 23.56202
2.166667 27.34011 23.62452
2.25 27.28227 23.68702
2.333333 27.24355 23.68702
2.416667 27.205 23.68702
2.5 27.18572 23.74952
2.583333 27.14716 23.81202
2.666667 27.12788 23.87452
2.75 27.10861 23.93702
2.833333 27.08933 23.99952
2.916667 27.06989 23.99952
3 27.08933 23.99952
The light intensity is 237 lux, and the humidity of air is 86%.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Apparatus
Before we move on to publishing the results of our experiment, here are some photos of the equipment that we used:
1) the lamp
2) the pipe for the water
3) the probes placed inside the pipe
4) the light meter
5) the weight
6) & 7) the overview of the apparatus
1) the lamp
2) the pipe for the water
3) the probes placed inside the pipe
4) the light meter
5) the weight
6) & 7) the overview of the apparatus
The Aim and the overview of the Procedure
We decided on the following research question: How much fresh water can we produce from the ocean water using solar energy in the process of evaporation? Moreover, we wanted to compare (if possible) the efficiency of the production of fresh water in this way with the method used in Race Rocks. Owing to unfavorable weather conditions (ironically, up until now the sky has been cloudy – it changed after we finished the experiment!) we decided to use a lamp instead of sunlight.
In order to properly conduct the experiment, we decided on the following steps:
1) getting water from the ocean
2) placing the water in a copper pipe with the salinity probe inside
3) placing the pipe with the probe in front of the lamp (thus making the water start to evaporate)
4) measuring the salinity in the intervals of 5 min. over the period of 3 hours, which would allow us to obtain 36 measurements
6) calculating the amount of fresh water produced based on the differences in salinity in the beginning and in the end of the 3-hour measurement period
and possibly 7) : comparing the efficiency of the production of fresh water using our method with the method used in Race Rocks
A detailed description of our experiment will be posted later.
In order to properly conduct the experiment, we decided on the following steps:
1) getting water from the ocean
2) placing the water in a copper pipe with the salinity probe inside
3) placing the pipe with the probe in front of the lamp (thus making the water start to evaporate)
4) measuring the salinity in the intervals of 5 min. over the period of 3 hours, which would allow us to obtain 36 measurements
6) calculating the amount of fresh water produced based on the differences in salinity in the beginning and in the end of the 3-hour measurement period
and possibly 7) : comparing the efficiency of the production of fresh water using our method with the method used in Race Rocks
A detailed description of our experiment will be posted later.
The Group 4 Project Day
Today is the Group 4 Project Day! It was kicked off at 8:30 in the morning in the LLT with a presentation given by Mark, then we moved on to the process of rethinking our ideas due to some problems with the weather conditions, and about 11 a.m. we began the experiment. A few minutes ago we finished it! Thus, now we are going to put on the blog a couple of posts regarding the aims of our experiment, the apparatus used as well as the results and evaluation.
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