For the past few days everyone has been fixing up there projects. Also we have been putting them on the wiki. We are all making five question quizzes on proprops. So everyone will be tested on what they know. Some of our groups are still testing there projects. Also Ronnie and Lupe are filming there video today.
Through this task I did a lot of things. One thing I did was build a wind turbine that will get tested sometime soon outside. Another thing I did was investigate on wind turbines. I learned that wind turbines pump water from wells and generate electricity. I also learned that wind turbines have been around for along time. They have been around for 5000 years.
I also made a movie about all of this stuff. One thing I learned makeing the movie is that a wind turbine can make a light light up. Another thing I learned is that a wind turbine can generate a lot of electricity. I also learned that it can’t be put behind a big tree. I also learn that it can hurt you if you touch it.
Our projects are developing very well. We have learned new things about photovoltaic energy. We have learned that the angle of a solar panel changes the amount of energy it receives. We have learned photovoltaics turns sunlight directly into energy. In my experiment we learned that artificial light doesn’t produce as much energy as real light. Also California has the biggest solar power plant. It can put out 80 megawatts. The more solar panels you have the more volts or amps you get. Also If you connect them in parallel then you get more amps, and if you connect them in series you get more volts.
We have also learned the more solar panels you have the more volts or amps you get. There are also many advantages and disadvantages of solar energy. Some advantages are solar cells are longer lasting sources of energy, which can be used almost anywhere. Also Solar energy is a energy safe resource and dosen’t pollute. Some of the disadvantages we found where the amount of sunlight that arrives at the Earth’s surface is not constant. It depends on location, time of day, time of year, and weather conditions.
I am writing about what everybody in the class is doing today. Erick and Charles are outside painting the stool we made at the start of the year for Mr. Mansour’s daughter. Ronnie, DeAngelo, and Kevin are making a video about their wind turbine project. Majeric and Khalil are finding the best places for wind in the US.
Jermaine and Lupe are checking to see if indoor lighting can produce as much energy as light on a cloudy day. Brian and Nate are doing research to refine their essay. Tyler is taking pictures of what everybody is doing and Jared is trying to build and solar car.
Today Majeric and Erick are outside testing series and parallel circuits for solar panels. They will hook up their solar panels in series circuits and in parallel circuits, then record the amount of volts and amps. Tyler and Charles are researching on how geothermal power works. Khalil and Brian are getting footage of the day, they are also building solar cars.
James, Lupe, and Jermaine are filming their investigation of how solar power works. Ronnie, Jared, and I are posting on the blog. DeAngelo and Kevin are reviewing a lesson with Mr. Mansour.
Yesterday Khalil, Majeric, and I went to go to the fourth grade to teach them what an electromagnet is. We asked the 4th Grade what a magnet is and they had a pretty good explanation of a magnet. We had the 4th Grade do an experiment to make a magnet out of a nail battery and a long wire. The 4th Grade was bad. They weren’t really listening to what we were saying but the ones who were did a good job on the experiment. One group broke their wire so we had to tie like 3 wires together and they were just complaining to us.
The 4th Grade are a intelligent group when they put their minds to it. In the experiment the first step was hooking everything up and distributing all the materials to them. Second step we had wrap their nail in the wire to give the nail more coils to pick up more staples. 5 wraps didn’t get anything so they all tried to change their hypothesis. When they wrapped their wires about 30 times around the nail they started picking up all the staples. In summary teaching the 4th grade was fun.
On Friday Charles and I went to the 4th grade class to teach them how Amps, Ohms, and Volts work. Charles and I did allot of things that we hoped would help the 4th graders when they are in the 8th grade and one of the demonstrations we did for Ohms was that we put electrons on their left shoulder so when the pass through a light they would slow down.
The next thing we did was an experiment were we hooked one light bulb up to one battery and they all had the same result which was kinda bright, so then we hooked up two light bulbs up to one batteries and they all get the same results again which was very dim. So then we started to go around to every group in the class room and did two batteries with one light bulb and they all got the some result again which was very bright and the reason the light bulb was so bright was because we had add more power to the light bulb.
Today in class Tyler and Brian are seeing what is the best fin configuration for wind. They are changing the degrees of the windmill and seeing if it get more voltage from what angle. Erick and Jared are writting a paragraph about wind turbines and they are answering questions. De Angelo and Nate are orginizing the electricity box. So it is easier to find what we are looking for.
Ronnie,Majeric, and Khalil are teaching the fourth graders about electro magnets. Jermaine and James are typing an essay on a photo voltaic cells. Kevin is talking about how the car kits work. Lupe is telling them what we taught the fourth graders Friday. I am telling you what every body is doing today.
Yesterday Brian, Erick, and I went upstairs to the elementary branch of JMSO to teach the 4th graders about open/closed circuits. Here I will tell you what we did.
First we showed them a UFO ball, which lights up when everybody is holding hands or touching finger tips. Then we taught them difference between open and closed circuits. An open circuit is when all parts aren’t touching and the electricity can’t go all the way through. A closed circuit is when all parts are touching and the electricity can flow through. Brian illustrated this on the white board and gave definitions for open and closed circuits, while the 4th graders wrote this down. Next, we did an experiment. We split them into 5 groups of 3 and gave them 2 wires, a battery, and a light bulb. They all figured it out quickly (with a little help from us), and knew what they were doing. After the experiment, we asked them what they learned, and some remembered some stuff while others didn’t. I think they all got the general idea though. Once we finished all of that, we did the UFO ball again. They all rushed up and jumped on us to touch it.
Today Jared, and Jermaine are checking to make sure that we have all our solor cars. Nate, and Brian are reserching solor power. DeAngelo is building a solor windmill. Ronnie, and khalil are practicing for their lesson about electro magnets that they will be teaching to the forth grade on tuesday. Today Charles, and Lupe are teaching the fourth grade about how electricity goes throught a circuit,also about amps, ohms, and volts. Last today James, and Kevin are experimenting with the solor oven.
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