A Tale of Two Cities
Where are we headed?
Essential Questions:
What role can each and everyone of us play as energy concerned citizens?
Classroom Launch
(GOAL): Things are bad, but we can still do something! HOPE!!!
Watch 1+ hours of Planet Earth dvd (beautiful)-altogether
gallery walk of devastating before and after photos of environment, make claims
- People making a change video (activity?)
Engineering Day 1: What is Energy?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/energy/1/2/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/energy/1/3/
You cannot always see energy, touch it or hold it in your hand, but energy is everywhere. Energy causes things to happen around us. Look out the window. During the day, the sun gives out light and heat energy. At night, street lamps use electrical energy to light our way.When a car drives by, it is being powered by gasoline, a type of stored energy. The food we eat contains energy. We use that energy to work and play.
"Energy Is the Ability to Do Work."
Here are some everyday changes in energy from one form to another.
- Stored energy in a flashlight's batteries becomes light energy when the flashlight is turned on.
- Food is stored energy. It is stored as a chemical with potential energy. When your body uses that stored energy to do work, it becomes kinetic energy.
- If you overeat, the energy in food is not "burned" but is stored as potential energy in fat cells.
- When you talk on the phone, your voice is transformed into electrical energy, which passes over wires (or is transmitted through the air). The phone on the other end changes the electrical energy into sound energy through the speaker.
- A car uses stored chemical energy in gasoline to move. The engine changes the chemical energy into heat and kinetic energy to power the car.
- A toaster changes electrical energy into heat and light energy. (If you look into the toaster, you'll see the glowing wires.)
- A television changes electrical energy into light and sound energy.
Spooling Around Lab
Day 2 Electricity FUNdamentals
What gives this hairdryer energy? This flashlight?
What is a battery?
How do we measure the energy in a battery?
Try it!
How do you put a battery in place?
Pass out Kosmos and Thames Motor and Generator kits.
Find the battery holder and put them in. Close box and set battery holder on top.
Once batteries are in place, how does the energy get out? What's happening?
Electricity is the flow of electrical power or charge. It is a form of energy.
It is a secondary energy source which means that we get it from the conversion of other sources of energy, like coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear power and other natural sources, which are called primary sources.
How does electricity work? Well, what is the smallest thing you can think of? (diagram and demo)
How can we carry the electricity from one place to another?
Try it!
Find the lightbulb, battery pack, wires. Make the electricity reach the lightbulb. Close lid and place on top of box.
Circuits are a closed path in which the electrons flow. When the electricity is moving it is called a current. An open circuit is when there is a gap or break in the circle and the flow stops. A closed circuit allows the electrons to flow.
Try it!
Let's make a model of a circuit!
Try it!
What things conduct/carry the electricity (conductors)? What things stop it (insulators)?
Try it!
Now, detach the lightbulb and attach the motor with wires. What do you notice?
An electric motor works with magnets. (Demo) Turn to page 31, Picture 2. Put your magnets on. Now, you are converting the chemical energy into motion energy! It is spinning the 3 clusters of wires inside around and around.
Find the gears.
Where do we see gears in our world?
What do you notice?
What do gears do?
Try it!
Assemble the motor, gears, gear box, gear lid, and crank. Can you power the lightbulb? This is mechanical energy.
Try it! Crank Magic
Connect two devices by the wires. Crank one crank. What do you notice?
Try it! Electromagnetic Breaking
• Start with one full device
• Touch the wires
• Turn the crank
• The wires touching makes it hard to turn the crank—electrons backing up
Keep Exploring!
Want to know more? Look here!
http://idahoptv.org/sciencetrek/topics/electricity/facts.cfm
How does electricity get to your house? Find out here!
A little fun to try at home!
- Designing Electric Circuits: Door Alarm QuickTime Video
- Designing Electric Circuits: Steadiness Tester QuickTime Video
- Experimenting with a Lemon Battery QuickTime Video
- Exploring Conductivity: Kid Circuits QuickTime Video
A Brief History of Electricity
Picture: Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) pioneered the alternating current power system most of us use today. Even so, his rival, Thomas Edison (1846–1931), is still popularly remembered as the inventor who gave the world electric power.
- 600 BCE: Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (c.624–546 BCE) discovered static electricity.
- 1600 CE: English scientist William Gilbert (1544–1603) was the first person to use the word "electricity." He believed electricity was caused by a moving fluid called humor.
- 1752: American printer, journalist, scientist, and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) carried out further experiments and named the two kinds of electric charge "positive" and "negative."
- 1780: Italian biologist Luigi Galvani (1737–1798) touched two pieces of metal to a dead frog's leg and made it jump. This led him to believe electricity is made inside animals' bodies.
- 1827: German physicist Georg Ohm (1789–1854) found some materials carry electricity better than others and developed the idea of resistance.
- 1820: Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) put a compass near an electric cable and discovered that electricity can make magnetism.
- 1821: A French physicist called Andre-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) put two electric cables near to one another, wired them up to a power source, and watched them push one another apart. This showed electricity and magnetism can work together to make a force.
- 1821: Michael Faraday (1791–1867), an English chemist and physicist, developed the first, primitive electric motor.
- 1830s: American physicist Joseph Henry (1797–1879) and British inventor William Sturgeon (1783–1850) independently made the first practical electromagnets and electric motors.
- 1831: Building on his earlier discoveries, Michael Faraday invented the electric generator.
- 1840: Scottish physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) proved that electricity is a kind of energy.
- 1870s: Belgian engineer Zénobe Gramme (1826–1901) made the first large-scale electric generators.
- 1881: The world's first experimental electric power plant opened in Godalming, England.
- 1882: Thomas Edison (1846–1931) built the first large-scale electric power plants in the USA.
- 1890s: Edison's former employee Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) promoted alternating current (AC) electricity, a rival to the direct current (DC) system promoted by Edison. Edison and Tesla battled for supremacy and, although Edison is remembered as the pioneer of electric power, it was Tesla's AC system that ultimately triumphed.
Day 3 Investigation
Video
Exploratory
1 conductors and insulators
2 Steady Hand
3 Snap Circuit Day 2
4 wind up toy (look inside), kosmos and thames kit, Gear Display challenge
5 poppers-design a game
6 Makey Makey
7 Squishy Circuits student guide http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-8 make a lemon battery
9 design a backpack
Day 4 Our Energy Needs
Now imagine if none of that energy was available.
One hundred years ago we used burning wood for heat, candles for light, wind to sail ships, and animals for transportation. Burning wood was the primary source of energy in addition to using it for building homes and ships. Wood became scarce and new sources needed to be found, such as fossil fuels, like coal and oil.
The world's population is now much greater, and each person uses more energy than ever then before. So, the worlds supply of oil and natural gas is rapidly being used up. If other sources are not found, then our standard of living will go back to how it was centuries ago. However, there is a more urgent problem with these fuels: pollution.
How Do We Currently Harness Energy to Use as Electricity or Fuel?
Here are the main sources of energy used by society:
Solar Power
Wind
Chemical or Batteries
Geothermal Energy
Hydro and Tidal Power
NuclearBiomass (wood and plants)
Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)
Biofuels
Resources
Brain Pop Jr "Energy Sources"
Safety Smart® Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy®- Renewable Energy -- PREVIEW.mp4
Investigation
How does electricity get to your house? Find out here!
10 Interesting Facts
Sail Away Challenge
What do sails and turbine blades have in common?
You and your partner are going to design sails in order to decide which material and shape are best for a wind turbine blade. See which sail can travel down the path farthest!
Contraints: Your wind source will be a box fan and you can build your turbine or sails using only the constraints listed.
Popsicle sticks
Straws
Wax Paper
Cardstock/Index Cards
Paper Rolls Paper
Tape Dowels
String
Dixie Cups
Cardboard
Tinfoil
Plastic Bags
Styrofoam Tray
Finished?
Torch kits
Wind Turbine model
News report about the noise
Socket ball project
Catalytic clothing
In Closing:
What is a mechanical engineer? What are the disadvantages of using wind energy? Would you want a wind turbine on your property? Would you want to live near a wind farm? Would you want to get your electricity from a wind farm? Why or why not?
Day 6 Solar Power
Build a solar rover!
Day 7 Hydro Power
https://energy.gov/eere/videos/energy-101-hydroelectric-power
Dam It lab
- Build a dam using only clay, sticks, and rocks! Does your reservoir leak?
Open Exploratory
1 green snap circuits
2 Solar Rover Take 2
3 Finish sails and test
4 Squishy Circuits
5 Read
6 build the wind turbine or Dynamo Torch kit
7 gear trainsDay 8 How Do Our Energy Choices Impact the Planet?
Check out our glacier. What do you notice? Qualitative observations? Quantitative?
Land
Water
Air
Human Health and Well Being
Energy Crisis
Climate Change
Greenhouse Effect
Carbon Footprint
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/greenhouse-what-counts-env?source=searchvideo
So, which of the ways used to harness energy is most efficient, less polluting, and does not contribute to global warming. Which energies are renewable, because they can last indefinitely?
The Polar Bear Promise
https://polarbearsinternational.org/get-involved/actions-with-impact/
Conservation...Use less!
Blow Your Mind
Design, invent, and build our way out of this! Here are some amazing things happening now!
3d Printing the Coral Reef
Air Cleaning Clothes
Kids with the Lawsuit
Alternative Energy
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/great-energy-challenge?source=searchvideo
Earth Friendly Homes
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150120-passive-house-vin?source=searchvideo
Solar Market Gardens and Watering Systems
Creating electricity with a soccer ball
Day 10 Investigation: City Planning and Green Architecture Design
all engineering starts with empathy. To do so, they needed to consider the needs of the members of their community
great video http://futurecity.org/resource/city-model-moving-parts
the grid
Green Architecture and Design-city planning https://www.thoughtco.com/teaching-and-learning-about-architecture-178436
Bill Nye the Sci Guy Architecture
Public spaces how much?
civil engineering (moving people)
Project Time
A Tale of Two Cities Challenge
The Challenge:
Imagine four different cities 150 years from now. 3 of the cities are Sustainable Cities. They have made changes to use renewable energy sources. Dystopia City has not. What will these cities look like? Feel like? Sound like?
For this project, you are City Planners and your engineering challenge is to work together to build a 3D model of these cities in order to teach about our responsibility as energy concerned citizens at exhibition.
The Nitty Gritty:
- Each class will design and build their own Sustainability City first. (We will build one giant Dystopia City a little later.)
- Each Sustainable City will be constructed out of recycled materials
- Each city may spend no more than $50
- The city has to fit on ____ classroom tables…..
- Process documentation must be carefully maintained: Designs, Floor plan, … (Please save everything and keep it all in your Engineering folders!)
Sustainable Cities must include:
At least 1 movable part (powered by mechanical, solar, battery power, wind energy)
A sample of working lights throughout (powered by mechanical, solar, battery power, wind energy)
Design an innovative and eco-friendly energy system with functional prototypes of each energy form
How do citizens get around? Design an energy efficient transportation system
Different zones (industrial, commercial, residential,...)
Where do citizens work?
Where do citizens get the things they need?
Where do citizens live? What do their homes look like? How are they energy efficient?
Public spaces
Services your city provides
Parks and recreation your citizens can enjoy
Futuristic and innovative design features
A name
A map for guests that highlights significant energy features
If Time Permits
Landmarks
Proof of community engagement through arts and advocacy
Let’s Get Started:
Brainstorm Packet on your own- Dream Big!
City Planning Meeting #1
Agreements
Inspiration Mingle and Share Out- What if our city… (10 mins.)
Timeline Overview
Who will do what? Form Departments
Department of Energy
Department of Transportation
Department of Buildings and Infrastructure (zoning, public spaces, energy efficient housing, parks and rec, waste management, buildings for education, healthcare, safety,..)
Department Meeting #1
Establish appointed meeting area
Next Steps:
City Planning Meeting #2
Start brainstorming names for your city
Establish scale (no taller than a…)
Department Meeting #2
Label boxes for resources and materials being used
Location of where to keep those boxes in the lab (each city will have a different place)
Each department will use a portable Scrum Board
Some Ideas
Need a Break?
Teacher Notes
Project Products/Deliverables:
Engineering: (2 dioramas connected with Moses line) Futuristic Town/Sustainable City and Dystopian Future/ Projected Course 150 years out
Writing: opinion piece
Math: infographic
The Thing That Lasts: ? tree?
Circuit Simulation
Act out an electric circuit, as follows: Ask students to join you in forming a circle. Tell students that you represent a battery and they represent a wire conductor. The circle represents a circuit. (Note: The word circuit comes from the Latin circuitus, which means "to go around.") Distribute an object -- like a ball, a book, or an eraser -- to each member of the circle, including yourself. Ideally, everyone should have the same object. Tell students that these objects represent electrons inside a wire conductor. Explain that a wire conductor is full of electrons.
Remind students that you are playing the part of the battery in this circuit, and explain that all batteries have a positive end, represented by your left hand, and a negative end, represented by your right hand. Pass your "electron" to the student on your right. The student receiving your electron should in turn pass the one he or she is holding to the right. Have students continue passing on electrons to the person to their right. Tell students that because electrons share the same negative charge, they repel one another, which keeps them moving along in the same direction. State again that the flow of electrons through a conductor is called electrical current.
Tell students that as long as the circle remains intact and the electrons continue to flow, their circuit is closed. To illustrate what happens when a circuit breaks, or opens, create a gap in the circle of students that is too wide across to pass electrons. The current will stop as a result.