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Grades 612. Investigate physical science and engineering concepts including buoyancy, displacement, and density. Students construct an aluminum foil boat prototype and measure how much weight their boat can carry before taking on water or sinking. Students are then challenged to think of ways to maximize the load the boat can hold using other materials to modify the design. Kit materials support a single student or a small group of students. Includes instructions.
With the contents of the Renewable Energy Education Set, construct an entire miniature renewable energy system for experimentation and demonstration. The set includes a working miniature wind turbine kit, a solar photovoltaic panel, an electrolyzer, a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, and a hydrogen storage system. A PC and distilled water are needed but not included. The set encourages students to learn the system step by step, configure it in different ways, and visualize the workings of clean energy principles from start to finish. This is an intermediate-level kit and contains 56 pieces. Note: Only use distilled water with this item or damage may result.
Hydrogen experiments:
- Electrolysis mode generating hydrogen and oxygen from water
- Fuel cell mode generating electricity from hydrogen and oxygen
- Determining the minimum voltage for water decomposition
- Polarization states for hydrogen fuel cells
Solar energy experiments:
- Effect of heat on solar panels
- Effect of shade on solar panels
- Effect of tilt angle on solar panels
- Finding the solar panel's maximum power point
Wind energy experiments:
- How many blades are best1, 2, 3 . . . or more?
- Using 3 different curved blade shapes
- Using blades you make yourself
- Turbine efficiencies
- Measuring RPM
- Turning for maximum power
- How blade angle or pitch affects output power
- How to generate hydrogen
Students learn about momentum, collisions, impulse, and stopping force as they address the engineering challenge, "How can a container be built to protect fragile cargo during a collision?" Teams start by building cubic, triangular, and cylindrical egg containers, dropping them from increasing heights while evaluating their effectiveness at protecting an egg from damage. Students apply what they have learned to achieve the highest drop in which the egg remains intact, competing in one of 4 design challenges: Single Drop, Three Sides Drop, Limited Mass Drop, or Limited Volume Drop. The activity concludes by entering all the reengineered egg protectors into a classroom competition.
Time Requirement
Total, 210 minutes. Teacher prep, 30 minutes. Background, prototyping, and the design challenge, 105 minutes. Assessment and presentation, 75 minutes.
Digital Resources
Includes 1-year access to digital resources that support 3-dimensional instruction for NGSS. Digital resources may include a teacher manual and student guide, pre-lab activities and setup videos, phenomenon videos, simulations, and post-lab analysis and assessments.
Performance Expectation(s)
HS-PS2-2
HS-PS2-3
Crosscutting Concepts
Structure and Function
Disciplinary Core Ideas
HS.PS2.A: Forces and Motion
Science and Engineering Practices
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Learning Objectives
- Compare the effectiveness of containers of various shapes at protecting a dropped egg.
- Apply the concepts of momentum and force to brainstorm ideas for the design of an egg container.
- Build and test a protective container for a dropped egg.
Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
Prior knowledge of momentum, collisions, and Newton's third law are useful.