Team Experiment

Topic

 Our experiment is going to be on solar heating. We will be using three different color cups filled with equal amounts of water. They will be placed under some type of heat whether the actual sun or lamps provided by the professor. We will be determining the different temperatures off of what the NXT robot shows, and make the conclusion that the darkest cup absorbs the most heat.

 

Purpose: To gain understanding and to prove whether darker colors attract and absorb more heat than lighter colors. Additionally, to present an experiment that will allow young students to have insight into energy conservation and sustainability topics.

Most people learn from early on that dark colors absorb more light than light colors. However, is there a difference in the way certain “in-between” colors such as red or pink absorb light?

Background: The purpose of this experiment to to better understand solar power in relation to sustainability. By completing this experiment, the student will have a better grasp of the processes of solar panels within water heating.  This is to tune into a more sustainable way of life and increase awareness of the impact that our everyday practices can have.

In many buildings, solar heating panels have been engineered and implemented. Students will not have much control over whether a building they attend school in has solar panels, so the experiment focuses specifically on heat absorption based on different colors. When a color absorbs light, it turns the light into thermal energy. The more light a color absorbs, the more thermal energy it produces. Black fabric absorbs all colors of light and is therefore warmer than white fabric which reflects all colors.

Here’s some more information about the science behind light absorbtion: http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=1464

One Quora user in this post (https://www.quora.com/Why-do-black-objects-absorb-more-heat-energy-than-white-or-colored-objects) explained light absorbtion like this,

“…black absorbs the most heat. Objects that are white, on the other hand, reflect all wavelengths of light and that’s why they appear white to us, therefore absorb the least heat.”

Here’s a video of a similar experiment:

Another video explaining why Black absorbs the most heat:

Materials
3 Lego Mindstorm Robots

3 NXT thermometer

Light Sources

LabView (Vi is in our email)

3 Different Cups

 

Procedure:

1. Place three cups (of different colors) with equal amounts of water in the holders.
2. Place a thermometer into each cup of water, connected to the NXT device.
3. Measure the temperature of each cup of water before placing it under the heat lamps or in the sun
4. Place the cups under heat lamps or under the sun (if available)
5. Leave the thermometer in each cup of water for 15 minutes
6. Every 3 minutes, record the temperature of each cup of water. In total you should have 6 measurements (0 minutes, 3 minutes, 6 minutes, 9 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes)

Here are pictures of the experiment:

  

Data:

	0 Minutes	3 Minutes	6 Minutes	9 Minutes	12 Minutes	15 Minutes
Clear	72.2	72.8	73.1	73.5	73.7	74.2
Pink	72.0	72.2	72.2	72.2	72.4	72.6
Black	73.9	74.0	74.2	74.2	74.4	74.4

*Measured in degrees (Fahrenheit)

Here are our results. We did not take a measurement of the initial temperature of the water and had to make some adjustments so that the thermometers did not touch the bottom of the beakers.

Analysis:

1. How would you describe the relationship you found between heat absorbed and color of the cup?

We were able to conclude that pink absorbed the least light energy, clear absorbed slightly more light energy, and as we hypothesized, black absorbed the most energy. Although we thought that pink would have absorbed more color than the clear, we were proved wrong as the clear rose 2 degrees in temperature versus the pink cups’s 0.6 degree rise in temperature.

Some limiting factors that may have influences the results of experiment was that the equipment used to heat the water was not very modern or precise. This meant that each glass of water barely had any heat, resulting in a very low amount of change in temperature for all cups. 

2.What did this experiment teach you about sustainability and energy conservation?

This experiment helped us understand the importance of colors when discussing sustainability, especially in relation to the energy we use for heating and cooling. It really reinforced the reasons why homes in cooler climates are built and colored differently than homes in warmer climates. In Greece, many houses are painted white because it reflects the year round light and perpetual summer conditions. While in the deep woods of Canada, log homes are dark brown and wooden – aimed at keeping in the precious heat they have during brutal winters. Even during the summer time, wearing black is not sustainable because you would have more demand for air conditioning since the sun combined with your attire would cause your body temperature to rise.

There were some limitations such as the slightly outdated equipment we had to use and the very low amount of temperature increase. But it would be very interesting for this to be recreated by other people with sun, different heating apparatuses, other liquids and a larger array of colors!