EXPERIMENT OUTLINE

TEAM MEMBERS: Luana Grasso, Livia Lopes, Evan DiCristofaro, Brittany Uminski

Introduction:

The purpose of this experiment is to find out which type of surface absorbs heat faster – sand, or soil. Through the results of this lab we will be able to draw conclusions on weather and climate change. The reason for this is the influence the Earth’s surfaces have on weather – their uneven heating cause either hot air or cold air, which consequently manipulate air pressure.

Materials:
–       1 heat lamp
–       2 small plastic containers
–       sand (1 cup)
–       soil (1 cup)
–       1 NXT robot
–       3 temperature probes
–       LabView Program

Procedure:

1. Prepare the containers filling each one with a different substance.
2. Set up the heat lamp and place it directly above the containers.
3. Set up the NXT Robot with the temperature probes, connect it to the computer and open up the lab view program. The thermometers should be connect to ports 1-3.
4. After setting up the robot and the lab view program, insert one thermometer in soil and the other one in the sand.
5. Turn on the heat lamp. LabView will record the temperature of the materials every 30 seconds for 10 minutes.
6. Open Excel spreadsheet and organize data into columns. There will be three samples of data.
7. Find the Average temp of each substance and make a bar graph for the results.
8. Use the increasing data points to also create a scatter graph of each substance showing the increasing temperature. There will be 3 graphs collectively.

Analysis:

Take into consideration which material heats faster/slower and cools down faster/slower. What do these results say about the heating of our Earth’s surfaces and explain what would happen if the Earth was solely sand or water or soil.