Over the past few weeks, physics teacher Bruce Quinn’s class has filled the Black Hole with handmade apparatuses. During class time, students fiddle and tinker with different parts, making small adjustments to unrecognizable creations.
One is a box lined with sheets of tin foil, another a styrofoam box with a small solar panel on the side.
These rough inventions are in fact works of art. Students have combined what they’ve learned about the transfer of energy, and their own research to design a system powered by the sun.
“Kids worked in groups, and there were four different projects. One group made a solar oven,” said Mr. Quinn. “One group made a solar food dryer, one made a little toy electric car, and one group made [a] PV system that stands alone and makes it’s own electricity and stores it.”
Juniors Momoe Takamatsu, Pinky Cheng, and Nakita Moler used styrofoam, cardboard, black paint, aluminum foil, a fan, and screens to create a solar fruit dryer.
“We though heat rises, so we [used] a box to collect air and heat it up, and [then] push the air through the top,” said Pinky. “The hot air then dries up the fruit and ventilates through the drawers.”
The group cut up a banana, and set the pieces in the trays to dry. Afterwards, they ate them. Not only did their fruit dryer work, but the banana chips turned out to be pretty good.
“I’m proud actually. I’m surprised it worked,” said Momoe. “It took time to build, but I’m proud.”
The girls aren’t the only ones who have had success with their projects. Juniors Amir Podoswa, Lupo Benatti, Alessandro Barbi, and Natalie Wescott made a photovoltaic energy storing system.
They found the system hidden in the back of the biology lab. Coated in cobwebs and dysfunctional, the group decided to take on the challenge to fix the battery operated generator.
“This [generator] powerful enough to charge your computer for twenty hours or more without being recharged. It can give a constant output of energy,” said Amir. “The purpose of this right now is just for studying purposes, but if we needed it, it would be an excellent emergency system, because it does not depend on anything.”
First the group had to clean the cobwebs from the system. But when they attempted to charge the batteries, it didn’t work. So they unplugged the batteries from the control panel and plugged them directly into the solar panel. They charged, but didn’t hold the charge.
The control panel wasn’t working because it fed off the batteries, that weren’t working. Once the group fixed the batteries, everything fell into place. The PV system is now an excellent emergency energy source.
“I think [the project] is interesting,” said Pinky. “It’s new, and it’s really fun.”
Overall, the four groups were successful. Seniors Bella Peek, Keaton Shiffman, John Olivo and junior Jenna McIntosh designed an oven, which heated to the point that a Nalgene bottle, painted black, changed shape.
Sophomores Adam Zhao, and juniors Min Lee, and Amy Xu built an electric car. It was able to move, and had it not been for a faulty solar panel, would have been able to travel much greater distances.
“I think the project was successful in that Mr. Quinn was trying to have us understand ways to use solar energy to succeed in producing what we wanted out of our project,” said John. “The goal was to find ways to use the sun, and I think we accomplished that.”