Jasmin Hume, Ph.D (2nd. year), Chemical and Biological Sciences
Summary: Students learn that fats found in the foods we eat are not all the same; they discover that physical properties of materials are related to their chemical structures. Provided with several samples of commonly used fats with different chemical properties (olive oil, vegetable oil, shortening, animal fat and butter), student groups build and use simple LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robots with temperature and light sensors to determine the melting points of the fat samples. Because of their different chemical structures, these fats exhibit different physical properties, such as melting point and color. This activity uses the fact that fats are opaque when solid and translucent when liquid to determine the melting point of each sample upon being heated. Students heat the samples, and use the robot to determine when samples are melted. They analyze plots of their collected data to compare melting points of the oil samples to look for trends. Discrepancies are correlated to differences in the chemical structure and composition of the fats.
Teachengineering.org | Complete Activity (pdf)
Nicole Abaid, Ph.D. (2nd. year) Mechanical Engineering
Summary: Students will record as a class the change in readings from two temperature probes under a lamp, one inside and one outside a clear glass jar. Students plot the recorded data on two coordinate axes and identify trends for each probe. Students relate this finding as an illustration of the discussion of greenhouse gases.
Complete Activity (pdf) | Worksheet (pdf)
Violet Mwaffo, Ph.D (1st. year) Mechanical Engineering
Summary: Students are introduced to the concept of light pollution by investigating the nature, sources and levels of light in their classroom environment. They learn about the adverse effects of artificial light and the resulting consequences on humans, animals and plants: sky glow, direct glare, light trespass, animal disorientation and energy waste. Student teams build light meters using light sensors mounted to LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT intelligent bricks and then record and graph the light intensity emitted in various classroom lighting situations. They are introduced to the engineering concepts of sensors, lux or light meter, and lumen and lux (lx) illuminance units. Through this activity, students also learn how to better use light and save energy as well as some of the technologies designed by engineers to reduce light pollution and energy waste.
Violet Mwaffo, Ph.D (1st. year) Mechanical Engineering
Summary:Through investigating the nature, sources and level of noise produced in their environment, students are introduced to the concept of noise pollution. They learn about the undesirable and disturbing effects of noise and the resulting consequences on people's health, as well as on the health of the environment. They use a sound level meter that consists of a sound sensor attached to the LEGO® NXT Intelligent Brick to record the noise level emitted by various sources. They are introduced to engineering concepts such as sensors, decibel (dB) measurements, and sound pressure used to measure the noise level. Students are introduced to impairments resulting from noise exposure such as speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption and reduced productivity. They identify potential noise pollution sources, and based on recorded data, they classify these sources into levels of annoyance. Students also explore the technologies designed by engineers to protect against the harmful effects of noise pollution.
Nicole Abaid, Ph.D. (2nd. year) Mechanical Engineering
Summary: This activity demonstrates the exponential trend in the heating and cooling of a beaker of water. This task is accomplished by first appealing to the students' real-life experiences with heating, and by giving an example of an exponential curve. Next, the basic principles of heat transfer are discussed. Using this information, the students can make predictions about the heating and cooling curves of a beaker of water of different temperatures in the same ambient environment. By conducting the simple experiment of a beaker in a water bath, the temperature over time is recorded and different heating and cooling curves are created. These can then be recognized as having exponential trends, which verifies Newton's result.
Teachengineering.org | Complete Activity (pdf) | Worksheet (pdf)
Jasmin Hume, Ph.D. (2nd. year) Chemical and Biological Sciences
Summary: Students study the physical properties of different fluids and investigate the relationship between the viscosities of a liquid and how fast the liquid flows through a confined area. Students work in groups to conduct a brief experiment in which they will quantify the flow rate to understand how it relates to a fluid's viscosity and ultimately chemical composition. Students explore these properties in milk and cream, which are commonly found fluids whose properties (even taste!) differ based on their fat content. They receive control samples as well as unknown samples that they will have to identify based on how fast they flow. To identify the unknowns, students must understand the concept of viscosity. For example, heavy cream will flow at a slower rate than skim milk. Ultimately, students gain an understanding of the concept of viscosity and its effect on flow rate.