“QUEST FOR SPACE EXPERIMENT #2: NATURAL CONVECTION”

TEAM INFORMATION

School: High Tech High Chula Vista

School Address: ​1945 Discovery Falls Dr, Chula Vista, CA 91915

Mentor Names: Ms. Meghan White and Ms. Kara Quinlan

Team Members Roles and Names

Project Manager/Documentarian: Katherine mara

Astrophysicist: Meishelle-Grace Twano

Mechanical Engineer: Luzcely Gonzalez

Electrical Engineer: Alec Inda

Computer Programmer: Austin Marquez

 GROUP ROLES AND PROCEDURE

Project Manager/Documentarian: Katherine

My role for this experiment is to look over the other members and make sure they’re doing their work. If
one of my teammates don’t have any work to do I assign them more work to maximize our time. I am
also in charge of editing the videos that document all our work.

Astrophysicist: Mei

My responsibility is to find all the research and science about the experiment. I look into different
theories about natural convection, radiation, and other ways of heat and cooling transport that could
affect our experiment and apply to it.
Mechanical Engineer: Luzcely

My procedure for this project is to build the humidity sensor. Within that, I needed to build the sensors
and heating resistor in the experiment cube. I also needed to work with my partner, the electrical
engineer Alec, so he can build the circuit board in order for the whole experiment to work.

Electrical Engineer: Alec

My procedure is to wire the breadboarding, test if the breadboarding is working, and transfering power
to the humidity sensor.

Computer Programmer: Austin

My job is to write all the codes and run the experiment through the EV3, that records all the data and
then transfers the data to a computer. Also, I have to put the data on a spreadsheet and make graphs to
prove that we ran and recorded the experiment on the EV3.
 PURPOSE

The purpose of this project is to understand and learn about natural convection. In this experiment, we
research and learn about convection circulation on Earth. We use these tests and experiments and
prepare them to be sent up to the International Space Station, also known as the I.S.S, where they are
going to use our instructions, videos, and photos to build this exact experiment in Space to test the
differences between natural convection in Earth and in Space. This type to space research is important
to know, because heat acts differently in microgravity, resulting in temperature differences. Therefore,
heat and cooling have a different law in space to where they act differently from how they do on Earth,
concluding on why this research is needed.

RESEARCH: PART A

Natural convection is a type of heat transport. Convection can be used on gas or liquid. The fluid (a gas
or a liquid) is not generated by any external force, but due to density differences in fluid to temperature
gradients (the rate of temperature changes in a certain area and it’s distance in between)
.

Picture: writeopinions.com

Hot air rises because when you heat air, the air expands and becomes less dense and the air around it;
which causes the hot air the flow and rise up. But then, cool air is much more dense, but less dense than
water. Resulting in the cold air to sink.
 Picture: IG Infrared

Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

The top sensor will heat up faster, because heat only rises on Earth.

Overtime, the top sensor will still be the hottest, because the heat is coming from the middle of the
cube and the heat is still only rising up to touch the top sensor. When air is heated its molecules move
around faster and the mass of the air takes up more space, which has a lower density and causes the
heat to only rise up.

Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

The bottom sensor will cool faster, because there is no direct heat transport going toward it.

There is another way. Radiation is heat traveling in a form of light that can be visible and nonvisible.
Heat radiation crosses between you and the spaces in between. If objects around you are warmer than
you are, heat will travel more toward you. But, if you remove heat through ventilation, then it reduces
the temperature in your surroundings and if your surroundings are cool than you are, your heat
radiation will move toward objects, then absorb them.
 Picture: Nuclear-Power.net

One sensor can heat up more than the other due to where the sensors and heat source are placed. Also,
due to the reason I have explained before, convection is a type of transport for heat and heat only rises
up. So an example would be, that if a heat source was placed in the middle of two sensors (one at the
top and one at the bottom), the the top sensor will heat up first, because it has the first and most heat
interaction.
 Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

In microgravity, the gases don't rise. They convert into a new process called molecule diffusion. The
particles move from high concentration areas to low concentration areas or they mix together. As the
heat temperature increases, the diffusion process moves more quickly and can cause the hot and cold
molecules to mix more quickly.
 Picture: science.nasa.gov

RESEARCH: PART B

Some changes that we would add to our experiment is mount the resistor in a better position so that it
has an equal distance between the two sensors. Also, the radiation coming from the resistor distorts the
temperature readings from the two sensors and to fix this, we can add an acrylic wall barrier around the
resistor and tape up the holes that are in the walls.

Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

 Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

The resistor is mounted in between the 2 sensors. Although, the resistor’s position is closer to the top
sensor and farther from the bottom. Resulting in the heat coming from the resistor will move faster
toward the top sensor. The resistor is attached to the mountain plate and if we shorten the metal peg
holding it up, then we can even out the distance between the resistor and the top and bottom sensors.
 Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

The resistor is the source of heat. So, if the resistor has a farther distance from the top and bottom
sensors, it will take a longer amount of time for the resistors heat to reach the sensors. Therefore, if you
want your sensors to heat up faster, then it is better if the resistor is closer and not farther.
Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

In the experiment cube, the heat coming out of the resistor is getting mixed with the air around it. So, in
order to stop the air from mixing in, you can add acrylic walls around it and tape off the holes that are
inside it. By adding these walls, it’s going to act as a barrier from the air, but still allowing the heat to
escape the walls and touch the sensors.

Picture: Meishelle-Grace Twano

Both of our 2 sensors are the same. But, the position of them are different. One sensor is located and
the top of the experiment cube and the other is located at the bottom. Then, the resistor which
produces the heat for the experiment is located in the middle of the experiment cube between the 2
sensors. Now, if we change the positions of the 2 resistors, all of our data will be different. Depending on
where the resistor or sensors are placed, then the heat and timing will differ between sensors.

GROUP HYPOTHESIS

-Katherine-

Closed - Top sensor: 90 degrees fahrenheit. Bottom sensor: 60 degree fahrenheit

I think the top sensor will not only heat up faster but also heat up more over time because first of all,
heat rises. Second, it would heat up more because it would heat up the fastest. So the top sensor would
be already heated up making it heat up more over time. Since, it had a head start.
Open: Top sensor - 80 degrees fahrenheit. Bottom sensor - 55 degree fahrenheit

I think that having it open wouldn’t drastically change the results. I believe that everything would just
heat up slower.

-Mei-

Closed - Top senor: 75 degrees fahrenheit Bottom sensor: 68 degrees fahrenheit

I infer that the top sensor will heat up faster and still have a higher temperature rate overtime, because
heat only rises up. Although, overtime the bottom sensors temperature will start to rise, due to the
convection and a circulation of heat throughout the whole experiment cube, but will never pass the heat
temperature of the top sensor.

Open - Top sensor: 80 degrees fahrenheit Bottom sensor: 52 degrees fahrenheit

I infer that when the experiment cube is open, the top sensor will still heat up faster. I also infer that
overtime the bottom sensor will not rise in temperature, because the heat the will rise up and touch the
top sensor will then exit out of the cube. Therefore, the heat will not circulate throughout the cube.

-Luzcely-

Closed - Top sensors: 90 degrees fahrenheit Bottom sensor: 74 degrees fahrenheit

I believe that when the experiment cube is closed the top sensor will heat up quickly with a great
amount because heat rises. And because the cube is closed the heat doesn’t escape, it will stay in the
cube heating the sensor that’s on the top.

Open - Top sensor: 83 degrees fahrenheit Bottom sensor: 67 degrees fahrenheit

I believe that the top sensor will heat up more and quickly. I believe this is true because if heat rises to
will potentially heat the top sensor, then it will escape from the experiment cube. So therefor the
bottom one will stay cool, but because the walls will be open, the bottom sensors will most likely be in
room temperature like around 68 degrees.

-Alec-

Closed - Top sensor: 81 degrees fahrenheit Bottom: 69 degrees fahrenheit

My hypothesis for when the box is closed is that the top will heat up faster because heat rises so there
will be more heat on the top censor.When the box is opened, I believe that the bottom because there
will be less heat on the bottom censor.

Open - Top: 78 degrees fahrenheit Bottom: 67 degrees fahrenheit

I believe that the top one will still be hotter because even though it will be open heat would still rise and
the top censor would still be hotter.
-Austin-

Closed - Top: 95 degrees fahrenheit Bottom: 84 degrees fahrenheit

Open - Top: 85 degrees fahrenheit Bottom: 78 degrees fahrenheit

I believe that the top sensor is still going to be hotter than the bottom sensor, because all of the heat is
going to escape from the open parts and the open sides so it will not heat up as much..

I believe that the top sensor is going to be hotter than the bottom, because it is going to be more
isolated; also because there is going to be way more heat and it is going to end up circulating all inside
the experiment box and therefore it will get hotter faster.

Overall Hypothesis (Earth):

As a group we infer that the top sensor will be hotter than the bottom sensor, because heat rises. We
also believe that the open box will be cooler than the closed box because the air will not confined to a
certain space. We believe that the closed box will be hotter because it would be circulating the same air
for three minutes.

Overall Hypothesis (Microgravity):

As a group we believe that in microgravity that the top sensor will also be hotter than the bottom
sensor, because heat rises since denser air (colder air) goes down. Since convection relies on gravity for
heat transfer to occur, we believe that everything will happen more slowly in microgravity than on
Earth.

HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

Description of the electrical circuit:

The first step to breadboarding was getting the paper with the instructions so that I know what to wire.
After that I connected the positive to 5v and the negative to gnd. Then I wired to resistors to reduce
current flow. After that I plugged a male to female wire in the relay switch.

For the mechanical part of the experiment, the first thing to do is to take the tools and elements that
you will need for this experiment. Then start disassembling the experiment cube and take everything
out of it. In the Quest for Space packet that was given, there was specific instructions in how to build the
experiment cube (if interested in knowing the steps, go to Mechanical Model on page 20). After
following the instructions, the electrical engineer, computer scientist, and the documentarian need to
run seven experiments. The experiments needed to be tested to see its volts, having the experiment
cubes open, closed, and taped. If having some troubleshooting, try again and find out what you did
wrong. If not, then congratulations your job is done!
SOFTWARE FLOWCHART
 VARIABLES

Independent Variables

Independent variables are individual things that stand alone, they don’t need other things to be able to
work.

- (+) wires
- (-) wires
Wires do not need anything else to be a wire.
- Time
Time keeps running regardless of anything that happens.
- Breadboard
The breadboard is still a breadboard regardless of anything.
- Power source
The power source does not change. The process of making power doesn’t rely on anything else to make
power.
- Battery
The battery does not rely on anything to store and supply power.
- Sensors
The sensors work on their own to sense heat.

Dependent Variables:

Dependent variables are variables that are also individual things, except they don’t stand alone. They
need to rely on another variable to be able to work.

- Current
Current relies on resistance and voltage.
- Resistors
Resistors rely on current and voltage.
- Voltage
Voltage relies on current and resistance.

MECHANICAL MODELS

In order to build the experiment cube there are specific steps to understand what exactly you're
supposed to do:
Step #1: Remove all the parts from the “Quest for Space” box that you will need for this experiment.

Step #2: Take apart the experiment cube and everything inside of it.

Step #3: Take the bottom plate which is made out of aluminum.

Step #4: Take the two FatCat temperature sensors and attach sensor #1 (facing up) in holes 1 and 2 on
the top side of the bottom aluminum panel.

Step #5: Then attach sensors #2 (facing down) in holes 11 and 12 of the underside of the top acrylic
panel.

Step #6: Now mount the heating element, the ceramic resistor in the middle of the cube between the
sensor. Use the acrylic mounting plate on 1 inch standoffs in holes 11 and 12 on the bottom panel with a
pair of nylon hex nuts.

Step #7: Connect two breadboard jumper wires that are red and black to the ceramic resistors. Feed the
wires through the rear slot in the right panel.

Step #8: Connect the sensors to two custom RJ12 Lego cables in preparation for connecting to the EV3
brick.

Step #9: Feed the cables through the right middle slots in the top and bottom panels.

Step #10: Screw on the cube walls and top panels

Step #11: Now for your final step is to test the relay switch circuit and the EV3 code.
 ELECTRICAL MODELS

The first step to breadboarding was getting the paper with the instructions so that I know what to wire.
After that I connected the positive to 5v and the negative to gnd. Then I wired to resistors to reduce
current flow. After that I plugged a male to female wire in the relay switch.

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS

When testing our circuit board we did seven tests to make sure everything is okay. Pretty much Alec
used an ammeter and tested all the components of the bread board and made sure that the current and
voltage was the amount we wanted. Everything was successful while testing the bread board on the first
try. So we moved on to running the experiment. While running the experiment we noticed a problem.
The numbers that the EV3 was giving us was a little suspicious. We eventually figured out that some part
of the code was running a certain loop infinitely which is what caused the problem. We then fixed that
and carried on with the experiment. After that we found another flaw in the our experiment. We,
however, didn’t find it until eight hours before the experiment was due. It was tightened too much so
the acrylic started melting, making the sensors not be able to sense anything very well.
 GROUND DATA TEST RESULTS

-Closed (No Tape)-

-Closed (With Tape)-
-Open-
 EXPECTED RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

As a result from all of our experiments, the top sensor was overall and high temperature than the
bottom. In different testing conditions, the top sensor grew dramatically hotter, or the two
temperatures were very close. As a group, we predicted that in space and microgravity, the top and
bottom sensor will be at the same temperature rate. We infer this, because heat does not rise in space
due to the lack of air causing it to become less dense. Therefore, we believe that the temperature of the
sensors of Earth, will be completely different in space.

PHOTOS

Picture: Katherine Mara

 Final Product

Open (Top left), Taped (Top right), and Closed (Below)

 RESOURCES

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_convection​.
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www.energy.gov/energysaver/principles-heating-and-cooling​.
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www.livescience.com/58839-archimedes-principle.html​.
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