Energy Xpress

GIF
Our DIY air conditioner!!!
Fan
Thermometer
Ice
Container

Inspiration

Let's provide an air conditioner for the all summer country, Jamaica!

We are inspired by a video about how to make a simple air conditioner. From this experiment, we actually can test the thermal heat transfer and learn from it.

What it does

A fan blowing over melting ice, that will decrease the ambient temperature. It tests the effect of ice shape and fan speed on the temperature change.

How we built it

Cut a hole at the top of your box or whatever form of storage you chose that is large enough for the fan to blow air into.
Put your ice inside a plastic bag or other forms of containment. If freezing the ice in the container directly, retrieve it after following the above steps.
Place your fan on top of the hole so it can blow air inside.
Make sure your unit has holes for the air to blow out from, if it does not just cut a hole on the side for air to come out.
Record the temperature change of the ambient environment after 1 minute after putting the ice.
Change the freezing ice to ice cubes, crushed ice, ice in water, ice with salt... Repeat the above procedures and record the temperature change.
We also could keep the same freezing ice and change the speed of the fan only. Repeat the above procedures and record any temperature change.

Challenges we ran into

The temperature does not change immediately. It takes some time to respond.

We are not sure how many minutes we should wait to record the temperature, which must provide enough response time for the thermometer and not ask students to wait too long.

The container is a bit bigger than we thought, we have to put some towels to increase the height of the ice.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of making a DIY air conditioner with cheap materials. We actually see the temperature drops during the experiment. Increasing the speed of the fan and changing the shape of ice both affect the magnitude of temperature dropping.