A Good Sock Lab An Exploration of Insulation Designed by Sarah McColl, Catherine Kinyua, Antonia Jimenez-Trial, Yasaman Mashmasami, Didy Damur

Insulation and Sustainability The purpose of insulating a house is to reduce the escape of heat from the roof and walls. It also saves the homeowner money on their heating bill by reducing the amount of fuel they use, thus reducing CO 2 emissions Not all insulation is eco friendly however, fiber- glass insulation contains formaldehyde which is highly toxic and bad for the environment

Ultratouch Denim Insulation An interesting eco-friendly alternative Contains 90 % post- consumer recycled natural fibers, including recycled denim High-quality, sustainable building material Nontoxic panels are fire- treated with benign borax, is very easy to handle, and can easily be cut with a sharp utility knife

Lab Objective Student will measure the change in temperature of 4 bottles of hot water insulated with different materials Students will then be asked to analyze the results in relation to the energy saving benefits in properly insulating houses.

Materials  4 Glass bottles  4 Stainless steel temperature probes  NXT Robot with LabView Software  Water  Water heating device  Insulating materials a.Nylon Sock b.Cotton Sock c.Aluminum Foil

Procedure Cover 3 of the 4 bottle with insulation materials, leave one bottle uncovered, this will be your control Open LabView program and connect the temperature probes to port 1-4 of the NXT robot. Fill four glass bottle with approx. 14 oz. of hot water using the water heating device, this need to be done quickly to avoid major difference in water temperature between bottles, CAUTION: glass will be hot

Procedure Insert a temperature probe in to all 4 bottles and run LabView for 25 minutes, the ports are labeled in the LabView program make sure to put each temperature probe in the corresponding bottle  Port 1: Nylon  Port 2: Cotton  Port 3:Aluminium  Port 4: Glass Open the excel document that LabView exports the data to and analyze the results to answer the “Conclusion Questions” on the following page

Hypothesis Aluminum foil: metal is a conductor of heat, so instead of insulating the bottle it will “suck” the heat out of it and feel warm to the touch Cotton: Cotton is used in many eco-friendly insulations, so it should be one of the better insulators Nylon: a synthetic silk, nylon fabrics are generally very breathable, do not hold in much heat

Results Table 1

Results Calculating ΔT Calculate overall change in temperature (ΔT) by subtracting the initial temperature from the final temperature and taking the absolute value: ΔT = I T final – T initial I Table 2

Conclusion