Hi everyone - we've got some great news to share with you! Several months ago, two young ladies, Lauren Wilkins and Anna Hecht, from the Cincinnati area came for a tour and to interview us about our solar home. These middle-schoolers were studying the effects of thermal mass on solar energy collection, so they thought information from users of a passive solar-heated home would be a great addition to their research and Science Fair project. Well, after months of research and presentation, the girls have made it through their local science fair competition, and onto the Cincinnati Regional Competition. Then, they made it through the Cincinnati regional competition and are now preparing for the State Science Fair in Columbus, Ohio! Below is a picture of them with their awards and ribbons.
Basically, their experiement involves measuring the effects of three types of mass on solar energy. They made solar collectors out of three aluminum pop cans filled with different materials to see how the filling material affected the solar energy collection - measured in temperature at certain intervals. The girls left one pop can unfilled as a control, filled another with water, and the last one with sand. They then took temperature readings of the cans' interiors to see which filling material offered the best thermal mass for solar collection.
Below is an email from one of the girls, Lauren Wilkins:
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Nutter,
Thank you again for all of your help. We started at our local school science fair competition at St. Susanna School in Mason, OH. It was about a two month research project and out of about 75 students we were one of a small number of projects to receive a Best Display and an overall score of Superior. Then just last week we had one of the highest scores out of approximately 300 students at the Southwest District Competition at the University of Cincinnati. This qualified us to move onto the State Science Fair Competition at The Ohio State University on May 8th. We are really looking forward to a great experience presenting in front of more people and hopefully educating more people on why being green can be a great thing. Thank you so much for letting us start our research project at your green home! Thank you, Lauren Wilkins"
Basically, their experiement involves measuring the effects of three types of mass on solar energy. They made solar collectors out of three aluminum pop cans filled with different materials to see how the filling material affected the solar energy collection - measured in temperature at certain intervals. The girls left one pop can unfilled as a control, filled another with water, and the last one with sand. They then took temperature readings of the cans' interiors to see which filling material offered the best thermal mass for solar collection.
Below is an email from one of the girls, Lauren Wilkins:
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Nutter,
Thank you again for all of your help. We started at our local school science fair competition at St. Susanna School in Mason, OH. It was about a two month research project and out of about 75 students we were one of a small number of projects to receive a Best Display and an overall score of Superior. Then just last week we had one of the highest scores out of approximately 300 students at the Southwest District Competition at the University of Cincinnati. This qualified us to move onto the State Science Fair Competition at The Ohio State University on May 8th. We are really looking forward to a great experience presenting in front of more people and hopefully educating more people on why being green can be a great thing. Thank you so much for letting us start our research project at your green home! Thank you, Lauren Wilkins"
Notice the picture of the nutter green home on the upper right corner of their display!
