AboutDan Fink Expertise Though my experience is mostly in the fields of electricity, magnetism, and physics, I have a broad science background. My career is in the field of alternative power sources -- solar, wind, water and battery power. But any questions about electricity, magnetism, energy conservation, power generation, electric motors, and even general physics are very welcome--especially from kids. They ask the best questions of all! I pride myself in answering science questions accurately, with ideas for SAFE, easy experiments that kids can perform by themselves--and that let them prove the answers to their own satisfaction. I think science should be fun, and available to everyone, regardless of age.
Experience I have volunteered in our local public schools for 5 years. I currently make presentations at our schools about electricity and magnetism, with a focus on solar, wind, water and other alternative power sources. I try to demonstrate at our schools how easy it is to make electricity, with simple devices using spinning magnets and coils of wire--powered by wind, water, bicycles, gerbils...etc. And of course solar panels! I am the webmaster of Otherpower.com, an alternative energy website. I have lived 10 miles from the nearest power pole for 11 years--I make all my own electricity from scratch with sun, wind and water.
Expert: Dan Fink Date: 6/4/2008 Subject: how to make an investigatory project on energy conservation?
Question As you can see from the subject, I have to make an investigatory project on Energy Conservation. The other topic is "Technology Used in Daily Life". Which one of the two do you suggest I should make my project on, and how do I make it, because I have never made an investigatory project before!
Answer Hello Name Withheld ;-)
An investigatory project is also called an experimental project.
In this type of project you ask a question, construct a hypothesis, test your hypothesis using an experiment and draw conclusions from your experiment.
Because I'm a professional renewable energy writer, of course I would go with "Energy Conservation." It also seems to fit the investigatory category better.
An example of a hypothesis (the basis of your project) might be:
"Replacing all the incandescant light bulbs in my home with compact fluorescents will lower our electricity bill." Then you would record the electricity bills from the previous months...swap out the lightbulbs....and then the next month see how much the power bill was lowered.
Or, since it's almost summer, "Lowering the thermostat on a room air conditioner by 3 degrees will save energy"
There are many other things you could try -- for example, for the air conditioner idea above, you can buy a small meter called a "kill-o-watt" for about $20, into which you can plug any appliance...and it will keep track of EXACTLY how many kilowatt hours of energy that appliance uses. You would be able to get excellent data from that air conditioner, at different thermostat settings, if you record how many hours it runs.
I hope those ideas are enough to get you started thinking about your OWN ideas. And I highly recommend that little meter--you can get them at Home Depot now. With it I discovered that old refrigerator in my parent's basement used 4 times the energy of their new one upstairs (there's another idea for you).
