For the first mini-project, each group was to design a hot water heater to teach us how heat is transferred through radiation, convection, and conduction. Radiation is heat transfer through waves and light particles, convection is the transfer of heat through a fluid, and conduction is heat transferred through a solid. We also learned about insulation, which is the opposite of conduction. Objects that are good insulators are bad at conducting heat. Each group was to design a portable water heater using the sun's rays as the heat source. Our goal was to increase our water's temperature as much as we could. We learned that the specific heat capacity of water is 1 cal/g, and specific heat capacity is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a unit of mass of a substance by 1°C. Materials my team used: 1. Three Boxes - We fit the boxes inside of each other to increase insulation 2. Aluminum Foil - We found that aluminum is more reflective than mylar, another reflective material we were provided with, and we used it to help reflect the sun onto the tubing 3. Paper - We learned paper is also a good insulator, so we put this in the bottom and sides of our box 4. Copper tubing - Mr. Williams provided us with this. Copper is one of the best metals at conducting heat, so we would use this to run our water through. 5. Plastic Tubing - Mr. Williams also provided each group with this. We used the plastic tubing to guide the water from the copper tubing to the glass 6. Saran Wrap - We thought that this would help to keep in some of the heat that the sun put into the box, but because we didn't seal it, it didn't seem to effect the project at all. 7. Two Bottles - These would allow us to transfer the water in and out of the tube. Once we had designed and built our solar water heater, the next step was to test them with water. We set our box outside, on a sunny day, at a 65° angle facing the sun. The aluminum foil really helped to reflect all the sunlight that came into our box onto the copper tubing, which helped our water heat up. My group realized that our piping couldn't really hold as much water as we thought it would, so we lost a lot of water due to our adding too much water at a time. After we tested and recorded our water's temperature after the course of 30 minutes, we had collected a lot of data. Before we started, our water was 18°C (about 64°F). After 5 minutes in our hot water heater, the water had increased by 5 degrees, to 23°C and after another 5 minutes it had increased by 5 degrees again to be at 28°C. After 15 minutes, due to spillage and mistakes, our water now read 26°C and had lowered 2 degrees. After 20 minutes from the start, it was at 29°C, and after 30 minutes it was at 32°C and had raised a total of 14 degrees. It seemed like a very impressive number, but because of the very small amount of water we used, only about 28mL at the end of the 30 minutes, it wasn't as impressive as we had thought. Because the sun didn't have to warm a large amount of water, it heated up the amount we had very quickly. By completing this lab, I learned how the sun transfers its energy through radiation, conduction, and convection. The copper piping really helped warm up our water, because it is a good conductor, and the aluminum foil was good at reflecting the sun's heat onto the copper. Here are some photos of our finished solar water heater: