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Science Fair Research Paper

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Science Fair Proposal By Jose Munoz
Everman Joe C. Bean High School Abstract

Everyone has experienced warmth by sunlight. In this science fair project i will determine how the color of an object affects the amount of radiant energy absorbed.

Background
Most of the processes that are critical for our day-to-day lives are driven by energy provided by the Sun. Energy from the Sun warms the planet and keeps the global temperature within a range that allows life to flourish. The energy stored in the food you eat can be traced back to the Sun, through the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy in the process of photosynthesis. You might think that the gasoline that makes your car run or the oil that …show more content…

Materials
Scissors
Colored construction paper
Infrared thermometer
Lightly colored surface
Lab notebook
Graph paper

Hypothesis
I believe that the more darker objects will absorb the most light .
Procedures
Cut out a 4-inch construction paper square of each of the following colors: white, yellow, blue, red, and black.
Place the squares in a location where they are in the sunlight, not touching each other.
Place the squares on a lightly colored surface, such as white or tan carpet.
Don't put the squares on a hot surface. If you can't find a lightly colored surface, use the Styrofoam plates to isolate the squares from the surface.
There should not be any shadows over the paper.
The squares should be protected from any breezes.
Make a note of the time and date in your lab notebook.
Wait for several minutes so that the temperatures of the squares become stable.
Take the temperature of each square with the infrared thermometer, three times over a time period of about 1 minute. Record the data in a data table in your lab notebook.
Average the results for each colored …show more content…

Use the temperature of the white paper as the "surrounding" temperature (s) in Equation 2.
Use the temperature of the colored or black square as "T" in Equation 2.
How many photons are being emitted by the heated squares? Calculate the number of infrared photons that are being emitted by the squares, assuming each photon has an energy of 0.000124 eV.
How does the power output and the number of photons that are emitted depend on the color?
Graph the temperature of each square, with color on the x-axis.
Graph the power output of each square. Since power depends on the fourth power of the temperature, a small difference in temperature can cause a big difference in power output.
Graph the number of photons emitted per second (use an energy of 0.000124 eV for each infrared photon).
Graph the number of photons emitted relative to the black square. That is, graph the black square as 100 percent, and the other squares relative to this standard.

Nave, R. (n.d.). Stefan-Boltzmann Law.

Science Buddies Staff. "Absorption of Radiant Energy by Different Colors" Science Buddies. Science Buddies, 28 July 2017. Web. 18 Oct. 2017 (-- removed HTML

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