Science Project on “Retaining Solar Energy”, Project Experiment Topics on Environmental Science for Class 8, 9, 10 and 12 Students.

Retaining Solar Energy

Materials Required:

1. Scissors
2. Four large glasses
3. A sunny window
4. Ruler 5. Masking tape
5. Water 7. Sandy soil
6. Small stones
7. Four thermometers
8. Two sticks
9. A watch
10. Paper and pencil

The Sun’s rays create heat energy, which is absorbed in varying levels by everything present in the earth like air, water, stone, sand etc.

To carry out an experiment to see which element contains more of the sun’s heat energy, take four glasses and place a ruler alongside the containers on the table, which hold the glasses. The ruler should be placed in such a manner that it can be held a measuring system. Mark out four inches from the table top in the glasses, with the help of the adhesive tape. Then attach a piece of the tape on the top of the glasses, where you can write down the name of the elements that the glass contains (water, sand, stones etc.). Repeat the exercise for all the four glasses. The tape will solve the purpose, for both a measurement mark and as a label.

One container should be left empty as it will show the heat energy absorbed by ‘air’. Fill the other three with ‘water’, ‘sand’ and ‘soil’ respectively. Insert thermometers in each of the glasses in such a way, that they do not touch the bottom or the sides. For the glasses containing air and water, place a stick above the glasses and tape the thermometers to these sticks, in order to keep them suspended. The thermometer bulb should be placed at a distance of 2 inches from the bottom of the glasses. You can use the ruler to make these markings. For the container containing the stones, first place the thermometer in an empty glass at the mentioned distance from the bottom and then slowly put the stones in, so that the bulb is not damaged. In the last glass containing the sand, gently push the thermometer in the glass.

Now place all the glasses at a sunny window and let them stand there for an hour. Then take the temperatures of all the glasses and compare them. Once this is done, remove all the glasses from the window and place them in a room, where there is no direct sunlight. Now keep recording the temperatures every five minutes and keep doing this for about thirty minutes. Desist for another thirty minutes and after an hour is up, compare the final recordings. You can now ascertain, as to which container gathered the most heat and which lost it and at what rate.