The California Drought
Presentation:
Our Project:
In this project, groups were challenged to find a solution to a world problem. There are many different choices for this, giving us much more freedom to decide on how we would do the project. Quinton, Ben, and I decided on the drought in California. This was a problem that we were all interested in, and that was in our area. We researched the drought and we decided the best solution was to build a desalinator, which is a machine that removes the salt from saltwater.
Concepts:
The Engineering Design Cycle
1. Identify the need- Our need was a solution to the California drought
2. Research the problem- A large part of our project was researching, which helped us find the best solution possible
3. Develop possible solutions- We tried other solutions before deciding on a final
4. Select the most promising solution- We decided on ours because it is cheap, easy to make, and works
5. Construct a prototype- We we started to make a 3D model, but instead made the prototype with other materials
6. Test and evaluate the prototype- We filled it with saltwater and left it in the sun and discovered it worked
7. Communicate the design- We shared the design in a presentation to the class
8. Redesign- We added improvements such as plastic wrap to keep the condensation in and tinfoil around the tank to keep the sunlight from evaporating the freshwater.
9. Repeat- We didn't need to repeat for this project, but repeating the process is recommended.
2. Research the problem- A large part of our project was researching, which helped us find the best solution possible
3. Develop possible solutions- We tried other solutions before deciding on a final
4. Select the most promising solution- We decided on ours because it is cheap, easy to make, and works
5. Construct a prototype- We we started to make a 3D model, but instead made the prototype with other materials
6. Test and evaluate the prototype- We filled it with saltwater and left it in the sun and discovered it worked
7. Communicate the design- We shared the design in a presentation to the class
8. Redesign- We added improvements such as plastic wrap to keep the condensation in and tinfoil around the tank to keep the sunlight from evaporating the freshwater.
9. Repeat- We didn't need to repeat for this project, but repeating the process is recommended.
Reflection
This project was one of my best projects. With my group I was much more productive than my groups have been in the past. We worked hard and everyone did their share of the work. We spent the first couple days researching the drought. Research was a very important part of this project. After the research we started making our slides. A lot of our presentation is about the research. Then we began building the actual desalinator. After many tries we decided on a model and finished our project. Ben, Quinton, and I worked hard and came up with a working solution.