2025 STEAM EXPO

PROJECT SUMMARY

One of my friends and I decided to do a project that would demonstrate the process of heat and energy and how they are related to each other. To do this, me and my friend chose to build a model of a Solar Updraft tower, which is a tower that generates energy via heat with air.

WHY?

Overall, we wanted to understand how a solar updraft tower work, so our initial question was ''Can a solar updraft tower convert light energy into wind energy?''. We could say that a problem we were trying to fix was the energy sustainability on earth, and we chose a solar updraft tower because it is mostly eco-friendly and uses solar heat and converts it into energy.

HOW?

We did our project by first making the solar updraft tower. We got some cardboard and materials and went to work. We ended up with a cone shape base, with a fan on the top that could spin. After that, we wanted to test if the heat really did cause wind to fluctuate in the tower. We got a heat lamp/ light bulb, and placed it so that it would point in the direction of the tower. In a few moments while we waited, the fan actually started to move, so we recorded the speed of the fan. Then we recorded the speed of the fan without the lamp.

WHAT?

After testing both scenarios, where we had the lamp and we didn't, we found out that when there was a lamp directing to the tower, the fan moved fast, almost as if there was air trapped in the tower that escaped through the top. In the other scenario, the fan barely moved at all, meaning that there was an equal amount of air inside and outside the tower. In the end, we found out that a solar updraft tower can convert heat energy into wind energy.

SO WHAT?

With our results, now we have a pretty good and sustainable energy source; it might cost some money, but in the end we can protect the planet without burning fossil fuels or using gas, we can instead rely on energy. We learnt that a solar updraft tower actually works, and now we now that we can create energy sources using the sun and the wind. This has already been done, things such as solar panels and wind turbines were installed around the world for energy, and they have been very effective.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next, we could improve our project by coming up with a cool design that uses solar heat and wind to generate the most amount of energy. With this redesign, we can minimize our budget and then create a brand new energy source that could take over the world one day.

REFERENCES & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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