Activity Overview
Build an Electric Heater is a project-based STEM activity that will engage your students in the engineering design process while using TI-Nspire™ technology.
Objectives
- Students will research science topics including:
- Heat and temperature change
- Wire resistance
- Electrical heating power
- Heating and cooling rate
- Students will use mathematical processes of:
- Graphing
- Linear equation modeling
- Regression analysis
- Data analysis
Vocabulary
- Resistivity
- Heating power
- Current
- Heating/cooling rate
- Voltage
About the Lesson
Your company designs and manufactures consumer electronics. Your project manager has tasked you with designing a new line of battery powered consumer appliances that will keep a hot drink, such as coffee or tea, warm for a long period of time. Your task is to design a small electric heating element for the new line of products and to verify your design with test data.
As a result, students will:
- Engineer and build a simple electric heater that will warm an object.
- Use appropriate technology to evaluate their design, collaborate with colleagues and present their findings.
- Use a simulation to understand and model the effects of wire type, cross section and length on heating power.