Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble:
The International Boiling Point Project
***NOTICE***
The New International Boiling Point
Project can be found at:
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/boilproj/index.html
sponsored by the Networking Infrastructure in Education Project,
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
Fall 1997
Ever Wonder What Causes a Pot of Water to Boil?
If you have, this project's for you
We have people all over the world boiling water! In the past we've had
climbers on Mt. Everest, school children in La Paz, Bolivia and college
professors in Cheyenne, Wyoming all participating in the project. The purpose
of this project is to discover which factor in the experiment (room temperature,
elevation, number of people present, or heating device) has the greatest
influence on boiling point. Anyone can participate in this year's project.
All you have to do is boil a bit of water, record a bit of information,
and send it along to us to include in the database of results. Then, students
can analyze all of the data to reach an answer to the question: What causes
a pot of water to boil? Its that simple!
The project runs from October 27, 1997 - November 21, 1997. Click
here for more details on the project schedule.
Project Partners
Once again we are working with students from all over the world. Take a
look at our list
of participants. The map below shows all of the schools participating
in this project. Read the letters of introduction
to find out more about each school.
Photos from Project Partners!
Do the Experiment
-
Instructions for doing this simple experiment.
-
Add your data to our database. (No longer available for Fall 1997 project)
Analyze the Data
-
Make 3 graphs using the results from the database. Click
here if you would like to see an example of how to do one of the graphs.
-
Graph boiling point vs. number of people present in room
-
Graph boiling point vs. elevation
-
Graph boiling point vs. room temperature
-
Make a chart that shows the type of heating device and the boiling points
reached using that kind of heating device.
-
Figure out which factor (number of people present, elevation, room temperature,
or heating device) has the highest correlation to boiling point.
-
Submit your findings to our report and we'll include your school in our
discussion log. You can also submit any theories, explanations or conclusions
here. (Form no longer available for Fall 1997 project.)
Test out your Answer
-
Predict what the boiling point might be in a different location.
-
Find a school at
that location to do the experiment and confirm your theory.
Discussion of Results
Read
the student discussion log. What did other schools find? How did they
interpret their results? What conclusions did they reach?
Further Explanation
-
Need some background on what's happening? Look
here.
Teacher Info
-
Want to sign up to join the fun?
-
Want to see the list
of participants?
-
Want to add your data to the list? (No longer available for Fall 1997 project)
-
Want some suggestions for classroom lesson plans?
-
Need help finding your elevation? You can try the USGS
database for U.S. cities and possibly the GEOnet
name server for foreign cities (under "Access GEOnet"). However, not
all cities have elevation data included.
-
Want to know more about temperature and thermometers? Look at the About
Temperature web site.
-
Want to know which science and math standards
are supported by this project?
-
Interested in finding out about more great projects you can participate
in? Click
here!
Questions or Comments?
Please send any questions or comments to Mercedes McKay at mckaym@email.njin.net.
