Physical Science Name: EXTRA CREDIT Project – Heat Loss in Your Home

Purpose: To determine the heat lost through your windows on a cold winter day at home.

Procedure:

1.) Investigate what type of heating system you have in your home.

2.) Measure the area of ALL the windows in your home. Make a data table to summarize your results.

3.) Calculate the total area of all your windows.

4.) Investigate R-Values online. Find out what the units are and how it is used to determine the rate of heat loss. You might want to check out:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/heatloss.html

5.) Determine the R-Value of your windows (you’ll need to look this up in the owners manual or call the company that made the windows. Document your findings.

6.) Determine what temperature your home is kept at in the winter.

7.) Use the formula below to calculate the Heat lost through your windows on a winter day when the temperature outside is 15 degrees Fahrenheit (assume you keep the inside at room temperature).

8.) The energy you use to heat your home is measured in KiloWatt Hours. It can be found using the equation for Energy below. Determine how long your furnace would need to run to provide the heat lost through your windows. Find the Voltage and Current that your furnace runs at. Calculate the cost of the energy used by your furnace to replace the heat lost.

9.) Your writeup must include a description of the type of heating system you have in your home, a table with dimensions and area for each window, documentation of how you found your R-Value, calculations of heat lost and cost per day for the energy used to heat your home. Your writeup must be typed.

Q Area  T Energy  Voltage  Current Time Rateof Energy Loss   t R  value

NOTE: The R-Value unit is most commonly expressed in the old English system. So you may need to do some unit conversions.