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IB Design
Technology Group 4 Project |
IB Design Technology is a Group 4
course where students are required to do a group project which
combines aspects of chemistry, physics, and biology in a design
effort.
The Team: Dorian Srelz, Ishan Majumdar, Jay
Hill, Vikram Samant
To design a demonstration that can
measure various types of microwave radiation and relate it to
educational standards for the electromagnetic spectrum's (see
information about our customer at right).
- Biology
- For this portion of the project, we
are comparing the amount of microwaves emitted by humans with
those of the Sun.
- Chemistry
-
 For the chemistry portion of the
project, we will be determining if clothing is transparent or
opaque to
microwaves. Why? If humans do indeed emit microwave, clothing
could be a source of variability.
- Physics
-
 According
to the theory of blackbody radiation, any object with an
elevated temperature will emit a broad spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation. So yes, humans should emit at least
some microwave radiation.
We pointed the 12 GHz dish at open sky and adjusted the
electronics to read about 10%. We then pointed the dish at the Sun
and got readings of about 90%. When we pointed the dish at humans
about 5 ft away, we got readings of around 50%. In other words,
people were putting out about half as much 12 GHz microwave
radiation as the Sun.
We could successfully measure 12 GHz microwave emissions fro
both people and the Sun using only a satellite TV dish and some
off the shelf electronics. One of our teammates will take on the
task of designing a more sophisticated mount for RMSC. |
