Questioning+and+Posing+Problems

==== Recognizing and thinking about possible problems that occur in any given lab or experiment is part of the planning/designing process an activity. Posing Problems and questioning are like preventative measures taken to assure that problems don't occur during a test in the activity. Planning ahead and recognizing problems before they occur not only saves time but also increases safety. Many questions should be asked during the planning process of an experiment, and during the experiment itself to assure safety. I always remember that it's never safe to assume, so asking questions and posing problems is always a better route to take. ====

====The lab that my group and I are currently doing in class right now requires us to design our own plan to discover which form of alcohol would be most efficient to use as fuel. Our design involves a foil curtain wrapped around the bottom of the can holding the water, held above the alcohol burning mechanism. The foil curtain prevents heat from escaping into the surroundings. This heat would have otherwise been wasted instead of being absorbed by the 100mL of water in the can. ====

====My group and I questioned the design of this foil curtain many times to discover how we could light the wick on the glass holding the alcohol without allowing heat to escape through the foil curtain. We considered cutting a small hole in the foil curtain to stick a lighter through to light the wick. However, we thought this might allow heat to escape through the hole in the foil. After that we realized that the wick might not stay lit because of the lack of oxygen inside the foil. Therefore, we loosened the foil at the bottom of the curtain to allow oxygen to rise into the contraption. Having the foil curtain loose on the bottom at the glass part of the contraption would not allow heat to escape since heat rises, and wouldn't go down and beneath the openings in the foil. After questioning and posing many problems we finally came to conclusion that we would light the wick and then quickly drop the curtain around the flame to resist the escape of heat. We cut no holes in the foil curtain. ====