Title: Furnace
Name: NEVO Oven
Address: Christ the King
High School, Old Parham
Road, St. John's, Antigua
Name of team members:
Briannae Theodore, Janae
Martin, Michlene Zouetr
Name of teacher: Mr.
Dwayne Witthiker
Name of mentor: Mr.
Dwayne Witthiker
Problem Statement and
Significance of the Problem
The science students at my school have difficulty in determining the
percentage yield of crystals i.e. (actual mass of crystals / expected mass
of crystal) * 100% synthesized in the laboratory. The reason being there
is no furnace/ oven to dry the prepared crystals as electrical or
laboratory furnaces are quite unaffordable. This is also the case in several
other schools. In turn, this negatively affects the experimental procedure
of the labs done and causes errors in the experiment to occur.
Objectives
1. To create an oven/furnace of recyclable goods or easily available
goods.
2. To massly produce these home-made ovens at affordable prices in
order to sell to other schools at affordable prices which in turn
can gain revenue for the school.
3. To use the homemade ovens for laboratory purposes such as
drying crystals
Approach/ Proposed
Solution
In order to solve the problem of unavailable furnaces/ovens to dry crystals in the
laboratory, a set of students have decided to produce homemade ovens. These will
be made from recyclable materials or easily available.
1. Shape and cut an old microwave oven / gas cylinder/ grill so that it has a door, a wire
rack, a chimney and air holes. This will be the basic shape of the oven.
2. To test the oven for its efficiency, place charcoal inside the oven. Set the charcoal aflame
3.
4.
5.
6.
and measure the temperature inside the oven, to make sure it comes up to at least 100
degrees.
If the temperature comes up to 100 degrees, carry out the crystal experiment.
Place the crystal solution in a covered dish. Measure mass on a balance.
Place the crystal solution in the oven for X minutes, until all of the crystals have dried.
Remove the crystals and let them cool. Once cooled, measure the mass of the dried
crystals, to test if the solution to the problem was correct and worked efficiently.
The Competition
Our nevo oven is a unique design, as it seems that no one else has produced these
ovens for the crystal drying experiment. So our situation and approach to solving it
is different, cheap and neoteric.
Resources Needed
Resources
Welder
Gas Bottle/Old
Microwave/Grill
Source/ Cost (US)
Donated
Donated
Drill
Wire Rack
Oven Thermometer
Char Coal
Workmanship
Drill
Parent provided
Easily Available
$5
$8 per bucket
Parent assisted
Parent Provided
Most of the items will be donated as they are easily available and
recyclable. The other costs are quite cheap. In addition, most of the
items were provided by the parents and therefore, no spending on
resources are necessary.
Timetable
Task
Construct ovens
Performed
By
Month
1
Month
2
Month 3
Consultants
Test ovens to establish
if crystal dry
Students and teacher
Construct more ovens
Consultant
Form partnership
with west indies oil
industry
School
Use of STEM
Science- the principle of heat transfer and the systematic procedure
Technology- use if oven thermometer
Engineering- Economical, reused microwave, gas cylinder and grill are made out of
metal and very strong and sturdy. They will not rust easily. Coal is easily available,
and there was a small amount of coal used (because the oven was small).
Mathematics- the initial mass of the crystals minus (-) the dried crystal mass
after heating.
x-y= z
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND COMMUNITY
IMPACT
In the design and construction of the project the 5th form class of
the Christ the king high School played a significant role in the initial
stages of the project. They helped in researching methods of heat
transfer, which the ovens could be based off of. Parents also assisted by
researching ways in which the ovens could have been be created and
various disposable items which could have been used. The school
further assisted in the construction of the project by sponsoring us with
matches and thermometers.
If successful this project would have various benefits to the
school, and community. These benefits include:
 Students at the Christ the king High School will have an
effective method to dry crystals needed for chemistry labs.
 These ovens are expected to be mass-produced and sold to
various schools on the island. Thus providing them with a
cheaper means of drying crystals.
 The revenue gained will be invested into the school.
References
Christ the King High School
Whittaker, Dwayne
Theodore, Oliver
Mr. Okala
Martin, Fabian
Zouetr, Mouhib
Physics for CSEC
Physics for CXC
Chemistry for CXC