Saving the Earth one Stucco Coat at a Time?
Plants and the Environment- Grade:
- 8
- Teacher:
- Leonard Mariano
I decided to do this project because of how much CO₂ the production of cement releases into the atmosphere. I learned that one of the best alternatives to cement is fly ash. I asked myself how good fly ash could really get. Here in the southwest especially, you can see a huge product of cement: stucco. It covers almost every house where I live so I decided to test the thermal insulation properties of stucco if you substitute different ratios of fly ash to cement. I set up 5 boxes (one of which was uncovered) with different ratios of fly ash to cement on each. Using a thermocouple, I tested the temperatures outside and inside each box in increments of 30 minutes for 3 days. I found that- as I had hypothesized- the higher ratio of fly ash to cement generally kept the inside of the box cooler. In the end, I had many things not go the way I planned, but it is still valuable information that will hopefully encourage people to start testing other substitutes for cement.
You did a good job testing different fly ash mixes and measuring the temperatures the same way each time. Your graphs make it easy to see the results.
You did a really good job on this project. I can tell you put a lot of thought into both the environmental problem and the way you designed your experiment. Choosing a real-world issue like reducing cement-related CO₂ emissions shows maturity and awareness beyond the classroom. Your problem-solving throughout the process demonstrates excellent persistence and true thinking.
Your experimental design was logical, and your explanation of why fly ash might improve insulation showed clear scientific reasoning.
Project is unique in its real-world problem identification (cement production = 2.7 billion tons CO2/year) and creative solution testing (fly ash substitution). Excellent documentation of challenges and iterations.