How Warm is Your Snow Fort?

Sage, Riley, Jem, Parker, Nick

02.03.2017
TH
9 GRADE SCIENCE

QUESTION/PURPOSE

Our motivation was that it sounded very intriguing for all of us. We wanted to
go through with this experiment rather than any other because we felt that knowing
the correct type of snow shelter to build in a survival situation is very relevant to
where we live. The information obtained through this experiment could help all of us
in the future if ever needed. We have all had experiences with the wilderness and we
all came to an agreement that making snow shelters is fun and informational. Within
this project you should pay attention to the words insulation and insulative properties
(later defined in the paper).

The question we were investigating was, How does the thickness of a snow
shelters walls determine how fast heat will escape from the inside? We investigated
this by making 2 snow forts, one with 4 inch thick walls, and one with 8 inch thick
walls. We were testing the insulative properties of snow and what kinds of snow work
best for building a snow fort. The best snow in terms of insulation is the fresh snow.
This is because it contains a high percentage of air caught between the ice crystals. The
denser the snow, the greater the thermal conductivity meaning that heat is transferred
through it easier keeping you cooler.

INTRODUCTION

How does the thickness of a snow shelters walls determine how fast heat will
escape from the inside? Our experiment will prove which thickness is more suitable
for a shelter in the cold winter environment. In this experiment we were looking at
how the snow is insulated. We found that the thicker the walls, the more heat is held in
the shelter. With the thinner walls, the heat is more likely to escape and this is because
there is less air pockets and the walls are more susceptible to escaping heat. We used
the fresh, very cold fluffy snow so that overnight it would all freeze together. In the
very beginning we had expected that the fort with the thicker walls will be warmer
and more insulative. In our experiment, the control was the Outside air temperature.
The independent variable was the wall thickness of the shelters and the dependent
variable was the inside temperature of the shelter. The temperature was dependent on
the thickness and the thickness and inside temperature of the walls was controlled by
the outside air.

HYPOTHESIS

If the walls of the snow shelter are thicker than the temperature will be higher
inside the shelter because of the thicker layer of insulation. We think that the results of
the lab will be that the shelter with the thicker walls will be more insulated and hold
more heat. This will conserve more heat and keep the occupant warmer in the winter
environment. We will be placing two people in one shelter at a time and taking the air
temperature every minute over a 10 minute period of time.

MATERIALS/METHODS

In this experiment, we were testing the insulative properties of snow for

surviving in a winter environment. The independent variable for the experiment was
the walls/ thicknesses of the walls and the dependent variable of the experiment was
the temperature inside of the snow shelter.

We did this by building two shelters, one with 4 inch walls and one with 8 inch
walls. We started this process by piling up 2 large mounds of snow large enough to
have two people inside of them. We let these two sit overnight to freeze in spot so that
they were stable enough to be hollowed out. The next morning we went at them with
shovels, beging to shovel out the inside of the shelter. When shoveling you want to
have rulers around the shelter evenly spaced out so that you do not dig too much out.
You want to have one set to 8 inches thick and one to 4 inches thick. Make sure that the
doors are facing the same way, preferably away from the light so that the sun does not
affect the temperatures. If they are facing the sun or one is and the other is not, then
when you get to the point of recording data, shovel snow over the doors so that no heat
escapes or enters. After the shelters are completely shoveled out, get prepared to
record the data. Record the temperature of the outside air. You should do this test in
the same day so that there is not too much of an outside heat difference causing
variation in the answers. After that temperature is taken, have the two occupants enter
the shelter. Once they enter, have them record the starting temperature. Immediately
seal off the shelter doors so that little to no heat enters or escapes. Make sure that the
occupants are not touching the tip of the thermometer and that it does not touch any
snow or get any water on it at all. This can affect the temperature results. Have the
occupants measure the temperature every minute over a 10 or longer period of time.
You will need a stopwatch/timer so that all the results are as close to the minute mark
as possible. At 10 minutes record the last temperature and remove the barricaded to
the door of the fort. Repeat this with the other shelter. Once done with all the data, find
the average of all the
temperatures, the overall
change in the temp.

Materials needed:

1. Shovel
2. Snow
3. Thermometer
4. Timer
5. 2 people

PROCEDURE

1. Gather the materials such as the shovel and the snow (lots of
it)
a. Be sure that the snow is all the same type, preferably
the fresh fluffy snow
2. Build 2 snow shelters:
a. Make 2 snow piles large enough for the occupant.
b. Let that freeze overnight
c. Carve out the shape and inside of the snow shelter.
d. Carve out a door for the occupant to enter
e. Be sure that you carve one out with 4 inch walls and one with inch walls.
3. Record the outside air temperature
 4. Record the very first stable temperature in the shelter for the starting
temperature.
5. Take the thermometer and take the air temperature in the snow shelter every
minute over a 10 minute period.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for the other shelter
7. Compare data between the two snow shelters to find which one was more
insulated.

DATA

4 walls 8 walls

Outside air starting temp 0.3 degrees celsius 0.4 degrees celsius

Starting temp in the shelter 4.1 degrees celsius 4.5 degrees celsius

2nd temp 4.7 degrees celsius 5.3 degrees celsius

3rd temp 5.6 degrees celsius 5.3 degrees celsius

4th temp 5.0 degrees celsius 5.6 degrees celsius

5th temp 4.6 degrees celsius 5.3 degrees celsius

6th temp 4.7 degrees celsius 5.6 degrees celsius

7th temp 4.5 degrees celsius 5.7 degrees celsius

8th temp 4.0 degrees celsius 5.4 degrees celsius

9th temp 4.2 degrees celsius 4.9 degrees celsius

10th temp 4.1 degrees celsius 4.8 degrees celsius

temp 1.6 degrees celsius 1.2 degrees celsius

Best insulator X

Water Starting Degrees 9.44 degrees celsius 9.24 degrees celsius

 Water Final Degrees 5 degrees celsius 6.23 degrees celsius

TEST #2

2 buckets full of warm water placed

in the separate snow forts at the same
time. This test will show the difference in
insulation more effectively than the test
with people, and give solid results. We
held this test as well as the other so that
we could have very accurate results. The
results that we got with the people in the shelter were fairly accurate although still had
a few glitches in the process so we held the bucket test as well. The test results in this
test were, 5 degrees celsius in the 4 inch shelter and 6.23 degrees celsius in the 8 inch
shelter for the bucket test.

PROCEDURE #2

1. Make the two snow forts, with 4 and 8 inch walls

2. Get two identical buckets
3. Fill both of the buckets with warm water that is the same temperature
4. Place both buckets inside of their respective snow forts
5. Take the temperature of both buckets at the same time
6. Record the temperatures
7. Seal off the doors and start a timer
8. Let the buckets of water stand in the snow fort for 10 minutes.
9. At 9 minutes, begin to uncover the door
10. Take the temperature at 10 minutes
11. Record the temperature
12. Calculate the change in temperature
13. Make a conclusion

RESULTS
 In this lab we were testing the insulative properties of snow. We found that
within 2 snow shelter, one with 4 inch walls and one with 8 inch walls, the shelter with
the 8inch walls was warmer and more insulative. When testing, the starting
temperature in the 4 inch was 49 degrees celsius and in the 8 inch, the starting
temperature was 47.6. As you can see, even without the occupants in the shelter, the 8
inch walled shelter was warmer. After 10 minutes of the buckets of water in the
shelter, the final temperature for the water in the thinner shelter was, 37 degrees
celsius and the thicker shelter was 41.9 degrees celsius. As you can see from the Data,
the shelter with the thicker walls was quite a bit warmer than the thinner shelter. In
the end, the change in temperature was less for the shelter with the thicker walls than
the shelter with thinner walls. This is because the thicker shelter was more insulative
and kept in the heat in more than the thinner shelter.

DISCUSSION

In the lab we performed, we came out with lots of valuable data that we used
towards our conclusion. In this lab we found that an 8 inch thick shelter is better
insulated than the 4 inch shelter. This is because of the insulative properties of snow,
the air pockets which are trapped in the snow make it an outstanding insulator
because the heat is held inside. With the thicker walls, more heat is held in the shelter
because of the air pockets, keeping the heat trapped inside. In our experiment, the
overall change in temperature for the 8 inch thick shelter was 1.2 degrees celsius and
the change for the 4 inch shelter was 1.6 degrees celsius. This shows that the 8 inch
shelter was thicker therefore proving our hypothesis correct, that the thicker shelter
would be better insulated. Because the temperature of the shelters are somewhat
inaccurate with only the people testing so we conducted another experiment, the water
bucket experiment to find a bit more accurate results. The results that we got from that
experiment made it more believable and more accurate. The results we got from that
were a 4.44 change in the water temperature in the 4 inch shelter and a 3.01 degree
change in the 8 inch shelter. These results proved that the 8 inch thick shelter was
warmer and had less heat escape, rather than the 4 inch shelter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Actforlibraries.org." Actforlibrariesorg RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. This

website was used to gain our knowledge on the best snow for building snow
 forts and using as an insulator.

"Do You Know How To Use Snow For Insulation?" Survivopedia. N.p., 08 Jan. 2016.
Web. 07 Feb. 2017. We used this website for a lot of our data on the insulative
properties of snow and to help us gain our knowledge on the snow we used to
build our snow forts.

"National Snow and Ice Data Center." Snow Characteristics | National Snow and Ice
Data Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. We used this website to find out the
insulative properties of snow. We also used this so that we would know which
snow was the best to use for the shelters.