Names ______Group______

Turkey Timer Engineering Design Challenge/Controlled Experiment

100pts.

Points Possible / Points Earned
1.  Ask: explaining technology / 10
2.  Imagine, Plan, Create: designing a controlled experiment / 70
3.  Improve: develop a new model turkey time / 10
4.  Communicate: reflection / 10

1.  Explaining Technology: Explain how a turkey timer works. Use pictures (sketches) to support your explanation:

2.  Designing a controlled experiment:

Scientific Question: At what temperature does a turkey timer pop the fastest?
Materials:
Variables: Independent
Dependent
Controls/Constants (3 minimum)
Prediction: (Which temperature will be the best and why?)
Procedure:
Data table:
Graph: See attached paper
Analysis: CLAIM EVIDENCE REASONING
Conclusion:

3.  Improve:

·  Explain how the current model turkey timer can be reset to reuse:

·  Sketch a design of a newly developed turkey timer. Support your sketch with 2 reasons your design is better than the current model.

4.  Reflection:

  1. What is an ALLOY?
  1. Define melting:
  1. Why were turkey timers developed?
  1. What does the term BINARY mean?
  1. At what temperature does water freeze? (C and F)
  1. At what temperature does water boil? (C and F)

Reference Information:

Historical information

In the 1960s, the California Turkey Producers Advisory

Board wanted to respond to complaints of

dried-out turkeys and to help people not overcook

them at home. One of the Board members, Eugene

Absolute Zero / -459.67℉ / -273.15℃
Parity / -40℉ / -40℃
Zero / 0℉ / -17.78℃
Freezing point / 32℉ / 0℃
Body Temperature / 98.6℉ / 37℃
Boiling point / 212℉ / 100℃

Time’s up, turkey—Pop-up thermometers

by Richard Moyer and Susan Everett

Beals, said, “Why don’t we find some sort of gadget,

something to stick in [the turkey] and tell when

the turkey is done” (Taylor 2005, A32). As they sat

in a meeting room, someone looked up at the fire

sprinklers on the ceiling and wondered if the same

system that turned the sprinklers on could be used

for a turkey timer. Fire sprinklers at that time were

turned on when a low-melting temperature alloy was

heated sufficiently by flames in a room, causing a

water valve to open. Beals and his colleagues spent

nearly a year finding the right material to melt at the

appropriate temperature to ensure a tasty turkey.

The patent has been sold, but the basic principle is

still being used today. In less than 50 years, more

than two billion timers have been used in turkeys

and turkey products.