Student Project

This project is to design an alternative to the presently used coffee cup. Students will submit reports with the new design outlined along with samples, journals and drafts. The cup must be stackable and be within the range of present day design.

Objectives

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• understand heat transfer;
• identify manufacturing techniques for “take-out” cups; and
• participate in an optimum design process.

Sample Activity - Designing the Optimum Cup

Design a coffee cup as outlined above. The optimum design will reflect minimal heat loss and lowest cost. To design a good cup, you must reduce the contact area available for heat transfer. You must minimize the surface area of the hand that is in direct contact with the cup.

Research Questions

• What is a cup?
• What is necessary to develop a cup?
• When did cups begin to influence the coffee industry?
• What is the history of the cup?
• Is there a relationship between the use of the cup and our eating habits?
• What is the correlation of the cup, if any, to the fast food industry and environmental issues?
• What material is used in the fast food industry cups?
• How is the cup used in the fast food industry?
• What is the average volume, surface area, height, circumference and diameter of fast food industry cups?
• What is the relationship between the diameter, surface area and circumference of the cup and how do these measurements relate to heat loss?
• Who manufactures the cups, where are they located and what do they cost to produce?

Materials

• Thermometer
• Camera and film
• Measuring tools
• Note taking materials
• Worksheets
• Graph paper
• Design materials
• Student Research Activity Worksheet

Visit at least three (3) different coffee houses, one of which must be Starbucks, and collect the information needed to complete the questions below. Be ready to interview employees.

Establishment Information

1. Write down the names and addresses of the coffee houses you visit. Also note the date, time, weather conditions and outside temperature at the time of your visits.
2. Take photographs and/or movies of the site. Remember to ask permission to do this.

Data Collection in Coffee Houses

1. Collect three (3) different size cups from each establishment. Note the number of ounces of each cup.
2. Find out the cost to purchase 1000 empty cups of each size from each establishment.
3. Determine how many cups of each size each coffee house uses each day.
4. Buy one small cup of coffee from each establishment and record the temperature of the coffee in the cup. Try your best to order cups of coffee comparable in size (same number of ounces) from each establishment.

Data Collection and Analysis at Home

1. Find at least six (6) adults, males and females, (since mostly adults purchase coffee) and trace one of their hands on a piece of graph paper. Count the boxes enclosed in the outline to get the area of the hand. Find the average of the hand areas for males and the average for females. As with anything, the more measurements taken, the more accurate the results. Therefore, taking more than six measurements will give better results.
2. Make a separate graph for the male and female hand sizes. You decide which graph type would be best and which should be the independent and dependent axes.