For the second year in a row, Micah Dunkleberger placed at the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair. This year she competed in the environmental science senior division with her project studying the amount of energy used by a door front refrigerator compared to a chest type refrigerator.
After competing at the regional level, Micah went on to the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair held in Ada, OK to represent Ignite Christian Academy. She placed second in her division and won an award for the best use of the metric system.
To complete her project, Micah converted a chest freezer into a refrigerator so that it maintained the same temperature as a traditional door front refrigerator. She then monitored the energy consumed by both machines to determine which one used more electricity. Micah confirmed her hypothesis when she proved that the door front refrigerator used more energy. In fact, it used eight times more energy. Why did the door front refrigerator use more energy? The cold air falls out when you open the door, and the fridge needs to cool all the warm air that takes its place. The advantage of the chest type refrigerator is how it holds the cold air, just like the open freezers and coolers found in supermarkets.
Congratulations Micah, on your achievement!