fairfolio
Saved Projects
← Back to Explore

The Effect of Window Position and Air Conditioning on Car Ventilation

JSHS · 2022

McKenzie Mitchell, Mr. Adam Mitchel · Matthew C. Perry High School, MCAS Iwakuni, Japan

Overview

Viral diseases including SARS-CoV-2 spread via airborne particles carrying contagious pathogens that an infected individual can release when coughing, sneezing, speaking, and breathing. Good ventilation is important to mitigate the spread of such diseases. This experiment aimed to determine which combination of car conditions, specifically windows down or up and AC on or off would result in the best ventilation. These conditions were tested in a small car with two people using carbon dioxide sensors measuring carbon dioxide levels over ten minutes as an indication of quality of ventilation. By comparing carbon dioxide levels in four test conditions to established ventilation guidelines, this experiment concluded that when car windows are open ventilation is good, however when car windows are closed ventilation is poor, especially when the AC is off, putting individuals at increased risk of possibly transmitting viral diseases. Implementation of these findings into driving practices during the current pandemic, specifically for individuals carpooling or using rideshare services, could lower the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Competition history

  • JSHS 2022 Category not listed

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google