During this session you will introduce the concept of thermochromatic paints and ask

your club to apply them to an engineered product.

We are smart consumersWe look at the salt, fat, and caloriecontent of our food. We also look at whether it has been ethically produced and how potentially damaging its carbon footprint is. However, the packaging our food comes in is getting smart too.

Thermochromatic paints show a change ofcolour with heat. This activity looks at designing and manufacturing ’smart packaging’ which uses thermochromatic pigments to show the product is at the right temperature.

What You Need

✓Paint brushes

✓Paint pots

✓Thermochromatic pigments

(these can be purchased from

www.mutr.co.uk product codes

IT9 003 to 007)

✓Acrylic base (any white or light

coloured paint)

✓Paper

✓Paper cup (for hot liquids)

✓Thermometer

✓Hot water

How do we package our food?This session

should fill a

club timeslot as a

one off project (or it

can be used as part of

a short term project

if extras are

followed).

The Whole Package

Activity

in partnership with

Some Extras... There are many other elements that you could add to this activity:

Q Discuss the importance of fair trade, carbon footprints or recycling in big (and small) shops

Q Make your own recycled paper

See: http://ecokids.ca/pub/fun_n_games/printables/activities/assets/science_nature/

paper_making.pdf for a simple method

Q Decide on a food product to sell in school, e.g. your club could be healthy sandwich providers

Q Students must research, design and test flavours

Q Branding and packaging should be developed; how can you incorporate the unique selling point of the thermochromatic pigments? CAD/CAM can be used to help the designs and manufacture

of the packaging.

In theory, this type of packaging could be used

to show if a product has been kept at the wrong temperature.

For example, has milk been kept out of the fridge? The pigment causes the paint to change

colour. However, when the pigment is heated it

becomes transparent and the original colour of the

base acrylic is revealed.

Unfortunately for this activity the colour change is temporary, so when the temperature returns to normal the colour will change back.

Explanation

Handy Hints Smart or intelligent packaging detects changes in the environment, which in turn cause changes in the packaging e.g. a change in colour.

There is also ‘active packaging' which can prolong a food’s shelf life. This is done by removing oxygen or water and therefore slowing down bacteria growth.

Can your group find examples of these and othersmart or active packaging in the local supermarket?

In the future, engineering may enable our shopping to be fast and stress free, using wireless technologies which notify the till what you have taken before you have to pay.

What To Do Make up your paints – a small amount of the pigment mixed into the acrylic base (a white or pale colour is most suitable) will do.

Ask your group to think about how they might investigate the way the pigment changes with temperature (without using a Bunsen burner or naked flame as that would burn the paper!).

An easy way to get an idea of the transition temperature is to paint your paper cup and to fill it with warm water. At what temperature does the paint just start to change? (Perhaps start with cold tap water, adding boiling water a little at a time. Do follow your school’s usual health and safety procedures).

Set your group the following task:

The local supermarket manager wants to use thermochromatic pigments on the packaging for some food products. Which type of food or drink is most suitable?

You are to design and then manufacture packaging suitable for a food product that would spoil if kept too warm for too long (for example, dairy or meat products).

Curriculum Links Using this activity you can discuss:

England

Science: Unit 8I: Heating and cooling

PSHE: looking at real-life situations, personal preferences and priorities.

D&T: Unit 07bi: Designing and making for yourself Focus: food, Unit 07e: Activity week (optional)

Scotland

Technological developments in society

Page 2

Profile: Who Uses Manufacturing?

Sean BrennanMechanical Development Engineer

Industry sector

 

Manufacturing

What I do on an average day 

 

 

 

Every day is different. On occasion, I might spend a whole day researching and designing a new product, process or system at my desk. Other days might involve building prototypes for experiments and carrying them out or visiting customer sites to assess a machine.

How I got here

 

 

 

 

I took maths, physics and design & technology A-levels. Following this I read Mechatronic Engineering at Leeds University where I gained a broad view of engineering and decided to follow a route into mechanical engineering. I was able to get on a graduate scheme after university and have since moved through a variety of roles, from working with conveyor systems using rollercoaster technology at Heathrow Airport and playing(I mean developing) Action Man toys and games to the role I have at present, designing optical sorting machines.

My favourite part of my job 

The most rewarding and enjoyable part of my job is designing a product and then seeing it being built.

The future

 

 

At present, I am enjoying engineering and worked hard to pursue research and development. I hope to be able to continue learning, have the opportunity to continue to work on exciting new innovative projects and hopefully fit more travel into my job.

What is engineering? Everything in the world has some form of engineering associated with it. It can be used to make peoples lives more enjoyable like developing a games console, to saving lives by developing medical equipment or solutions to problems in the developing world.

Engineering can be as simple as manufacturing the chairs you sit on, or as complicated as building a space station.

Page 3

Extra MathsIf 30% of students at your school buy your thermochromatic pigment product how many products would you be able to sell?

Estimate how much it might cost to manufacture your product. If you sold your product for cost price plus 40% how much profit could you make selling to your school?

This Is EngineeringThinking about how we can be creative and apply the properties of thermochromatic paints to packaging and ways of manufacturing them is a great illustration of how engineering affects us without many of us even realising it.

Engineers have a huge input with respect to our food and manufacturing engineers in this and other industries are essential. Manufacturing engineering can be taken at many universities, with entry requirements including A Levels, Advanced Diplomas and Scottish Advanced Highers (www.ucas.com).

Related fields: Materials science and agricultural engineering.

However, we might not be able to manufacture food or products at all without land-based service engineering (www.apprenticeships.org.uk). This Apprenticeship deals with the maintenance and repair of a range of mechanised equipment used in agriculture and other land-based industries. Land-based service engineers work to solve problems using a combination of scientific, technical and engineering knowledge.

Contact UsThe Royal Academy of Engineering 3 Carlton House TerraceLondon SW1Y 5DG Tel: 020 7766 0600 Fax: 020 7930 1549 Web: www.raeng.org.uk

Engineering Engagement ProjectWeb: www.raeng.org.uk/eenpEmail: eenp@raeng.org.uk

Next StepsPerhaps a STEM Ambassador could develop this session further for you, or introduce a new related idea.networking.stemnet.org.uk

There are more useful ideas at: www.stemclubs.net

For more information on the Engineering Engagement Project from The Royal Academy of Engineering visit:www.raeng.org.uk

Why not try a Bronze Crest Award? www.britishscienceassociation.org/crest

Generously supported by

www.baesystems.com/education