Heat Transfer

Sorry everyone, my posting is a bit late.  I just went through our materials again and realized a posting was due week 4.

     In the heat transfer activity I decided to test foil, cardboard, plastic and ceramic.  As a frequent coffee drinker, I would explain that my travel mug doesn’t keep my coffee warm enough.  I would invite students to explain ideas and materials that would improve the insulation of my mug.  After that, I would obtain the materials and complete the inquiry.

      My hypothesis was ceramic would insulate the mug greater than the other materials because of the density of it, although, plastic and cardboard are both sufficient insulators.  Despite my predictions the initial results were scattered.  The starting temperature was 45 degrees Celsius and the final temperatures had a difference of 2 degrees.  Plastic had the worst insulation temperature at 32 degrees, while cardboard was the best insulator producing a temperature of 34 degrees.  Meanwhile, the control mug, no insulation, was recorded at 32 degrees after the 30 minutes.

            Disappointed in my result and unable to from a strong conclusion, I began a second trial.  This time the starting temperature was 50 degrees.  In both trials the room temperature was 22 degrees Celsius.  Once again the results were confusing.  Even though our initial temperature was much higher, 50 degrees, the control mug reached a final temperature of 32 degrees.  The final results were, again, separated by 2 degrees.  This time ceramic provided the best insulation at 36 degrees; meanwhile, foil was recorded at 35 degrees.  The other two materials had a final recording of 34 degrees.  Therefore, I could form no formidable conclusion.

     This was an engaging activity that allowed students to hypothesize, experiment, present and form conclusions.  Students will also recognize, despite their hypotheses, activities do not always yield expected results.  They were able to take a scientific concept and relate it to an everyday activity.  The lesson was engaging and could be used to introduce key terms and concepts.  They would be able to engage in discussions about insulators and conductors.  They could describe radiation, conduction and convection.  They could incorporate energy types and transfer.  In addition, this lesson could be scaled back for the lower grades or developed into something more advanced for high school students when discussing global warming.