Start this activity by touching some of the things around you, such as your desk, your skin, and the classroom door. Which feels the warmest? Which feels the coolest? People often judge the temperature of something by touch, like when you stick your toe into a swimming pool to make sure the water isn’t too cold.
Created by Vectors Market from Noun Project
Student Guide
Getting Warmer/Getting Colder
Experimenting the effects of heat.
Do you trust your sense of touch? Do different objects have different thermal insulating properties?
This resource was originally published in PhysicsQuest 2019: Heat.
Do you trust your sense of touch? Do different objects have different thermal insulating properties?
- Liquid crystal thermometer (10°C to 32°C/50°F to 90°F)
- Thermal paper
- Silver insulation bubble material
- Aluminum
- Felt
- Cardboard
- Small ice cubes, similar in size (4)
- Warm water (6 fl oz. per cup, 24 fl oz. total)
- Cups for water (4)
- Paper towels
- Timer
- Scissors
Experiment 1
Intro
Before the experiment
On a scale of one to ten (ten being the best), how would you rank the reliability of your sense of touch? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Considering the materials you will use in this activity (silver insulation bubble material, aluminum, felt, and cardboard), which do you think will be the best and worst at transferring heat energy? Rank the materials in order of best to worst thermal conductors.
- ____________________ (best)
- ____________________
- ____________________
- ____________________ (worst)
Imagine placing a piece of ice on top of each type of material. Which material do you think would melt the ice the fastest?
Setting up
Put a layer of paper towels on top of the table.
Cut out a 3x3” square of cardboard.
Lay the cardboard on top of the paper towels. Then lay the silver insulation bubble material, felt, and aluminum on the paper towels, each an inch or two apart.
During the experiment
Collecting data
Use your pointer finger to touch each piece of material, one by one, for about two seconds. Only one person should touch each piece of material at a time. Then, rank them from coldest to warmest.
- ____________________ (coldest)
- ____________________
- ____________________
- ____________________ (warmest)
Measure the temperature of the cardboard, felt, aluminum, and silver insulation bubble material using the liquid crystal thermometer. Record the temperatures in Chart A. Remove the thermometer once you are finished recording the temperatures.
Pick out four ice cubes that are all the same size and place one in the middle of each of the four materials. Set your timer for five minutes.
At one, three, and five minutes, draw a picture of what is happening to each ice cube in Chart B
After five minutes, rank the materials in order of how quickly they melted the ice. If it is hard to tell the order, wait a few more minutes.
- ____________________ (Melted ice the slowest)
- ____________________
- ____________________
- ____________________ (Melted ice the fastest)
Analyze data
Was your sense of touch as accurate as you predicted? Why or why not?
Choose the word in parentheses that best completes each sentence. When at room temperature, a material with high thermal conductivity will feel (warmer / colder) than a material with low thermal conductivity. When at room temperature, a material with high thermal conductivity will melt ice (faster / slower) than a material with low thermal conductivity.
Based on the results of your tests, rank the four materials in order from lowest to highest thermal conductivity.
- ____________________ (Lowest thermal conductivity)
- ____________________
- ____________________
- ____________________ (Highest thermal conductivity)
Conclusion
Now that you have completed both parts of the activity, describe the relationship between thermal conduction properties and thermal insulation properties.
Experiment 2
Intro
Start this activity by touching some of the things around you, such as your desk, your skin, and the classroom door. Which feels the warmest? Which feels the coolest? People often judge the temperature of something by touch, like when you stick your toe into a swimming pool to make sure the water isn’t too cold.
Before the experiment
Imagine a time it was cold outside. What helped keep you warm?
Setting up
Cut the thermal paper to the same size as all of the four materials combined (silver insulation bubble material, aluminum, felt, and cardboard).
Fill each of the containers with 6 fl oz. of hot water.
Put the four containers of hot water close together.
Place each of the four materials over a different container.
Place the thermal paper on top of the four materials.
During the experiment
Collecting data
Watch to see which material changes color first, second, third and fourth. Write your results below in Chart C.
Analyzing data
Which materials were the best thermal insulators? How did this compare to your predictions?
What other observations can you make about the four materials and how quickly they each turned the thermal paper’s color?
Which material was the worst thermal insulator? Why do you think it was the worst?
Conclusion
Now that you have completed both parts of the activity, describe the relationship between thermal conduction properties and thermal insulation properties.