Heat Transfer Experiment

Material Selected

The materials I used for the heat transfer experiment were aluminum foil, a paper towel, packing foam, and paper insulation.  The reason I chose them was because the directions said chose some materials you think will work well and some you think will not.  I thought the paper towel would not work well, but I thought the others would.  I used a laser thermometer because the thermometer in my science kit was broken.

Results

The following are my results

Insulator	Beginning Temperature	Ending Temperature	Temperature Change
packing foam	67.8°C	49.8°C	-18°C
aluminum foil	66.9°C	50.1°C	-16.8°C
paper towel	62.3°C	44.1°C	-18.2°C
insulation paper	60.6°C	43.4°C	-17.2°C

I found that the foil did the best job and the paper towel performed the worst.  I guess I should have known the foil would do the best since it is used to cover food to keep it warm.  I think the paper insulation would have worked better, but I could not get it to form a tight seal around the mug.

Similar Experiment for Students

To make this experiment more interesting for students, I think I would do two things.  First, I would let students choose the material they want to test.  I find that when students are given a chance to think creatively, they usually do a great job and come up with ideas.  Next, I would make it a contest to see who could come up with the best idea.  My students are very competitive and seem to be more enthusiastic when they are racing against each other.

I might also borrow ideas that I read from our discussion.  We could see which group could devise something to keep an ice cube from melting the longest.  This could be relevant to students’ lives because they bring their lunches, and they could benefit from finding ways to keep cold things cold.

Another way to conduct the experiment would be to ask local contractors to provide samples of insulation material.  We could test them to see which ones would work best with the mug experiment or the ice cube.

Student Learning

As with any activity we do in class, I like for my students to see that science touches so many parts of their lives.  Also, I like them to work like real scientists and to do things that have real-world applications.  Without theses applications, it seems more like we are just “killing time” than we are seeing how science is relevant to their lives.