thermal conductivity

• Experiment setup

  1. Use a beaker and bubble wrap to create insulation layers

  2. Use an elastic band to hold the insulation

  3. Build up layers of insulation with two, four, six, eight layers
• Materials for insulation

  • Bubble wrap, cans
• Experiment steps

  1. Fill the cans with hot water

  2. Observe the cans over 20 minutes to see the effect of insulation on heat loss

  3. Use layers of insulation to reduce heat loss due to conduction and vibrations

  4. Add layers on the bottom of the can to reduce conduction to the table

  5. Use a cardboard lid to reduce heat loss due to convection
• The insulation reduces heat lost due to conduction and vibrations
• The lid made of cardboard reduces heat loss due to convection
• Control experiment

  Use a beaker without any insulation
• Starting temperature of water is 85 degrees Celsius
• Temperature monitoring

  Record temperature at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes
• Plot a graph with temperature on the y-axis and time on the x-axis
• The can with no insulation decreases in temperature more rapidly than the cans with more insulation
• Number of insulation layers

  Affects the rate of temperature decrease, with more layers reducing conduction more effectively
• state the consequence for energy transfer of a material with a high thermal conductivity.

  the rate of energy transfer through the material is higher than for a material with a lower thermal conductivity.

  
• double have a higher thermal conductivity compared to single glazed windows because

  there is less energy transfers through them

  
• what key factors affect the rate of cooling in a building

  thickness of the walls

  thermal conductivity of the walls

  
• three methods of reducing heat loss in a building

  double glazing

  loft and wall insulation

  thicker walls