Effect of Different Insulators on the Heat of Water
Introduction
Our experiment is to test the effect of tin foil, cotton, and no insulator on the heat of water. We are using the different insulators as our manipulated variable, the temperature of the water as our responding variable, and the amount of water and the height and type of lamp as our controlled variable. Our hypothesis is that the tin foil will heat up the water the most, because it holds in the most heat.
Materials
Glass beaker, tin foil, cotton, 150ml of room temp water, lamp, bucket, thermometer
Methods
1.) Collect 150ml of room temp water in glass beaker
2.) Place thermometer into the water and record the initial temp
3.) Place the beaker into the bucket
4.) Surround the beaker with tin foil
5.) Place the lamp on top of the bucket
6.) Record the temp of the water every minute for three minutes
7.) Repeat experiment two more times
8.) Repeat #1-6 using cotton and no insulator
Data
Analysis
The average calories transferred for the tin foil was 75 calories, for the cotton was 350 calories, and for no insulator was 175 calories. We found this by finding the averages for the calories transferred for each experiment per insulator. After finding the change in temp for each experiment, we were able to find the calories transferred. The calories transferred meant that each calorie changed each gram of the water by 1°C.
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Conclusion
The results from our experiment suggest that the cotton insulator heats the water the most. The average calories transferred for the tin foil was 75 calories. The average calories transferred for the cotton was 350 calories. The average calories transferred for the cotton was 275 calories more than the tin foil.