SCIE-6661S-1 Exploring the Physical World---Week 4 Scientific Inquiry: Choosing Insulators

 

When selecting materials to test as insulators I considered the common items in my home and their uses.  An insulator is a material that prevents heat from escaping, keeping items warm for longer periods of time. Insulators have many common uses in the home from building materials to food containers.  Depending on the job of the insulator the materials used to insulate can vary greatly.  Why do we spend time investigating insulators you may ask?  With a lot of emphasis being placed on buildings being energy efficient research into the economic benefits of maximum insulators has become an important topic (Tillery, Enger, & Ross, 2008).  

In my experiment I chose four common household items and tested their insulating potential.  I chose to test plastic wrap, aluminum foil, newspaper and cotton cloth.  I believe that if I test all four if my insulators then the foil will prove to be the most efficient in the retention of heat.  In order to test my insulators I used four 200 milliliter beakers, water heated to sixty five degrees, rubber bands and Fahrenheit thermometer.  After pouring 100 milliliters of heated water into each beaker I secured my insulators over the beaker opening with a rubber band.  After a thirty minute cooling period I measured the temperature of the water in each beaker again, recording the difference.  After conducting three trials for each of my insulators I averaged the results.  I found that my choice, foil being the best at insulating, was correct.  The average temperature change for each of my insulators is as follows.  The plastic wrap experienced an average drop of 35 degrees, the aluminum foil experienced an average drop of 12 degrees, the newspaper experienced an average drop of 29 degrees, and the cotton cloth experienced an average drop of 31 degrees.  I expected the foil to be the most efficient at insulating; having knowledge of its common uses and properties indicated its ability to hold heat in effectively.  I hypothesized that the plastic wrap would have been a close runner up to the foil and was very surprised that its ability to retain heat was so poor.  I did not believe that the cloth or newspaper would act as good insulators in this case and was not surprised at those results. 

This activity was very easy to prepare and execute in a classroom.  I can see my students being able to replicate this activity in the classroom and gather similar useful data.  It would make for an interesting topic in our classroom discussions.  I would be very interested to hear their opinions as to which items they would chose as best insulators and why the others would not.  Sometimes students’ clear, unrestricted views make more sense than our preconceived ideas.  I would also like my students to choose materials they feel would be good insulators and execute the same test for them.  After the students analyze their data and compare all the results an open forum of conversation would be enlightening on their choices and results.

 

 References

Tillery, B. W., Enger, E. D., & Ross, F. C. (2008). Integrated science (4th ed.). New York:

McGraw-Hill