Heat and Temperature Guided Inquiry

      In this guided inquiry I used things that I had around my house to try to find the best insulator to keep hot water in mugs warmest the longest.  I decided to use foil, paper towel, plastic wrap, and newspaper as my insulators.  I then gathered my materials.  I used hot water from the tap, scotch tape, four identical ceramic mugs, the thermometer from my Walden science kit, a measuring cup, and the four insulators I chose to test.  I measured one cup of hot water and poured it in each of the ceramic mugs.  I measured the temperature of the water in each of the mugs and recorded it on my data chart.  I then covered each cup with one of the insulating materials and taped it to keep it in place.  I expected that the foil would make the best insulator and keep the water the warmest.  I thought that the foil would let the least amount of heat escape.  After thirty minutes, I removed the covers from the mugs one at a time and used the thermometer to measure the temperature of the water in each mug.  I recorded my data on my chart. 

Water Temperature in Degrees Celsius

Insulator	Original Hot Water Temperature	Temperature of Water after Thirty Minutes
Foil	Above 50	38
Paper Towel	Above 50	36
Plastic Wrap	Above 50	37
Newspaper	Above 50	36

 

            I hypothesized that the foil would make the best insulator and that is what I observed during this guided inquiry.  However, my results were much closer than I expected.  I thought that the paper towel and the newspaper would allow more heat to escape.  I did not expect for the temperatures of the water in each of the mugs to be within a few degrees of one another.  This inquiry taught my more about conduction, “the transfer of energy from molecule to molecule” (Tillery, Enger, & Ross, 2008, p. 86).  I observed that there was condensation on the top of the foil and the plastic wrap when I removed them from the mugs, and the paper towel and the newspaper was a little moist on the top, which reinforces this idea. 

            I had a couple of challenges in completing this guided inquiry.  I did not have any rubber bands to complete this experiment so I used scotch tape instead.  I wonder if the rubber band would have made a better seal with each of the materials to the mug and allowed less heat transfer to occur.  Also, I was not able to get an accurate temperature measurement of the hot water from the tap when I first put it in the mugs because the thermometer in my science kit only went to fifty degrees Celsius.  I wanted to record the original temperature of the water so that I could make sure that all of the cups started out with hot water that was the same temperature.  I know each mug had one cup of water that was above fifty degrees Celsius, but I do not know for sure that the water was all the exact same temperature to begin with.  If I were going to do this experiment again I would use a different thermometer that is able to measure higher temperatures.

            I enjoyed learning about heat and temperature this week.  I believe my second grade students would enjoy completing a guided inquiry experiment like this as well.  I would probably use food with my students to make the experiment more engaging and have them hypothesize which insulator would keep the food inside the container the warmest the longest.  I think that my students would be very interested in finding out the results especially if I used one of their favorite foods, macaroni and cheese.