Hhow heat transfer is effected when different variables are changed, when boiling water is in a colorimeter

Planning

        I will investigate different amounts of water and different insulators. I will use these different quantity's of water:

• 20cm cubed

• 40cm cubed

• 60cm cubed

• 80cm cubed

• 100cm cubed ( I will also change the insulator on this one)

Equipment Used

        I will use the following equipment:

•  Calorimeter.

• Kettle.

• Thermometer.

• Measuring Cylinder

• Insulators (Available insulators e.g. Foam).

• Stopwatch.

Method

        I will measure the five different amounts of water and poor them into the relative calorimeter in turn. For the 20cm cubed, 40cm cubed, 60cm cubed and 80cm cubed, I won't be putting any insulators on. I will put a foam insulator on the 100cm cubed, to see if this changes the average results gathered from the other measurements. The lid will remain on at all times, and the thermometer will be put through the lid ASAP, and the stopwatch will be started ASAP too. Using the stopwatch i will time 5 - 1 minute intervals, then using the thermometer measure the temperature at each point.

Safety

        I will take the following safety precautions just in case:

1. I will take care when handling the kettle, I will not fill it over the maximum, or under the minimum to make sure there are no cut-outs or boiling water coming out of the spout, causing scolding.
2. I will also take care when handling the calorimeter because as soon as the hot water has been put in, the copper conducts the heat, and when I touch it, it will transfer the heat energy to my skin, causing burning. I will use a insulator, like gloves to carry the calorimeter and will warn people I am carrying boiling water.
3. I will make sure there are no cracks in the thermometer so that the mercury doesn't come out.
4. When using the measuring cylinder, i will take care when transferring any water, warm or boiling, to make sure spillage doesn't occur, which could also cause burning, and could damage vanished desktops.
5. I will wear safety glasses to stop boiling water splashing in my eyes.

Fair Test

        I will do the following to make it a fair test:

1. I will make sure windows and doors are not opened or closed during the experiment, so no extra drafts can enter the room.
2. If possible I will turn all radiators off in the room, if not I will monitor the Room Temperature and will state this problem in my evaluation.
3. I will do the experiment in the centre of the room, so any drafts coming through the linings of the windows and the doors will not effect the experiment.
4. I will use the came measuring Cylinder each time, and the same calorimeter. I will also use the same stopwatch, and the same kettle, so there will be no differences in equipment.
5. I will also make sure I use the same thermometer, and will make sure that it is used in the same place inside the calorimeter, touching the sides, or hanging in from a clamp, i will keep it the same all the way through.

Evaluation

My work mainly went to plan, and there didn’t seem to be any mistakes made although variables like room temperature and environment, could have influenced the temperatures because it was done over a spread of three days, making the test unfair. Although it was timed accurately and matched my predictions, but generally the test was unfair and so should be done again – this time with more people helping so more experiments can be done at one time, making the results more accurate.

I could improve the experiment by using the same equipment all the way through the experiment and will try to complete all experiments within one hour, of one day, and to keep the measurements very accurate, I could use a thermostat to monitor and keep the room temperature the same.

Conclusion

My conclusion is that after 5 minutes of timing and measuring the temperature, the calorimeter with the 100ml water and insulator cools down the slowest and has a general higher temperature compared to the 100ml experiment without the insulator. This matched my prediction.

My conclusion of the other half of the experiment is that the more water there is the higher the temperature. This could be simply because the thermometer isn’t completely submerged in all the amounts of water. It also has the smallest heat loss. This matched my prediction!

The results went in this order:

1. 20ml
2. 40ml
3. 60ml
4. 80ml
5. 100ml
6. 100ml (with insulator)