Investigation to demonstrate how the surface area and volume affects the heat loss in animals.

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Investigation to demonstrate how the surface area and volume affects the heat loss in animals

Planning

Aim: To investigate how surface area and volume of an animal affects the amount of heat lost.

Planning a simple procedure

One standard test tube, one boiling test tube, and one centrifuge test tube will be filled with water at 40°C. A thermometer will be placed in each tube to measure the decrease in temperature of the water. This will be timed for 300 seconds using a stopwatch. The temperature of the water will be recorded every 30 seconds.

Preliminary Work

A prior experiment similar to the one outlined above, was carried out to determine the sizes of the test tubes. The surface area and volume for each tube used were

* Standard Test tube Surface area = 2.69 cm2

Volume = 18 cm3

* Boiling Test tube Surface area = 5.73 cm2

Volume = 44.66 cm3

* Centrifuge Test tube Surface area = 2.26 cm2

Volume = 14.58 cm3

The surface areas to volume ratio are as follows:

* Standard test tube 1:6.69