The rate of Cooling of water with different Insulating materials

Fair test

I will use the same amount of water in each beaker. I will keep the beakers covered with lids of cardboard.

Prediction

I have used different materials that have different attributes for insulation. The colour black is known for absorbing heat and light. I expect it to have a cooling effect on the water. The bubble wrap has lots of little air pockets and air is known as a good insulator. I am expecting the temperature to stay high for the bubble wrapped beaker. I expect the Aluminium foil to have little effect. The water will most likely condense round the sides. I expect the Fur to have good insulating effect. It has lots of air pockets for the worm air to move around. The beaker left with no insulating material I expect to have the greatest loss in temperature. I expect the water to cool by steaming up then condensing again. I strongly expect the Bubble wrap to do the best. I know heat will be lost by the water turning to vapour and then condensing again but I expect more heat to be lost through radiation.

Results (second set)

0

3

6

9

2

5

8

21

24

Loss

Bubble

80(c)

78(c)

75(c)

71(c)

69(c)

66(c)

64(c)

62(c)

60(c)

20(c)

Foil

78(c)

75(c)

72(c)

69(c)

67(c)

65(c)

63(c)

61(c)

60(c)

8(c)

Black

80(c)

77(c)

74(c)

71(c)

69(c)

66(c)

64(c)

63(c)

61(c)

9(c)

Fur

82(c)

79(c)

76(c)

74(c)

72(c)

70(c)

68(c)

67(c)

65(c)

7(c)

Glass

84(c)

81(c)

76(c)

73(c)

69(c)

67(c)

64(c)

61(c)

59(c)

25(c)

Loss of temperature in Percentage (In rank order lowest to highest)

Fur - 20%

Foil - 23%

Black-24%

Bubble-25%

Glass- 30%

These results show that Fur is the best insulator. In both the first and Second set of results this turned out to be true.

Patterns

The main pattern is that most of the temperatures dropped by 1-3 degrees each time.

Problems

I sometimes had trouble keeping the lids the on beakers. I also put the wrong amount of water in one of the beakers the first time I did the experiment. Also one thermometer broke and I had to use 1 between 2 beakers.

Accuracy

The first sets of results were accurate apart from the just glass beaker, which had the wrong amount of water in it. I some results may be odd because of the difficulty keeping the lids on.

To improve

To improve the Results I did the experiment twice that way I can compare and check for accuracy.

Explanation of results

Heat can leave the beakers in many ways. Such as when water turns into vapour and then condenses. This form of heat loss cannot be prevented. But the Radiation can be stopped. So that is why the glass lost the most heat because it had no insulating material around it.

Conclusion

Fur is the best insulator and bubble is the worst. Fur has lots of air pockets and air trapped in between it stopping heat from escaping through radiation. My results show that not all heat was lost by conduction but Radiation as well. So it is important for extra materials for insulation. I was expecting Bubble wrap to do better and black felt to do worse than they did but that just shows me that you can't always predict what is going to happen. My results show that extra materials and double-glazing are effective in preventing heat loss, since air is the best insulator and that insulating really works.

Evaluation

After doing the Experiment twice I found the Results almost identical, so I 'm pretty sure it was accurate. I would have like to have used foam in this experiment to see what kind of insulating effects it has. I would also have like to try combining different materials to see what kind of a different that would have made. But the general experiment went well and I am happy with the results and my findings.

Maybe if I had kept the experiment going for longer there may have been considerable differences in my results. I'm a little bit unsure about the Results for the bubble wrap. I really expected that to insulate better than it did. The problem keeping the lid on may have affected it. That is something I should think about when repeating this experiment in the future. Another thing that I think about is what if all the starting temperatures where the same. I'm sure it would not have made that big a difference, but you can never be sure. I may have missed a peak drop or the temperature may have dropped faster at higher points. These are toher things for me to think about.

Overall I'm happy with the results and I would call the experiment a success. But there is room for improvement.