Tin Can animal

I predict that the fur will trap air, and therefore reduce the heat lost by conduction. The only other way the animal (thin can) loses heat is by convection which I a much slower way to lose heat.

The way that I am going to messieurs the heat is by poring hot water (which is starting point is 80 degrees) into the tin can. The water represents internal heat for example blood. To record the temperature I will use a thermometer, which will be suspended, inside the can touching the hot water. I also have to careful not to let the thermometer touch the can itself. Otherwise it will read the temperature of the can instead of the internal heat.

Also to simulate the animal more realistically I am going to put polystyrene on the top and bottom, of the can representing fur on the feet and head. This will reduce the area exposed to the cold. I also have done this to make it safer for me to do the experiment. To make the experiment safer, I have also worn safety glasses all the way through the experiments and used gloves to handle the hot cans.

I have taken my results over three lessons, so I am able to save myself time. I have taken temperature reading in ten minutes. So I am able to see a difference in the temperature from my data. This may not be as accurate as taking it in the next minute, however this would be a waste of time because I wouldn't be able to distinguish a difference between my results.

Experiment 1 2 3 Average

No Fur 73.5 72.5 73 73

layer 74.5 75 75.5 75

2 layers 76.5 77 78 77.2(2dp)

3 layers 78 78.5 79 78.5

As you can see that these results obviously back up my prediction that, the more fur would mean less heat lost through conduction. To prove my theory was right further still, I will calculate the energy lost in joules. Using the average heat loss from my experiments.

The original energy is 80x16cm3x4.2J=1376256J

When the animal had no fur it lost (80x16cm3x4.2J)-(73x16cm3x4.2J)=120422.4J

This is a lot of energy lost for an animal.

With one layer pr fur it lost (80x16cm3x4.2J)-(75x16cm3x4.2J)=86016J

Even with only one layer of fur there is 344o6.4J of energy, which was not lost.

With two layers of fur (80x16cm3x4.2J)-(77.2x16cm3x4.2J)=48168.96J

Which is another 37847.04J of energy, which has been saved instead of lost.

With 3 layers of fur (80x16cm3x4.2J)-(78.5x16cm3x4.2J)=1375926.3J

Which is another 1327757.34J of energy, which has been saved.

These calculations only back up my theory was right even further. Here you can obviously see the energy that has been saved and the energy that could have been lost if animals didn't have ether fur or blubber.

Now to show that my theory only works up to this point I shall now draw a graph, which will further, conclude that my theory was correct.

As you can see the energy loss should continue to become smaller and smaller as you continue to increase the layers of fur, and so concludes my successful experiment that my prediction was correct, and well backed up by scientific evidence. So in conclusion I have proven that fur is a good source of insulation, and that animals need some sort of insulation to retain heat energy which otherwise would have been lost. I would of liked to extend my research into this however sadly I have run out of time. I could, have looked into the surface area of animals or the difference of energy loss between homoeothermic and poiciothermic animals. There where endless possibilities to what could affect the energy loss of an animal but sadly there was not endless time of which I could use.