Two pupils lived in houses which were identical in size and shape. However in winter they noticed that one of the houses used more heating fuel than the other even though they both had the same heating systems and were kept at the same temperature.

Laura Gatti 10H

Problem

The pupils decided that the variation must be linked to the type of insulation in each house.

Hypothesis 1: A house with insulation will hold heat longer than a house without.

Hypothesis 2: Insulation which traps air effectively will hold more heat than insulation which does not as air is a good insulator

Method

The pupils carried out an experiment involving four beakers. They wanted to find out how the temperature of water would vary with time when different types of insulation were applied to each beaker. Three of the beakers were insulated and to make a comparison the fourth beaker was left with no insulation. In order to make a fair comparison between each beaker, the temperature of the water at the start of the experiment was the same, or thereabouts. The size of the beakers was the same and the volume of the water in each beaker in each beaker was also the same (i.e. 50cm3). Each beaker was filled with boiling water and when the temperature was recorded as being approximately 65°C the clock was begun. Every five minutes up to forty minutes a temperature recording was taken. In order to ensure a good set of results the procedure was carried out three times. The results were as follows:

The temperature readings for each beaker at each time were averaged as follows and the results are shown below in table 2:

Analysis of results.

From table 2 it can immediately be seen that the experiment did not begin with all the beakers at the same temperature. The first reading from the beaker with no insulation is 58°C whereas all the other readings taken at the start of the experiment are at around the mid sixties. This has pulled down the average temperature ...