During conduction the molecules vibrate and transfer the heat by passing the vibration. This happens when the animal is in direct contact with a surface, so the vibration molecules are passed from the animals’ feet to the surface it is in contact with.
During convection hot gases expand and become less dense, so they rise and are replaced by cooler gases, this is called the cooling effect. This happens mostly in animals with less body coverings. Where the environmental temperature has a bigger difference to that of the animal.
During radiation, heat is transferred in waves.
Some animals, e.g. the polar bear live in artic conditions and have to adapt to the environment and decrease the amount of heat It loses and conserve heat. Another animal that has to adapt is the camel. Camels have to adapt to living in the desert conditions and has to increase the amount of heat lost to keep cool. Both of the animals have to adapt to the environment they live in, in order to survive. In colder regions animals have a smaller surface area to volume ratio and in hotter regions animals are smaller and have a larger ratio of surface area to volume.
Prediction
Using all the information I have gathered, I think that as the surface area to volume ratio increases the heat loss will decrease.
The surface area is the total area around the organism, and bigger animals will have a bigger surface area as have shown:
For example, if you had 1cm, 2cm, 3cm cubes this is how the surface area/volume ratio would be.
Surface area: 1x1x6=6²
Volume: h x l x w = 1x1x1=1³
Volume ratio: 6:1
Surface area: 2cm cube
Surface area: 2x2x6=24cm² Volume: 2x2x2=8cm³.
Surface area/volume ratio: 24:8 =3:1
3cm cube
Surface area: 3x3x6=56²
Volume: 3x3x3=27³
Surface area/volume ratio: 56:27= 2:1
So therefore as you can tell by looking at the last column of the table it shows that the larger the animal, the greater the surface area, so they can store more heat.
I am going to measure the temperature in degrees Celsius. The highest and lowest readings will be 0 minutes (as soon as it is in the measuring cylinder) and 10 minutes.
I am going to use the same stop clock and thermometer. I will also make sure that I start the timer when the temperature is the same as the other volume readings.
Obtaining Evidence
First Time
Averages: 23 25 18 18 18 17 24 23 29 40
Second Time
Averages 23 25 20 18 18 16 23 23 30 41
Analysing
I have found out that water cools quicker when there is a smaller volume. The surface area is the measurement of the total area of the outside of an organism. In my experiment the test tubes affect the rate at which heat is loss. It is calculated by: L x W = cm². Once you have found the surface area and the volume you can work out the surface area to volume ratio by finding the surface area of the cross section and then multiplying it by the number of faces the shape has, to find the volume you must multiply it by the length, width and the depth.
The conclusion agrees with my prediction because the measuring cylinder with the biggest volume of water had a higher temperature at the end of the experiment.
Using my theory that surface area increases, so heat loss will decrease, I have proved it right as my graphs show.
Evaluating Evidence
I know that my experiment was a fair test because I repeated it twice and the results were all very similar there was not any that really had a major difference amongst them. My experiment turned better than I expected it to so I was really pleased with the out come.
I think that the accuracy of this experiment was maintained very well and I did this by:
1) Making sure that the thermometer was always at the same degree each time we placed it into a test tube
2) Reading the measurements of the thermometer at eyelevel.
3) Taking readings more than once and calculating the average
4) And finally by using the same person reading the measurements on the thermometer and the stopwatch.
The experiment can be extended by also investigating other factors that could affect heat loss, such as the environmental temperature, body covering and also behavior of the animal.
