I will then wet the paper towels using tap water that is 20°C. The paper towels will surround the test tubes inside the 250ml beaker as shown in the diagram below.
Using the kettle, the measuring cylinder and the funnel I will boil water and put 11ml in each test tube.
I will then put the thermometers in each tube and when they have stopped at a temperature, record my first reading. Starting the stop clock I will, after every minute record the temperature of the water in the test tubes for 10 minutes.
I will repeat this test to get an average set of results.
I predict that the test tube in the middle will always be hotter than the test tubes on the outside because less heat will be radiated out of the side of the middle test tube so the heat can only go up through a small opening.
RESULTS
This is my first set of results.
This is my averaged first set of results.
This is my second set of results.
This is my averaged second set of results.
I will now make an average of both sets of my results to get a more accurate
set of results.
I will put this information into a graph so I can find a pattern easily.
CONCLUSION
From the graph I can see that as the temperature of the outside test tubes went down, the temperature of the inside test tube went down. But the inside test tube was always hotter than the outside test tube. This is because heat was radiated from the outside test tube to the inside test tube as well as the wet paper, so the inside test tube was absorbing heat from the surrounding test tubes. This is exactly why penguins huddle, to share their body heat. Although, the temperature in the middle test tube went down, if the penguins body temperature was constantly decrease at a rate as was in the experiment, they would die. This is why they have a layer of fat and very thick feathers.
EVALUATION
My results were as I expected, the temperature went down, but the inside test tube always remained the hottest. This supports my prediction and proves huddling is effective for penguins. If I were to repeat the experiment I would use more accurate equipment like an electronic thermometer and I would repeat the experiment more times and get an a more accurate average. Averaging got rid of any odd results I may have got so they didn’t change my graph shape considerably. My experiment was I success, I proved that huddling is an effective way to keep warm in cold conditions.
