Variables
This is a table of the Variables that we are going to keep the same and ones, which we will vary.
Prediction.
I predict that the bubble wrap material will prove to be the best insulation because it contains air inside the bubbles, and air is a bad conductor of heat therefore the heat wont be able to escape from the water as easily. And I also predict that foil will be the worst material because it is a metal and all metals conduct heat therefore the foil will conduct the heat and transfer it through the other side of the material.
Fair test
To make it a fair test we must make sure we stick to our table of factors, and we must also use the same beaker and thermometer, however to remain safe we must abide by these rules:
- Don’t run with hot water
- Don’t sit down by experiment
- Don’t hold beaker once it has hot water in it
Results
Here is our results table.
Diagram And Method
This diagram shows how the experiment was carried out.
We will, fill the beaker with 250ml of hot water (80 degrees c) and then apply the material around the beaker, following this we will place a lid on top and measure the temperature every 30 seconds for 5 minuets.
The Graph.
The graph shows that foil was the material that let the most heat out and the bubble wrap was the best at containing the heat. The graph also enabled us to make the judgment on which materials were the best and the worst as well as showing which materials were the best and worst at conducting heat.
These are the averages for each table.
Bubble wrap: The average temperature is 75.9 and the range is 6C
Card: The average temperature is 71.6 and the range is 13C
Foil: The average temperature is 66.6 and the range is 18
Polystyrene: The average temperature is 74.05 and the range is 7C
Large Bubble wrap: The average temperature is 73.9 and the range is 8.5
Conclusion
The graph shows that Foil was the worst material, this was one of the very rapidly declining amounts of heat loss we had. There were other materials that suffered a lot as well such as polystyrene this material showed significant heat loss and made some contradictory results compared to our prediction. The graph also shows that bubble wrap was the best material at retaining the heat, because of the air filled sacks it made the heat have to pass through the air which doesn’t allow heat to pass through easily to do it and the prevented a lot of heat loss.
Evaluation
All together I think that the experiment went well and our results came out ok. My prediction was correct in saying that the foil would be the worst and the bubble wrap the best. The experiment could have had some things done to it to make it better for instance we could have timed the experiment for longer and we would have got a better range of results, another thing we could have done would be to repeat the experiments and therefore we may have made mistakes in the first attempts.
We cold have made the test fairer by using the same thickness of material e.g. foil is significantly thinner than bubble wrap and therefore it may have this allowed the particles to heat up the foil allowing the heat to pass through it with ease however if you had the same thickness all the time then it would have been slower to release the heat from the water. I think that we also kept strictly to the factors we decided to control and the factors to vary.
