How can we keep hot water hot?
Introduction
In this practical experiment, I am going to find out what is the best way to keep hot water hot for the longest period of time. The way that this can be achieved is by preventing, Radiation, Convection and Conduction.
Planning
I am going to apply my background knowledge to the experiment so that it is easier to choose which items I am going to use in the experiment. Here is my background knowledge.
Background knowledge
I already know that heat can be lost by conduction, convection and radiation. Therefore it would be in great interest to look into these in depth as then I can see how I can prevent these from occurring. The first way I am going to cover is conduction
Conduction-
Conduction is what occurs in many solids. The way it is mainly passed is through the solids’ vibrations. This is how the solid will look as the vibrations are passed through it.
Most non-metals are not good conductors and are good insulators as they do not vibrate as much so therefore the process of conduction is very slow.
Convection-
The convection of heat occurs in liquids and heat only. It is a much more effective process then conduction so I am going to concentrate on stopping convection more then stopping conduction.
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Peer Reviews
Here's what a star student thought of this essay
Quality of writing
The candidate in the introduction capitalises radiation etc unnecessarily. Minor grammatical errors in places e.g. using then rather than than. The candidate needs capital letters and full stops in their second method. The presentation of the results is good with clear tables and graphs used to predict trends.
Level of analysis
The introduction is concise and sets out well what the candidate is trying to achieve. The candidate uses background knowledge to their experiment which is well explained with a definition of each and examples of materials the candidate could use. This is aided well by diagrams. I'm not sure what the radiation diagram is meant to depict. The prediction is outlined and explained well. The candidate uses a preliminary experiment which is good to show as a baseline what will happen without the introduction of materials to prevent the three processes. The candidate assumes 5 minutes is the cut off point for the experiment but this may not be the instance when considering the materials as well. The candidate explains their results well in the evaluation relating what happened to scientific terminology.
Response to question
A good experiment. To improve the candidate should indicate flaws and possible improvements in the evaluation of the experiment, or state what they changed after doing the preliminary experiment and why as this shows a deeper understanding of the experiment. The candidate responds to the question well, setting out a well thought out experiment that worked well.