Plan.
Our plan is to take 5 glass beakers, each a different size, (1000ml, 600ml, 400ml, 250ml and 100ml), and fill each beaker with the same amount percentage of water, with the same size measuring beaker so we know this aspect of the experiment will be fair.
To do this we will be using the simplest amount, and we will be filling each beaker up only half way. We will be measuring the height of water, the volume of water and the diameter of the beaker.
We will next fill each beaker with individually with water at 80°c. We will wait one minute and take the temperature, and repeat 10 times. We will be doing this experiment twice for each beaker so we know if the results are varying. Next we will take the average temperature of the two experiments and use the final result’s of all beakers to plot a graph, which will show us more clearly how fast each beaker’s temperature dropped.
Variables.
To make this experiment a fair test I will do the following:
►Make sure I fill each beaker only half way
►Start all beakers off at 80°c
►I will not stir any of the beakers
►I will repeat each experiment to get better results.
Hypothesis.
I predict this experiment will show that smaller animals lose heat faster than larger animals due to their surface area to volume ratio.
I say this because for a larger animal it has much more of a body to produce heat with, so cooling it down would be like trying to die out a forest fire with a sprinkler. I think the smaller animals lose heat faster because they do not have as much of a body to generate heat, and much more skin to lose heat through, this would be like dying out a match in a swimming pool.
Results
100ml
Conclusion
My results show that I was correct with my hypothesis. The smaller 100ml beaker, representing the smaller animal, lost heat much faster than the larger beakers. This was due to it having a greater surface area to volume ratio.
