Conductors and Insulators (2/27-3/3)

Summary:

This week we learned about thermal conductors and insulators and how they are used in everyday life. There are many objects that would be hard to use without thermal conductors and insulators such as frying pans and wooden spoons. 

A good conductor is a material that allows heat to travel through it. Have you ever touched the metal handle on a hot pan, and felt how hot it was? A big conductor of heat or thermal conductor is metal. Thermal conductors come in handy when materials that need to conduct heat well such as saucepans.

An insulator is a material that does not allow heat to travel through it. As you may have realized, this means that it is the opposite of an insulator. Have you ever seen the material built in homes that looks like cotton candy? This is the insulator for homes, that keeps your home nice and warm. Some other examples of thermal insulators are bubble wrap because the air in the bubbles blocks out other air from coming in, and polystyrene also known as styrofoam is a good thermal insulator because it contains gas bubbles which block out the cold air.

Heat Transfers:

How does the heat transfer into the conductors and insulators? There are three different types of heat transfers that move heat from one object to another. These heat transfers are called convection, conduction, and radiation.

Convection is a heat transfer that happens when thermal energy moves from one object to another with the movement of a fluid like air and water. The warm fluid moves away from the source of heat, carrying the thermal energy from one object to another

Conduction is a heat transfer that happens when thermal energy moves from one object to another with direct contact. This is how a pan would heat up on a stove or how your hand might get cold when you touch ice.

Have you ever been close to a fire and felt how hot it was? That was heat moving through radiation. Radiation is the last heat transfer and happens when thermal energy moves through electromagnetic waves. Some other examples of radiation are microwaves and the sun. 

How are Ms. Garcia's hot coffee challenge and what we have learned about how heat is transferred related to climate change (conservation of energy)?

I think that hot coffee challenge is related to climate change because the earth is like a thermos, with a protective layer around it which acts as an insulator. A thermos keeps heat in a container, but climate change keeps heat in the atmosphere.

SP2: Developing and using models:

This week we made and used models to keep track of the information we were gathering from our experiment to find good conductors and insulators. We also used models to find out which material would be a good base for a coffee or water thermos. Models helped us to keep track of the information and research we were gathering so that it was organized and in one place.