1. Energy (required practical 2 - thermal insulators)

Question 1

What is the practical investigating?

Answer 1

the effectiveness of thermal insulators

Question 2

What are the steps for investigating the effectiveness of different materials as thermal insulators?

Answer 2

1. Place a small beaker inside a larger beaker
2. Use a kettle the boil some water
3. Transfer 80cm3 of the hot water into the small beaker
4. Use a piece of cardboard as a lid for the large beaker. The lid must have a hole for a thermometer
5. Place a thermometer through the hole in the cardboard lid
6. record the starting temperature of the water and start a stopwatch
7. record the temperature of the water every 3 minutes for 15 minutes
8. repeat the experiment using the same volume of hot water, but use an insulating material to fill the gap between the two beakers
9. Test a range of different insulating materials

Question 3

What is an example of an insulating material that could be used for the experiment?

Answer 3

• bubble wrap
• cotton wool
• polystyrene balls

Question 4

What should be controlled in the experiment?

Answer 4

• the mass of each insulating material
• the volume of water
• the starting temperature of the water for each experiment

Question 5

What can be plotted for the different insulators?

Answer 5

cooling curves

Question 6

What are the steps for measuring how the thickness of a material affects the thermal insulation?

Answer 6

1. Start with a beaker containing 80cm3 of hot water
2. Measure the temperature of the water every 3 minutes for 15 minutes
3. repeat the experiment, but with two layers of newspaper wrapped around the beaker
4. repeat the experiment 2 more times using four and then 6 layers of newspaper

Question 7

With more layers of newspaper, why does the water cool down slower?

Answer 7

more layers is a more effective thermal insulator than fewer layers