Keeping your tea hot or your hot chocolate warm can sometimes be quite a challenge. I'm sure there has been instances where you need a hot drink or even a cold drink but you just can't acquire it. I'm doing this experiment to find out which common cup material best insulates a hot drink so it can last longer if you forget to drink it or for some other reason. The materials in question are Styrofoam, Glass, Paper, Plastic.
In order to keep the warmth we must use thermal insulation. Thermal insulation can be used to keep an enclosed area hot or cold. Heat is transferred from one material to another, insulators just reduce the transfer rate. Thermal insulation is used everywhere, when the air outside is cold, you wear warm clothes, If you have a hot drink, you may want to prevent it from becoming room temperature by putting it in a Thermos bottle. Basically you use thermal insulation whenever you want to prevent being the same temperature as your surroundings. A good insulator is a poor conductor. Less dense materials make better insulators, because the particles are more spread out, SO it takes more time for the heat to travel.
Looking at the comparison of the materials glass seems to be inferior from the rest of the materials. Styrofoam and paper have better insulation and because Styrofoam is slightly thicker it is seen as the better choice.
Although Styrofoam doesn't appear to be the more eco-friendly choice and paper biodegrades faster than Styrofoam., reason being paper is used more often serve your hot cup of coffee. Plastic is also seen as an another alternative, it is sought of in between PLASTIC AND STYROFOAM in terms of insulation but when it is turned into a travel mug it improves its insulation ability and it becomes much safer to hold a scalding hot drink as it turns into very thick material. Using the R-value, watts (square metres X degrees Celsius) or British
Thermal Unit (BTU) (hours X feet X degrees Celsius), here are the conductivity values of the materials, the higher the value, the faster the heat travels through the material:

Plastic- o.69 BTU

Styrofoam-0.6 BTU

Paper-0.09 BTU

Glass-1.82 BTU
for THIS EXPERIMENT I WILL NEED TO ACQUIRE THE FOUR MATERIALS I'VE MENTIONED ABOVE plastic, Styrofoam, PAPER AND GLASS. TAKING A THERMOMETER, I will measure the current room temperature water. I will then fill each cup individually with their designated material with approximately 100 ML of boiling water, measured by a jug with measurements, heated at 6 minutes each time I boil water which will approximately be 70 degrees Celsius each time. Once poured I will drop the thermometer in the water and observe how fast the heat is going out every minute for 30 minutes (time recorded with stop watch). the EFFICIENCY RANKING OF A MATERIAL WILL DETERMINE WHICH MATERIAL IS THE BEST
INSULATOR. I PREDICT THAT THE Styrofoam WILL BE THE BEST INSULATOR, WITH PLASTIC
COMING SECOND AND PAPER COMING THIRD as they are less dense. the glass will probably run out of heat in 10 minutes.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE- material OF CUP
 dependant VARIABLE- amount OF TEMPERATURE LOST

 control VARIABLE - glass CUP ( I SEE GLASS USED VERY OFTEN )

Controlled variables- starting heat of water, the amount of water and the amount of time for how long I will be measuring the temperature

BEWARE : BOILING WATER CAN CAUSE BURNS, WEAR GLOVES IF POSSIBLE
 don't PIERCE SELF WITH THERMOMETER

DON'T LEAVE CUPS LYING AROUND, CAN CAUSE SLIP HAZARD
 wear GLASSES IF NEEDED IN CASE OF BOILING WATER FLICKER