Heat Flow Investigation
Background/Research:
Your teacher has designed an experiment with some things found around the house that she thought
might be good at keeping a canned drink cold. The same type of drink will be put in a brown paper
lunch bag with six different coverings to attempt to keep it cold. The coverings used are: wool sock,
paper towel, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, cotton sock, no covering. The temperature will be recorded
when the drinks come out of the refrigerator. The temperature will be measured and then the drinks
will be covered with the six different coverings and placed in the window seal until the end of the
period when the temperature will be recorded again.
Objective:
I can identify how thermal energy transfers.
Prediction:
How will the type of insulator affect the heat cool rate?
**Rank the coverings in order from most effective to least effective**
Hypothesis:
If a wool sock, paper towel, aluminum foil, plastic baggie, cotton sock, and nothing are put around a
soft drink then the ______________________ will be the best insulator.
Independent Variable:
___________________________
Dependent Variable:
__________________________
Controls/Constants:
___________________________
Materials:
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Soft Drink
Paper Bag
Thermometer



Timer
Wool Sock
Paper Towel
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
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Aluminum Foil
Plastic Baggie
Cotton Sock
Procedure:
1. Take the temperature of the soft drink, record this temperature in the data table.
2. Wrap each soft drink with one of the coverings, paper towel, aluminum foil, plastic baggie,
cotton sock, wool sock, and leave one uncovered.
3. Place the soft drinks in a paper bag and on the window seal.
4. At the end of class record the temperature of each drink, record the temperature in the data
table.
Data
Material
Wool sock
Paper towel
Aluminum
Plastic baggie
Cotton sock
Nothing
Beginning temp from
fridge
5
5
5
5
5
4
Ending Temp after
insulation
Temperature Difference
Analysis:
1. Was your prediction correct? Why or Why not?
2. What covering was the best insulator? What do you think made it so effective?
3. What covering was the worst insulator? Why do you think it was ineffective?