Heat flows from the hot place to other cooler places. There are basically three ways in which this heat flow can take place. One of them is conduction. A conductor is something that allows heat to pass through it. (An electrical conductor does the same with electricity.) Copper is a good conductor for heat (and also for electricity). We are going to do an experiment involving the movement of heat by conduction.
Experiment : To investigate the flow of heat by conduction along a piece of copper.
Apparatus: A thick-walled copper pipe that has been blocked along its length to prevent any air flow along it and has 5 holes spaced at 10 cm intervals in the wall of the pipe. 5 thermometers placed in the holes to measure the temperatures at those points. A retort-stand to hold the pipe, and a hot-air blow-lamp.
Method : The pipe is held by the clamp of the retort-stand as shown in Fig 1 and the temperatures are read from the thermometers. This is time zero. The blow-lamp is used to heat one end of the pipe up to about 70 °C and the temperatures are read at 1 minute intervals during the heating phase and the subsequent cooling.
Results : Fig 2 is a graph of the results.
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SCIENCE Experiment of the Week |
Heat Conduction 12 January 2008 |
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