heat transfer spoon experiment

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Conducting Heat Science Experiment

Which material conducts heat better, wood, plastic, or metal? In this experiment, we learn about conducting heat and how various materials conduct heat differently.

Note: Although the materials for this experiment are easy to find, one of the materials is boiling hot water. Depending on the age of your children the help of an adult is important. See our demonstration video and printable instructions below.

JUMP TO SECTION:   Instructions  |  Video Tutorial  |  How it Works

Supplies Needed

• Small Glass Bowl
• Three Spoons (1 made out of wood, 1 made out of plastic and 1 made out of metal)
• Boiling Water

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Conducting Heat Science Experiment Instructions

Step 1 – Begin by positioning 3 spoons in a small glass bowl.

Step 2 – Place a small pat of butter at the top of each spoon.

Step 3 – Put a bead in each pat of butter.

Step 4 – Carefully pour hot boiling water into the bowl until it is almost completely full. Be careful not to allow the spoons to fall into the bowl.

Step 5 – Watch carefully to see what happens to the beads. Write down your observations. Did all the beads behave the same? Do you know why? Find out the answer in the how does this experiment work section below.

Helpful Tip: You will likely need to watch the experiment for 5-10 minutes before anything happens.

Video Tutorial

How Does the Science Experiment Work

Heat can move in three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. In this experiment, the heat was transferred by means of conduction.

Conduction is the transfer of heat from one particle of matter to another without the movement of matter itself. As matter is heated, the particles that make up the matter begin to move faster.

In this experiment when we placed the spoons in the boiling water, the fast-moving water particles collide with the slow-moving spoon particles. As a result of the collision between the water particles and spoon particles, the particles of the spoon begin to move faster and the metal spoon becomes hotter. As the metal spoon gets hotter, the butter begins to melt and the bead slides down the spoon.

Why did the bead slide down the metal spoon faster than the wooden spoon or plastic spoon? Metal is a good conductor of heat, while wood and plastic are good insulators . A conductor transfers thermal energy (heat) well, while an insulator does not transfer thermal energy (heat) well.

I hope you enjoyed the experiment. Here are some printable instructions:

Instructions

• Begin my positioning 3 spoons in a small glass bowl.
• Place a small pat of butter at the top of each spoon
• Put a bead in each pat of butter
• Carefully pour hot boiling water into the bowl until it is almost completely full. Be careful not to allow the spoons to fall into the bowl.
• Watch carefully to see what happens to the beads. Note: You will likely need to watch the experiment for 5-10 minutes before anything happens.

Reader Interactions

March 5, 2019 at 6:35 am

Dear CoolScienceExperimentsHQ,

Thank you so much for sharing this, this really-really helped me and my group out on our science experiment on conduction and convection! Again i have to say thank you for this.

~a grateful 7th grader

May 5, 2023 at 7:53 pm

yes i agree with you this was very helpful and it looks fun to make.

May 10, 2023 at 3:59 am

same with me lol but for yr 8

February 2, 2024 at 11:42 am

I have not tried this experiment yet but, based on the comments so far I can be almost sure that it will work thanks for being super awesome scientists -A 5th grader that hopes to be grateful in the future

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A Guide to 3 Simple Heat Conduction Experiments

Last Updated: November 24, 2023 Fact Checked

• Bunsen Burner

This article was co-authored by Bess Ruff, MA . Bess Ruff is a Geography PhD student at Florida State University. She received her MA in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016. She has conducted survey work for marine spatial planning projects in the Caribbean and provided research support as a graduate fellow for the Sustainable Fisheries Group. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 184,215 times.

Whether you realize it or not, heat conduction is an important part of our lives. You probably use it every single day when you’re cooking a meal or using a radiator. The transfer of heat from a heat source to an object is basic heat conduction. If you’re looking for a way to test it yourself or explain it to a child there are a few simple experiments you can choose from.

Performing a Heat Conduction Experiment With Hot Water

• You need to get spoons that are relatively long. If you put the spoon in the pot the handle should be coming out of the pot by about three or four inches.
• If you want a precise measurement for heat conduction you can also use thermometers. In that case, you’ll need three thermometers and electrical tape.

• While any pot will work, a shallow, broad pot might help you balance the butter on the spoons more easily.

• If you are using thermometers to measure the heat conduction, tape the thermometers to the handles of each spoon before you put them in the water.

• Metal conducts heat better than wood, which conducts heat better than plastic.
• If you are using thermometers, check your thermometer readings after a few minutes. The same results will appear with specific numbers.

Performing a Heat Conduction Experiment With a Balloon

• The balloon pops because the candle heated up the balloon, which weakened the balloon.

• The candle is warming the water rather than popping the balloon. That’s why water isn’t going flying everywhere. The balloon conducts heat and is able to transfer it to the water without damaging the balloon.
• If you hold the candle to the balloon long enough it will pop, but it will take much longer than a balloon filled without air.

Performing a Heat Conduction Experiment With a Bunsen Burner

• You can buy wax and metal tacks at a craft store.

• You should have six tacks connected to the metal rod in all.

• If you have heat resistant gloves and no other way to secure the metal rod over the burner, you can hold the rod there. Keep a steady hand.

• This experiment illustrates how metal conducts heat. You can visualize how one end of the metal rod got hot rather than the entire rod heating up at an equal pace. This is based on where the Bunsen burner was placed. If you placed the burner in the middle of the rod, the heat would start in the middle and extend outwards in either direction. [11] X Research source

Community Q&A

• Use Eye protection if you're handling a Bunsen burner. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Handle the Bunsen burner with care. Place on a safety flame when not heating. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.stemlittleexplorers.com/en/heat-conduction-experiment/
• ↑ https://coolscienceexperimentshq.com/conducting-heat/
• ↑ https://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/teachdemos_7.pdf
• ↑ https://www.scienceworld.ca/resource/fireproof-balloons/
• ↑ http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/ExperimentOnHeatConduction/

About This Article

Heat conduction occurs when heat transfers from a source to an object. You can perform an experiment that shows heat conduction using a pot of water and spoons. Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil and then removing it from the heat. Then, place 1 wooden spoon, 1 plastic spoon, and 1 metal spoon in the water so the bowl on each spoon is sticking up out of the water and resting on the side of the pot. Place a slice of butter into each of the spoon bowls and wait a few minutes. When you check the spoons, you'll notice that the butter is more melted in the metal spoon than it is in the wooden and plastic spoons. This is because metal conducts heat better than wood and plastic. You'll also notice that the butter is more melted in the wooden spoon than in the plastic spoon, since wood conducts heat better than plastic. To learn how to do a heat conduction experiment with a balloon, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Heat Conductivity – Spoon Test

What you will learn.

In this lesson, you will learn about heat conductivity and how different materials can feel hot or cold. You will be able to identify which materials, like metal, wood, and plastic, conduct heat better than others. You will also make predictions about which spoon will make a button fall off first when placed in hot water, and discover the results of your experiment. By the end, you will understand why metal feels hotter than wood or plastic and why some materials are good at keeping heat in or out!

Let's Think

• What did you learn about how different materials can feel hot or cold?
• Which spoon do you think was the best at conducting heat, and why?
• Can you name other materials that might be good or bad conductors of heat?

Lesson Article

Have you ever wondered why some things feel hotter or colder than others? This is because of something called heat conductivity. Heat conductivity is how well different materials let heat pass through them.

The Spoon Experiment

Let’s do a fun experiment to see how heat conductivity works! We have three spoons that are the same size, but they are made of different materials: metal, wood, and plastic. We will put a little bit of margarine on the tip of each spoon and place a small button on top of the margarine.

What Happens Next?

We will pour hot water into a bowl and place the spoons in it. The heat from the water will start to move through each spoon. Can you guess which spoon will make the button fall off first?

Making Predictions

Think about it for a moment. Which spoon do you think will let the heat pass through the fastest and make the margarine melt, causing the button to fall?

The Results

Did you guess the metal spoon? If you did, you were right! The button on the metal spoon fell off because metal is a good conductor of heat. This means it lets heat pass through it easily. On the other hand, the buttons on the wooden and plastic spoons stayed put because wood and plastic are not good conductors of heat. They are called heat insulators because they do not let heat pass through them easily.

Now you know why metal objects can feel hotter or colder than wooden or plastic ones. Metals let heat move through them quickly, while wood and plastic do not. Thanks for learning with us! See you next time for more fun experiments!

Discussion Questions

• Can you think of some objects at home that feel very hot or very cold when you touch them? Why do you think they feel that way?
• Have you ever touched something metal, like a doorknob or a spoon, on a hot day? How did it feel compared to touching something made of wood or plastic?
• Why do you think it’s important to know which materials are good conductors of heat and which are not? Can you think of a situation where this knowledge might be useful?

Lesson Activities

Conductivity Hunt: Go on a hunt around your home to find objects made of metal, wood, and plastic. Touch each object and think about how it feels. Is it warm or cool? Try to guess which ones are good conductors of heat and which ones are insulators. Discuss with a family member or friend why you think each object feels the way it does.

Ice Cube Challenge: With the help of an adult, gather a metal spoon, a wooden spoon, and a plastic spoon. Place an ice cube on the end of each spoon and observe what happens. Which ice cube melts the fastest? Talk about why you think this happens and how it relates to what you learned about heat conductivity.

Story Time: Imagine you are a superhero with the power to control heat. Write a short story about a day in your life using your powers. How would you use your knowledge of heat conductivity to solve problems or help others? Share your story with your class or family.

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Family-Style Homeschooling

Heat Conduction Experiment

This exploration is for all ages, as the colored smilies show. You can do the heat conduction experiment with your whole family together!

The heat conduction experiment is a chemistry lesson from Layers of Learning Unit 2-12 about the properties of metals. Layers of Learning has hands-on experiments in every unit of this family-friendly curriculum. Learn more about Layers of Learning .

Heat is conducted through a material, like a spoon, by vibrating and colliding molecules in the spoon. The higher the heat, the higher the vibrations. Heat can also be conducted from one material to another, like water to a spoon, through the water molecules vibrating against the spoon’s molecules.

Some materials conduct heat better then others. In this experiment you’ll get to see how plastic, metal, and wood compare in their ability to conduct heat.

Step 1: Library Research

Before you begin exploring, read a book or watch a video about heat conduction. Here are some suggestions, but if you can’t find these, look for books at your library about heat conduction. The colored smilies above each book tell you what age level they’re recommended for.

As Amazon affiliates, the recommended books and products below kick back a tiny percentage of your purchase to us. It doesn’t affect your cost and it helps us run our website. We thank you!

The Energy That Warms Us

by Jennifer Boothroyd

Heat Transfer

by Crash Course

Thermal Conduction, Convection, and Radiation

by Khan Academy

Step 2: Heat Conduction Experiment

WARNING! This experiment uses very hot water and a hot burner. Young children should be kept back while an older child (already trained in the use and safety of hot stoves) or adult performs the experiment.

For this experiment you will need a stove or hot plate, a pot of water, three spoons made of different materials: metal, plastic, and wood, and butter or margarine.

Start by putting a pot of water on the hot stove.  Once the water is good and hot (boiling or near boiling), carefully place 3 different spoons in the pot – one metal, one plastic or rubber, and one wooden spoon. Wait a few minutes for the spoons to heat up.

The next step is to make a prediction or hypothesis about what will happen if you place a little pat of butter on each of the spoons.  Have the kids write down their hypotheses. Here is a scientific method experiment sheet to use for this experiment.

The actual experiment happens very quickly, so make sure everyone is ready and watching when you put a pat of butter on each one.

The butter on the metal spoon almost immediately melted away; the butter on the wooden spoon melted some; meanwhile, the butter on the plastic spoon stayed firm much longer.  The heat was transferred by moving molecules within the spoons.

Metal conducts heat much better than plastic or wood.

Complete your experiment sheets with a labeled drawing of the experiment, a description of the method used, and the results.

Step 3: Show What You Know

Now that you know metal is a better conductor of heat than plastic or wood, design an experiment to test other materials against metal like glass and ceramics or fabrics. But this time don’t use a pot of boiling water. Write up your hypothesis, materials, method, and results.

Additional Layers

Additional Layers are extra activities you can do or tangents you can take off on. You will find them in the sidebars of each Layers of Learning unit . They are optional, so just choose what interests you.

Check out this interactive website to learn about the three ways heat is transferred – conduction, convection, and radiation – and what the difference between them is.

Additional Layer

Some kids may ask if cold is conducted too.  The answer is no.  Scientifically, cold is the absence of heat, so only heat is conducted. If something feels cold that is because it is conducting your heat away from your body.

Deep Thoughts

Is the blanket on your bed a good heat conductor?  That doesn’t mean “Does it keep you warm?”  It means, “Does heat transfer through your blanket quickly and easily?”

Sometimes things are useful to us because they conduct heat well, and some things are more useful to us because they don’t.  What would happen if the hot pads you use to get cookies out the oven were good heat conductors?

Free Samples

Try family-style homeschooling now with free samples of four Layers of Learning units when you subscribe. You'll get to try family-style history, geography, science, and arts with your children.

You can unsubscribe any time.

5 thoughts on “Heat Conduction Experiment”

This is soooo cool!!!!

Can this be done with chocolate?

Anything melt-able will work. Butter is just easily melt-able so it’s easy to see. Chocolate might take a little longer to melt on your metal spoon, but yeah, it should work.

can this be done with a knife?

It can be done with any utensils that will hold the butter and are made of the three basic materials – a heat-tolerant plastic, wood, and metal.

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Hardening C Against ROP: Getting CET Shadow Stacks Working

Microprogramming: a new way to program, london, paris, amsterdam are the leading vc ecosystems in europe, report finds, nypd officers shot innocent bystanders, fellow cop chasing down a fare jumper, debian packaging from first principles, today’s wordle hints, answer and help for sept. 25, #1194, today’s nyt connections hints, answers and help for sept. 25, #472, chappell roan issues video statement defending position on not endorsing a presidential candidate, reiterates there are ‘problems on both sides’, mkbsd: download all the wallpapers in mkbhd’s “panels” app for free, wbd’s max readies rollout in asia-pacific, requires multiple models: ‘our goal is to reach the fan base’, 3 ways to do a simple heat conduction experiment.

Introduction:

Heat conduction is the process of transferring heat energy from one area of a substance to another through collisions between particles. This phenomenon plays a crucial role in understanding thermodynamics and various real-world applications. In this article, we will discuss three simple and educational heat conduction experiments you can perform at home or in the classroom.

1. The Metal Spoon Test

– Metal spoons (at least 3, each made of different metals)

– A pot of boiling water

– A timer

1. Place the metal spoons into the pot of boiling water, ensuring that their handles do not touch.

2. Once the spoons are submerged in the water, start the timer.

3. After about two minutes, carefully remove each spoon from the pot using protective gloves to avoid burns.

4. Observe which spoon handle became hot faster than others.

In this experiment, metals with higher thermal conductivity will transfer heat faster along their length, causing some spoon handles to get hot more quickly.

2. The Ice Cube Melting Race

– Ice cubes (at least 4)

– Blocks of different materials (such as wood, metal, plastic, and Styrofoam)

– A stopwatch or timer

1. Place one ice cube on top of each material block on a level surface.

2. Start the stopwatch or timer when all ice cubes are positioned.

3. Observe and compare which ice cube melts fastest.

The materials with higher thermal conductivity will absorb heat from their surroundings and transfer it to the ice faster, causing more rapid melting.

3. The Insulation Test

– Four small plastic containers with lids

– Aluminum foil

– Bubble wrap

– Cloth or fabric

– Thermometer

– Hot water

1. Line the insides of three containers with aluminum foil, bubble wrap, and cloth respectively, leaving the fourth container unmodified.

2. Fill each container with an equal amount of hot water and seal them using their lids.

3. Place a thermometer inside each container to measure the initial water temperature.

4. Check the temperature every five minutes for 30 minutes and record your readings.

This experiment demonstrates the insulating properties of materials as they slow down heat transfer. Containers with better insulation will conserve heat, resulting in a more gradual decline in their water temperature.

Conclusion:

These simple heat conduction experiments provide valuable insights into the thermodynamics of heat transfer. By performing these experiments, it’s possible to gain a better understanding of how different materials conduct heat and their various applications in daily life. Remember to handle hot materials carefully and use protective gear to avoid burns or other injuries while conducting these experiments.

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Science Years 3–4 with Mrs Bhardwaj: Transfer of heat

• X (formerly Twitter)

Mrs Bhardwaj:

Hi, everyone. This is Mrs Bhardwaj and it's science time. Are you ready for your investigation? What are we investigating today? Today we will be exploring how heat energy transfers from a warmer object or a warmer place to a colder object or a colder place.

Think about the time when you've been at the beach. You're walking bare feet on the warm sand. Your feet start to feel that warmth. And then it starts to feel hot. What happened? The heat energy transferred from the warmer place to the colder place. So it transferred from the warm sand to your feet by direct contact. This is called conduction. What do you like to repeat after me? What is it called? Conduction. Yes. We will be learning a lot about conduction today.

For this lesson, you will need a piece of paper and a pencil.

Let's all stand up. You have to do five star jumps with me. You ready? Let's go. One, two, three, four, and five. Now you have to do some jogging on the spot. Let's go. Jog, jog, faster, faster, faster. What did you notice? We are warming up. What's this heat energy? Let's investigate.

Our learning intention for today is to understand how heat can be transferred through conduction. That means direct contact.

The words we are going to be using today are: Heat: is energy moving from one object to another. Conduction: When energy is transferred by direct contact. Particles: are the tiny bits that make up everything.

Let's try to understand what heating does. I'm going to show you a quick investigation. I have two jars here. One has cold water, the other has warm water. I'm going to pour two drops of red food dye in both the jars. I want you to be a keen observer. That means look closely at what's happening in the jar. Ready? Excitement. One, two, one, two. Did you see what's happening? What's happening? Oh, can you see? The red food dye is spreading very quickly in the warm jar. It is spreading slowly in the cold jar. Why is that happening? What is happening? I can explain. The particles in the cold jar are moving very slowly. So they've got less energy. The particles in the warm water are very excited. They're moving faster. They've got more energy. This is what heating does. Heating makes the particles move faster.

Now you understand what heating does, let's try to understand how heat energy is transferred. This is delicious. Are you wondering what I'm drinking? Well, this is hot chocolate. Ah, something is happening to my hands. When you hold a cup of hot chocolate in your hand, what do you observe? Yes. Your hands start getting warmer. Why does that happen? When heat energy flows from, transfers from a warmer place to a colder place by direct contact, this is called conduction. Good conductors transfer heat easily.

Have you ever wondered, at home, why do we have some utensils that have a metal handle, some utensils that have a wooden handle and some utensils that have a plastic handle? What do you like to learn more about that? Let's do another investigation.

Let's use the information on the board to understand our investigation. What's the question we are going to investigate today? Which substance (metal, wood or plastic) is the best conductor of heat? The resources we are going to use today are: a metal spoon, a plastic spoon, a wooden spoon, butter, a cup, and some warm water. Steps. What steps are we going to follow? First, we are going to place three spoons in our cup. Then we are going to place an equal blob of butter on each spoon. Then we are going to pour warm water in the cup very carefully. When all this is done, we are going to observe which substance is the best conductor of heat. How will we know that? The butter on the top that melts the first, the fastest, will let us know that that spoon is going to be the best conductor of heat.

To investigate, we are first going to predict. Then we are going to observe, and then we're going to explain. So it's prediction time. I would like you to grab your paper and your pencil. We are going to predict which substance is the best conductor of heat. So which spoon will help the butter to melt the fastest? Write your prediction while I write my prediction. Which spoon will help the butter to melt fastest? Wooden? No, plastic. I think I'm going to write that. Plastic will be the best conductor of heat.

Let's go ahead and do our investigation. We have now got three spoons in our cup. So all these spoons have an equal blob of butter. I am now going to very carefully pour warm water in the cup. If you're doing that at home, or if you're doing it at school, make sure you have an adult helping you to pour the warm water. We are going to see which butter starts melting first. So remember, the heat energy always transfers from the warmer place to the colder place. So the heat energy will be transferring from the bottom of the spoon to the top of the spoon. Ok, very carefully I'm pouring the water and it is hot and I'm being very careful. And let's observe. All right, what's happening? Which butter is getting softer? Patience, it takes time. Some experiments, some investigations take time. All right, which one? Oh, yes! Did you see that? The butter actually went right into the cup! Well done, metal. Metal spoon wins the race. It is the best conductor of heat.

Grab your pencil and your paper and let's write our observation. I have written my observation here already for you. The butter on the metal spoon won the race. Yes, we saw that happening, didn't we? Now, can anyone help me explain why that happened? Yes. Good job. Fantastic. The butter on the metal spoon won the race because the metal spoon is the best conductor of heat. I want you to now write your explanation in your own words.

Do you know, in real life scientists do the same experiment a number of times. They want to see if they get the same results every time. This is how they confirm if their results are accurate. At home, I would like you to try this experiment two times. I would like you to record your results in the table similar to what I have on the board. Tick off which spoon wins the race at your home.

Now you know, in your kitchen, your wooden spoon and your plastic spoon, which are not good conductors of heat, will not warm up your hands so much in comparison to your metal spoon. Look around yourself. Science is everywhere. All around us. Remember, always question, always wonder, bye for now.

SUBJECTS:   Science

YEARS:  3–4

Investigate how heat energy can be transferred through conduction.

Mrs Bhardwaj explains what conduction is and demonstrates an investigation to show which spoon is the best conductor of heat. You are then encouraged to repeat this investigation at home to see if you get the same result.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Mrs Bhardwaj, The Victorian Department of Education and Training, and Hillsmeade Primary School.

Production Date: 2021

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2020 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Department of Education and Training (Victoria). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Department of Education and Training (Victoria).

Science Years 3–4 with Mrs Bhardwaj: Solid to liquid

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Science Experiment on Heat Conduction With Metals and Water

Heat conduction is an important physics concept that impacts everyday life. From boiling water to household heaters, heat conduction regularly improves our quality of life. Understanding heat conduction -- and particularly how certain materials conduct heat better than others -- also aids in avoiding injuries like burns. Simple experiments comparing the conductivity of heat and water provide instruction in the topic.

Spoons in Water

Students might have already unintentionally conducted this experiment at home, without knowing they were learning about physics. Students should be given a pot of boiling water. They should then place a wooden spoon in the water on the left, and a fully metal spoon on the right. Both should have their handles protruding out of the water. Being extremely careful -- gloves are recommended -- students should feel the temperatures of both handles. They will notice the metal handle, even where it does not touch the water, is much warmer than the wooden handle. This is because metal is a highly conductive material. Conduction allows hot, energetic atoms to collide with cooler atoms higher up the handle, and in turn, make those atoms more energetic. This moves heat energy throughout the object. For a slight alteration to this experiment, place a pat of cold butter on the end of each spoon and record the relative rates at which the pats melt.

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While most metals are more conductive than non-metal materials, different types of metals differ in their level of conductivity. Students can demonstrate this using a lit candle and three different types of metal rods. The types of metal is up to the teacher, but copper, iron and nickel will all do. From there, students should place one end of the rod in the flame, and then continue to hold the other end. They should time how long it takes for their hands to feel warm on the other end of the rod. Once repeated for each different type of metal, students can observe how quickly some metals conduct heat compared to others.

Water Temperature Equilibrium

Students can watch heat conduction using both metal and water at the same time. For this experiment, students should have a large Styrofoam cup and a smaller metal can. They should fill the metal can with boiling water, and the Styrofoam cup with iced water. The metal can should be placed inside the Styrofoam cup. From there, students should place thermometers in the can and Styrofoam cup. They should then time how long it takes for both thermometers to read the same temperature. This will demonstrate the concept that heat can transfer without actually mixing the water through conductivity. For an added demonstration in conductivity, students should try this experiment using different types of metal, or even a non-metal, and see how the time to get the two waters at an equal temperature differs.

Voltage and Salt Water

More advanced students can move on to measuring voltage using specialized equipment. For this experiment, students should use a voltmeter, three electric wires with alligator clips, two copper electrodes and a 4.5-volt battery. Students should also have a glass of water and some salt. Begin by connecting the red electric wire to the voltmeter and clipping the end with the alligator clip to a copper electrode. The negative electric string should be attached to the battery and the positive string should have a crocodile with copper electrode on the end. Without the two electrodes touching each other, both should be submerged in a glass of distilled water. Students should measure the voltage on the voltmeter, and see how it changes as the two plates are moved away. Finally, students should add a teaspoon of salt and see how the voltage changes. This will help demonstrate how particular compounds -- like salt -- are more conductive than something like distilled water.

• The Physics Classroom: Methods of Heat Transfer
• University of Hawaii: Conduction Experiments
• Science at Home: Water Conductivity

Kevin Wandrei has written extensively on higher education. His work has been published with Kaplan, Textbooks.com, and Shmoop, Inc., among others. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at Cornell University.

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What is Heat Conduction and how to demonstrate it

Ever wondered why air conditioners are placed high, and radiators near the ground why is a warm beverage the best thing on a cold day how can we detect people in the dark answer to all that is the same – heat transfer  and what makes something good heat conductor let’s explore all that in this fun kitchen experiment., article contents.

What is Heat conduction?

In simplest terms, heat conduction is the movement of warmth (heat) from one object to another. So, when we have two objects with different temperatures and they come into contact, we can observe heat or thermal conduction.

Imagine you come from the outside in the winter and your hands are freezing. You take the warm cup of tea and you just hold that cup for a few minutes. You can feel the warmth coming back into your freezing hands. That’s an example of the heat conduction! When we touch the hot cup, the heat flows from the hotter object (cup) to the colder one (our hands). Thermal conduction also happened when we poured hot water into the cup with room temperature.

The knowledge about thermal conductivity led to some fascinating products that we use in everyday life. Examples include thermal bottle or cookware that is designed to prevent temperature change. Heat conduction is surely making our lives much more convenient, so let’s learn more about it.

More in-depth heat conduction explanation

You probably know that all things are made of atoms – tiny, microscopic particles that form all matter. Atom is a neutral particle that has a positively charged nucleus at its center and negatively charged electrons moving around the nucleus. 

The temperature of the object is actually a measure of how fast its atoms are moving. And the heat is a measure of the total energy created by vibrations of atoms.

Thermal conduction happens when we raise the temperature of an object. With that, we also increase its kinetic energy . That means that atoms inside it start to move faster and that naturally increases the chance of them bumping into each other. How much will they collide also depends on the density of a material we have on our hands. When atoms are more tightly packed, they will naturally collide more often. That’s why metals (which are very dense) are much better heat conductors than say wood.

Moving atoms hit neighborhood atoms and pass the energy to them. And that is the heat conduction in a nutshell.

Convection and Radiation – other forms of Heat transfer

While cooking a meal, did you ever notice how food inside the pot is moving up and down in the water? You probably did, but did you ever wonder why is it so? The answer is convection  – another form of heat transfer. Ther raising smoke above the water is also another example of convection and it represents the movement of the heated air. 

In other words, convection is the process of heat transfer by the movement of fluids and gases. Convection cannot occur in solids because particles of solids are fixed and close to each other. Remember, with solids, we are talking about conduction and vibrations of particles.

When convection occurs, particles of fluids and gasses near the heat source become hotter and thus their density decreases. With lower density, they are rising and colder particles take their place near the heat source and the process repeats.

That’s why heaters are usually placed near the ground. That makes hot air raise and sets up a convection current that circulates in the room and warms it. And that is the reason why air conditioners are near the ceiling. Hotter air raises up to be cooled and the cool air moves down. Natural phenomena like wind can also be produced by convection. Convection current (wind) is created due to the difference in temperature above the sea and the land.

And what about the life-giving heat from the Sun? Space between the Sun and the Earth is a vacuum, and conduction and convection need matter as a medium to transfer the heat. That’s where the third heat transfer process comes into play – radiation .

Radiation is the process of heat transfer by electromagnetic waves . Electromagnetic waves are oscillatory magnetic and electric fields that can easily travel in a vacuum. The sun emits many different kinds of electromagnetic radiation. The light we get from the sun is one example of electromagnetic radiation. The energy that comes from the sun (by energy, we mean heat) is also electromagnetic radiation.

Even human bodies radiate energy. Our bodies are warm and they radiate infrared radiation. That’s why we can use infrared cameras to locate the living organisms even in dark (remember Predator from the movie?).

Thermal conductivity and thermal resistivity

In the simplest form thermal conductivity is the characteristic of a material that describes how fast can heat pass through that material. So, it is the ability to conduct heat. The thermal conductivity of a material is the most important factor in the development of new technologies for heating and cooling.

Most metals and gasses are blessed with great heat conduction properties. Why? It’s all down to the atomic structure of the element, or more accurately their electron configuration. Metals usually have some free moving electrons inside of their atoms (they are called valence electrons ). When we provide an electrical charge to those atoms, their electrons start to move and jump from one atom to another. That’s how electricity travels through the metal. Good electricity conductors are also good heat conductors.

Some of the more popular thermal conductors are Copper, Aluminium, Silver, and Gold .

Opposite to thermal conductivity, we have a thermal resistivity . Materials with high thermal resistivity don’t conduct heat well and are slow to pass heat or to cool down. We call them insulators . Unlike metals, they do not let electrons easily move from one atom to another. These electrons are tightly bound and therefore don’t pass electricity (or heat) to neighboring atoms.

Some common insulator materials are glass, plastic, rubber, air, and wood . Thermal insulators are widely used in home insulation, clothing, and cars to keep the warmth. We can also find them in freezers, refrigerators, and thermoses to keep things cold.

Materials needed for Heat conduction experiment

• Boiling water
• Spoons (or sticks) of various materials – we used plastic, wooden and metal

Instructions for Heat conduction experiment

We have a video on how to make heat conduction experiment at the start of the article or continue reading instructions below if you prefer step by step text guide.

• Put a piece of butter on the tip of each spoon (wooden, plastic and metal).
• Place the spoons in the bowl so that part with butter is on the top.
• Pour boiling water in the bowl over the spoons. Leave part with the butter outside of the water.
• Observe! Will the butter melt? Which one is melting first? Do you know why? What can we conclude about the conductivity of used materials?

Silver Coin Experiment idea

Silver is one of the best heat conductive metal and if you have a silver coin nearby, you can try another simple and easy heat conduction experiment.

Put a silver coin on the ice cube and it should pass through the cube almost like it is made from the thick syrup. This is because silver is so good at thermal conduction it draws heat from the air and transfers that heat to the ice cube. And ice cube, naturally, starts to melt.

What will you develop and learn

• What is conductivity
• Different methods of heat transfer – conduction, convection, and radiation
• What makes something a conductor or an insulator
• That science is fun! 🙂

If you liked this activity and are interested in more physics experiments, we recommend exploring the force of pressure in Can crash experiment . Or take a look at density with our simple Orange density experiment . For more applied science, you can check out some of the classics: Rocket on vinegar and baking soda propulsion or a Lava lamp .

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Energy Science Experiment – Heat Conduction

Different things conduct heat in different ways. Use this energy science experiment to test which things conduct heat the best.

What you will need:

• A collection of spoons made of different materials – metal, wooden, plastic
• Modeling clay
• Butter (not margarine)
• Plastic counters
• Hot tap water – only your teacher will touch this! 

What you will do:

• Stand the spoons up in the bowl and attach them to the edge with the modeling clay.  You will need to keep the clay near the top of the bowl where it can’t get wet.
• Place a blob of butter about 5 cm or 2 inches up from the bowl on each spoon.
• Press a counter onto each blob of butter.
• Now your teacher will pour hot water into the bowl.  Be careful!  Hot water can burn!
• Watch carefully.  Remember not to touch the experiment or you could alter the results!

What is going on?

Some materials are better at conducting heat than others.  This means that when they come into contact with heat, they heat up quickly, but when the heat source is taken away they cool down quickly too.  Other materials are not very good at conducting heat.  They take a long time to heat up, but often also take a long time to cool down.

Monster Challenges: 

• Can you think of another safe way to test how well things conduct heat?
• Look it up:  what do we call materials that are NOT good conductors?

Teaching Notes: 

Key concepts:.

Heat conduction

• Investigation Record IR01– one copy per student
• Experiment Description Energy EN02– one copy per student
• Bowl, spoons of different materials, modeling clay, counters, butter, hot water

Lesson Notes:

You might prefer to do this experiment outside where spills won’t be an issue.

If you have access to interesting materials like glass, porcelain, ceramics etc, please use them – it will be interesting to see more variety of heat conductors.  Different sized spoons and different thicknesses will also add interest to your results.

Students can work in small groups.  If you have access to stop watches, students can time how long it takes for the butter to melt on each spoon.

As a class discuss the experiment prior to undertaking it, and students should complete the sections of their Investigation Report IR01 from ”Title to “Hypothesis”.

What should happen in this experiment, and why?

As the heat from the water travels along the spoons, it will melt the butter and the counter will fall or slide off.  The metal spoons will be the best conductors, so their counters should fall off sooner.  Other materials like plastic should eventually melt the butter, but some, including wood, are such poor conductors that the water may cool before the butter melts.

Follow up discussion questions:

• When would it be important to use good heat conductors?
• When would it be important to use things that aren’t good conductors?

Get this experiment here or as part of a bundle of Heat Experiments here .

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Science project, heat transfer experiment.

Heat energy is constantly being transferred from one substance to another.  Heat energy always moves from the hotter material to the colder material.  When you hold an ice cube, it might feel like the coldness is creeping up your hand, but it’s actually the other way around—the heat of your body transfers to the ice cube, which results in the ice cube obtaining a higher temperature and eventually melting.

Conduction is the most efficient form of heat transfer. In conduction, molecules of the warmer substance are moving faster than the molecules of the cooler substance. When the faster moving molecules collide with the slower moving molecules of the cooler substance, some of energy of the warmer substance is passed on. The cooler molecules that were directly collided with are moving faster, and when they collide with the surrounding cool molecules, they start moving faster too. Conduction is kind of like the game “telephone,” where the message is passed on by every individual in the circle.

The speed of conduction depends on how different the temperatures of the two objects are, how far apart they are, and what type of materials are conducting the heat. For instance, metal is a far better conductor than Styrofoam. That’s why metal is used for cooking and Styrofoam is used for the disposable coffee cups.

• Refrigerated butter or margarine
• Long metal spoon
• Large glass Jar
• Hot tap water
• Using tiny bits of cold butter, secure the three beads to the spoon handle. Make a hypothesis as to which bead will fall off the spoon first.
• Have a grown-up fill the jar with enough hot water so that just the bowl of the spoon is submerged.
• Place the spoon in the water, set the timer, and watch.

You are likely to see bead A drop off first, then bead B, and then bead C. The time it takes to do this depends on how warm your water is, and the type of butter and spoon you used.

Remember that conduction involves direct collisions between the molecules. For your particular heat transfer experiment, the source of the heat energy is the warm water. The molecules of the warm water first collide with the metal molecules in the bowl of the spoon. The molecules in the bowl of the spoon are moving faster, and they are closest to the molecules in the lowest part of the handle, so that is the next place the heat energy is transferred. The first of part of handle to get the conducted heat energy is under bead A, so the butter under that bead softened, and the bead fell off. The heat energy continued travelling along the spoon, reaching the butter under bead B next and bead C.

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Conductors of Heat : Hot Spoons

Source institutions.

• Perkins School for the Blind

Quick Guide

Materials list (per group of students).

• Large plastic cooking spoon
• Large wooden spoon
• Large metal spoon
• 3 large beakers
• 3 Talking Thermometers
• Heat source
• heat transfer
• thermometer
• Heat and Temperature
• Heat Transfer

To use this activity, learners need to:

Learning styles supported:.

• Involves hands-on or lab activities

Components that are part of this resource:

• Conductors of Heat - Hot Spoons (downloadable word document)

Access Rights:

• Free access
• All rights reserved, Perkins School for the Blind,

Introduction to Heat Transfer: Simple Heat Conduction Experiments

Introduction

We have previously seen that the main methods for heat transfer are conduction, convection, and radiation. Though these topics were treated singly, it is not unusual for all three methods to be operational at the same time.

Thermos Bottle

Cooking food.

Aside from cooking, there are simple heat transfer experiments you can do at home.

A Simple Heat Conduction Experiment

In the next part, we will look at simple experiments you can do in convection and radiation.

Image Credits

This post is part of the series: Introduction to Heat Transfer

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Observing Conduction Science Experiment

Updated:  01 Nov 2023

Teach students to make predictions about and observe thermal energy transfer through this conduction experiment.

Editable:  Google Slides

Non-Editable:  PDF

Pages:  1 Page

• Curriculum Curriculum:  TEKS
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Science 6.9(A)

Investigate methods of thermal energy transfer, including conduction, convection, and radiation;

The heat is on! 

In this simple thermal energy experiment, students will explore the process of conduction and insulation by observing the transfer of heat energy between household items. 

How Heat Transfer Experiments Show Conduction

Conductors (like metal) are materials that let electrons move freely and thus allow heat to be transferred easily. Insulators (like wood) are materials that do not allow electrons to move freely and therefore block the transfer of heat. This experiment allows middle school-age students to get hands-on in a safe environment to watch the process of conduction and insulation using 3 materials:

Students will use warm water to heat up the materials, and armed with their knowledge of the Scientific Method, determine which material conducts heat best. 

What You Will Need

The best way to use this activity is in science class as students work individually or in pairs. However, it can also be assigned as homework with parental supervision. Each student or group of students should have their own copy of this resource as they work on the heat transfer activity.

To perform this experiment with your students, each group will need the following supplies:

• 3 small bowls
• 1 wooden spoon
• 1 metal spoon
• 1 plastic spoon
• 1 butter knife 
• 3 wooden beads

Students will observe how easily the wood beads fall off the spoons as the butter melts as a reaction to the heat transfer from the water to the metal, wood, and plastic spoons. They’ll be able to identify which of the spoons acts as a conductor and which acts as an insulator. 

Take The Experiment Further

Students can choose three other objects to experiment on and predict which would be the better thermal conductor.

For students who are struggling to understand the concept, it may be helpful to display different examples of conductors and insulators on the board and review what each is before starting the activity.

Before You Download

Use the drop-down menu to choose between the Google Doc or Google Slides version. 

This resource was created by Gabriela Perez, a teacher in Texas and a Teach Starter Collaborator.

Looking for more great science activities to use in the classroom? Your students are going to love these:

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Study on three-dimensional natural convection heat transfer in a house with two heating surfaces

• Published: 24 September 2024

Cite this article

• Han-Taw Chen 1 ,
• Soft-Heart Wang 1 ,
• Saman Rashidi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6266-920X 2 &
• Wei-Mon Yan 3 , 4  

In order to explore the heat transfer properties of natural convection in the cavity, this article uses the three-dimensional CFD inverse method and the temperature measurement points based on the experimental results. In addition, different flow modes and mesh divisions are used. For the applicability of different turbulence models, the least squares method is then used to calculate Q value of the heat source in the cavity and compare that with the experimental measurement results and consistent with the overall trend. Finally, the temperature distribution diagram and velocity streamline diagram of the simulation results are provided to visualize the flow field and analyze its heat transfer characteristics. The results show that the flow pattern and the number of grid points have a great influence on the results. In terms of experiments, with the change of the cavity size and the influence of the opening, the air flow will be different. To achieve the effect of enhancing natural convection, due to the inflow of a large amount of cold air, although the overall temperature of the cavity is greatly reduced, the upper cold wall is surrounded by cold air, which reduces the heat transfer coefficient. In order to verify the reliability and usability of the results of the inverse algorithm in this article, the obtained results of heat transfer coefficient and heat dissipation are compared with previous results or empirical formulas in other related literature. When the height drops from h = 0.1 m to h = 0.05 m, the average increase in heat transfer coefficient is 2.79%; while for the height drops from h = 0.05 m to h = 0.02 m, the average increase in heat transfer coefficient is 74.8%. When side fin length is reduced form W 2 = 0.1 m to W 2 = 0.08 m, the average increase in heat transfer coefficient is 14.33%; when side fin length is reduced form W 2 = 0.08 m to W 2 = 0.06 m, the average increase in heat transfer coefficient is 41.28%.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by both Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant No. MOST 109- 2221-E-006-036) and Ministry of Education (Higher Education Sprout Project through Research Center of Energy Conservation for New Generation of Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Sectors).

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan

Han-Taw Chen & Soft-Heart Wang

Department of Energy, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Saman Rashidi

Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-Conditioning Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, 10608, Taiwan

Wei-Mon Yan

Research Center of Energy Conservation for New Generation of Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Sectors, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, 10608, Taiwan

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Chen, HT., Wang, SH., Rashidi, S. et al. Study on three-dimensional natural convection heat transfer in a house with two heating surfaces. J Therm Anal Calorim (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-13521-w

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Received : 07 May 2024

Accepted : 20 July 2024

Published : 24 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-13521-w

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