Keeping IT HOT

Charles, Allen, Hannah & Yvonne

We were selected to form an advisory committee for the ‘Quidditch World Cup Association’ we were asked to explore and investigate using fair testing and comparisons. We investigated a range of materials and properties, to recommend which material would be the best insulator for and most suitable for serving hot drinks in ‘The Cauldron Magical Pub & Inn’ tent.

Predictions

What we expect to discover

‘The Cauldron Magical Pub & Inn’ wanted to know which material would be the most suitable for keeping drinks hot during the festival. We made our predictions one by one; Allen thought that the card cup would be the most suitable for keeping drinks hot. However, Hannah thought that the card cup would conduct the most heat, but that it would also be the best insulator because it was made of paper. Yvonne thought that the tin can might be the most suitable drinks container because tin cans are made of metal and metal is a good conductor and would therefore keep the heat inside. Finally, Charles thought that the plastic tumbler might be the most suitable for keeping water hot, because it was a very hard and thick material.

A Fair Test In Science?

One thing changes, everything else stays the same!

A fair test is where one thing changes, everything else stays the same. We decided that we would change the materials: tin can, plastic tumbler, card cup and glass jar, but that we would keep the temperature of water, quantity of water and thermometer the same. We would then observe which materials would conduct the most heat or insulate the highest temperature of water. We would then pour the same amount of water inside and measure any change of the temperature at the same time.

The actual INVESTIGATION

What did you do?

We created a table to record our observations. Whilst conducting our experiment, we observed that:

After 2 minutes, the water in the Glass Jar was 55 degrees celsius, however after 18 minutes it had decreased to 20 degrees celsius.
After 2 minutes, the water in the Tin Can measured 56 degrees celsius, however after 18 minutes it had decreased to 43 degrees celsius.
After 2 minutes, the water in the Card Cup measured 56 degrees celsius, however after 18 minutes it had decreased to 39.5 degrees celsius.
After 2 minutes, the water in the Plastic Tumbler measured 56 degrees celsius, however after 18 minutes it had decreased to 40 degrees celsius.

This meant that according to our observations on our table, the tin can would be the most suitable material for hot drinks containers in the ‘The Cauldron Magical Pub & Inn’ tent.

Findings

What did you discover?

We created a line graph to show the results of our investigation. We used different colours to represent each of the different materials. For example, yellow represents the Tin Can, blue represents the Glass Jar and green represents the Plastic Tumbler. We also used dots to represent the temperature of different materials at the same time, helping us to show the decrease of temperature in 20 minutes.

Variables

What would you change?

If we were to do this experiment again, we would keep three things the same. Firstly, we would keep the temperature of water the same. Secondly, we would keep the quantity of water the same. Finally, we would keep the thermometer the same. But we have to change something, so we would change the amount of thermometers used in the experiment. We only had one thermometer this time. If we had more thermometers, it would be easier to measure the temperature of water at the same time as we could leave the thermometers in the containers. This would stop the temperature of the air affecting the measurements as we move the thermometer between the different containers.

Yvonne & Charles completing their variables.

TO CONCLUDE

Our suggestions

We chose the card cup because it acts as the best insulator, keeping the temperature inside the container warm for the longest amount of time. However it can only be provided to the people who can finish the drink in 20 minutes. If you need more than 20 minutes to finish the drink, we would recommend providing the Tin Can. However the second reason we would recommend the Card Cup is that it is a good insulator. This means that the person holding it is less likely to be burned by the boiling water inside than they would by the Tin Can which is a good conductor of heat. It is our recommendation that ‘The Cauldron Magical Pub & Inn’ therefore use the card cup to contain their hot drinks.