Heat Loss Investigation Essays -- Factors Affecting the Rate of Heat l

Heat Loss Investigation Introduction ============ In this investigation I will investigate heat loss and heat transfer in different materials and I will also investigate which materials are the best insulators. A material that prevents this heat loss is called an insulator and this helps to keep the object that is being insulated warmer for, longer. Heat is generally transferred in three different methods: - - Conduction - Convection - Radiation Conduction is energy transferred from the hotter part of a solid to the colder part of conduction. It is transferred by the particles in the material the particles in the hot part are vibrating more. These vibrations are passed on to the cooler particles next to them, so the energy spreads through the material until all particles have the same energy. Metals are good conductors, whereas most non-metals are poor conductors and poor conductors are used as insulators. Convection is the transfer of energy by the movement of a liquid or gas. When a liquid becomes warm it expands and becomes less dense. The warmer fluid floats above the cooler fluid, which sinks. This creates a flow, which is called convection current. Radiation is when bodies emit radiation. Basically the hotter the body, the more energy it radiates. Dark, dull surfaces emit more radiation than light, shiny surfaces. They also absorb radiation well. Light, shiny surfaces do not absorb radiation well - they are good reflectors. Radiation can pass through space - that is how the warmth of the sun reaches the Earth. Also heat can be transferred by evaporation and this may be relevant i... ...results as it could have made it warmer or cooler. The method I chose to use was successful and worked well within the investigation it was stable and fair. I would not change the method if I repeated the investigation as it worked well with the experiment. Also to improve my investigation I could have done many things. I could have repeated the experiment again and took down the average results and this will make the experiment more accurate as one set of my results could have been affected. Also there would have been different temperatures within the beaker thought they would have only been slight differences. The temperature would be different with the water nearer to the glass compared to the water directly in the middle. So it would have helped if I stirred the water so I could get the general temperature.