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How does a styrofoam cooler keep things cold?

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How does a styrofoam cooler keep things cold?

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How Does a Styrofoam Cooler Keep Things Cold?

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Styrofoam is an insulator, which means it'll help keep the heat from the environment out of your cooler. However, you'll still need cooling agents (like ice packs) to make the cooler cold in ...

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Science >> Physics for Kids

Science of Heat

Heat is the transfer of energy from a one object to another due to a difference in temperature. Heat can be measured in joules, BTUs (British thermal unit), or calories.
Heat and temperature are closely related, but they are not the same thing. The temperature of an object is determined by how fast its molecules are moving. The faster the molecules are moving the higher the temperature. We say objects that have a high temperature are hot and objects with a low temperature are cold.

Transferring of Heat

When two items are combined or touching each other, their molecules will transfer energy called heat. They will try to come to a point where they both have the same temperature. This is called equilibrium. Heat will flow from the hotter object to the colder. The molecules in the hotter object will slow down and the molecules in the colder object will speed up. Eventually they will get to the point where they have the same temperature.

This happens all the time around you. For example, when you take an ice cube and put it into a warm soda. The ice cube will become warmer and melt, while the soda will cool down.

Hot Objects Expand

When something gets hotter it will expand, or get bigger. At the same time, when something gets colder it will shrink. This property is used to make mercury thermometers. The line in the thermometer is actually liquid mercury. As the liquid gets hotter, it will expand and rise in the thermometer to show a higher temperature. It's the expansion and contraction due to temperature that allows the thermometer to work.

Heat Conduction

When heat transfers from one object to another, this is called conduction. Some materials conduct heat better than others. Metal, for example, is a good conductor of heat. We use metal in pots and pans to cook because it will move the heat from the flame to our food quickly. Cloth, like a blanket, isn't a good conductor of heat. Because it's not a good conductor, a blanket works well to keep us warm at night as it won't conduct the heat from our bodies out to the cold air.

Matter Changing State

Heat has an impact on the state of matter. Matter can change state based on heat or temperature. There are three states that matter can take depending on its temperature: solid, liquid, and gas. For example, if water is cold and its molecules are moving very slow, it will be a solid (ice). If it warms up some, the ice will melt and water becomes a liquid. If you add a lot of heat to water, the molecules will move very fast and it will become a gas (steam).

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Science >> Physics for Kids

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Kids learn about the science of heat and temperature including conduction, transferring of heat, expansion, and the states of matter. The energy that drives much of the universe.

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Do you eat school lunch? Or do you prefer to bring your lunch from home? If you like to bring your lunch, you may have that it can be hard to keep things and things ...unless you have one of those devices.

What are we talking about? A , of course! And it must be magic, right? After all, how can it both keep things and things ? Would you believe it's actually all science? It's true!

If you've ever used a , you probably already know what we're talking about. If you fill it with soup in the morning, you'll be able to eat soup at lunchtime. Likewise, if you fill it with a cool , your will still be cool several hours later. What sort of magic - or science - is this?

The scientific secret to a is a . No, not the kind of you use to clean your floors. We're talking about the kind of that simply means the of air.

A is a bottle with a double-walled container inside of it. The air between the two walls is sucked out during construction, creating a . Instead of containing some kind of heating element to keep things , a is designed to keep things by not allowing to escape.

can be transferred through the air. To keep from escaping, you need insulation . The best insulator possible is a , because there's no air. If there's no air to transfer , then the is retained where it is - and where you want it: in your food.

Today's thermoses are constructed much more than those in the past. The first thermoses featured metal exteriors with glass walls. These thermoses often ended up getting broken when accidentally dropped.

Modern thermoses are usually made out of layers of plastic that help reduce transfer. Some thermoses also contain layers of that further reduce transfer. If you use a today, you can be fairly certain that, hours later, your soup will still be or your lemonade will still be !

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Do you eat school lunch? Or do you prefer to bring your lunch from home? If you like to bring your lunch, you may have that it can be hard to keep things and things ...unless you have one of those devices. What are we talking about? A , of course!