Conduction Activity by Vivien Ho [Student FVHS]

1. What is conduction? What is heat as defined in science?

17nguyenmn103 — 2014-04-03 20:39:10 UTC

Conduction is the transfer of heat/electricity from a hotter substance to a cooler substance. In science, heat is described as the process of energy from one body/system due to thermal contact.

Click this video to view the wax melting!!!!!!

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:43:54 UTC

2. Explain how conduction is demonstrated by the experiment that you are doing with the candle, wire, and the wax.

17nguyenmn103 — 2014-04-03 20:45:33 UTC

Conduction is demonstrated by this experiment. The flame on the candle is the source of heat. As we place three wires above the flame (the hottest spot), the heat will transfer from each wire's tip. The wax is placed at the end of each of the wires. Whoever's wax falls off first, that wire will be determined as the wire that conducts more heat than the other two.

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:54:22 UTC

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:54:40 UTC

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:54:54 UTC

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:55:07 UTC

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:55:34 UTC

17hovp271 — 2014-04-03 20:55:54 UTC

3. Which of the wires conducted heat the best (melted the ball of wax first?

17nguyenmn103 — 2014-04-03 20:58:17 UTC

The thicket wire conducted heat the best out of the other two wires.

4. Explain with at least 2 sentences why that wire is the best conductor of heat. (Make sure to mention how the thickness of the wire helped your results)

17nguyenmn103 — 2014-04-03 20:59:36 UTC

The thickest wire was the best conductor of heat because the more copper there is, heat will transfer faster. The electrons in the copper will vibrate more rapidly when heat is transferred. Therefore, the more copper, the faster heat is transferred.

5. Which of the ESLR's was addressed in this activity. Explain with a couple of sentences.

17nguyenmn103 — 2014-04-03 21:05:56 UTC

We demonstrate how to be Critical Thinkers. In this activity, we searched the internet about conduction and what is heat as defined in science. We made hypotheses before the activity to determine which copper wire would melt the wax first. There was a problem with one of the copper sticks and it wouldn't transfer heat, so we adjusted the stick to go to the hottest part of the candle flame instead of the wick.