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Frostbite Theater - Science at Home - Cold Stuff!
<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta name="keywords" content="stem,science at home,diy science,heat transfer,conduction,convection,radiation,insulator,insulation,science videos, videos, video clips, science demonstrations, experiments, science experiments, frostbite theater, jlab, jefferson lab"> <meta name="description" content="A simple experiment exploring which materials are good at blocking the movement of heat."> <meta name="robots" content="index,all"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/main_2020.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/font-awesome.min.css"> <!-- icon library for hamburger menu and magnifying glass --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/video_2020.css"><link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/frost_2020.css"> <script> <!-- function toggle_transcript(){var this_width=document.getElementById("transcripttext").offsetWidth;var this_height=document.getElementById("transcripttext").offsetHeight;if(!this_width && !this_height){document.getElementById("transcripttext").style.display="block";document.getElementById("transcriptlink").innerHTML='[ <a href="javascript:void(toggle_transcript());">Hide Transcript</a> ]';}else{document.getElementById("transcripttext").style.display="none";document.getElementById("transcriptlink").innerHTML='[ <a href="javascript:void(toggle_transcript());">Show Transcript</a> ]';}} // --> </script> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-3SJLGKR77H"></script><script>window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; 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An <a href="../frost/handouts/cold_stuff.pdf">activity sheet is available</a> to help you!</p> <div class="video"> <div class="video-responsive"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HmuByL_B43o?rel=0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> </div> <div id="transcriptlink">[ <a href="javascript:void(toggle_transcript());">Show Transcript</a> ]</div> <div id="transcripttext"><p><span class="speaker">Announcer:</span> Frostbite Theater presents... Cold Cuts! No baloney!</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna and Steve:</span> Just science!</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> Hi! I'm Joanna!</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> And I'm Steve!</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> And this is a 'Science at Home' edition of Frostbite Theater that you can do along with us! Just <a href="../frost/handouts/cold_stuff.pdf">download the worksheet from our website</a> or you can record your data on a piece of paper!</p><p class="noname">Today, we're going to be testing different materials to see which is the best insulator for heat.</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> If a material is a good insulator for heat, it'll stop heat from moving around.</p><p class="noname">Now, they're three ways that heat can move: conduction, convection and radiation. Conduction happens when a hot thing and a cold thing touch and the heat moves directly from the hot thing to the cold thing.</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> Convection is when a heated fluid, like air or water, moves away from a source of heat because of a change in density. Think of hot air rising and cold air sinking.</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> And radiation is the movement of heat by the emission of electromagnetic waves, like how heat gets here from the sun.</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> We have three containers filled with three materials. The first container is filed with cotton. The second container is filled with steel wool. And the third is filled with air.</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> We'll put each container into a bowl filled with 500 milliliters of ice water for 5 minutes, and we'll measure the temperature every 30 seconds. If the material is a good insulator, the temperature inside the container will change slowly. If it's a bad insulator, it'll change quickly.</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> Before we begin, take a second to form a hypothesis. Which material to you think will insulate the best? Have you ever wanted to protect yourself from heat? Or, have you ever wanted to keep your heat from leaking away? What did you use and what were the materials like?</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> And, before we begin, you'll want to record the initial temperatures. It's hard to tell how much they change if we don't know where they started.</p><p class="noname">Also, to make things easier, we'll freeze the video every 30 seconds. We won't freeze it for long, though, so you'll probably want to pause it for yourself until you've taken the readings.</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> So, if you're ready...</p><p class="noname">3...</p><p class="noname">2....</p><p class="noname">1...</p><p class="noname">Start!</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> So, what did you find? Were there any surprises? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> Thanks for watching! I hope you'll join us again soon for another experiment!</p><p><span class="speaker">Steve:</span> Yeah, this really isn't the right weather to be wearing extra insulation.</p><p><span class="speaker">Joanna:</span> You're telling me?!</p><p class="noname">Whoof!</p><p></p></div> <p class="subscribe"><a href="http://youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=JeffersonLab" class="external">Subscribe to Jefferson Lab's YouTube channel</a> and be notified when we post new videos!</p> <!-- citation and page contact --> <div class="row page-contact"> <div class="col-12"> <p><a href="/faq/index.html">Citation and linking information</a></p> <p>For questions about this page, please contact <a href="mailto:carolm@jlab.org">Carol McKisson</a>.</p> </div> </div> <!-- end citation and page contact --> </div> <!-- ^^ end of 'content' div ^^ --> </main> <!-- 'main' section end --> <!-- footer start --> <footer> <div class="jlab-footer-background"> <div class="jlab-footer-content clearfix"> <!-- right 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