Science fair ideas
Hot, Hotter, Hottest Spoons
As science fair ideas go, this one is great. It is sooo easy to do, yet it teaches you a stack. Best of all, this fantastic idea was submitted by one of you – more specifically a budding scientist named Lily. Yup – all credit to you Lily…
Background
Before we get to Lily’s experiment, let me give you some background info. Science and nature are all about balance. Things will always try and move so that they are the same. An example is if you dip a piece of tissue paper in a glass of water, the water will move up into it. The paper is dry, the water is wet – to balance it out the paper must become wet! This moving is called
diffusion
. The experiment
“Understanding Diffusion”
will explain this better.In Lily’s experiment, the same thing happens. Heat is the thing that moves by diffusion. But some substances are more difficult for things to move in. Water moves easily into tissue paper, but not so easily into a brick! When it comes to heat moving we use the term “conduct”. Some substances conduct heat better than others. This means that heat can move, by diffusion, easier into some substances than into others. That brings us to that numero uno of science fair ideas that Lily sent to me - let’s check out what she did…
The Experiment
Aim
To see which materials conduct heat.Materials a wooden spoon, a plastic spoon, a metal spoon,a bowl of very hot water,and three thermometers.Method
Boil the water, then stick the thermometers on the spoons. Put the spoons in the water. Wait for about 5 minutes. Then look at the thermometers. See which one is hot, hotter, and hottest. Results
The metal spoon is the hottest, then the wooden spoon is next, then the plastic spoon is next. Conclusion
The metal spoon is the hottest spoon because it is made of metal, and metal is a heat conductor.
Like I said – as science fair ideas go – this one is a winner!
Way to go Lily!
Check out some more
science fair ideas
for elementary school kids.
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