Experiment 3: Heat Transfer

Laboratory Report
Byron Leander Tan, Chelsea Leigh Tan, Kyle Gabriel Tanchuling, Ma. Agatha Beatrice Uson,
Angelica Uy, Louise Erika Vargas

Department of Math and Physics

College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
Espaa, Manila Philippines

Abstract the removal of heat by either forcing a fluid

The conduction of heat along a
composite bar and to evaluate the overall
heat transfer coefficient. This experiment
focus on the heat conduction for the
cylindrical metal bar arrangement. The
experimental overall heat transfer
coefficient will be compared to the overall
heat transfer coefficient calculated.
I. Introduction
Thermal conduction is the transfer of
heat energy in a material due to the
temperature gradient within it. It always takes
place from a region of higher temperature to
a region of lower temperature. A solid is
chosen for the experiment of pure conduction
because both liquids and gasses exhibit
excessive convective heat transfer. For
practical situation, heat conduction occurs in
three dimensions, a complexity which often
requires extensive computation to analyze.
For experiment, a single dimensional
approach is required to demonstrate the basic
law that relates rate of heat flow to
temperature gradient and area. The removal
of heat from the surface of a body can be
accomplished by conduction, convection, and
radiation. Convective heat transfer refers to
over the surface forced convection or by the
natural fluid motion due to density gradients
near the surface free convection. The
efficiency of a bodys ability to transfer heat
by convection to the surrounding
environment is defined by the convective
heat transfer coefficient (h).
In this experiment, students are expected
to
Determine the factors affecting the
cooling rate of materials
Determine the cooling constant
II. Theory
The theory of heat transfer seeks to
predict the energy transfer that may take
place between material bodies as a result of
temperature difference. This energy transfer
is defined as heat. The three modes by
which heat can be transferred from one
place to another are conduction, convection
and radiation. In conduction, heat is carried
by means of collisions between rapidly
moving molecules closer to the hot end of a
body of matter and the slower molecules
closer to the cold end. Some of the kinetic
energy of the fast molecules passes to the

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slow molecules, and as a result of successive
collisions, heat flows through the body of
matter from the hot end to the cold end.
Solids, liquids, and gases all conduct heat.
Conduction is poorest in gases because their
molecules are relatively far apart and so
interacting less frequently than in solids and
liquids. Metals are the best conductors of
heat because some of their electrons are able
to move about relatively freely and can
interact frequently by collisions. Without the
guard heater, cooler air surrounding the edge
of the main heater would be heated by
conduction and convection. Thus some of
the heat supplied to the main heater would
be carried away by the surrounding air. With
the guard heater in place and adjusted to the
same temperature as the main heater, the air
in the gap between is maintained at the
temperature of the main heater, so no heat is
lost at the edge of the main heater. All heat
lost from the main heater must flow into the
test slabs.
Rate of conduction
Q kA T
=
t d
Qd
And thus k=
tA T
Where T = T1 T2, and k is the
thermal conductivity of the material, is a
measure of its ability to conduct heat. The SI
unit of k is Wm-1K-1.
Thermal conductivity: When the heat
flow rate is involved, and the numerical
value of the thermal conductivity indicates
how fast heat will flow. In general, thermal
conductivity is strongly temperature
dependent. It has the units of watts per meter
per Kelvin. Heat transfer by conduction in a
solid can be realized through the support of
phonons, electrons and photons. The
individual contributions of these carriers
widely depend on material and its
temperature. Thermal conductivity is thus a
second order tensor, but in a material with
cubic isotropy it reduces to a scalar. It is an
intensive property and is a function of both
pressure and temperature.
The thermal resistance R of a layer of a
material of thickness d and of thermal
conductivity k is given by
d
R=
k
The greater the value of R, the greater
the resistance to the flow of heat.
III.Methodology
The room temperature was determined
first. To channel 1 of the interface, a
temperature probe was then connected. The
file 33 Newtons Law on Cooling from the
Physics with Computers folder was opened.
The water was then heated to exactly 60C
and then poured to a polished cup until it is
2/3 full. The cup was covered and a
temperature probe was inserted to the hole
on its cover, this is to determine the
temperature of the water inside the cup. In
the computer, the collect to begin data
collection was clicked and data was
collected for 20 minutes. After gathering the
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 data, the Logger Pro was then used to fit an
exponential function to the data by clicking Water in polished -22.38 57.44 51.25
on the curve fit button and choosing the cup
Natural Exponential function (y= A*exp (-
Water in blackened 66.89 -6.365 -300
Ct) +B) from the scrolling list. The Try fit
dull cup
was clicked to perform the fit, then Ok.
The variables x, y, A, B and C were then Water in Styrofoam 28.43 37.93 21.70
matched in the expression for Newtons law cup
on cooling. The value of B was compared
with the room temperature by computing the Black coffee in -178 236.2 88.14
% difference. The value of k from the graph silver cup
was determined and the procedure was
Coffee with creamer 42.11 26.13 7.15
repeated using equal amount of water at
in silver cup
60C using (a) a blackened dull cup (b)
Styrofoam cup (c) black coffee in silver cup Table 1 showed the cooling rates of
and (d) coffee with creamer in silver cup. different liquid sample in different cups. To,
The cooling rates were then compared. B, and the cooling rate were all obtained
from the Logger Pro. The % difference was
On the second activity, the cross computed using the equation (B-Room
sectional area of each of the rods making up Temperature)/ (Room Temperature) x 100%.
the conductometer was measured first. Equal
masses of the paraffin were then placed at The increasing cooling rate order was
the end of each rod making up the found to be water in Styrofoam cup, black
conductometer. The distance of the paraffin coffee in silver cup, water in blackened dull
from the other end of the rods was measured cup, coffee with creamer in silver cup, and
the distance was recorded as L. The initial water in silver cup. The cooling rate was
temperature of the rods was taken. The affected by the material that the cup was
conductometer was then heated using a made of.
candle and the time for each paraffin to melt
was observed and determined. The final Newton's Law of Cooling states that the
temperature of the rods was taken and the rate of change of the temperature of an
fastest metal to melt the paraffin was object is proportional to the difference
determined. between its own temperature and the
ambient temperature (i.e. the temperature of
IV. Results and Discussion its surroundings).

Room Temperature: 24C

As for the second activity for this
experiment, thermal conductivity of metals
Table 1. Cooling Rates
was tested. The order of the metal that easily
To B heated up (first to last): Iron, Brass,

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 Aluminum, Copper. This was possible
because of the increasing thermal
conductivity of the metals. The lower the
thermal conductivity, the easier the object
heats up.
V. Conclusion
VI. Applications
1. What are some factors affecting the
cooling rate of a body?
Temperature of the body,
temperature of the surroundings and
heat capacity of the body.
2. You are served coffee in a restaurant
but you are not yet ready to drink it. if
you wanted to drink your coffee as hot
as possible, should you add creamer at
once or when you are ready to drink
coffee? Why?
As you put creamer in the coffee, the
temperature of the coffee decreases
since the temperature of the coffee is
distributed to the creamer. You
should add the creamer at once.
3. Based on Newtons law on Cooling,
can an object attain the temperature
of its surroundings?
Yes, because the rate of cooling is
directly proportional to the
temperature difference between a
heated body and its surrounding.
4. Why do we curl up whenever we feel
cold?
We curl up whenever we feel cold
because there is more heat generated
when we curl up.
5. Why are fibrous substances good
insulators?
It is explained by the intramolecular
forces of the material used.
References
[1] Value @ Amrita. Heat Transfer by
Conduction. Retrieved February 20, 2017
from http://vlab.amrita.edu/?
sub=1&brch=194&sim=801&cnt=1
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