My experiment has a lot to do with internal energy, temperature, heat, conduction, and insulation. The following information explains these words, and how they are involved in my project. This paper also describes the procedures that I took in the experiment, the results of the experiment, and how the results compare with my predictions.
Everything is made up of either moving atoms or moving molecules. Because the molecules are always in motion, every object has internal energy. The speed of the atoms or molecules in an object affects its level of internal energy. The faster they move, the higher the level of internal energy. The higher the level of internal energy is, the hotter the object is. The words hot and cold describe the temperature of an object. Temperature reveals something's internal energy level. Thermometers are used to measure temperature. An object's temperature controls whether that object will gain internal energy or lose some when it comes into contact with another object. When a hot object touches a cold object, some of the hot object's internal energy passes into the cold object as heat. Heat is the passage of energy from one object to another. A change in temperature is one of the most common results when heat flows into or out of an object ("Heat" 3,5).
Heat flows from a warm area to a cooler one by three ways. These are conduction, convection, or radiation. Conduction is the movement of heat through a material, without carrying any of the material with it. Convection is the movement of heat by the movement of a heated material. Heat can also travel through a vacuum, which has no particles, by radiation. In the process of radiation, the moving atoms or molecules make waves of radiant energy, called infrared rays. Hot objects produce more waves of radiant energy than cold objects do. Infrared rays move through space. When they hit something, they speed up the atoms or molecules in the object they strike ("Heat" 4).
