Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Conduction and Convection

Vocabulary: conduction, conductor, convection, insulator

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Two pots have been sitting on the stove for a while. One pot has a copper handle and the
other has a wooden handle. Which handle would you rather touch? Why?

I would rather touch the wooden handle because wood is not as good of a conductor as
copper is.

2. One of the pots is filled with soup. The soup at the bottom of the pot is warmed by the stove
burner, but how does the soup at the top get hot?
The soup at the top is denser so it will push the warmer soup at the bottom to the top
and it will relocate to the bottom to get hot.

Gizmo Warm-up
The Conduction and Convection Gizmo shows two flasks of
colored water, one blue and one yellow. Select Copper and
Solid chunk from the dropdown lists. (This means the two
flasks are separated by a solid piece of copper, and the two
liquids cannot touch each other.)

1. Use the sliders to make one flask hotter than the other.

Click Play ( ). What happens? The temperature

balances out.

2. Select the DATA tab and look at the graph. What do the blue curve and the yellow curve
represent?

A. The blue curve represents the changes of temperature to the blue flask
B. The yellow curve represents the changes of temperature to the yellow flask

3. What is the final temperature of the top flask? 35.0*C Bottom flask? 35.0*C

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:  Click Reset ( ).
Conduction  Set the Initial temperature of the top flask to 95 °C
and the bottom flask to 5 °C.

Question: Conduction is the transfer of heat from one object to another by direct contact.
Which materials conduct heat most easily?

1. Observe: Run the Gizmo twice – once with a Solid chunk of Copper separating the liquids,
and once with a Solid chunk of Stone. Watch how quickly the temperatures of the liquids
change in both cases. (Note: This solid chunk keeps the liquids from mixing.)

2. Form hypothesis: A conductor allows heat to flow easily, while an insulator resists heat
flow. In general, what kinds of materials do you think are good conductors?
I think materials like metal is a good conductor.

3. Predict: Of the six substances in the Gizmo, which ones will allow the fastest temperature

change in the two flasks? Copper and gold will allow the faster temperature change.

4. Experiment: Experiment with all six Solid chunks. For each, click Fast forward ( ) and
then, after about 500 seconds, Pause ( ). Record the temperature of each flask.

Initial temp. Initial temp. 500 sec. temp. 500 sec. temp.
Connection
(top flask) (bottom flask) (top flask) (bottom flask)
Solid copper 95 °C 5 °C 50.3 C 49.7 C
Solid gold 95 °C 5 °C 51.1 C 48.9 C
Solid lead 95 °C 5 °C 79.1 C 20.9 C
Solid stone 95 °C 5 °C 93.6 C 6.4 C
Solid glass 95 °C 5 °C 94.5 C 5.5 C
Solid rubber 95 °C 5 °C 95.0 C 5.0 C

5. Analyze: What substances conducted heat the best? Copper

How do you know? The temperature balanced out quicker when it was used.

Draw conclusions: What do the best conductors have in common? The best conductors all

transfer heat through conduction the quickest.

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
 Click Reset.
Convection
 Select Glass and Hollow pipe in the dropdowns.

Question: Convection is the transfer of heat by the movement of matter. In what

situations does convection work best?

1. Observe: The Hollow pipe allows the water in each flask to move around and mix. Try
several experiments with different temperatures in the top and bottom flasks.

A. Describe what you see: The colors of both flasks mixing.

B. How does the color show when convection (movement of hot water) is taking place?

When convection is taking place, the color that shows is in the solution is light

green.

2. Form hypothesis: Why do you think the water mixes quickly in some cases, while other

times the water mixes slowly? This is because, based on the transfer of heat, the colder

water is on the top because it is denser and the hotter what is on the bottom and so

based on the strength of heat being transferred, the water mixed quickly or slowly.

3. Experiment: Predict the results of each experiment by writing “fast” or “slow” in the
predictions column. Test your predictions on the Gizmo, and record the actual results.

Initial temperature Initial temperature Mixing speed Mixing speed

(top flask) (bottom flask) (predictions) (actual results)
95 °C 5 °C Slow Slow
5 °C 95 °C Fast Fast

4. Analyze: How do the positions of the hot and cold water affect the speed of convection?
Since the hot water is at the bottom because it is less dense, it speeds up the process
of convection because it goes up while the cold water goes down.

Draw conclusions: Does hot water tend to rise or sink? Explain. Water tends to rise because it
is less dense than colder liquids or particles around it.

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
 Set the Initial temperatures of the top flask to
Conduction vs.
30 °C and the bottom flask to 70 °C.
convection
 Select Gold from the dropdown list.

Question: Which works more quickly, conduction or convection?

1. Observe: Experiment with a Hollow pipe of Gold and a Solid chunk of Gold separating the
flasks. Compare how quickly heat is exchanged.

2. Form hypothesis: Heat can be transferred by conduction or convection.

A. Which process do you think is quicker? ____________________________________

B. Why do you think this is so? ____________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

3. Experiment: For each of the situations below, record the temperatures after 100 seconds.

Initial temp. Initial temp. 100 sec. temp. 100 sec. temp.
Connection
(top flask) (bottom flask) (top flask) (bottom flask)
Solid gold 30 °C 70 °C
Hollow gold 30 °C 70 °C
Solid gold 70 °C 30 °C
Hollow gold 70 °C 30 °C

4. Draw conclusions: Does convection always work more quickly than conduction? Explain

why or why not. ____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

5. Extend your thinking: You may have noticed that there was a big difference in the results of
the two hollow pipe experiments, but very little difference in the solid chunk experiments.

Why do you think this was the case? ___________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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 1. What two things you learned about how thermal energy is transferred?
(Please use complete sentences.)
Two things I learned about how thermal energy is transferred is how it can
happen through conduction which is the transfer of heat from one object to
another by direct contact or through convection which is the transfer of heat
by the movement of matter.
3. Explain specifically how energy is transferred in conduction.
Energy is transferred in conduction by the transfer of heat from one object to
another by direct contact. This is when molecules hit or touch each other
causing the heat energy to transfer.
4. Explain specifically how energy is transferred in convection.
Energy is transferred in convection by the transfer of heat through the
movement of matter. Particles with more heat move and take place of
particles with less heat.
5. Explain specifically how energy is transferred in radiation.
Energy is transferred in radiation by the carrying of heat through
electromagnetic waves in space which does not involve direct contact or the
movement of matter.

2019