Monday, January 30, 2012

How can you say how a beaker with popped bubble wrap will cool down quicker than beaker with unpopped wrap?

One beaker had unpopped bubble wrap and one had popped bubble wrap.

The popped bubble wrap cooled down the quickest because the temperature was dropping the most.

But how can I describe the conclusion and how the one with popped bubble wrap cooled down the quickest?How can you say how a beaker with popped bubble wrap will cool down quicker than beaker with unpopped wrap?
The heat from the water convects into the air inside the bubble wrap, and is held there for a while, until the water temperature cools down to below that of the air in the bubble wrap, then the heat radiates from the air in the bubble wrap, back out into the water, (note; hot always moves towards cold, second law of thermodynamics), and then convection occurs, which is the heat that has gone into the water from the bubble wrap is rising up through the water, causes the water to move and the motion of the water moving, first up, which displaces the water next to it 'downwards' then the water circulates , it moves across the surface and then back down and then across the bottom of the beaker and then back up again, and so on and so on, around in circles,circulating, this circulation that normally begins with heat rising is 'convection'.How can you say how a beaker with popped bubble wrap will cool down quicker than beaker with unpopped wrap?
The one with the unpopped bubble wrap essentially has a trapped layer of air around it which acts as an insulator. This means there is more resistance for heat to pass out of the beaker to the surroundings. The one with popped bubble wrap is just a thin layer of plastic that doesn't provide much resistance so it cools down quickly.

No comments:

Post a Comment