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This Unit's

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Lab

Parents' Notes

Unit 47 Laboratory Activity: Observing Conduction and Convection

Goal: To demonstrate the difference between convection and conduction.

Materials

• Short chain.
• Two "salsa" cups or similar small plastic containers that hold approximately 1 ice cube worth of ice.
• Two glasses.
• Food coloring.

Procedure

• Put the metal chain in one of the salsa containers.
• Fill both salsa containers with equal amounts of water.
• Add the same amount of food coloring to each salsa contain. This should be fairly dark.
• Put the containers in the freezer until the water is frozen.
• Fill the two glasses or beakers 3/4 of the way with hot water.
• Take the ice out of the salsa containers. Place the ice from one container and metal in the first glass (glass A). Place the remaining ice from the second container alone in the second glass (glass B).
• Record the appearance of each glass at 1 minute, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 1 hour.

Report

Write a short summary of your procedure and your observations. Can you explain in terms of conduction and convection what is happening?

Post your lab results to the assignment page for labs for this unit.

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