A Closer Look at Conduction: Do People Transfer Heat Differently?
Human Health and Behavior- Grade:
- 5
- Teacher:
- Susan Herman
I chose this experiment because I wanted to find out if people have the same body heat or if everyone gives off different amounts of heat. I have noticed that some people feel warmer than others, so I wanted to test it. In Round 1, we only measured the temperature of the water bottles before and after holding them for 5 minutes. The starting temperature of the untouched water bottles was 70.0°F for everyone. After testing, we realized our results were not as accurate as we wanted, so we improved our experiment. In Round 2, we measured both our hand temperatures and the water bottle temperatures before starting. Then we held the water bottles for different amounts of time using timers. When each timer went off, we immediately measured the water temperature again. In Round 2, the untouched water temperatures were: 70.8°F (me - 11yrs. old), 69.3°F (mom - 42 yrs. old), 69.4°F (Hector - 49 yrs. old), and 69.3°F (Jessica - 16 yrs. old). Our starting hand temperatures were: 91.0°F (me), 90.2°F (mom), 89.1°F (Hector), and 85.1°F (Jessica). After holding the bottles, the final water temperatures were: 72.4°F (me), 71.9°F (mom), 72.3°F (Hector), and 69.2°F (Jessica). This experiment is in the category of Physical Science because it studies heat transfer. My results showed that different people transferred different amounts of heat to the water bottles. This helped me learn that people can release body heat at different rates.
This is a very thoughtful and well executed experiment on heat transfer! I especially liked how you improved your design between Round 1 and Round 2 (pages 8–9). Identifying problems such as using one timer and not measuring hand temperature, then correcting them, shows strong scientific thinking and maturity. Your data tables on pages 10 and 11 clearly show the temperature changes, and your Round 2 results demonstrate careful control of variables. For example, the 11-year-old participant’s bottle increased from 70.8°F to 72.4°F, while the 49-year-old participant’s bottle increased from 69.4°F to 72.3°F. Including both hand temperature and water temperature strengthened your conclusions. The graphs on page 12 clearly support your claim that adults transferred more heat in this experiment.
I was also impressed that you acknowledged how inconsistent holding positions and movement affected Jessica’s results (page 13). That level of honesty and analysis reflects real scientific integrity. Even though your hypothesis was not supported (page 14), you explained why and reflected on the importance of controlling variables.
Excellent work demonstrating how conduction works in real life. Keep exploring physical science you are thinking like a true scientist!
This was a scientifically mature project! I was most impressed by your transparency in your report—admitting that your first attempt (‘Round 1’) wasn’t accurate and then redesigning your experiment for ‘Round 2’ is exactly how professional scientists conduct research. That iteration process is a major success! Your data clearly showed differences in heat transfer, and your conclusion about the importance of controlling variables is spot-on. For your future research, you might consider how the surface area of the hands or the grip strength might influence the rate of heat transfer, as those are other factors that could be at play. Keep asking these big questions!
Phenomenal work! This was a very well put together science project! Great job adapting & overcoming obstacles. The presentation was also very well put together and easy to understand! Great job future engineer.