Lesson Title and objectives Detail

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1 Heating and cooling: elementary concepts Students should understand the three key concepts (temperature, heat and internal
energy) in terms of how they are related to each other.
 Describe processes in terms of changes in
temperature and the heat transfers. Suppose that heat can be transferred between two bodies (for example, both bodies are
 Differences in temperature can be used to good conductors of heat and the two bodies are touching).
explain the direction in which heat
When heat is transferred to a body, the body’s internal energy (thermal energy)
transfers. increases.
 Pupils will understand that the temperature
changes of an object change when its The internal energy of a body is the store of energy that must be added to in order to
internal energy changes. increase the temperature of the body.

The temperature of a body can be used to predict the direction in which heat will
transfer. Heat will always transfer from a body at higher temperature (a hotter body) to
a body at a lower temperature (a colder body).

Informally, heat is internal energy on the move. It is as if coins in your pocket were
always called money (internal energy) but if you were handing the coins to your friend
they were cash (heat) but once your friend put the coins in their pocket, we went back
to calling the coins money (internal energy). It is always the same ‘thing’ being described
(coins or energy) but we use different terms to talk about it being transferred (heat) or
held in a store (internal energy).

2 Methods of heat transfer – Conduction

Conduction occurs in solids, liquids and gases but conduction is most important when
 There are three methods of heat transfer; describing heat transfer in solids.
conduction, convection and radiation.
 Conduction is a method of heat transfer Conduction involves particles exerting forces on other particles (often during collisions
involving the transfer of heat without the between particles).
transfer of matter.
Metals are good conductors because the free electrons collide with the metal ions as
 Materials where conduction transfers heat
the free electrons ‘bounce around’ inside the metal.
rapidly are called conductors, materials
where conductions transfers heat slowly In a solid with no free electrons, conduction involves changes in push and pull forces
are called insulators. holding the particles of the solid together.
  Metal are good conductors because they Conduction occurs in fluids (liquids and gases) but usually convection is much more
have free electrons important.

Gases are generally poor conductors. When compared to the free electrons in a metal,
particles in a gas move slowly and have large distance to travel between collisions.

3 Methods of heat transfer – Radiation

Infra-red radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the same way the
• Heat can be transferred by objects emitting frequencies of sound extend beyond and below the range of frequencies that we can
and absorbing infra-red radiation. hear, visible light is just the part of a spectrum of electromagnetic waves with
frequencies that extend above and below the range of frequencies that can be detected
• All other things being equal, hotter objects by our eyes. Electromagnetic waves in the infra-red range of the electromagnetic
emit more infra-red radiation than colder spectrum have frequencies that are lower than the frequencies of electromagnetic
objects. waves in the visible range, i.e. visible light.
• Dark coloured, dull surfaces are good
Objects can absorb incident infra-red radiation (i.e. infra-red radiation that hits them).
absorbers and good emitters of infra-red
The energy that was being carried by the infra-red radiation is added to the internal
radiation.
energy of the object.
• Light coloured, shiny surfaces are poor
absorbers and poor emitters of infra-red Objects can also emit infra-red radiation (i.e. produce and give out infra-red radiation)
radiation.
Shiny surfaces are bad at absorbing infra-red radiation because they tend to reflect it.

We can make predictions about heating and cooling based on our knowledge of
surfaces.

For example, suppose we had two metal blocks which were identical in every way
(including being at the same temperature of 50 ° C ) but one had a shiny surface and the
other had been coated with matt black paint. Suppose that both blocks are now placed
in identical cold rooms (say the temperature in both rooms is 20 ° C ). The painted block
will cool faster because in a given amount of time it transfers more heat to the cold
room by emitting infra-red radiation.

On the other hand, if you place two cold objects which are identical in every way except
their surfaces in front of source of high intensity infra-red radiation (a fire, a radiant
heater, the summer Sun) then the temperature of an object with a dark matt surface
 will increase at a greater rate (i.e. it will get hotter faster) than an object with a light
coloured or shiny surface.

4 Convection Understanding convection first requires a correct understanding of density.

 Pupils will understand that convection is a
method of heat transfer where a hot fluid Mass
Density=
moves, carrying energy with it Volume
 Pupils will know the term fluid refers to
We can think about mass in a straightforward way by thinking about a piece of
both liquids and gases as both states of
equipment that we could use to measure mass, e.g.., a mass balance.
matter can flow.
 Pupils will know that convection is
explained using ideas about the relative
density of hotter and colder fluids.
 Pupils will be able to explain changes in
fluid density in terms of the connection
between the motion of the particles and
the average distance between the particles
of the fluid.

Now consider chocolate mousse and lead shot. Lead shot is small spheres made out of
lead.

Chocolate mousse Lead shot

Lead is dense. If you want to load lead shot onto the mass balance until there is a mass
of 200 g on the balance, you will end up with a small volume of lead (i.e., the lead you
end up with on the balance will not occupy much space).

Chocolate mousse is much less dense than lead. If you want 200 g of chocolate mousse
on your balance, then you will need a much larger volume of chocolate mousse on your
balance (i.e., the 200g of mousse will take up more space than the 200g of lead shot
did).

As you increase the temperature of a fluid, the average distance between the particles
increases and thus the density of the fluid decreases.

Floating and sinking is determined by density. A stone is more dense than water, so a
stone immersed in water sinks. A helium balloon is less dense than the air that
surrounds it, so a helium balloon immersed in air rises.

If we have a region of warmer air surrounded by a colder air, then the warmer air is less
dense than the colder air and thus the warmer air rises. This is true for fluids in general;
a region of warmer water surrounded by colder water also rises.

The movement of a fluid caused by differences in temperature giving rise to differences

in density is called a convection current.

Consider the following demonstration which we can use to illustrate how heat is
transferred by convection. The purpose of the waxy straw is just to produce smoke so
we can observe the motion of the air.

The candle heats the air above it. This makes the air directly above the candle less dense
than the surrounding air, so the air above the candle rises. If you placed your hand
above the chimney on the right, your hand would be heated by the rising hot air. Your
hand is not being heated directly by the candle flame. Your hand is being heated by the
rising hot air. This is why you can comfortably hold your hand quite close to the side of a
candle flame, but you cannot comfortably hold your hand the same distance above the
candle flame.

Convection is a difficult concept, so we’ll recap the main ideas.

 Increasing the temperature of a fluid increases the average distance between

the particles of the fluid and thus decreases the density of the fluid.
 Hotter, less dense fluids rise through colder, denser fluids.
 This motion of fluid enables the fluid to transfer heat.
  This entire process is called convection.

5 Designing for heat transfer

An analogy for heat transfer.
 Pupils will be able to use an analogy to aid
them in the recall of nature of convection, You will not be expected to recall this analogy and you will not be tested on it. It is
conduction and radiation with reference to provided as part of the scheme of work in the hope that it may aid your
how matter is involved in the transfer of understanding.
thermal energy.
 Pupils will be able to explain a range of
Suppose a teacher wishes to transfer a sheet from the teacher’s bench at the front of
methods of reducing the rate at which heat the science laboratory to a pupil sat at the back. The teacher could:
energy is lost from the home in terms of
how convection, conduction and radiation 1. Pick-up the sheet, walk to the back and then hand the sheet to the pupil.
are affected. 2. Pass the sheet to a pupil at the front, tell that student to pass the sheet to a
 Pupils will be able to use their knowledge of pupil in the row behind them and so on until the sheet reached the pupil at the
back.
convection, conduction and radiation to
3. Fold the sheet into a paper aeroplane and throw the sheet/aeroplane to the
explain the design features of a vacuum pupil at the back.
flask (thermos flask).
In the analogy, there are humans and the sheet. In heat transfer there is matter (metal,
water, air or whatever) and energy.

Walking the sheet to the back of the room is like convection. In order to transfer the
energy, some matter must move (e.g., hot air rising). Convection cannot occur in solids
because the particles in a solid vibrate around a fixed position and cannot move from
one place to another, carrying energy with them as they move. Convection cannot occur
in a vacuum because in a vacuum there are no particles, so there are no particles which
can move to ‘carry the energy’ with them as they move.

Passing the sheet from pupils to pupil is like conduction. The act of passing the paper
represents particles passing energy to other particles during collisions. Conduction
cannot occur in a vacuum because there are no particles so, obviously, there can’t be
any collisions between particles.

Folding the sheet into a paper aeroplane is like radiation. We don’t need anyone to
move from the front to the back (no particles need to move), and we don’t need anyone
to pass the sheet along (we don’t need any particles to collide). In fact, we don’t need
any particles at all – and this is why heat transfer by radiation can take place in a
vacuum.

Heat transfer and keeping homes warm

Draughts

Homes are not air-tight boxes. Windows and loft hatches may not fit perfectly into their
frames, leaving gaps through which air can move. Modern installations of tightly fitting
double-glazing incorporate small vents to allow air to move in and out of the house in a
controlled way.

Consider a cold day and home where heating is used to keep the air inside the home
warmer than the air outside. In this situation a convection current will flow through the
home, with cold air from outside entering lower down in the home and warm air flowing
from inside of the home out into the colder surroundings higher up in the home.

If a convection currents which form in this way is moving a lot of air (and thus
transferring a lot of heat) we call the convection current a draughts (which rhymes with
raft).

We can reduce heat transfer from the warm house to the cold surrounding by reducing
draughts. For example, we can fit draught excluder strips to the bottoms of doors,
preventing air flowing through the gap between the bottom of the door.

Radiator reflectors

Radiators transfer heat to the room they are in both by convection and radiation. The
infra-red radiation is emitted in all directions. However, we don’t need hot walls; we
want the air in the room (and the things that we are in contact with) to be warm.

Placing reflective sheets between radiators and walls (particularly walls that have the
inside of the house on one side and the outside of the house on the other) helps reduce
heat transfer from the warm house to the colder surroundings. This heat transfer
through the wall takes place by conduction and the rate of heat transfer increases as the
temperature difference between the warm and cold side of the wall increases.

Double-glazing

If the air outside is colder than the air inside, then heat will transfer by conduction
through the windows. Glass is a relatively good conductor, compared to air. If a window
is just a single sheet of glass (single glazing) we can reduce the rate of heat transfer to
the surroundings by replacing the single glazing with double glazing.

In double glazing there is a gas trapped between two sheets of glass. Gases are poor
conductors of heat compared to solids. Heat can still transfer by radiation through the
window but, informally, the trapped gas behaves like a transparent blanket, reducing
the rate of heat transfer by conduction from the home to its surroundings. Instead of
having one thin layer of a relatively good conductor (glass) you have a thick layer of a
relatively bad conductor (a gas) trapped between two thin layers of the relatively good
conductor.

Cavity wall insulation

The external walls of modern building have two layers of brick with a gap between them
(a cavity). The cavity is filled with a material that contains trapped air (mineral wool,
foam and polystyrene beads are commonly used). Because these materials contain
trapped air, they are poor conductors of heat. Compared to these insulating materials,
brick is a relatively good conductor of heat. Note that there is a similarity between how
double-glazing works, when compared to a single glazing, and how cavity wall insulation
works compared to a solid brick wall.)

The vacuum flask

Vacuum flasks used for food are often called thermos flasks. (Thermos is actually a
brand name, so this is the same as calling a vacuum cleaner a hoover.)
A vacuum flask has two key design features which reduce the rate at which heat is
transferred between the contents of the flask and the surroundings. These features help
keep cold contents colder for longer on a warm day and hot contents hotter for longer
on a cold day.

Feature How it works

Vacuum trapped between Reduces heat transfers by conduction and convection.
two layers of glass
Silvering on the glass Reduces heat transfers by radiation