T1+Science+-+Melting+Wax

Monday 29th March 2010

Aim What metal conducts heat the fastest:Steel, Aluminum, Copper or Brass?

Hypothesis: I think that the copper will be the fastest conductor of heat because it is heavy and it is a orange. I think that aluminum will be the slowest because it is really light and I have lite a coke can on fire before and it did not stay hot for very long.

Method: Materials: 1X Tripod 1X spirit burner 1x small wax buttons (same size) 1x Round wooden ring with 4 pieces of metal the same size and shape fixed equidistant to each other so that he point faced inwards and the indent was on the outside (see Figure 1). The metals were steel (s), aluminum (A), Copper (C) and Brass (B). 1x Stop watch.

Method: Procedure: We put small pieces of wax in the hollows on the ends of 4 strips of different metals that were on a round wooden frame. We heated the metal strips. Copper Brass Aluminum Steel Time taken to melt fully-liquid form. 51secs 6min 15secs 2min 11secs 11min 24secs We timed the melting of the the wax. We recorded the times inn a table.



Conclusion: My Hypothesis was half correct because I got the fastest on right but the slowest wrong. This was possible because the copper melted the fastest and the and the steel was the slowest instead of my pick for the aluminum.

The wax melted the fastest with the copper because the molecules are easer to move than in the other metals and this is what makes the heat travel through the metal. This is called “heat reaction”. Where the molecules are more difficult to move, heat takes more time to move through it.

Conduction occurs when the molecules bump against each other and causes more movement. It is like pushing someone who trips and pushes another person in the crowd and the movement ripples outwards.

We use copper metal in pots and pans because we want to heat to water and food we use steel in flasks so that heat doesn't doesn't escape. Brass is used in taps because it is stronger than copper. We use Aluminum in pots because it heats up faster. ￼