Thermal conductors and insulators (Natural Science)

Hi kids! Here is a letter from Matthew, he's going to explain us an experiment in a letter and a video. You can do it yourself at home if you wish. You don't need to boil water just with the hot water from the tap will be fine. I hope you enjoy it!

Simon 😀

Hi, I’m Matthew. Today on Experiment Time, we’re going to find out which is the best thermal conductor, out of plastic, wood and metal.  I’m going to make a hypothesis and then, at the end, you can tell me if I was right or not.  Which of these three is a good thermal conductor? Which one would you choose?  

I’m going for wood. My hypothesis is that wood is a good thermal conductor.  Let’s check if my hypothesis is right. 

This is what you need for the experiment

For this we need; a medium size bowl, some warm water, remember not too hot, not too cold, three spoons: a plastic spoon, a wooden spoon and metal spoon, and half a packet of butter.  We’re going to fill the bowl up with warm water and put some butter on the spoons. First on the plastic spoon, the wooden spoon and on the metal spoon. There. Then I’m going to put each spoon into the warm water, making sure that the butter isn’t touching the water. The idea is that the heat from the water will travel up from the spoons if they’re a good heat conductor and melt the butter.  

 

So in which spoon, do you think the butter is going to melt first? Which one do you think? Don’t forget, I’m betting on the wooden spoon.  

So what spoon do you think has won? Has the butter melted on any spoon? Come and have a look. Yes it has, hasn’t it! It has melted on the metal spoon. How about my wooden spoon? Oh, not much melting going on there. And the plastic spoon? Oh, the butter has melted a little bit, but not that much.  Was my hypothesis right? Remember, I thought wood was a good thermal conductor.  No, if it isn’t a conductor, it’s an insulator which means it stops heat from going around. So, what is the best thermal conductor? That’s right! The metal.  Was your hypothesis correct? See you later alligator! 

Remember to look up the words you don't know in wordreference.