For 3 long hours they sat in our class, insulated from the warmth by 5 different materials:
tinfoil shiny side in, tinfoil shiny side out, cotton balls, plastic bag and a cloth.
First we voted for what we predicted would be the best insulator. We recorded the results in numbers and tallies.
Then we carefully unwrapped each piece of ice.
Here were the results:
Some things that we noticed about the ice and the way it melted:
1. The cloth was the best insulator because it was wrapped all the way around.
2. The tinfoil was wrapped all the way around but the cloth had furry things to keep the ice water ? air ? in and the tinfoil did not.
3. The cotton balls were all the way around the ice too, but maybe they absorbed the cold and there was space between the cotton balls and warm air could get through.
4. The plastic bag was the worst insulator because it is very thin.
5. Insulation traps air to keep something at a certain temperature.
Next steps are to create our own insulator for our ice bugs that work BETTER than the cloth! Stay tuned!
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