Chapter 7: Thermal Energy

Like Chapter 5 (Electricity), this chapter focuses on helping students understand how thermal energy relates to their homes - heating and cooling. How much energy goes through the walls or windows becomes a focus as students learn about the difference between heat and temperature, R values, and thermal power.

At the end of the chapter, students design a container to keep ice a solid as long as possible. They will use the data they collect to calculate the R-value of their container.