Big Picture: Heat, Thermochemistry, Melting Points, Conductivity
Key Words: Melting Points, Heat Conductivities, Aluminum, Celsius
The project that I am doing is called Ice Melting Blocks. It has to do with Thermodynamics. In this experiment, I will have two blocks that look very similar to each other and I will ask questions like "Which block will melt an ice cube faster?" and "Which block is warmer?"
The "cold" block and the "warm" block are actually the both same temperature (room temperature). The ice cube melts faster on the cold block and at the same time the ice cube on the warm block will not even look like it's melting.
The blocks are made up of two different materials that have different heat conductivities.
The "cold" block is aluminum, which has one of the highest heat conductivities. It feels cold because heat from your hand is immediately handled into the aluminum. This cools your hand so your brain tells you the block is cold.
The "warm" block is made of plastic foam. Since plastic is a poor conductor of heat, heat is conducted more slowly from your hand so your brain tells you that the block is warmer.
Since ice melts at zero Celsius, the ice melted much faster on the aluminum block because of its high heat conductivity, while it melted slower on the plastic block because of its lower heat conductivity.
One of the principles for this project that applies to this project is transfer of heat. Heat flow represents the movement of thermal energy from place to place. Regions with greater molecular kinetic energy will pass their thermal energy to regions with less molecular energy through direct molecular collisions which is process known as conduction.