Year 10 Science Experiments

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Year 10 have been carrying out a series of science experiments all based around ideas of conduction, expansion and contraption. We started off this work by defining what we mean by conduction. The students came up with the idea that heat is able to travel through a solid.

Miss McNie demonstrated this by heating up a piece of wire with a bunsen burner. At the end of the wire was two paper clips, each held in place with some solid wax. We observed that as the heat was conducted along the wire, the wax began to melt. Eventually the paper clips fell off. The students successfully predicted that the paper clip closest to the heat source would fall first.

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It was then demonstrated which solids are the best conductors. A beaker of water was heated under the bunsen burner. Inside we placed a metallic, plastic and wooden kitchen utensil. Under careful guidance the pupils touched each utensil as it began to heat up. We found that the metal was the warmest, making it the best conductor of heat. The wooden spoon was found to be a poor conductor.

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Another experiment involved seeing which particular metals are the best conductors. A metallic cross containing iron, copper, aluminium and brass was heated under a bunsen burner. At the end of each metallic strip was some hard wax. We observed that aluminium wax was the first to melt. This tells us that aluminium is the best conductor.

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Convection was demonstrated using a drop of potassium being placed in a heater beaker of water. As the temperature increased, the potassium could be seen to rise to the top of the water. Towards the top of the beaker was where the water was the coolest. Once the potassium reached this point then it started to fall once again. We were able to conclude that convection takes place in a liquid.

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A different experiment proved that liquid as a poor conductor. A single test tube contained ice at the bottom, then a layer of insulation, and then some mineral water. We heated up the mineral water until it was boiling. The ice however remained frozen in the same test tube. We were able to conclude that the heat wasn’t able to conduct through the water.

Finally Miss McNie demonstrated the ball and ring trick to show an example of contraction. The ball was unable to fit through the metallic ring at room temperature. When the ring was heated up however the particles expanded and the ball could easily pass through.

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