Driving question : How fast an object cools down and what are the factors, which affect the rate of cooling?

In this activity students record temperature during a cooling process of hot water and check the validity of Newton’s law of cooling for the collected data

Topic: Heat and temperature,
Concepts: Rate of cooling,
Grade level: High School (14-18 years),
Activity type: Data logging,
Sensors: Temperature sensor,
Interface requirements: Single analog sensor input,

The Student Worksheet gives investigation instructions for students.

Download worksheet

The Teacher Notes includes teacher commentaries such as didactical approach, exemplary questions, assignments and data analysis.

Download teacher notes

The Science Background describes the scientific principles that underlie the activity.

Download science background

Coach Activity/Result file can be opened in the Coach 7 Program. This requires Coach 7 to be installed on your computer.

Download activity Newton's law of cooling (.cma7) Download result Newton's law of cooling (.cmr7)