8.1.7 Engineering a Device to Affect Phase Change

Name______period______

8.1.7 Engineering a Device to Affect Phase Change

1. What are the properties of an insulated mug that make it a great insulator?

2. Why are some mugs better insulators than others?

3. If you pay more, will you get a better insulated mug, or is it a rip off to buy name brand?

4. Your parents are going to build a cabin in the Uinta Mountains. The cabin will be in very hot weather in the summer and very cold weather in the winter. What are some types of materials they can use or some techniques they can use to build their cabin that will help it maintain an even temperature all year?

5. Chemicals are one way to influence the rate of a phase change. For example, anti-freeze is an additive that lowers the freezing point of any water-based liquid. Why do we put antifreeze in our cars?

6. Another way to affect the rate of a phase change is to change the amount of energy involved. This is when insulators and conductors are used. A conductor is ______

______and an insulator is ______

______.

7. You are going to be designing, constructing, and testing a device that can affect the rate of a phase change. A phase change is a result of a change in temperature or the kinetic energy of the particles of a substance. The process used to create and improve a device is called the ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS. Draw the process below.

8. You will be given a small plastic cup with a lid. You and your group will design something to keep your ice cube from melting when placed on a hot plate. Think about what kind of materials would be best suited for this purpose. You will choose a material, build your design, test your design and then choose another material and do the process over again. Record your data and compare the two products to see which one is the best insulator.

First material: ______

What are the properties of this material that made you choose it? ______

______

Second material: ______

What are the properties of this material that made you choose it? ______

______

*****When you build your device, make sure you can get the lid off and onto your cup so you can add the ice cube.

Record the mass of your cup and ice before you put it onto the hot plate, and then every 5 minutes, empty the water off the ice and record the mass of the ice that is still in the cup.

Question:______

Hypothesis:______

Data chart:

9. Which material worked the best for insulating the ice? ______

10. Why do you think this material was the best? ______

______

11. Was your hypothesis correct? ______

12. How could you have improved your design? ______

______

13. What other materials could you have used that might have worked better? ______

______

______

Make sure you have a title for your graph, label the x and y axis, and use two lines (different colors), one for each material you tested.