Hot and Cold Water

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Fall 2009-Day 11
Heat and Temperature Activities

Also, using the temperature probes, students tested how hot a cup of hot water was, and how cold a cup of cold water was. As time went by, the students observed how the temperatures of the two cups of water changed. They noticed that the cup of hot water changed faster than the cold water. This could be explained because the hot water was much hotter than the room temperature. When compared to the cold water, although colder, the cold water was closer to room temperature than the hot water was. The hot water temperature must have changed more quickly because it had more of a change to endure. Both cups of water were trying to get back to the equilibrium temperature. As the students watched the temperatures change, the process of change was slower as the cups of water got closer to room temperature. Another activity involved having the students pour two cups of different temperatured water together. The new temperature was somewhere in the middle of the two previous temperatures. The two groups presented their findings to each other and compared results.

Initial Temperature Differences	Temperature Differences After Elapsed Time