Earth’s Seasons: Angle



Earth’s Seasons: Angle

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to measure how the angle of an object in relation to a light source affects the amount of heat the object receives.

Group roles:

Materials Manager: One member of your group will need to be responsible for getting the materials set up properly, turning the lamp on and off, and cleaning everything up at the end of the lab. They will also be responsible for monitoring the materials throughout the lab to make sure they remain set up correctly.

Time Keeper: One member of your group will be responsible for keeping track of the time and letting the temperature monitor know when to make and record their temperature measurements.

Temperature monitor: One member of your group will need to monitor and record the temperature of the thermometers.

Data recorder: One member of your group will need to record the temperatures reported by the temperature monitor and share that data with the rest of the group at the end of the experiment.

Materials:

• 3 thermometers with black paper sleeves over the bulbs

• Wooden blocks of various sized to prop the thermometers up with

• Angle measuring card

• 100 watt bulb clip light attached to a ring stand

• Stopwatch

Procedure:

1. Set up the lamp to the light bulb is 38cm above the table surface.

2. Place the black paper sleeve-covered ends of the thermometers directly under the lamp and align the corners so that they make a triangle. Tape the ends of the sleeves to the table with clear tape.

3. Lay one thermometer flat on the table. Prop the other two thermometers up on the wooden blocks.

4. Place the angle measuring card under the second thermometer, and adjust the position of the block so that the thermometer is at a 30˚ angle to the table. Repeat with the third thermometer so that it is at a 60˚ angle to the table. When completed, your set-up should look like this:

[pic]

5. Read the temperatures of each thermometer to the nearest whole degree and record them in the “0 minutes” line of Table 2.

6. Turn on the lamp and start the stopwatch. The Time Keeper will need to keep track of the time and tell the Temperature Monitor and Data Recorder to read and record the temperature at the times given in the time column of Table 2.

7. Once you have recorded all of your data, turn off the lamp.

8. Make sure each member of your group has the data for all 3 thermometers.

9. Calculate the total change in temperature by subtracting the temperature at 0 minutes from the temperature at 10 minutes. (Temperature at 10 minutes – Temperature at 0 minutes.)

Angle

Hypothesis: How do you think the temperature change of each of the 3 different angles will compare at the end of the experiment?

If we place thermometers at 3 different angles in relation to the “sun”, then the temperature will ________________________ as the angle _______________ because _______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________.

Data:

Table 2

|Time |30° |60° |90° |

| | | |(flat on table) |

|0 minutes | | | |

|2 minutes | | | |

|4 minutes | | | |

|6 minutes | | | |

|8 minutes | | | |

|10 minutes | | | |

|Total change in temperature | | | |

|Class average temperature | | | |

|change | | | |

Conclusion questions for Angle lab:

1. At which angle was the highest temperature change recorded?

_________________________________________________________

2. At which angle was the lowest temperature change recorded?

_________________________________________________________

3. What do you notice in general about the relationship between the temperature and the angle of the thermometer device to the sun?

_________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

4. Are the results what you expected according to your hypothesis? Why or why not? (Give data to back up your answer!) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Based on your data from this experiment, does Earth’s angle toward the sun have an effect on Earth’s temperature? Why or why not? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion question for Distance vs. Angle:

Which has a larger impact on the amount of heat the Earth receives (and thus the Earth’s seasons) – the Earth’s distance from the sun, or the angle of the Earth in relation to the sun? Use the data from your lab to support your answer!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-----------------------

Name: ________________________

Per.: _____

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download