Radiant energy LAB

Absorb Radiant Energy – Find out Activity

Questions For The Lab:

What colour and texture absorbs the most radiant energy? What color and texture reflect the most energy? What about the emission of heat energy?

Background Info:

If an object is effective at absorbing radiant heat energy, its temperature will increase. Objects that ABSORB heat energy faster also tend to EMIT (give off) heat energy faster as well.

 

SET UP:

Scientific Method:

Q1) What are 3-4 things you will need to “control” in order to get “fair” results?

Answers:

• How far the light source is from the cans.
• Where the cans are placed?
• Making one can hotter than the other. What do you mean here? One can become hotter than the other, but that is the result of the lab (responding variable), and not something you control
• Putting the cans farther apart from each other The cans need to be the same distance to keep the experiment fair.

 

Q2) Think about it: What is one thing that we SHOULD control but aren’t (Hint* look at the cans!)

A) The fact that one of the cans has a coat of paint on it which gives it an extra layer of protection.

 

Q3) What is our manipulated or independent variable? (What did we change?)

A) The colour and the texture of the cans.

 

Q4) What is our responding or dependent variable? (What is the effect? What are we measuring?)

A) We are measuring what colour absorbs the most amount of heat or the effect is which can get hotter first.

Hypothesis:

Q1) Make a hypothesis: Which can will HEAT UP the fastest? Why do you think so?

A)The black can will heat up the fastest because black absorbs light better than white.

 

Q2) Make a hypothesis: Which can will COOL DOWN the fastest? Why do you think so?

A)The white can cool down the fastest because the white can just reflect the light and not actually absorb the light like the black can will.

Results: Record your Temperature observations in the chart below

Time (minutes)	Matte Black Can (°C)	Shiny Silver Can (°C)
0 (Starting temperature)	25°C	26°C
2	26°C	24°C
4	27°C	25°C
6	28°C	25°C
8	29°C (our light bulb turned off)	26 °C (our light bulb turned off)
Take your temp, then turn off the lamp! 10	28°C	25°C
12	29°C	25°C
Warming Temp change:	4°C	-1°C
14	27°C	25°C
16	26°C	25°C
18	25.5°C	24°C
20	25°C	24°C
Cooling Temp. change:	-4°C	-1°C

 

**COMPLETE THE GRAPH ON THE LAST PAGE ELECTRONICALLY (USING EXCEL) OR WITH PENCIL

 

Analyze your data and draw conclusions

Q1) Which can do Heat up the fastest? (refer to your lab results to support this conclusion)

A) The matte black can be heated up the fastest, and we can see the evidence backing this up when doing the lab, Before the lightbulb in your lamp broke, we could see that the temperature of the black can be slowly going up, while the sliver can, seemed to stay at the same numbers.

Q2) Which can Cool down the fastest? (refer to your lab results to support this conclusion)

A) The matte black can was the first can to cool down and we can see the evidence if we look at my lab results. While the sliver can be cooled down by 1°C and nothing more, the matte black can cool down by 4°C.

Q3) Were both of your hypotheses, correct? Correct any ‘misconceptions’ (bad predictions) Reference your temperature results as proof of what you learned.

A) While I got my first hypothesis correct, my second one was wrong, and from doing the experiment I learned that black would cool down faster compared with a silver can. The same applied to my data, as the data said the temperature for the black can cooled down by 4°C the silver one only cooled down by 1°C.

Q4) What colour and texture seems to be the best at absorbing and emitting radiant energy?

A)  Black and a matte surface seems to be the best at absorbing and emitting radiant energy when you look at the results of the experiment.

Q5) What is a technology that is designed around absorbing radiant energy?

A) One example would be solar energy, it uses the light from the sun, which is radiant energy, and makes the energy from the sun into electricity, which other devices, like smartphones and homes, can use the electricity to power itself.

Q6) What colours and textures REFLECT the most radiant energy?

A) White and smooth surface seems to be the best at reflecting light according to the data from the experiment.

Q7) What is a technology that is designed around reflecting radiant energy?

A) Signs on the road are usually made of reflective materials that are white and smooth so that drivers at night can see these signs and know what to speed, where they are, and etc. So that drivers can use them to drive safely at night.