DISCUSSION

Initially, the group decided and agreed to make a lunch bag as the product of the task
given to test the theory of adiabatic process. We found out that people especially students have
problems where their food cannot hold the heat long enough until break time or lunch hour. As a
result, the food becomes cold and it does not taste so good. This leads us to come out with this
idea and try to apply as much rules as possible to ensure that the adiabatic process can be
achieved. An adiabatic process is a theory that only works perfectly under ideal conditions. The
atmosphere is not ideal for adiabatic theory. The term adiabatic approximation is sometimes used
to make people aware that this process is a theory that does not work perfectly in the real
atmosphere.
In this experiment, we used plain water to substitute the food that are usually used and
placed inside the lunch bag. The lunch bag was mainly made by two things which are papers and
glue. The lunch bag was manually made by all of the group members. This experiment was
conducted in the pantry in Kolej 11, UPM and not in a controlled condition or room. Other than
papers and glue, we also use the thermometer, cellophane tape and a paper cup to complete the
experiment. A hot plain water of 80 oC was placed inside the lunch bag initially and after 30
minutes, the temperature of the hot water was measured again and it was found that it drops
dramatically to 58 oC.
It can be concluded that the system or product made has errors that must be considered
and improved so that heat can be held long enough to make it a good lunch bag. Firstly, we
found that we did not use much air as the insulator. We need air as the insulator of heat, and lack
of air can lead to major drop of temperature. Next, due to it was not conducted in a controlled
conditions, the result can also be affected.

Because of the presence of wind in the pantry, the

result appeared to be different than what we thought it will turn to.

Other than that, the product of the adiabatic process was manually made. So, the
specification or the dimensions were not so precise and exact due to the carelessness and human
limitations. Although the measurements were taken properly, errors can still occur because of
people limitations. To overcome this error, all of the group members need to put more
concentration and conduct the experiment more carefully to reduce the deviations.

On top of that, we also found that the lunch bag was not covered fully. There is clearance
and hot air which carries the heat can ventilate the heat out of the lunch bag. All of us must
create or make a better constructed cover to stop the heat from coming out of the lunch bag.
Because of the limitations of materials, the lunch bag cannot hold the heat as much as it could.
Usage of A3 papers of 165 gsm & 135 gsm and PVA glue will not produce a good lunch bag.
These limitations affect the product and the final result.
The group has done some improvements on the design of the lunch bag. Instead of using
three layers of paper, we applied more layers to the lunch bag by another three layers so that the
lunch bag is able to hold the heat for a quite long time. We also coloured the inner part of the
lunch bag with black so that more heat can be absorbed into the lunch bag and the hotness of the
food, for this case, the hot water can be preserved.