The Transfer of Heat Energy – check your understanding

1. Name four ways in which heat can be transferred from one place to another.

2. Which of the following is the worst conductor of heat, and why?

air, copper, vacuum, glass, rubber, steel

3. Why do people wear layers of clothing in the winter and birds fluff up their feathers to keep
themselves warm?

4. Why are metals better conductors than other solids?

5. Explain the following:

(a) saucepans for use on a hot plate are made with copper bottoms;

(b) these bottoms are made as flat as possible;

(c) the handle of the saucepans are made of wood or plastic.

6. Which is the better (i.e. faster) conductor of heat, a solid rod of copper or a hollow rod of
copper of the same length and diameter? Why?

7. Why is a frozen car windscreen likely to crack if boiling water is poured onto it?

8. How could you show simply that water was a poor conductor of heat?

9. Why does double glazing reduce the heat loss from a window?

10. If air is a better insulator than polystyrene, why are cavity walls filled with polystyrene foam?

11. Why is the freezing compartment of a fridge/freezer often at the top of the fridge?

12. What is the main way in which heat is given out by an ordinary house radiator?

13. A hot cup of tea is left on the table. Explain carefully how you think that heat could be lost
from it.

14. If the tea is now poured into a bowl made of the same material as the cup explain how its
rate of cooling will be affected.

15. If the Earth were to suddenly lose its atmosphere would it:

(a) become colder by day and warmer by night?

(b) become warmer by day and colder by night?

16. How do you think that the amount of heat radiation received from the Sun would alter if the
Earth were twice as far away from the Sun as it is now?
 The Transfer of Heat Energy – outline answers

1. Any four from: conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation, condensation

2. A vacuum is the worst conductor of heat – in fact it doesn’t conduct heat at all. That’s because it
contains no particles, and since conduction is the transfer of heat via particle collisions, there can be
no conduction.

3. Air trapped between the layers slows down heat loss by conduction, because air is a poor
conductor.

4. Metals contain freely moving electrons, which can carry energy quickly from one metal atom to
another.

5. a) Copper is a good conductor of heat

b) To make sure there is a large area of contact between saucepan and hot plate
c) Wood and plastic are poor conductors, so the handle doesn’t get too hot to hold

6. The solid rod would be the better conductor, because it has a greater cross-sectional area of good
conductor (copper) whereas a large fraction of the cross-sectional area of the hollow rod consists of
poor conductor (air).

7. The screen is very cold to begin with. When hot water is poured onto the outside, the outside of the
glass suddenly becomes much hotter. So the glass on the outside tries to expand. Glass is a poor
(slow) conductor so, meanwhile, the glass on the inside is still cold and therefore not expanding. If
one side of the glass sheet tries to expand while the other side doesn’t, the glass is likely to crack.

8. Heat a test tube of water with a piece of ice weighted down at the bottom. Takes a long time for the
ice to melt, even when the water at the top is boiling. (You probably tried this in KS3.)

9. There are two panes of glass, with a layer of either air or vacuum between them. Air/vacuum is a
poor conductor of heat, so this slows down heat loss by conduction.

10. In foam, the air is trapped in small individual pockets. This stops movement of the air, and so
reduces the rate of heat lost by convection.

11. Warmer air rises, and this is then cooled by the freezer compartment. The cooled air then sinks to
the bottom. This prevents a build-up of warm air at the top of the fridge.

12. Conduction of heat through the metal and into the surrounding air, followed by convection of the air.

13. Evaporation of the liquid, conduction of heat from

tea into air just above it, and also convection
currents carrying heated air away from the cup.

14. Faster rate of cooling, because there is more

surface area for molecules to escape from (by
evaporation), and more surface area for
conduction of heat from liquid into air above it.

15. (b) become warmer by day and colder by night.

The atmosphere insulates the Earth like a
blanket, making it gain heat more slowly by day
and lose heat more slowly by night.

16. The rate of heat radiation received from the sun

would be reduced to one quarter of its present rate (see diagram).