Thermal Conductivity of Household Items Team Super Awesome Alpha Wolf Squadron

1. Thermal Conductivity of Household Items Team Super Awesome Alpha Wolf Squadron Dane Vandermark, Sam Jensen, Peter Cole, Logan Beal • Purpose • Determine which common food container would be best for hot food based on thermal conductivity • Method of Testing • Pot of boiling water • Items placed in water and allowed to come to equilibrium • Thermocouple used to get the surface temperature inside the item • Assumptions and Challenges • Original plan was to measure both surfaces of the item, but the items’ temperature would decrease too rapidly while taking the temperature of the side in the water. • Thus, we increased the rate of boiling and assumed that the difference between the boiling water temperature and the surface was negligible. • The Pyrex dish was used as our basis in order to get a heat flux. • Items Tested • Pyrex Cookware • Plastic Cup • Plastic Bowl • Porcelain Mug • Melamine Bowl Results • Conclusion • Based on our calculated thermal conductivities, the plastic bowl would be the best for holding hot food since it has the lowest thermal conductivity. • Surprisingly, the mug had the highest thermal conductivity, which helps explain the need for a handle. Excel sheet with experimental data and calculated values Thermal conductivities based on different fudge factors As can be seen, the fudge factors significantly improve the thermal conductivities calculated for the melamine bowl and the porcelain mug in comparison to the internet values.