T1+Science+_Melting+Wax

29th March 2010

Science Fair

Aim: What metal conducts heat the fastest? Steel? Aluminium? Copper? or Brass?

Hypothesis: I think that Aluminium will be the fastest conductor of heat because its quite easy to melt and transform into something else... just like the aluminium lap-tops.

Method Materials: 1x tripod 1x spirit burner 4x small wax buttons (same size) 1x round wooden ring with 4 pieces of metal the same size and shape fixed equidistant to each other so that the point faced inwards and the indent was on the outside (see Figure 1). The metals were steel (S), Aluminium (A), Copper (C) and Brass (B). 1x stop watch Method Procedure: 1. We put small pieces of wax in the hollows on the ends of the 4 strips of different metals that were fixed on a round wooden frame. 2. We heated the metal strips 3. We timed the melting of the wax 4. We recorded the times in a table Results:

Our group found that the wax melted in the following order: 1st=Copper 2nd=Aluminium 3rd=Brass Last=Steel



Conclusion: My hypothesis was right. I wrote that Aluminium would be the fastest and Steel would be the slowest.What happened was that the Copper melted faster then any other metal.

The wax melted fastest with the Copper because the molecules are easier to move than in the other metals and this is what makes the heat travel through the metal.This is called “heat conduction”. Where the molecules are more difficult to move, heat takes the more time to move through it.

Conduction occurs when the molecules bump against each other and cause more movement. It is like pushing someone who trips and pushes another person in a crowd and the movement ripples outwards.

We used Copper metal in pots and pans because we want to heat food we use steel in pipes and hot water cylinders so that heat doesn’t burn our fingers. Brass is used in tapes because brass rust. Aluminum is used in pots because we want to cook our food. All of these metals do get hot after a while such as terne.