Investigating heat absorption
In this activity, students use thermometers inside water-filled soda bottles to investigate how dark and light colours affect heat absorption.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
use a thermometer correctly
explain the difference between temperature and heat
explain that darker coloured objects are good absorbers of light energy and heat up faster than lighter coloured objects, which are poorer absorbers of light energy
decide whether it is better to wear a black T-shirt or a white T-shirt on a hot sunny day.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction and background notes
what you need
what to do
discussion questions
student handout.
Related content
The article Heat energy explains three ways that heat energy is transferred.
The interactive Temperature – the hot and the cold and the image Temperatures scales compared may be helpful to refer to for discussion on the measurement scale.
More activity ideas
In Investigating heat absorption, students use thermometers inside water-filled soda bottles to investigate how dark and light colours affect heat absorption.
In Making a solar oven, students learn about using the Sun’s energy to meet our needs – cooking food and heating water. After learning about solar heat energy, students can construct and use a solar oven.
Using solar energy encourages students to explore the transformation of the Sun’s energy into heat energy through several experiments.
