Ryan+K

= Thermal Energy = By: Ryan K

What is Thermal Energy? Thermal energy is a form of kinetic and potential energy. Thermal energy is all about the movement of the atoms in something such as how fast or slow they are moving. For example if you rub your hands together that’s thermal energy because you are increasing the movement of the atoms another example of this is making a pizza in a fire oven, because of how hot the fire is it changes the matter of the pizza and bakes it. We are usually not able to see these particles moving but we can feel them. The faster the atoms move the hotter it feels and the slower the atoms move the colder it gets. When a substance is heated its particles gain energy and vibrate more vigorously. Thermal energy can change the phase of matter. If you put forth enough heat to a solid the atoms will moves faster and more free and become a liquid and if you heat them even more they can become a gas and move randomly and freely.



What an Example of Thermal Energy Being Used in our Daily Life?

One big way heat is used in our daily life is a light bulb. You might not think about it all the time but a light bulb is a perfect example of thermal energy. A light bulb has a metal filament which is connected to the wire that’s connected to the outlet in your wall. The electrical energy runs through the cord to the filament inside the glass which heats up the filament. This filaments heats up so much that it has to give off energy and it gives off its energy by producing light. Just because the atoms in this filament are moving quicker it produces light. Usually when you apply to much heat to something it melts. For every substance there is a different and unique melting point. In light bubs there is usually a tungsten filament. They use tungsten because it is a metal which means it is a good conductor of light, heat and electricity. They also use it because its melting point is very high. The tungsten has to get super hot to melt. The heat that the outlet produces is not enough to melt the tungsten but is hot enough to make it light up and stay light. The reason Thomas Alva Edison had to take such a long time to create the first household light bulb was because he had to find a metal that could hold enough thermal energy and heat and not melt but still light up over and over and over again.



The Experiment

The purpose of this experiment is to see if a hand warmer gets hotter by time and if gets hotter after you shake it. To test this, a hand warmer, a human hand, and a thermometer were being used. The hand warmer was measured every ten minutes. A thermometer was stuck on top of the pouch to measure the temperature. Every ten minutes the temperature was recorded and put into Microsoft Excel. The temperature was measured in degrees Celsius. Right when the hand warmer was opened the temperature was 29.3 degrees. Then after shaking it the degrees of the hand warmer was 32.8. As you can see the temperature grew as you shook it more due to you forcing the atoms to move quicker. After ten minutes the temperature grew to 33.4 degrees. Then after shaking it for 30 seconds the temperature was 37.8 degrees. After another 10 minutes (a total of 2 minutes after the hand warmer was opened) the temperature was 39.2 degrees. Warmer yet again and after shaking it was 42.4. Ten minutes after that (30 minutes after being opened) the temperature was 43.8 degrees C. After shaking it the temperature was 47.8 degrees C. As you can see every ten minutes the temperature rises and after shaking it, the temperature rises again. The temperature rising from opening the package is due from an exothermic reaction. And it gets hotter after its shaken because you are moving the molecules and atoms faster by yourself.


 * Time (SEC) || heat before shaken ( c ) || heat after shaken ( c ) ||
 * 0 || 29.3 || 33.4 ||
 * 10 || 32.8 || 37.8 ||
 * 20 || 39.2 || 42.4 ||
 * 30 || 43.8 || 47.8 ||