Tyler Colenbrander

Alexa Funahashi
Senior STEM
Period 2
3/27/19

Materials Lab
Variable 1: Material of Structure
Abstract:
In this experiment, we wanted to test how the different materials would react to heat. In our first
trial, we built an apparatus that would hold the heat lamp above each material as we tested
them. The lamp was turned on for 10 minutes and off for 10 minutes. The temperature was then
taken every minute. We found that that the plywood would be the best material to use, based off
of our first trial. For our second and third trials we had to use a simulation, due to the lack of
time to conduct the experiment. We found that the tire would be the optimum material to use,
based off of the simulation. Although the last two trials gave the result of the tires as the best
material, we will be using the plywood as the best material overall, because the simulation did
not account for outside factors. The first trial was done in real life so the outside factors were
already included.

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Table of contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………pg. 1
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..pg. 3
Method……………………………………………………………………………….…....pg. 3
Results……………………………………………………………………………………..pg. 5
Discussion………………………………………………………………………………....pg. 9
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...…....pg.

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Introduction:
Engineers who design buildings not only take the structure into account but also the materials
that will be used. The materials used to create the structure need to be tested to understand which
would be most beneficial. The equations we will use are:

Density (g/mL) = Mass (grams) / Volume (mL)

Heat Transfer Q (joules) = Mass (grams) * Specific Heat (joules per gram degree Celsius) *
Change in Temperature (Celsius)

For our classroom, we need to make a structure with 4 walls and a roof. We want to ensure that
we use materials that are durable and will ensure a safe, long-lasting learning environment for
the students. In order to do that, we need to test how each material reacts to heat. Our governing
question is, “What material will keep the children warm in the winter but cooler in the summer?”

Method:
The structure we built is used to hold the heat lamp over each material. The heat lamps were
turned on for 10 minutes and turned off for 10 minutes. Each minute the temperature was taken
and an infrared photo was taken of the material.

Apparatus:
The main apparatus that we used to hold our heat lamp is made up of 2 large blocks of wood, 2
smaller pieces of wood that has 2 screws sticking out of it to hold the pvc pipe in place. A pvc
pipe would span across the blocks of wood over the material. The lamp would be held in place
on the lamp using a rubber band.

Materials to test:
● Rubber (tire)
● Brick
● Steel (shipping container material)
● Wood

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 ○ Pressure treated
○ Plywood
○ Normal 2x4

Additional materials needed for lab:

● Heat lamp
● Timer
● Thermometer
● Meter Stick

Qualities to test:
● Heat capacity

Procedure:
1. Record starting mass (in grams) and observations of all materials. The starting material
with no changes to it is the control for the experiment.
2. Test heat on each material
a. Record initial temperature (in Celsius) of each material before starting
b. Place each material under a heat lamp 3 inches away from the face of the material
and record the temperature of the material every 1 minute for 10 minutes. After
10 minutes, turn off the heat lamp and continue to record the temperature every 1
minute for at least another 10 minutes.
c. Record observations
d. Repeat two more times for each material
3. Record this as material profiles for each material (added to the results from the qualitative
experiments).

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Addition to Procedure:
Due to time constraints, we could not finish 3 trials of each material. So, we only got through
one trial of each material and then tried to simulate two more trials using heat transfer equations.
Because of this, we cannot do any data averages over the three trials, but we still have a good
idea of the different properties of each material, and thus can compare them to pick materials.
Here is the “simulation” procedure:
1. Take the recorded starting mass and temperature of each material. Find the specific heat
for each material online.
2. Using the equation Q = mcΔT, calculate the change in temperature when “Q” Joules of
heat is added to the material from the heat lamp. “m” and “c” remain constant for each
material, but “Q” changes based on the time that the material has been under the heat
lamp. Use the equation Work(J) = Power(W)*time(s). Power(W) is 125 W for the heat
lamp, and time is 60 seconds multiplied by the minutes the heat lamp has been on.
Note: This method will predict much higher values for temperature than what we actually
experience, due to the fact that in real life, not all the heat energy from the lamp will be 100%
transferred to the materials under it.
3. After 10 minutes, all of the heat has been added, and we can now use Newton’s Law of
Cooling to predict temperature over time.
Equation: T(t) = T(ambient) + (T(initial) - T(ambient))e^-kt
The ambient temperature is room temperature (about 23℃), k is a constant that can be
calculated based off the experimental trial data, and t is the time (in minutes).
4. After getting numbers for this simulation trial (trial 2), using the same initial variables for
trial 3 would just result in the same data. So, for trial 3, we will standardize the initial
mass and temperature of each material to 500g and 20℃. This is what we originally
wanted to do in the real life experiment, but there is no way to easily standardize the mass
of each material and force an initial temperature on it.

Results:
Trial 1: Below are graphs of trial 1 of each material, which was the test carried out in real
conditions. The first 4 materials were all done individually under one 125W heat lamp, and the
last 2 were done at the same time under 2 heat lamps (500W total).

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Here is the data table that accompanies the above graphs:
Heating in the first 10 minutes:
Initial
Temp(℃) Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)

Material 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tire 19.7 57 70.3 83.1 89.8 96.5 99.3 101.3 109 119.4 121.1
Corrugated
Steel 19.4 38.1 46.1 42.2 75 83.7 78.2 90.3 91 96.7 96.3
Plywood 17.5 39.5 50.8 55.1 63.7 67.4 70.3 73.6 75 76.1 76.5
Brick 16.5 29.8 35.2 37.2 40.5 43.8 45.9 47.2 49.7 50.2 54.4
PT 2x4 20.1 74.3 90.3 99 103.2 105.5 115.6 119.3 123.8 124.4 124.5
non-PT 2x4 20 50.2 50 52.7 66.5 69.3 77.6 81.2 80.9 82.9 84.1
Cooling after the 10 minute mark is hit:
Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
91.2 80.4 74.7 72 68 63.8 60.5 57 55.5 54 51.5 49.4 47.1 45.2 43.7 41.8
73.4 63.1 56.4 47.1 45 37.2 29.9 27.8 28.5 27.3 24.8
59.3 53.6 48.2 43.8 39.8 37.1 36.2 33 34.1 32.9 31.7 29.4 28.9

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 43.3 40.1 26.5 35.1 32.7 31.7 30.3 29.1 28.9 28.1 27.3
77.7 61.3 56.5 50.2 47.5 42 40.6 39.2 37.3 35.5 35.2 34.1 32.2 30.2 30.3 30.5
55.9 48.6 44.4 40.6 37.7 35.3 33.2 33.2 31.5 30.5 30.1 28.5 28.8 28.3 26.8 27

Trial 2: Due to lack of time, the rest of the data was collected using simulations (see procedure
for details). Using the same starting conditions as the real life experiments, the following
simulation was made using heat transfer equations:

The temperatures were calculated using the equations outlined in the procedure (Q = mcΔT and
T(t) = T(ambient) + (T(initial) - T(ambient))e^-kt), so the following data was needed:
Specific Heat
Material (J/g°C) Mass(g) Cooling Constant(-k)
Tire (rubber) 1.38 600 -0.115
Corrugated
Steel 0.49 300 -0.284
Plywood 1.215 400 -0.169
Brick 0.84 1000 -0.182
PT 2x4 1.17 500 -0.21
non-PT 2x4 1.76 600 -0.21
This was then used to project the following data:
Heating in the first 10 minutes:
Initial Temp(℃) Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)

Material 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tire 19.7 28.8 37.8 46.9 55.9 65.0 74.0 83.1 92.2 101.2 110.3
Corrugated
Steel 19.4 70.4 121.4 172.5 223.5 274.5 325.5 376.5 427.6 478.6 529.6
Plywood 17.5 32.9 48.4 63.8 79.2 94.7 110.1 125.5 141.0 156.4 171.8

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Brick 16.5 25.4 34.4 43.3 52.2 61.1 70.1 79.0 87.9 96.9 105.8
PT 2x4 20.1 32.9 45.7 58.6 71.4 84.2 97.0 109.8 122.7 135.5 148.3
non-PT 2x4 20 27.1 34.2 41.3 48.4 55.5 62.6 69.7 76.8 83.9 91.0
Cooling after the 10 minute mark is hit:
Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
100.8 92.3 84.8 78.1 72.1 66.8 62.0 57.8 54.0 50.6 47.6 45.0 42.6 40.4 38.6 36.9
404.4 310.1 239.1 185.7 145.5 115.2 92.4 75.2 62.3 52.6 45.3 39.8 35.6 32.5 30.2 28.4
148.7 129.1 112.6 98.7 86.9 77.0 68.6 61.5 55.5 50.5 46.2 42.6 39.5 37.0 34.8 33.0
92.0 80.5 71.0 63.0 56.3 50.8 46.2 42.3 39.1 36.4 34.2 32.3 30.8 29.5 28.4 27.5
124.6 105.3 89.7 77.1 66.9 58.5 51.8 46.4 41.9 38.3 35.4 33.1 31.2 29.6 28.4 27.4
78.1 67.7 59.2 52.4 46.8 42.3 38.6 35.7 33.3 31.3 29.8 28.5 27.4 26.6 25.9 25.4

Trial 3: Then, for the third trial, we did a similar simulation, but this time standardized the initial
variables of mass and starting temperature. This uses the same equations and table of specific
heat values as trial 2.

Here is the data table that accompanies the above graph:

Heating in the first 10 minutes:
Initial Temp(℃) Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)

Material 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tire 20 30.9 41.7 52.6 63.5 74.3 85.2 96.1 107.0 117.8 128.7
Corrugated
Steel 20 50.6 81.2 111.8 142.4 173.1 203.7 234.3 264.9 295.5 326.1
Plywood 20 32.3 44.7 57.0 69.4 81.7 94.1 106.4 118.8 131.1 143.5

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Brick 20 37.9 55.7 73.6 91.4 109.3 127.1 145.0 162.9 180.7 198.6
PT 2x4 20 32.8 45.6 58.5 71.3 84.1 96.9 109.7 122.6 135.4 148.2
non-PT 2x4 20 28.5 37.0 45.6 54.1 62.6 71.1 79.7 88.2 96.7 105.2
Cooling after the 10 minute mark is hit:
Temperature(℃) at Time(mins)
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
117.2 107.0 97.9 89.7 82.5 76.0 70.3 65.1 60.5 56.5 52.8 49.6 46.7 44.1 41.8 39.8
251.2 194.8 152.3 120.3 96.3 78.2 64.5 54.3 46.5 40.7 36.3 33.0 30.6 28.7 27.3 26.2
124.7 108.9 95.6 84.3 74.7 66.7 59.9 54.2 49.3 45.2 41.8 38.9 36.4 34.3 32.6 31.1
169.4 145.0 124.7 107.8 93.7 81.9 72.1 63.9 57.1 51.5 46.7 42.8 39.5 36.7 34.5 32.5
124.5 105.3 89.7 77.1 66.8 58.5 51.8 46.3 41.9 38.3 35.4 33.1 31.2 29.6 28.4 27.4
89.7 77.0 66.8 58.5 51.8 46.3 41.9 38.3 35.4 33.1 31.2 29.6 28.4 27.3 26.5 25.9

Discussion:
In our first trial, we found that the plywood would be the optimum material for our structure.
Compared to our other materials, it does not heat up too much when placed under the heat
lamp and does not cool down as fast when the heat lamp was turned off. During this trial we put
each material under the heat lamp and recorded the data. Our graphs and data show that
during the Summer months plywood would not make the internal temperature of the room too
hot and not too cold during the Winter months. Our other materials either became too hot when
the heat lamp was over it or cooled down too fast. Those materials would not be beneficial
during the different seasons.

In our second and third trial, we used a simulation to test our materials. In these trials we found
that the tire was our optimum material. It did not heat up to the extremes the other materials did
and it did not cool down as fast. Because the tire did not cool down as fast, it would maintain a
good temperature during the Winter. In the second trial, the tire only reached 110.3* C while the
highest temperature reached was 529.6* C from the corrugated steel. The tire cooled down to
36.9* C in 26 minutes. This means it cooled down the least amount in 26 minutes by cooling
down 73.4*C. In the third trial, the tire reached 128.7*C as its highest temperature under the
heat lamp. The highest temperature under the heat lamp was 326.1*C from the corrugated
steel. The tire cooled down to 39.8*C in 26 minutes. The tire cooled down 88.9*C in 26 minutes.
It cooled down the least amount.

The difference between th data from the first trial and the last two trials are due to the fact that
the last two trials were done in a simulation due to the limited time to conduct the experiment.
The outside factors, such as how the outside air effects the heat displacement, are difficult to

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predict and add into the simulations. Because the first trial was done in real life, it is the most
realistic.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the plywood would the the best material to build our classroom out of. From our
trials, the first one was more realistic because it also accounted for the outside factors. The
second and third trial could not account for the heat displacement in the air, in the simulation.
The other materials would be too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.

Appendix:
Here are additional photos from the project, as well as the raw data from the lab notebook.

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