Conductors and Insulators Lab

Physics Lab

Test the same 10 everyday materials two ways: a quick thermal touch test, and a real circuit you build and close yourself. Some materials conduct both heat and electricity, some conduct neither - and a couple do one but not the other.

Choose a material to test

Station 1 · Thermal Touch Test

Hold your material in hand against the warm source for a fixed 10 seconds, then read how warm the far end got.

Station 2 · Circuit Tester

Build a complete loop - Wire A, your material, Wire B, and the bulb - then click Connect circuit to test it. Every part must be in place AND connected before the bulb can read anything.

Classification Table

Lab Notebook

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What happened (auto-recorded)

Your observations

Look at your classification table. What do copper, aluminum foil, and the steel paperclip have in common in BOTH columns? Why do you think metals tend to conduct both heat and electricity well?

Find at least one material that landed in different columns for thermal vs. electrical (a conductor for one, an insulator for the other). Name it, and use your own test results as evidence to explain why it might behave differently for heat versus electric current.

Compare the wet paper towel to the dry paper towel. What changed between them, and why do you think adding water changed how the material behaved at each station?

Describe what happened when your circuit loop was not fully connected. Why does electric current need a complete, unbroken path in order to flow?

Pick one material from your table. Write a claim about whether it is a thermal conductor/insulator AND an electrical conductor/insulator, then back up your claim with the specific evidence you collected from this lab (your touch-test reading and your circuit test).