Insulated vs. Non-Insulated Materials Investigation

Physics Lab

Wrap a cup of hot water in a candidate insulating material, run a timed cooling trial, and compare how much heat escapes with each material - then rank them from best to worst insulator.

Starting water temp 90 °C

Water amount 250 g

Pick a material and press Run trial.

Temperature vs. Time

Each line is one timed trial, sampled every 2 minutes. A steeper drop means faster heat loss - a weaker insulator.

Results Table

No trials run yet. Pick a material above and press Run trial.

Ranking: Best to Worst Insulator

Run at least one trial to see a ranking.

Lab Notebook

Not signed in: your work is saved on this device only. Sign in to keep it on any device, and so your teacher can see it if this lab is assigned.

What happened (auto-recorded)

Your observations

Claim: Which material insulated the hot water best in your trials, and which insulated worst?

Evidence: What numbers from your results table and ranking support that claim? Give the starting and final temperatures and the total drop for at least two materials.

Reasoning: Using what you know about how heat moves (conduction, and trapped air that cannot circulate), explain WHY the best material lost heat more slowly than the worst.