How can you design an insulated container?
Vaccine cooler bag (Michael Duff, Getty Images)
Vaccine cooler bag (Michael Duff, Getty Images)
How does this align with my curriculum?
How can you design a container that keeps something cold?
Consider using the Design & Build Process with this challenge.
This activity will help build skills related to the Generate Ideas, Plan, Create, and Test & Evaluate phases of this process.
Materials:
- Two identical beverages in closed containers (e.g., juice boxes, cans, bottles, pouches)
- one cold beverage (kept in the refrigerator or a cooler overnight)
- one room temperature beverage –to be used to design the prototype
- A variety of paper (e.g., construction paper, newspapers, cardboard)
- Pieces of fabric
- A plastic container with lid (i.e., large margarine or ice cream container)
- Packing material (e.g., Styrofoam, plant-based packing peanuts, bubble wrap)
- Cotton balls
- Aluminum foil
- White glue
- Tape
- Thermometer (that can go into a liquid)
What to do!
Imagine a life-saving medication needs to be delivered to someone two hours away. The medication must stay cold while it is transported. Your challenge is to design and build an insulating device. This must keep the medication as cold as possible for two hours.
Tips and Hints
- Keep the cold beverage in the refrigerator or cooler until you’re ready to test your prototype. Use the room temperature beverage to build your prototype. The cold beverage represents the “medicine” that you need to keep cold.
- Think about the thermal conductivity of the different materials you have.
- Generate Ideas – Think about how you could keep the “medicine” cold for two hours.
- Plan – Create drawings of what you want your design to look like. Gather the tools and materials you will need.
- Create – Build a prototype. This is a working model that you will test. Make sure the room temperature beverage can be taken in and out of your prototype.
- Test - When you are satisfied with your prototype, it is time to test it!
- Measure the temperature in the refrigerator or in the cooler using the thermometer. This will be the control temperature. Record this temperature.
- Replace the room temperature beverage in the prototype with the beverage from the refrigerator/cooler.
- Leave the prototype somewhere, not near a heat source, for 2 hours.
- Evaluate - After two hours, measure the temperature of the beverage in the prototype.
- Calculate the difference between the control temperature and the temperature of the beverage in your prototype. How well did your prototype keep the “medicine” cold?
Discovery
Whenever two objects have different temperatures, heat is transferred between them. The warmer object will transfer heat to the cooler object until they reach the same temperature.
When an object is colder than air, the air will transfer heat to the cold object until they both reach the same temperature.
Image - Text Version
Shown is a colour photograph of an adult and a child sharing a warm drink on a cold day. Both people are dressed in winter coats, toques and mittens. They are sitting at a picnic table and snow is visible around them. The adult is pouring liquid from a metal thermos into a metal mug while the child watches.
To keep something cold, you need to prevent heat from transferring to it. You can do this using insulation. Insulators are materials that are not good at conducting heat. If you surround a cold object with insulating materials, you can slow the transfer of heat. This keeps the object cooler longer.
There are many situations in which people want to control the transfer of heat. For example, in the winter we want to keep the heat in our homes from transferring outside. Or you might use a blanket or a sleeping bag to keep your body heat from being transferred to the cooler air around you.
- How would you change your design if you wanted to keep a hot drink hot? Why?
- Try using different insulating materials. Which works best?
- Can you think of other situations where we want to control heat transfer?
What’s happening?
Whenever two objects have different temperatures, heat is transferred between them. The warmer object will transfer heat to the cooler object until they reach the same temperature.
When an object is colder than air, the air will transfer heat to the cold object until they both reach the same temperature.
Image - Text Version
Shown is a colour photograph of an adult and a child sharing a warm drink on a cold day. Both people are dressed in winter coats, toques and mittens. They are sitting at a picnic table and snow is visible around them. The adult is pouring liquid from a metal thermos into a metal mug while the child watches.
To keep something cold, you need to prevent heat from transferring to it. You can do this using insulation. Insulators are materials that are not good at conducting heat. If you surround a cold object with insulating materials, you can slow the transfer of heat. This keeps the object cooler longer.
Why does it matter?
There are many situations in which people want to control the transfer of heat. For example, in the winter we want to keep the heat in our homes from transferring outside. Or you might use a blanket or a sleeping bag to keep your body heat from being transferred to the cooler air around you.
Investigate further!
- How would you change your design if you wanted to keep a hot drink hot? Why?
- Try using different insulating materials. Which works best?
- Can you think of other situations where we want to control heat transfer?