Skip to main content

Heat Transfer

Vaccine cooler bag

How can you design an insulated container?

Hands-on Activities

How can you design a container that keeps something cold?

Insulated food containers

Design & Build an Insulated Food Container

Lessons

Students will design and build a prototype of a device to keep food cold for a specified time.

Hands holding a hot mug

Introduction to Heat Transfer

Backgrounders

Learn about the different ways that heat is transferred.

Casting hot iron

What Causes Hot Things to Glow?

STEM Explained

Getting electrons excited by heat can cause certain materials to give off visible light when heated - like filaments in light bulbs.

A variety of lava lamps

Lava Lamps

STEM Explained

Lava lamps are very interesting to look at. But they are also interesting examples of buoyancy, heat transfer and solubility!

Hurricane Katrina as seen from space

Where Do Hurricanes Come From?

STEM Explained

Hurricanes are a kind of tropical cyclone. But where do they come from? And why do they cause so much damage? This article will answer all your storm-related questions!

A melting world-shaped glacier

What is Ocean Warming and Why Does It Matter?

STEM Explained

Oceans absorb the greatest amount of solar radiation on Earth. Ocean warming can lead to glaciers melting and ocean acidification.

What is an exothermic reaction?

What is an exothermic reaction?

Hands-on Activities

Things are heating up! Explore the temperature change that occurs in an exothermic reaction and the role of catalysts is this chemistry activity.

Thermal images of people and objects

Thermopower and the Body Heat-Powered Flashlight

STEM Explained

Can your body be a source of electricity generation? Maybe, if you understand heat transfer. Explore this concept through a 2013 invention by a Canadian teen.

Digital Baking Thermometer

Tools: Thermometers

Picture Collections

6 images of some instruments such as clinical and baking thermometers that have been designed to measure temperature for specific purposes

Heat pump diagram

Tapping Underground Energy with Heat Pumps

STEM Explained

Using the heat of the Earth’s interior, you can heat your home with a ground source heat pump. This kind of heating is cheaper and better for the environment!

Hot sunrise in space

Temperature: On Earth and on the Space Station

Backgrounders

This backgrounder explains what temperature is, how it is measured, how it affects people, and how it is controlled on the International Space Station.

Above: Tires on a Boeing 737 (Wikimedia Commons/Politikaner)

How do an Airplane's Tires Help It Land Safely?

STEM Explained

Manufacturing and engineering airplane tires is important work! Learn how airplane tires keep the aircraft safe during takeoff and landing.

Polar bear and two cubs

How do animals stay warm in the winter?

Hands-on Activities

Animals have some unique adaptations to stay warm. Discover what conduction of heat and insulation have to do with staying warm!

Kids camping

How Do Sleeping Bags Work?

STEM Explained

How do our bodies get cold? How do sleeping bags keep us warm?