Investigating Thermal Insulators

Lesson: Science

Class: Year 6 Year: 2023 - 2024

We have investigated the best thermal insulator for arctic animals and consolidated why they are suited to their environment. 

To carry out the investigation we used ice cold water (measuirng the teperature with themomenters) trying to keep this the same throught the investigation. We worked in pairs - one put their hand in the cold water and the other person timed how long it took to feel the coldness using a timer. The variable changed as we tested different insulators - the first with only a glove, the second with glove inflated with air and the third a glove covered with lard. The majority of pairs found the lard to be the best thermal insulator as it acted like blubber on an arctic animal. However some of us found the inflated glove to be the best thermal insulator, again acting like a blubber but theis depended on how inflated the glove became.