Thermos Project:

(Final Prototype)

(Final Image)

Planning, Process and Analysis
Materials:
• Prototype
• Hot plate
• A 150ml beaker
• 150ml of water
• Tongs
• Thermostat
• A brick

Prototype Testing Procedure:

1) Fill a beaker until the beaker contains 150ml of water
2) Turn on the hot plate and set the temperature to high
3) Wait five minutes
4) Hold a thermostat in the boiling water to measure the temperature. Wait till the temperature reaches roughly 100 degrees Celsius
5) Have your prototype ready on a surface (preferably a brick) where the prototype will not damage the counter top
6) Record the temperature of the water in the beaker
7) Pour the boiling water in the prototype with sturdy tongs
8) Seal of your prototype
9) Wait 15 minutes to see how much temperature was lost
Explanation:
Plastic Cup(s):
We needed a strong cup foundation and that was either going to be glass, paper or plastic. Even though paper is a good insulator, water can easily make paper get bent out of shape. It was between glass or plastic; however, plastic is a worse thermal conductor so it was a better insulator than glass.
We used two plastic cups. One for the outside of our thermos and we used its lid. The other for surrounding the Styrofoam cup which was holding the water.
Styrofoam Cup:
We used it to hold the water because Styrofoam in general is a great insulator. So we wouldn’t have much heat loss to radiation and would force the heat to rise. We jammed as much Styrofoam underlay in our thermos to reduce convection and the space we give hot air and cold air to collide.

Balloon:
Rubber prevents heat from escaping and suppresses heat downward and has a below average thermal conductivity which just means it is a good insulator.
Marker:
We used a black marker because we needed to have ours have some sense of design even though our thermos is function over fashion. Also, our logic behind using a black marker is that black absorbs heat so it will just keep the inside of our thermos hot and steamy.
Foam Underlay:
Foam is a great insulator so we had some at the top preventing rising heat, and some at the sides preventing radiation. We just needed to keep all our heat in the centre of our thermos
Pins:
We used pins to keep the foam underlay the shape we want (right over the Styrofoam cup), as well as in our lid. Our lid has a hole so, we have foam covering the top and bottom and we have pins holding them in place. Also, pins cost nothing.
Tape:
We used black tape because black absorbs heat. We used very little tape to tape the ends of the pins so the Styrofoam sill keep its shape.

Conclusion:
Our thermos did so well because our mentality behind a reliable thermos is we need to limit the space heat molecules can collide with cold molecules so that our heat molecules don’t turn into cooler molecules. We wanted to find a material that has low thermal energy to hold the water so we don’t lose heat from direct radiation. That turned out to be Styrofoam. Also we wanted to find materials that would suppress heat down word and keep our heat in the middle of the thermos. That too was Styrofoam, however the lid was made out of rubber because it’s tight and no heat would escape. In conclusion, our thermos performed the second best because of our mentality and our use of Styrofoam.