Flame of the Leopard Squeezy Star

1. The Construction Process of
“the Flame of the Leopard
Squeezy Star”
By Janey and Peggy

2. Objective
Students will apply knowledge of energy
transfer to evaluate different insulation
materials and structures in order to design and
construct an insulator for a standard 355 mL
soda can filled with hot water

3. Materials
• Cork board
• Emergency blanket
• Duct tape
• Rubber foam
• Felt
• Aluminum
• Steel wool

4. Relation to Thermal Energy
• Cork board- The heat cannot transfer through as
easily, because there are fewer atoms due to the
many the air pockets in the cork (low density)
• Emergency blanket- It will maintain up to 80% of
radiant heat to help preserve warmth
• Rubber foam- The air pockets in the foam helps to
stops convection, and the gas in the pockets helps
to stop conduction of heat (low density)

5. Relation to Thermal Energy Cont….
• Felt- This material also has many air pockets and this
makes it hard for the heat to escape through the felt
• Aluminum- It is a good conductor of heat, which does
not help our insulator. However, it also radiates the
heat back onto the substance, which means the heat
left the can but came back
• Steel wool- It has a lot of trapped air between its fibers
so it allows the warm air to get in easily, but makes it
hard for the air

6. The Procedure of Building
1. Measuring/cutting the cork board

7. 2. Hot-gluing the pieces in place

8. 3. Checking the size of the main form

9. 4. Measuring, cutting, and gluing the
emergency blanket inside

10. 5. Measuring, cutting, and sticking the
rubber-foam on the end pieces

11. 6. Duct-taping the felt on the inside

12. 7. Putting “Steel Wool” behind the felt

13. 8. Placing aluminum inside

14. 9. Checking if the can fits

15. 10. Duct-taping the outside of the
insulator

16. Overall Design
• The cork was used as the base of the insulator and
the outside was covered in duct tape to keep it
stable
• On the inside was the emergency blanket covered in
duct tape
• Steel wool was placed on the sides and felt was
taped over it to keep it contained
• Aluminum was stuck onto the bottom and sides
• Finally, the ends were duct taped on (with the
rubber foam in-between the cork and tape)

17. Did it work?
We believe our design worked relatively well. It
worked well because it had many materials with a low
density and air pockets, that means it helps stop
convection and makes it harder to let warm air out of
the substance. The other materials, aluminum and
the emergency blanket, had reflecting properties. This
means it radiates the heat back onto the substance.
However, we believe our insulator did not win
because we used cork as our base, and it would have
been smarter to use foam instead, because of its
many air pockets.

18. Suggestions For Future Designs
• Use a material higher in density for the main form
Thicker material with less air pockets would make it
harder for heat to pass through- Also using a material with a
high amount of air pockets helps make it hard for heat to go
through
• Use Duct Tape only to keep parts stuck together
Duct Tape isn’t the best insulator, but it does work for
keeping parts together
• Either use a ton of aluminum or no aluminum
Aluminum foil is a good heat conductor, which in this case is a
bad thing because the heat isn’t supposed to escape the
insulator.