Ryan Lee conducted an experiment to determine the best insulating material out of newspapers, a woolen sock, aluminum foil, and a plastic bag. He wrapped each material around a bottle of hot water and measured the temperature over 20 minutes. Aluminum foil proved to be the best insulator as the temperature in its bottle dropped the least at only 2.2 degrees Celsius. The plastic bag was the worst insulator as its bottle cooled fastest, dropping 2.5 degrees. Ryan concluded different materials have varying abilities to retain heat and the right material must be chosen for the intended purpose.

1. Ryan Lee

2. CONTENTS
1. Purpose
2. Hypothesis
3. Materials Required
4. Procedure
5. My Results and Observations
6. Conclusion
7. The Big Idea

3. PURPOSE
 To observe which is the best insulating
material.
 To understand which material would
keep warm.

4. HYPOTHESIS
 I think that the woolen sock is the best
insulating material.
 I think that the newspaper is the worst
insulating material.

5. MATERIALS REQUIRED
 Thermometer
 4 Plastic Bottles(didn’t have glass bottles)
 Hot Water
 Newspapers
 1 Woolen Sock
 1 Plastic Bag
 Aluminum Foil

6. PROCEDURE
1. Gather all the materials together.
Gather everything on my ‘Materials Required’
list.
2. Wrap the insulating materials around the
bottles.
Paste the insulating materials(the
newspaper, plastic bag, woolen sock and
aluminum foil) over the bottles.
3. Pour the hot water inside the bottles.
All the hot water was approximately 42
(C), which is perfect for the experiment.

7. PROCEDURE(cont.)
4. Take the temperature of the water before
anything happens.
The temperature all should’ve been above 104 F, but
my bottles are still above 104 F.
5. Record the temperature for 5 minutes.
6. Take the temperature again for 10 minutes.
7. Record the temperature again for 20 minutes.

8. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Temp. (C) Temp. 5 minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes
(C) later…… later…… later……
Materials at the start
Newspaper 41.9 41.3 40.6 39.5
Woolen 41.9 41.4 40.8 39.5
Sock
Aluminum 41.7 41.1 40.3 39.5
Foil
Plastic Bag 41.8 41.2 40.5 39.3

9. CONCLUSION
Temperature/ Difference between How much it
Materials highest and lowest dropped
temperature
Newspapers Highest: 41.9 2.4
Lowest: 39.5
Woolen Sock Highest: 41.9 2.4
Lowest: 39.5
Aluminum Foil Highest: 41.7 2.2
Lowest: 39.5
Plastic Bag Highest: 41.8 2.5
Lowest: 39.3

10. CONCLUSION(cont.)
1. The temperature of the aluminum foil bottle
dropped down slower than the others.
2. The temperature of the plastic bag bottle dropped
down faster than the others.
The temperature of the aluminum foil dropped down
the least(only 2.2 C)
This means the aluminum foil is a good
material, though it is not very thick.
This also means that I wrapped 10 layers of
newspapers which equaled to the same insulation
of the woolen sock.

11. THE BIG IDEA
 Different materials has different abilities to contain
heat.
 We must use the right material for the right job, or
else you wouldn’t get the result you want.
 Materials that are thicker can hold more heat, but
if we want to release heat quicker, then we can
use thinner materials(not aluminum foil).