What color will make you hotter?

Do different color materials absorb heat differently?

By: Ikumi Miyazaki, Yukta Trivedi, and Danielle Newhouse

Table of Contents

Question Hypothesis and Variables Materials and Procedure Final Experiment Data Chart Final Experiment Data Graph Reflection & Analysis Conclusion Timeline Role

3 4 5 6 7-8 9 10 11-13 14

Question Our science experiment is about how different colored cloths absorb heat differently. We will perform this experiment by using a heat lamp, a laser thermometer, and different colored cloths. When something is heat up, it gains temperature, but the amount of temperature that goes up is different based on its color or material/substance. In our physics class, we learned that black absorbs more heat than white object, but what about other colors? Does red absorbs more heat than blue? Does green absorbs heat more than yellow? How different color absorbs heat differently? We will find this answer by using different colored cloths!

Hypothesis We believe the darker the color; the more heat the fabric will absorb because we know that black is absence of all colors, while white reflects all colors. Black absorbs all colors but white reflects all colored which makes white to not heat up quickly. Is it safe? - Yes! What will we measure? - Temperature change. What are the units? - C, cm3 Control Variables? - Same watt lamp for all cloths, same room temperature, no surrounding heat source other than lamp. What are we building? - Tri-fold board. What are the dependent and independent variables? *Independent: Different colored cloths *Dependent: Amount of time that the light will hit on the cloths.

Variables
Independent Variable: Color of the cloths. Dependent Variable: The temperature of the cloths Controlled Variable: Same materials for cloths, amount of time we will out the cloths under heat lamp, starting temperature.

Materials: 1). 11 colored cloths: (green, blue, white, red, black, yellow, orange-red, dark yellow, pink, purple and light blue). 2). Heat lamp (100w) 3). Laser thermometer Procedure Step 1: Buy 11 different colors of cloth with same materials.(green, blue, white, red, black, yellow, orange-red, dark yellow, pink, purple and light blue). Step 2: Prepare heat lamp, laser thermometer for the experiment. Step 3: Cut the cloths into same surface area. (if necessary). Step 4: First, measure the temperature of the cloths.(All 11 cloths should have about same temperature since they are made up with same materials). Step 5: Turn on the heat lamp and put red cloth under it for 5 minutes. Measure the time with your phone. *Put cork mat under the cloth because table absorbs heat and it will affect the experiment. Step 6: After 5 minutes, measure the temperature of the cloth by using laser thermometer. Step 7: Do the same thing for 10 other cloths. Step 8: Do two trials to get accurate data. Step 9: Compare the amount of heat the each cloth absorbed.

Final Experiment Data Chart Here is the data chart we got from doing the experiment:

Final Experiment Graphs Bar Graph:

Line Graph:

Reflection of the Experiment We also noticed that we made several mistakes in our experiment. For example, the light red increased in temperature by 15C, but the dark yellow increase in temperature by 18C. The light reds temperature should have increased more than the dark yellow. We realized that this might have happened because the lamp may not have been directly above, or there could have been a change in room temperature, or another source that cooled the red felt.

Analysis While conducting this experiment, we noticed a trend. The first trend that we noticed was as the color of the felt became darker; the temperature change was much more. For example, the change of temperature for the black felt was from 23C to 71C. The total temperature difference was 48C. For the white felt, the change of temperature was from 23C to 32C, with a total temperature difference of 9C. Other colors that were dark, for example dark red and dark blue also had significant increases in temperature.

Conclusion
While conducting this experiment, we noticed a trend. The first trend that we noticed was as the color of the felt became darker; the temperature change was much more. For example, the change of temperature for the black felt was from 23C to 71C. The total temperature difference was 48C. For the white felt, the change of temperature was from 23C to 32C, with a total temperature difference of 9C. Other colors that were dark, for example dark red and dark blue also had significant increases in temperature. Our hypothesis was that black would absorb the most, white would absorb the least and basically that the darker the color, the more heat it will absorb. According to the electro magnetic spectrum, our results were pretty accurate except for a few exceptions. If you look at the color spectrum below and compare it with our results, you will find that many of our results were very accurate and some were slightly off. There were a few things that happened in the experiment that could have altered the data and results that we gathered. One problem that occurred was, we didn't let the lamp cool to its original temperature before turning it back on for the next colored felt. This could have made the cloth hotter than it would if the lamp was cooler. Although the experiment went well overall and none of the results were dramatically changed, that would have made the project even more accurate. Another problem was forgetting to turn the corkboard. Underneath our cloth, we used a rectangular cork (a good insulator), so that the colors would absorb as much heat as possible and so the black table wouldn't absorb heat and then make the cloth even hotter. Sometimes after heating a cloth, we forgot to turn it over to the cool side; this could affect the heating of the cloth by again making t hotter than it would if it was on the cool side. We could have improved our project by fixing the minor problems that I wrote about in the paragraph before; but overall our experiment went according to plan, and we a lot of fun doing it. We can apply this knowledge to our lives by knowing what clothing to wear on sunny days (not dark colors).

10

Timeline
February 27th, 2014 Formulate question, formed groups, setup blog. Generate a timeline and organize roles and responsibilities.
What we did: Our Ideas -->Coke, Elasticity of Chewing Gum, Corn starch putty, how different colors absorb heat differently Roles --> Ikumi: Make the blog and organize each tabs. Journal, hypothesis, design, procedure etc. Yukta: Head of Data Collection, Analysis Dani: Head of the Experiment, Conclusion

March 3rd, 2014 Decided our science fair topic question.

What we did: We were not sure what we wanted to do, and when we decided to do how different colors absorb heat differently, we wanted to change the material instead of the colors, and then we ran into problems about different textures. With Mr. Madden we finalized a question: Question --> How do different colors absorb heat differently?

March 5th, 2014 Decided Role, Timeline, hypothesis, discussed about our experiment.
What we did: We already figured out the roles of everyone when we first started to plan this project. If you look at the day that we first started you can see the roles that we decided we all should do. We created this timeline, and within this timeline we will write out what we want to do that class, and then we will write what we did in class. For our hypothesis, we already knew that black absorbs a lot of heat, and white

11

does not. With that knowledge we came to a hypothesis that: Darker colors will absorb heat better/more than lighter colors. We started to discuss about the materials we are going to use. We all decided on felt. The only problem was that we had to order it online and the store was out of felt.

March 7th, 2014 Method and trial run, decided role and materials again.
What we did: We went to the Middle School art room and found 2 pieces of felt. We tried our experiment to see if the material worked, and altered the time so the color could it have enough time to absorb heat. We decided that 5min would be better than just 2 min.

March 10th, 2014 Bring all the materials needed for our experiments.
What we did: Yukta found felt at Daiso (dollar store), we started the experiment but we were only able to do a few colors before class ended

March 13th, 2014 Do the experiments and record datas. (Complete data tables, bar graphs. organize the data)
What we did: We did the rest of the experiment, and it worked very well. We completed the data table and Yukta created a bar graph. I worked on the timeline, and checked all of the websites posts.

March 17th, 2014

Do

analysis, conclusion.

What we did: As you read before, my (Dani) role was to write the conclusion, and Yukta's role was to write the analysis. As we started to write our paragraphs, we got some advice from Mr. Randel of what to add in our analysis & conclusion. Ikumi gave us ideas of what should we put into our conclusion and analysis paragraphs and we edited the website, and made sure all the links worked, all the posts made sense. We finished our poster, so I gave it to Mr. Madden so he could print it out, and we decided to make a

12

booklet that a person can see and view when they (people) visit our table. By the time class ended, both Yukta and I had written 1 paragraph each.

March 19th, 2014 Write reflection and final check of all the science fair reports.
What we did: We didn't have any time in class to work on our Science Fair Project, so we all made sure we knew what we needed to do over the holidays. I (Dani) have to finish writing the Timeline, finish the Poster, and finish the conclusion. Yukta has to finish the analysis and has to post the line graph she made. Ikumi has done a lot including starting the blog, and creating everything on this blog. Ikumi will check over the website and keep us all on track so we could have this website finished before the actual Science Fair.

March 31st, 2014 Print out all the writings that we write and make poster.
What we did: Today was the last day to finish and edit all of the blog posts, power point, and poster. We discussed about how we are going to do the class presentation! Little nervous for the presentation but we will work hard!

April 2nd, 2014 Decorate poster, prepare what to do for demo in science fair. All of the science fair stuff is due today!

13

Roles Yukta: Head of the data collection, working on analysis, bring cloths, making graphs. Made power point. Ikumi: Head of the blog posts, journal entry and organize blogs for each tab. Wrote final report and edit all the blog posts. Dani: Made poster and edit timeline. Wrote conclusion. Together: Do experiments and discuss how to keep improving in terms of blog posts, experiments etc.

THANK YOU FOR READING! From Ikumi, Yukta and Dani.

14