Heat

Not in the classroom, mind you, but in all of today's lessons. Physics and Honors Physics began their exploration of heat energy. We contrasted heat, internal energy and temperature, compared the three major temperature scales and discussed thermal expansion. Physics will continue on tomorrow with a lecture that stresses the connection between heat energy and work and a more in-depth coverage of internal energy. Honors Physics will conduct a lab investigation documenting the melting and freezing patterns of water. We haven't quite hit phase change yet, but this will actually allow you to independently investigate the relationship between heat energy and change of state.

Physical Science conducted a lab investigation in which they determinted the heat of fusion of water. One lab group measured/calculated the value to within 5% of the actual value! The other groups were in a respectable ballpark, as well. Heat of fusion - the amount of heat energy added to change a fixed mass of substance from solid to liquid or removed from a fixed mass of substance to perform a liquid-solid phase change. No temperature change occurs during a phase change - this energy is used solely to cause the necessary reconfigurations necessary for the phase change to occur. We will dig into this topic tomorrow and re-examine the design of phase diagrams. Remember - exam for the Heat unit falls on Thursday.