Heat and More Heat

B and F Blocks burned through the concept of latent heat after we reviewed specific heat and how to work problems temperature change caused by energy gain and loss. Phase changes involve energy gain and loss, but without any temperature change. The substance's energy change is of the potential flavor, energy stored in the electrostatic bonds between particles, and changes in potential energy don't affect temperature. We contrasted latent heat of fusion and vaporization and explained why latent heat of vaporization will always be in a higher weight class than heat of fusion. Tomorrow we hit the idea of heat transfer before taking Wednesday as our review day for the upcoming exam.

C Block discussed the mechanisms of heat transfer - conduction, convection and radiation - and described examples of each in action. Make sure you can thoroughly discuss each method of heat transfer (when it occurs, does it need matter, is it rapid or slow) and tell what type of heat transfer is being used in specific examples. Tomorrow, we review for the chapter exam and on Wednesday you get to work on a lab that tidies up a lot of our topics on heat and temperature.

E Block conducted three small investigations that allowed folks to explore heat of fusion, heat transfer between objects at different temperatures and how temperature difference impacts the rate of heat flow between objects. You got a lot of practice working with the specific heat formula and added a new bit of math to the mix - the exponential relationship that is Newton's Law of Cooling. I put some hints on the board to use for writing your conclusion and there's plenty of information in the book and notes to flesh out your explanation of your results. We'll discuss the lab in class tomorrow, before reviewing the latent heat homework and embarking on a discussion of methods of heat transfer.