Report

Question: How do you insulate houses? How warm do you think the house would be?
Hypothesis: I think the foil made our house warmer than the cotton because the foil seems to
trap heat and also because the foil gets warmer from the heat.
Introduction/Research: From a research, we learned that a substance that does not really allow
the passage of heat or sound (google.com). The good examples are dry air, styrofoam, and
paper (physicsclassroom.com). The poor examples are glass, air, plastic, rubber, and wood
(nde.ed.org). The type of materials we can use for insulation are fiber glass, rock, slagwood,
cellulose, and natural fibers (energy.gov). Windows are designed to minimize heat loss by using
plastic window firms, tape, stretched heat gun, and curtains (researchgate.net). Doors are
designed to minimize heat loss by insulating the surrounding, insulate your walls, seal up your
doors, and seal up miscellaneous leaks (life.gaiam.com) 3 temperature scales that are most
appropriate to use when we test our model home are Kalvin, Fahrenheit, and Celsius. Probably
the Celsius would be more appropriate because most of the people use it today
(physics4kids.com). Energy conservation is important because if we lose heat we will lose stove
oil, and we would lose money. It would most likely keep the house warm when winter time
comes (homeguides.sfgate.com).
Procedure: The first thing we started off with was the sticks, we measured 13 20 cm & 4 15 cm
sticks. When we were done measuring them we cut them up and glued them together. We glued
12 20 cm sticks together to make it look like a cube, and we made a roof with 4 15 cm sticks
and one 20 cm stick across the middle. We also used 8 braces to keep the house strong. When
we were done gluing the house together we glued foil around the house. After we were finished
gluing the foil to the house we stretched the cottons and glued them to the fpil. When we were
done gluing the cottons to the foil we glued foil over the otton. Our total cost was $10.20. We did
not use our fabrics because they were stolen.
Data and Observations: First thermal analysis for the solid wall was 72.8 f. The second thermal
analysis increased to 74.9f, and the temperature change was 2.1. First thermal analysis for
open door or window was 72.7f. The second thermal analysis increased to 78.1f, the
temperature change was 5.4. First thermal analysis for open corner was 72.9f. The second
thermal analysis was 77.8, the temperature change was 4.9. First thermal analysis for roof line
was 72.9f. The second analysis went up to 78.0f. The temperature change was 5.1. The first
thermal analysis for the inside was 72.9f. The second analysis increased to 76.2f. The
temperature change was 3.3.
Location

1st thermal analysis

2nd thermal analysis

Temperature change

Solid wall

72.8f

74.9f

2.1

Open window or door

72.7f

78.1f

5.4

Open corner

72.9f

77.8f

4.9

Roof line

72.9f

78.0f

5.1

Inside

72.9f

76.2f

3.3

Conclusion: My hypothesis was partly right and partly wrong. We learned that we need more of
the supplies we had to have a warmer house, next time we do this we will be sure to order 2x of
what we ordered. We would order cotton, jeans, duct tape, aluminum foil, and fabric, we think it
would be the warmest house if we order 2x of what we ordered.
Sources: "Google." What Are Insulators. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.google.com/>.