By: Carolina Villamizar

INVESTIGATION

Heat has been used by humans in many ways to their own benefit. In some applications heat is
used directly and in some others heat is used as one more step in a bigger process.

In this investigation you will have to research about FOUR different ways in which heat is
used for the benefit of mankind.

1. Cooking:
a. How heat is produced: Depending on the stove that is being used. In the case
of gas-stove, gas is suministered by underground pipes, basically gas is
vaporized, then released and mixed with air, and released again making it
possible to make contact with a spark is created with electric energy, when this
spark makes contact with the gas that is being released, fire is created and
expands rapidly through the burner, and, as long as gas is released fire will keep
going on and producing heat.

b. Benefits: The most common benefits of this form of heat is the possibility of
cooking food, not only in order for having what we ingest at a comfortable
temperature, but for allowing us to exterminate bacteria located in the
vegetables or animals we kill. With the help of this method, water can also be
boiled for killing bacteria and avoiding people from getting intoxicated due to the
parasites in it. When using it carefully, it not only makes our life more
comfortable, it makes it safer and easier to continue with it.
c. Consequences: This would depend on the use given to this heat and to the
safety elements. Due to the use of fire, pans tend to get very hot and making
direct contact with the pan would generate burns on our skin, other consequence
is that, when food is not cared while getting cooked and it gets burned, food
baked or cooked at very high temperatures contain high amounts of a chemical
called acrylamide which is mostly found in burned food when an amino acid:
asparagine, is heated. Different studies revealed that this substance increases
the possibility of having cancer.
 By: Carolina Villamizar

2. Iron: Used in clothes:

a. How is heat produced: basically, the iron employs electricity, that, when
passing through a resistance, gets converted into heat.
b. How is it transformed: After the transformation of current to heat, heat is
transferred through convection to the iron-material part of the iron. The part that
controls the temperature of the iron is a bimetallic strip, that, when the iron
heats up it expands, making contact other piece of metal. When this happens a
circuit that controls the temperature closes, avoiding the iron to exceed in
temperature. After the iron is hot enough, it can be used to iron
clothes.
c. even tough irons are not an indispensable object for the
Benefits:
human existence, they are
a creation that besides
making our clothes look
more presentable, they add
a touch of elegance, and
respect to the way in which
people think about us.
d. Consequences: If not
handled carefully, there are
risks of burns due to the
high temperature it
reaches, about 180 to
220C. Also it can start a fire if left downwards over a surface
sensible to high temperatures.
3. Energy production:
a. How heat is produced: In our specific case, we live in a camp beside one of the
greatest open pit mines in the world, and coal is our main product. I always asked
myself what was the purpose of coal and now I know it: basically coal is burned
up.
b. How is transformed: After burning up coal, heat is transferred to water, which
is located in pipelines, when water is heated at such high temperatures it
changes its physical state which
is then: water vapor, vapor
occupied much more space than
water, so it expands, generating
a certain amount of pressure
which is therefore used to move
a turbine and generate
electricity. The machine
necessary for this to occur is the
steam turbine, and it is used in
power plants.
c. Benefits: All our world is
dependent on electric energy,
this can be evident when
blackouts occur, we then understand how much we need a lightbulb or how
important is Wi-Fi or ovens, refrigerators. There are thousands of benefits that we
can obtain from this use of heat which produces electric energy, but all will send
us the same way, electric energy in actuality basically makes our life easy and
comfortable. Its discoverment increased the life expectancy and made possible
medical discoveries, and makes every day possible the fact of saving people at
hospitals or rescues, because without this form of heat the we would only have
the possibility of surviving with a 10% of energy provided by other alternatives.
Besides this, it makes possible the communications.
 By: Carolina Villamizar

d. Consequences: The negative consequences of this type of heat use are some of
the consequences for burning lands for fertilizing them: The combustion of coal
reduces the amounts the oxygen in our atmosphere and increases the amounts
of CO2, so employing this way for creating energy harms the environment and
the organisms who habit it. Taking into account that this way of creating energy
creates almost 90% of the electric energy in USA.
 By: Carolina Villamizar

4. Lands fertilizing:
a. How heat is produced: Farmers tend to burn meadows after cropping as a way
of fertilizing the lands, there are ways for burning meadows carefully in order for
having a fire that doesnt get out of control. First you should decide the amount
of area to burn, then demarcate the area and pour generous amounts of sand
that surround the area so fire stays in the chosen land, after this, start the fire,
this can be whether spraying gasoline and burning a match or as simple as
leaving a candle in a trunk.
b. Benefits: We, humans benefit from this kind of burning because, in this case,
fire removes the accumulated plant litter
from the previous year's growth and
exposes the soil surface to the warming
rays of the sun. This makes easier to
grow crops and allows them to grow
healthier and faster because residues are
eliminated and become part of the soil,
functioning at the same time as an 100%
organic fertilizer. We directly benefit from
it because the food that we ingest mostly
grows in this crops, which, when burned
are less likely to have many pests which makes it less necessary to employ
pesticides which makes our food.
c. Consequences: Even they are controlled fires, they could easily expand over
the sand, even it doesnt get burned, in terms of our environment, fires reduce in
great amounts the oxygen in our atmosphere and increases the amounts of CO2,
so employing this way for fertilizing our lands harms the environment and the
organisms who habit it. In the case of the fire getting expanded, the fire would
destroy other animals habitats or entire forests so many safety precautions
should be employed.

Bibliography:

S. W. (n.d.). Gas vs. Electric Stoves: Which is really more efficient? Retrieved April 26,
2016, from http://home.howstuffworks.com/gas-vs-electric-stoves1.htm

Wildflower Meadow Seeding & Management Procedures. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016,
from http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/index.php?
route=information/information&information_id=13

Steam turbine. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine

Centrales Elctricas a Carbn. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from

http://www.tenaris.com/es-ES/Products/PowerGeneration/CoalFiredPowerPlants.aspx

D. D. (n.d.). BETWEEN FIRE AND ICE: The Science of Heat. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from
http://www.daviddarling.info/childrens_encyclopedia/heat_Chapter2.html

Images sources (in order):

- https://troop7roanoke.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/stoves-and-cold-weather/
- http://www.daviddarling.info/childrens_encyclopedia/heat_Chapter2.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil-fuel_power_station
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stubble_burning
-