[Atome]

Hello everyone,

I have something in mind for the following lab question but I don't think that it's the best method. Could anyone please guide me towards a better method, if it exists?

Thank you.

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1. Design an experiment to determine the cooling rate of a copper penny after it has been removed from a Bunsen burner flame, but before it has been put into the water. Provide a point form procedure. 

Recall that in this experiment, you will determine the temperature of a Bunsen burner flame using the principle of heat transfer.

You will heat a small piece of metal—a copper penny—in a Bunsen burner flame. Once the penny is at thermal equilibrium with the flame, you will quickly transfer the hot penny to an insulated container—called a (coffee cup) calorimeter—containing water. The copper will soon reach thermal equilibrium with the water.
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I am unsure if my proposition is the best method, but I am thinking of simply recording the temperature of the copper penny at a regular interval (every 30 s?) and then graphing the results. The slope of the equation of the line of best fit could then be interpreted as the cooling rate.

[ARGOS++]

Dear Atome;

Sorry!, - But your experiment will never get a success, because you will loss a lot of water of your coffee cup, then your penny will have something around of 650°C and will evaporate a certain amount of water.
So there is no choice to control the experiment at all.

You need a solvent with a boiling point close or higher then 650°C.
(H₂SO₄conc. at 290°C; Silicon Oil at ?°C)

But at the moment I don’t now one high enough – Sorry!
(How about the cooling rate in air?)
Good Luck!
                    ARGOS⁺⁺

[Atome]

Hello ARGOS,

Thanks for your response.

I apologise if this was unclear, but the cooling rate is supposed to be for the penny in air and NOT in water.

Please let me know if you need any more information.

[typhoon2028]

This question is too simply defined.  Cooling rate has many factors.  For example the cooling rate is higher if you had a fan blowing on the penny vs. stagnant air.  Air temperature affects the rate too.

In my opinion you could set up an an experiment to determine the heat transfer coefficient between the penny and the air.

[ARGOS++]

Dear Atome;

Simplified or not simplified; the experiment is generally difficult to handle, even in air.
The biggest problem to handle is IMHO to have an adequate device to measure the temperature of the penny. (If in air: For what is the coffee cup?)
High Temperature Thermo Cameras (HTTC) are quite rear and expensive.
Otherwise different experimental designs are thinkable from laminar to turbulent, etc.

I don’t think it is a practicable experiment with not a too big effort at all.
Good Luck!
                    ARGOS⁺⁺

[Atome]

I see.

Thank you for your responses!

[ARGOS++]