Starter quiz
- Which material passes a vibration on the quickest when one end is shaken?
- a stiff metal rod ✓
- a length of string
- a length of elastic cord
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- Why is a solid often stiff?
- Its particles are held together by strong attractive forces. ✓
- Its particles are vibrating.
- Its particles are very close together, mostly touching.
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- Why is the handle of a sauce pan often made of wood or plastic?
- Wood and plastic heat up quickly.
- Wood and plastic heat up slowly. ✓
- Wood and plastic burn in a gas flame.
- Wood and plastic do not burn in a gas flame.
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- Why is the base of a saucepan usually made of metal?
- Metal heats up quickly. ✓
- Metal heats up slowly.
- Metal burns in a gas flame.
- Metal does not burn in a gas flame. ✓
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- In which state of matter do particles collide the least often?
- solid state
- liquid state
- gas state ✓
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- What happens when one end of a metal rod is heated in a Bunsen flame?
- The other end remains at room temperature.
- The other end gets hotter over time. ✓
- The other end gets hot straight away.
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Exit quiz
- If the temperature along a solid increases quickly, it is called a thermal ______.
- 'conductor' ✓
- If the temperature along a solid increases slowly, it is called a thermal ______.
- 'insulator' ✓
- Which of the following would you expect to be good thermal conductors?
- water
- plastic
- metal ✓
- wood
- air
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- Which of these metals is the best thermal conductor?
- copper
- iron
- nickel
- there is no difference between them
- it is impossible to tell without more information ✓
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- What happens to the particles a solid is made of when its temperature is increased?
- they reduce in size
- they vibrate faster ✓
- they increase in size
- they vibrate faster and increase in size
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- Why are solids better thermal conductors than liquids?
- in a solid, particles are stronger
- in a solid, particles move around more
- in a solid, particles are much closer together
- in a solid, particles have stronger forces of attraction between them ✓
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The temperature along a thermal conductor increases quickly when it is heated.
- The temperature along a thermal insulator increases very slowly when it is heated.
- In thermal conductors, vibrating particles quickly cause the particles near to them to vibrate as well.
- In thermal insulators, it is hard for vibrating particles to cause the particles near to them to vibrate as well.
Common misconception
Heat is a substance that flows through thermal conductors.
Emphasise that in a solid the particles do not move along the material during thermal conduction and that what we experience as ‘heat’ is particles in an object vibrating against our skin.
Keywords
Thermal conduction - a change in temperature due to particles passing on their motion through their bonds or by particle collisions
Thermal conductor - a substance along which thermal conduction happens quickly
Thermal insulator - a substance along which thermal conduction happens slowly
Forces of attraction - hold together the neighbouring particles in a solid or liquid; these forces are weaker the further apart the particles are
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