Activity Overview
Students will use a temperature probe to collect data as the warmed probe cool. Students will also investigate Newton's Law of Cooling and model cooling data with an exponential function. They will fit the data to a mathematical model after analysis.
Before the Activity
Connect a temperature probe to Channel 1 on the CBL 2™ or Vernier LabPro®
Connect the CBL 2™ or LabPro® to the calculator using the Unit-to-Unit cable
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 165 - 171 from the attached PDF file for your class
During the Activity
Distribute the pages to your class.
Follow the activity procedures:
Warm the probe by placing it in a cup of hot water
Allow the probe to cool, and collect the cooling data
Observe the graph of temperature versus time displayed by the graphing calculator
Model cooling data with an exponential function
Perform an exponential regression and determine the parameter values
After the Activity
Students will fill in the Student Data Collection and Analysis Sheet.
Review student results
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary