We learned that our control group(1) lost the most amount of heat. The milk jug that was insulated with empty water bottles(2) lost the second most amount of heat, and the newspaper-stuffed structure(3) lost the least amount of heat. Over an hour and a half the third one maintained a temperature within 5 degrees of room temperature while in the refrigerator. The others were consistently cooler than the newspaper-stuffed structure. The control group reached up to 29F cooler at its coldest point.
Analyze and interpret the data you collected and observed in your experiments. Does your data support or refute your hypothesis? Explain any sources of error and how these could have affected your results (use of data tables, charts, and/or graphs are encouraged).
Over the ninety minutes, all three structures approached the temperature of the refrigerator. Our control group lost the most heat while the two insulated structures prevented heat loss from their water-filled milk jug. The empty plastic structure lost more heat than the newspaper insulated one, which remained within a few degrees of its starting temperature (~63F) after 90 minutes.
The significant prevention of heat loss by the newspaper-stuffed water bottle shelter, in comparison to the other two, supports our hypothesis.
One problem we faced was inconsistent readings in temperature due to faulty thermometers. When we discovered this, we tested all available thermometers to choose ones that had the same readings. One thermometer was consistently 3 degrees low and we marked it so that we would know. Others were discarded for having faulty readings. Finally we decided to use only one thermometer even though it meant keeping the bottles out of the fridge for a longer period of time. Purchasing more reliable thermometers would be a good change for the future.
Another problem was that we had to open the refrigerator every half hour, so its temperature fluctuated. Since our 3 groups were in the refrigerator at the same time, they experienced the same fluctuations. We think this minimized the effect on our results.
Some other difficulties we had were: finding enough room in the refrigerator, finding a method to attach the water bottle logs into a cylinder form and having enough materials to built our structures.
