Resources: Class presentation and handout.
Handout: Information on Joules to provide historical context. Calculations practice on specific heat capacity. Questions involving changing units and the subject of the equation. Apply knowledge of specific heat capacity to real life contexts and exam style questions.
Remind the students that energy is transmitted by conduction, convection or radiation. The conductivity of materials can be compared by examining the time taken to transmit energy through them. What material will transmit energy through them more efficiently and why?
Explore the connections of James Prescott Joule to his peers, such as Lord Kelvin, and how the discoveries in thermal energy experiments and calculations were being made by a group of scientists and engineers in collaboration. Work through the mathematical problems, having practiced with rearranging the formula together. Discuss possible responses to some of the examination questions, leaving students to answer the remainder. Ask the students to make a table to list the specific heat capacities of common materials and use this table to practice calculating solutions to problems. Go online and find specific heat capacity problems to practice. Reflect on how collaborative scientific thinking over a period of time and through a group of unconnected scientists adds to the body of knowledge.
Career Film: This is Dr Tim Gregory. Tim works as a Data Analyst for National Nuclear Laboratory.
Expert Film: This is Dr Tim Gregory. Tim works as a Data Analyst for National Nuclear Laboratory. Tim explains specific heat capacity.
Explore the connections of James Prescott Joule to his peers - such as Lord Kelvin - and how the discoveries in thermal energy experiments and calculations were being made by a group of scientists and engineers in collaboration. Work through the mathematical problems, having practiced with rearranging the formula together.
Challenge Task: Ask the students to use ideas about specific heat capacity to explain why the cheese on a hot pizza burns the roof of your mouth. They will need to do some research to find out the specific heat capacity of cheese and bread.
Use the summative quiz to assess students' learning. Ask students to discuss: Water is used as a coolant in car engines. Why? (It can absorb a lot of thermal energy. It can absorb the thermal energy from the engine and transfer it to the surroundings, preventing the engine from over heating).