As students are trying to figure out what's going on in their cup systems now that we've got a handle on particles, their initial models are telling them a lot! We've got some great ideas on the table!
After thinking about light and heat differently, including what they could be doing to particles, we began running a bunch of tests, trying to isolate heat vs. light!
Our results were fairly interesting. All cups, regardless of their location, increased in temperature! Cups that were in the light increased more, and cups that reflected more light didn't increase as much. Cups that transmitted and absorbed light increased more!
All this data collection made us think about what's really going on with the air around the cups, because when we have heat (which we think is in the air), the cups change significantly. But how can we get the air temperature around the cups to stay fairly constant?
All this data collection made us think about what's really going on with the air around the cups, because when we have heat (which we think is in the air), the cups change significantly. But how can we get the air temperature around the cups to stay fairly constant?