Heat and The First Law Topic

Heat Capacity and Specific Heat

Concept 4 demos

Cylindrical metal steam heater with lever handle on a wooden V-block, connected by tubing to an Erlenmeyer flask steam generator on a hot plate

Steam Heater for Shot

This apparatus heats metal shot to 100 C using steam, keeping the shot dry for accurate calorimetry. Students use the method of mixtures to measure specific heat capacity. **Note:** This …

Steam heater chamber with control arm supported on a V-shaped wooden block (left), and a sidearm flask on a hot plate connected by rubber tubing (right), on a lab bench with chalkboard behind

Calorimeter

Measures the specific heat of lead using the method of mixtures. Steam-heated lead shot is dropped into water in a calorimeter, and the equilibrium temperature determines via conservation of energy. …

Glass Bunsen ice calorimeter with a central sample tube, outer water jacket, and narrow capillary tube for mercury displacement

Bunsen Ice Calorimeter

Demonstrates how the Bunsen ice calorimeter measures heat transfer indirectly through the volume change of melting ice. Students see that phase transitions occur at constant temperature and that the ice-to-water …

Convection

Concept 2 demos

Two lava lamps: a small blue lamp with purple wax at the bottom, and a large silver-based lamp with yellow wax showing active convection blobs rising

Lava Lamps

Provides a visible model of convection driven by thermal expansion. Students observe heated wax become less dense, rise through the surrounding liquid, cool at the top, and sink back down …

Three-panel time sequence: lower Erlenmeyer flask with pink dye on a yellow hot plate, connected by glass tubes to an upper flask. Left: pink water in lower flask, clear in upper. Center: pink water rising into upper flask. Right: upper flask nearly full of pink water.

Convection Flasks

Visualizes thermal convection in a connected two-flask system. Heated colored water in the lower flask rises through a connecting tube to displace cold clear water in the upper flask, demonstrating …

Conduction

Concept 3 demos

Eight metal rods of different metals radiating from a central hub, with steel balls waxed onto the tips, mounted on a ring stand with a Bernzomatic propane torch heating the hub from below

Conduction Rods

Different metal rods radiate from a central hub heated by a propane torch. Wax-mounted steel balls on the rod tips fall off in order of decreasing thermal conductivity, giving students …

Steam manifold with two horizontal tubes extending to either side, a boiling flask on a hot plate, beaker for condensate, and a rack for collecting fallen steel balls

Heat Pipes

Compares heat transfer in a heat pipe versus a solid copper tube by racing wax-attached steel balls. Students see that phase-change heat transport (evaporation/condensation cycle) vastly outperforms solid-state conduction, even …

Composite bar with aluminum tube on left and wood dowel on right, wrapped in white paper that shows scorch marks only on the wood side

Wood and Aluminum Bar

Wrap paper around a composite aluminum-and-wood bar and pass it through a torch flame. The paper over aluminum is unscorched; the paper over wood burns. Students see that high thermal …

Radiation

Concept 8 demos

Four photos: storage cabinet for the mirrors, a large parabolic mirror with a candle on a lab jack at its focal point, a parabolic mirror with a Crookes radiometer at its focal point, and an iron ball on a stand

Parabolic Mirrors

Two parabolic mirrors at opposite ends of the lecture bench focus thermal radiation from a candle (or heated iron ball) onto a Crookes radiometer. Students see that radiant energy -- …

Two parabolic radiant heaters — a larger white modern unit and a smaller vintage chrome unit — on a lab bench

Radiant Heater

Demonstrates radiative energy transfer — heat propagating through space without a medium. Use with a Crookes radiometer to visualize radiant energy, or with Leslie's cube to show how surface properties …

Small black-painted rectangular box with a hole in one end and a handwritten label on top

Black Body

A black box with a small opening illustrates the cavity approximation to an ideal black body. Light entering the hole undergoes multiple internal reflections and is effectively absorbed, making the …

Heat Transfer Applications

Concept 3 demos

Four 5-gallon buckets on a concrete floor: two white buckets with blue rims in front filled with yellow-green and orange tennis balls, one empty orange bucket and one empty white bucket behind them

Heat Transfer Comparison

Uses student volunteers and tennis balls to physically model the difference between conduction (passing balls down a stationary line) and convection (carrying balls between buckets). Makes the abstract distinction between …

Four thermos flasks labeled A through D in a wooden rack, each with a cork stopper and dial thermometer on top; A and B are clear glass, C and D have silvered coatings

Thermos Set

Four thermos flasks with different combinations of silvering and evacuation cool at different rates over a class period, letting students directly compare how eliminating conduction/convection (vacuum) and radiation (silvering) each …

FLIR thermal image showing a bright hot spot on the board where the steel ball struck, with temperature scale reading 21.6–25.6°C

Heating by Collision

Drop a heavy steel ball onto a plywood board — the IR camera reveals a hot spot at the impact point that is invisible to the naked eye. Students see …

Mechanical Equivalent of Heat

Concept 3 demos

A sealed cardboard tube approximately one meter long with rubber stoppers at each end, lying on a lecture bench with a thin thermometer alongside

Dropping Lead Shot

Lead shot repeatedly dropped through a 1-meter tube converts gravitational potential energy into thermal energy via inelastic collisions. Students measure the temperature rise and compare it to the theoretical prediction …

Two views of the mechanical equivalent of heat apparatus: a rotational motor connected by a drive belt to a brass cone assembly mounted on a stand, with a spring balance and cord restraining the upper cone and a thermometer inserted through the top

Motor-Driven Mechanical Equivalent of Heat

A motor drives one brass cone against a stationary one with water between them. Friction converts mechanical work into thermal energy, producing a measurable 2-3 degree C temperature rise in …

Cenco rotator with belt-driven motor on a black base; wooden friction paddles clamp around a metal tube mounted on the spindle

Steam Pop Gun

Demonstrates the mechanical equivalent of heat by converting friction into thermal energy sufficient to boil water and launch a cork. Students observe the full energy chain: mechanical work to heat …

Adiabatic Processes

Concept 3 demos

Fire syringe with metal plunger and wooden handle, storage box, and small cleaning brushes

Fire Syringe

Demonstrates adiabatic compression by rapidly compressing air in a transparent cylinder to ignite tissue paper. Students see that mechanical work alone -- with no external heat source -- can raise …

Fog Flask

Demonstrates adiabatic cooling through cloud formation: rapid expansion of air in a flask drops the temperature below the dew point, and smoke particles serve as condensation nuclei for visible water …

Air track set up in front of a chalkboard with a glider on the track and a rubber band tether attached to a support stand; heavy brass glider on the table below

Adiabatic Compression on the Air Track

Mechanical analogy for adiabatic compression: a light glider ("gas molecule") bounces between the end of an air track and a heavy brass glider ("piston") tethered by rubber bands. As the …