Does the Colour of a Liquid Effect How Fast it Cools?

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Does the Colour of a Liquid Effect How Fast it Cools?

I am trying to find out if the colour of a liquid effects how quickly it cools down.

Method:

1. First I took five test tubes and filled each one with 5ml of black, blue, green, red and ‘clear’ colouring (for the ‘clear’ colouring I simply used water.)

2. I then filled each of the test tubes with 25ml of boiling (of course whilst wearing safety goggles.) water and waited for the temperature to fall to 50°C and then measured the temperature of the water, using thermometers, every 30 seconds for three minutes.

3. I recorded our results and repeated the experiment to make the test fairer.

Diagram: My diagram can be found in the plastic wallet this was handed in with.

Equipment:

• 5 standard test tubes.

• 5 thermometers.

• Four colour dyes, black, blue, green and red.

• A stop watch.

• A kettle.

Prediction:

I think that the colour of the liquid will effect how quickly it cools down because I know that dark matt surfaces are better at absorbing radiation. Therefore, according to my theory, the darker dyes such as the black, blue and green will cool slower than the lighter ones.

Results:

These are my average results for both sets of recordings put into tables:

Green
Time Temp (°C)
0:00 50
0:30 49
1:00 48
1:30 47
2:00 47
2:30 46
Red:
Time Temp (°C)
0:00 50
0:30 45
1:00 43
1:30 42
2:00 41
2:30 40
Blue
Time Temp (°C)
0:00 50
0:30 47
1:00 44
1:30 42
2:00 41
2:30 40
Black
Time Temp (°C)
0:00 50
0:30 47
1:00 44
1:30 42
2:00 41
2:30 39
Clear
Time Temp (°C)
0:00 50
0:30 48
1:00 47
1:30 45
2:00 44
2:30 37

I then put these results into a graph which you can find in the plastic wallet this was handed in with.

I then worked out the total temperature loss for each colour and put them into this table:

Red Green Blue Black Clear
Total Temperature Loss in °C 10 4 10 11 13

I then put the results into this bar chart:

Conclusion:

My results seem very strange and almost contradict my prediction. All the results seem quite similar, except the green dye, which, of course, could simply be an anomalous result. Therefore my conclusion is that the colour of a liquid makes no difference to how quickly it cools down.

Evaluation:

I understand that my experiment was not at all completely accurate. To be so I would need to do it in a controlled, stable environment, but this was not available to me.

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