Have you ever heard of someone who used a light bulb to keep their puppy or another animal warm.
Well, there is heat that is produced from the energy in light bulbs. This science project will show how warm a light bulb can be in producing heat.
Materials you need for this project:
- A Lamp - you will probably need a desk style lamp that can bend different ways
- Light Bulbs of different watt strength - 60 Watt, 75 watt, 100 Watt, 40 Watt and even 25 Watt
- A Thermometer - get one of the old fashioned kind that are glass and have mercury
- A tape measure
Instructions
- Get a white towel and place it onto your counter top where you plan to do the experiment. Make sure your lamp can reach to this area safely while being plugged in.
- Shake your thermometer so that the mercury reading is down and lay it on one end of the towel.
- Take your lamp and set it on the counter or table at the other end of the towel.
- Read the temperature on your thermometer.
- Turn on the lamp and turn the light so that it is shining on the glass measure.
- Using the tape measure see how far away the thermometer and lamp are from each other and record this information.
- Let the lamp shine on the this for 5 to 10 minutes. Record the temperature at the end of your time.
- Now you will test this with each light bulb to see how much heat is generated by each one.
Make sure to let the lamp and light bulb cool down before your change to the new one each time. Also make sure to shake your thermometer each time so that it starts at the same temperature. In addition, make sure to measure the lamp to thermometer distance each testing to ensure they are at the same distance apart.
You will probably discover that with the higher watt you get more heat. How much heat did you estimate that could be produced by one light bulb in 5 minutes. Did you realize by this science project that there would be much warmth from a bulb? Try this with a florescent bulb. You will probably find that they do not produce hardly any heat.
Get more information on science project ideas at http://scienceprojects.fetching.us
Lesa Bolt is a contributor to science projects.
¶ 5:21 AM
