EXPERIMENT #8

Thermal Conductivity of an Insulating Solid

This experiment introduces a method of measuring the coefficient of thermal conductivity, λ, of

an insulator such as glass or Teflon. As the thermal conductivity is quite low a thin sample must
be used. A thin disk of the sample material is sandwiched between a thermal source, maintained
at a constant temperature, and a receiver.

The source is a vessel with a heavy, machined

copper base that is in good thermal contact with the
sample. The receiver is a machined copper block that
rests below the sample. The whole apparatus is
thermally insulated. The source contains water that is
kept boiling by an electrical heater. The temperature
of boiling water is 100 °C. Heat is conducted
through the sample to the receiver, which gradually
warms up. The two junctions of a thermocouple are
embedded in the source and receiver blocks
respectively; i.e. the thermocouples measure the
temperature of the source and receiver. Note that the
source thermocouple is not in good thermal contact
with the source. You should measure the temperature of the bath with another thermocouple to
verify its actual temperature when TS has stabilized and use this number and TR to calculate the
true temperature difference.

Theory

Assuming that no heat is lost through the sides of the sample, the rate of heat flow is given by,

ΔT T − TR
P = Aλ = Aλ S (1)
L L
where P is the heat flowing per second, A is the area of the receiver , L the thickness of the
sample, λ is the coefficient of thermal conductivity and ΔT the temperature difference. Why is it
the area of the source and receiver that is important and not that of the sample?
Under steady state conditions (i.e. the rate of heat loss by the receiver is also P) ΔT is constant.
However, when the apparatus is first switched on, or if the insulation around the receiver is good,
all the heat conducted through the sample is used to heat the receiver and in this case the
temperature of the receiver will slowly increase.
The increase in temperature of the receiver δTR, in a time δt is related to the rate of heat flow by

δTR dT
P=C =C R ( 2)
δt dt
where C is the heat capacity of the receiver, C=c×m where c is the specific heat capacity and m is
the mass of the receiver.

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Therefore
Aλ
L
b dT
TS − TR = C R
dt
g
This expression can be integrated by substituting
y = TS − TR = ΔT

Assuming TS is constant
dy dT
=− R
dt dt

Therefore

Aλ dy dy Aλ
y = −C or =− dt
L dt y LC

Integrating from y0 to y and from t=0 to t gives

Aλ
ln y = ln y 0 − t
LC
or
Aλ
ln( ΔT ) = ln( ΔT0 ) − t (3)
LC

If ln(ΔT) is then plotted vs. time, the slope can be used to find λ as A, L and C are known.
In this experiment the thermocouples are converted to temperatures by an Omega HH509R dual
temperature meter and this data is read via serial interface by a Labview program, which displays
the data.

Procedure
(1) Place the source vessel on the insualting mat, fill with distilled water and use the immersion
heater to bring the water to the boiling point. Keep additional water boiling in the kettle on
the hot plate. Use this boiling water to replenish the water in the source when necessary. Do
not allow the source vessel to boil dry. The immersion heater will self-destruct if operated
in air.
(2) Connect the thermocouple between the source and receiver and connect the output to the
digital multimeter (if not already connected). The thermocouple connections are fragile so
use care when moving the source. Use the Exp 8 Labview program to monitor the
temperature of the boiling water thermal reservoir and the receiver as well as their
temperature difference. This program will save your data in a txt file when you exit the
program. You can import this data into an Excel spreadsheet for analysis. See the ‘Labview
Program’ link or the accompanying documentation in the lab for further details.
(3) When the water is boiling in the source vessel the HH509R should indicate a stable source
temperature..

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(4) Place the sample directly over the receiver. Then, using the insulating gloves, place the
source, containing the boiling water, directly over the sample on the receiver. It may be
advisable to add a weight to the top of the source to ensure good thermal contact between the
sample and the source and receiver. As the weight is lead it is a good idea to wash your hands
after the lab if you have handled the weight. (This is a good laboratory practice in any cases).
(5) Using the computer program, record the temperature difference between source and receiver
until the difference is half or less of the starting value(For one sample, wait until the
temperature difference becomes nearly constant ≈ 20 min., longer for the cork sample).
(6) Remove the source vessel, cool the receiver with the aluminum block supplied (fill the
hollow space with ice for best effect), and repeat with other samples.
(7) Save the data to a file and import the file into Excel. Using the spreadsheet, plot the natural
logarithm of the temperature difference as a function of time and determine λ for the
materials. Think carefully about what value to use for the area, A. The specific heat capacity
of copper is 385 J/kg-°K.
(8) Compare the measured values with accepted values and discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of this method of determining the thermal conductivity of insulators.

8.3