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  • Author Author: mikedavis
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Simple Science Experiment with the Raspberry Pi

mikedavis

Since I got my first Raspberry Pi, I have been struggling to find a simple science experiment that I could do around the house.  I wanted to do something interesting, that used something I was familiar with.  It also had to involve temperature since that was the only probe I owned at the time.

 

I have a glass beaker mug that I got from a conference.  I don't remember the conference, but that was a highly coveted piece of swag from the exhibition floor, and I felt that I was luck to have it.  As cool as it looks, it is the worst mug I own.  Drinking coffee from that mug is like a drinking contest; it cools down so fast!  So I decided to see what coffee mug acts as the best insulator.

 

This has all of the core components of a classic science fair project.

  • Observation:  My coffee gets cold too quickly in this mug.
  • Hypothesis:  I bet other mugs might be better.
  • Experiment:  I can measure the temperature of water as it cools down over a long period of time using a temperature probe.
    • Heat 300mL of water (the beaker mug has graduation marks, so it isn't totally worthless) for 2 minutes in the microwave.
    • Pour the hot water into the mug of choice.
    • Stick in the temperature probe.
    • Watch the temperature drop as it cools down.
  • Conclusion:  None yet, but my travel mug seems to be doing the best.

 

image

I am a little surprised by this.  I thought my ceramic mugs were better than my glass mug.  According to this, there is little to no difference.

 

I also leads me to other questions:

  • Are there other better ceramic mugs in my house.
  • Will a lid help?
  • What about a travel mug without a lid?
  • What is the optimal drinking temperature - the best mug should be there the longest?

 

It took most of Labor Day to collect this data, and I did most of it while I was doing other things.  I have posted on the temperature probe before.  Again, because the RPi is a dedicated computer, I can dedicate it to watching temperatures for a long time, and do some calculations with it.

 

I wish I were young enough to enter it in the Science Fair!

Parents Comment
  • in reply to michaelwylie

    Also, clearly Tea and coffee stays hottest longest when you're about to board a train or a plane and you need to drink up. It just won't cool quickly enough : )

     

    Surface area to volume thing of course, the tea at work cools by the time I get to my desk because the paper cups in the office are way

    smaller than the coffee shop ones : )

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