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Grade Three
How can heat be measured?

Your sense of touch tells you when something is hot. Use these web pages to see how we can measure how hot something is. Get ideas for your own projects.
 
 

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Title: Make a Thermometer
Description: Make this simple thermometer and watch how heat causes things to expand.
URL: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/thermometer.html
Title: Thermometer – Zoom Activities
Description: “A hot invention makes for very cool science!” Make your own thermometer, and then experiment to see how you can change what happens.
URL: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/thermometer.html
Title: How Steam Technology Works
Description: This page describes the first steam engines and includes an animated illustration of a working steam engine.
URL: http://science.howstuffworks.com/steam-technology2.htm
Title: How Hair Dryers Work
Description: Read how poor conductivity of a nichrome wire in a hair dryer causes a transfer of electrical energy to heat energy.
URL: http://home.howstuffworks.com/hair-dryer3.htm
Title: How Toasters Work
Description: Heat is produced in a toaster by the transfer of electrical energy. This article not only explains how this occurs but includes a short video.
URL: http://home.howstuffworks.com/toaster.htm
Title: Heat
Description: This page will help you understand heat. What it is, how it gets from one object to another and how it is measured.
URL: http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/heat.htm
Title: Heat Produced From Light Bulbs
Description: Discover how changing the wattage of a light bulb can change the temperature.
URL: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/heat.html
Title: Solar Energy, Albedo, and the Polar Regions
Description: What kinds of energy come from the sun? How does that energy travel through space? And what happens when it reaches earth? Find the answers to these questions here.
URL: http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/column.php?date=Oc ...
Title: Measuring Heat
Description: This short video explains how heat is measured and the units that are used.
URL: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/16788-exploring-hea ...
Title: Hot Stuff
Description: Get the lowdown on heat. How it is measured, how it is used, how it moves, how it reacts and more.
URL: http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=6 ...
Title: Science for kids: Heat
Description: Find out how heat energy is produced, its sources and use.
URL: http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/chemistry/ ...
Title: Kidipede: Temperature
Description: Find out how a thermometer works and learn the difference between Celcius and Fahrenheit.
URL: http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/physics/we ...
Title: Lesson 5: Reading a Thermometer
Description: Temperature is measured using two different scales: Celsius and Fahrenheit. Almost all the countries of the world use the Celsius scale. The US is one of the only countries that use the Fahrenheit scale. Practice using both scales on this page.
URL: http://fs.sdsu.edu/pisces/WeatherKit/Lesson05.php
Title: Energy Calculator
Description: Very easy to use energy conversion calculator to convert from or to the following energy units: calories, joules, BTUs, hp hours, kWatt hours, and therms.
URL: http://www.woodsbas.demon.co.uk/convs/convs.htm
Title: Weather Wiz Kids: Temperature
Description: Find out what temperature means and how it is measured.
URL: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/temperature.htm
Title: Radiation, Conduction, Convection
Description: Scroll down to see the lyrics to a song on heat transfer. There is a verse on conduction, radiation, and convection.
URL: http://www.educationalrap.com/song/radiation-conduction ...
Title: Reading a Thermometer
Description: Practice reading a thermometer! How well can you do?
URL: http://pisces.sdsu.edu/ONLINE_LESSONS/WEATHER/weather_l ...
Title: Near Real-Time Thermometers
Description: So what’s the weather like? Read these three real-time thermometers and describe what kind of clothes you would need in that place.
URL: http://pisces.sdsu.edu/ONLINE_LESSONS/WEATHER/weather_l ...
Title: Absorption - Heat
Description: Short page with an excellent definition of heat and the units used to measure it.
URL: http://www.exploratorium.edu/xref/phenomena/absorption_ ...
Title: Measuring Heat
Description: How is heat measured? Find the answer to that question plus more on this page.
URL: http://dimdima.com/science/science_common/show_science. ...
Title: How Does the Thermometer Work?
Description: Discover how thermometers work and learn about the scales that are used to measure temperature.
URL: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/how_it_works/thermometer. ...
Title: Heat - Hot Stuff
Description: Find the information you need to understand heat, heat reactions, how to measure heat, and much more!
URL: http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=6 ...
Title: Measuring Energy
Description: At this site you can read about measuring heat energy with a thermometer and practice calculating Kelvin from Celsius.
URL: http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/measureenergy ...
Title: Heat Transfer
Description: This animation demonstrates and gives examples of conduction, radiation and convection.
URL: http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=S ...
Title: Conduction
Description: How does conduction work? find the answer to this question here.
URL: http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0063-conducti ...
Title: How does a thermometer tell the temperature?
Description: Do you know how a thermometer works? Here you will learn how a bulb thermometer works and discover the history behind the Fahrenheit and Celsius scale.
URL: http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/thermometer ...
Title: Detecting Heat
Description: Learn about the special tools that can be used to measure heat.
URL: http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/lig ...
Title: Weather Underground
Description: Allows you to find out the weather in any city, state or zip code, Airport Code or country.
URL: http://www.wunderground.com/us/
Title: A Simple Thermometer Lesson
Description: In this lesson students create a simple thermometer. The thermometer is then used to discover how the liquid in it reacts to the heat of the students' hands and a bowl of ice water. This is a great discovery lesson for K-4 students.
URL: http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/scimodule/he ...
Title: Heating Up!
Description: In this lesson, students measure the amount of heat created at different centers.
URL: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=14861
Title: Elementary Energy Lesson Plans
Description: Ten lessons on saving energy for grades k-5. Lesson links are to pdf files.
URL: http://ase.org/section/_audience/educators/lessons/elem
Title: HEAT! HEAT! HEAT!
Description: This lesson includes materials lists and directions for activities for radiation with a light bulb, convection currents with ink and water, and conduction using thumbtacks.
URL: http://www.kedt.org/Ed/LessonPlanswithVideo/lpeheattran ...
Title: Dancing Penny
Description: This simple experiment, utilizing a cold bottle and a penny, addresses conduction, temperature and pressure, and energy transfer.
URL: http://www.mcrel.org/whelmers/whelm03.asp
Title: Solar Hot Box
Description: This lesson utilizes simple materials, such as a shoe box and colored paper, to build a hot box and determine how the material affects the temperature in the box while in sunlight.
URL: http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/er ...
Title: When Things Start Heating Up
Description: In this lesson, students discover how heat is produced from human based activities and machines.
URL: http://www.sciencenetlinks.org/lessons.php?BenchmarkID= ...
Title: Measuring Calories in Food
Description: Using a coffee can, water, thermometer, and some simple items students can measure the calories (heat) of various food items.
URL: http://seplessons.ucsf.edu/node/349
Title: The Heat is On
Description: In this small group activity, students compare the relative difference in the amount of heat given off when rubbing objects together.
URL: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=2461
Title: How to read a thermometer
Description: We depend upon an instrument called a thermometer for accurate readings. Use this site to learn how to read a thermometer. Then take your thermometer out into the field to test your abilities.
URL: http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubje ...
Title: Heat
Description: Try these simple experiments with your students to help them understand the properties of heat.
URL: http://mypages.iit.edu/~smile/ph9615.html
Title: Physical Science: Solar Energy
Description: These activities will help your students understand how solar energy and electricity produce light and heat. Some activities require the use of a data logger.
URL: http://www.clayhillforest.org/education/lessonplans/ele ...
Title: Atmospheric Processes — Conduction
Description: In this lesson students explain the process of conduction and learn that different materials conduct at different rates.
URL: http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_1_2_6t.htm
Title: Heat Energy and Water
Description: The lesson helps students understand the difference between heat and temperature.
URL: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=9830
Title: How to Read a Thermometer!
Description: This page provides a good review of how to read a thermometer.
URL: http://dev.nsta.org/ssc/pdf/v4-TS_13.pdf
Title: Activity: Sources of Heat
Description: Find activities that will help students explore heat, light, sound, and electricity.
URL: http://www.kean.edu/~fosborne/resources/ex9d.htm
Title: Discovering How to Use a Thermometer
Description: Use this straightforward activity to introduce early elementary students to thermometers and what they do. The worksheet is available at http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/wc/pdf/wc1w.pdf.
URL: http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/wc/weather/1/w ...
Title: Warm Air Rising
Description: Does heat rise? Find out for yourself with a simple experiment that shows kids how the heat in an enclosed space rises to the ceiling.
URL: http://wings.avkids.com/Curriculums/Thermals/warm_air_s ...
Title: How Does a Heat Pump Work
Description: How does a heat pump work? Click here for the answer to that question and links to other interesting questions and answers.
URL: http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/heating- ...
Title: Absorbing Light
Description: In this activity students set up an experiment to see how dark and light colored substances absorb light differently.
URL: http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/activities/ts1e ...