THERMAL EXPANSION OF WATER - PLANNING

YOUR NAME DATE

WHAT IS BEING INVESTIGATED?

This investigation will try to show how water expands as it is heated. This is called THERMAL
EXPANSION of water and has profound implications for the planet Earth and especially its
inhabitants who live in low lying or coastal areas, as a result of global warming.

WHAT WILL BE MEASURED?

As a mass of water is heated, its volume will increase. This investigation will measure this increase
in volume of water in a bottle by measuring the height of a column of water in a tube, placed above
the bottle. The temperature of the water in the bottle will also be recorded.

The increase in temperature of the water in the bottle.

THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE IS:
This variable will be adjusted by the experimenter.

The change (increase) in height of a column of water in a

THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE IS: tube above the water in a bottle. This will indicate the
increase in volume of the water in the bottle.

THESE VARIABLES WILL BE CONTROLLED IN ORDER TO MAKE THE

INVESTIGATION A FAIR TEST:
1. Air temperature and other external changes of temperature caused, for instance, by holding the
bottle in warm hands.
2. Air and water leaks will be identified and closed.

3. The apparatus will not be moved, once it is set up.

4. The bottle will be completely filled without any air bubbles.

THIS IS THE HYPOTHESIS AND THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THE HYPOTHESIS:

This will happen: The volume of water in the bottle will increase as it is heated and this will be
shown by the rising of the column of water in the tube above the bottle

Because: Water has the property of molecular expansion as it is heated. This is due to the
distancing of the electron sharing in water molecules and hydrogen bonds between water
molecules as they absorb more energy. This phenomenon is most obvious between the
temperatures of 4°c and 60°c.
(Water has a very unusual property of also expanding in volume as the temperature drops
below 4°c and water changes state from liquid to solid. This phenomenon is NOT the subject
Turn overof
this investigation.)