Principle

In this experiment a heated up room or house are to be
simulated. The solar collector from the Pupil Kit is used for this
purpose. Three walls are made up of Styropor, the front plastic
plate is the window. The black beaker with hot water serves as
"heater" of the room.
The thermal transfer through the wall has influence on the outside
temperature. The insulating properties of different walls can be
compared by measuring the outwall temperatures with each
other.
A correct temperature measurement of the outwall cannot be carried
out in this experiment. In the model the heater is very big in
comparison to the room, the thermogenerator touches the wall only
lightly and mostly leaves an air gap, thermal radiation also
contributes to the heating up of the thermogenerator
(Thermografie).
The measured thermoelectrical voltages are very small. However,
they show an obvious difference between the plastic plate and the
Styropor wall.

Benefits


Experiment is part of a complete solution set with a total of
17 experiments for Renewable Energy Basics and Heat energy

Versatile solar collector

Stable setup by using the optical bench


Tasks


Why are the walls of houses dammed with additional styropor
plates?

In this experiment the solar collector from the Pupil Kit is
used as a model house. The walls are made up of styropor sheets.
The transparent plastic sheet is the window. The thermal transfer
through the wall and window are compared measuring the outwall
temperatures.


What you can learn about 


Solar collector

Heat insulation

Thermogenerator