THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

Introduction:
You know from experience that heat flows from hot to cold. If you stick a poker into a fire, the
end that you’re holding gradually gets warmer – the heat from the fire only slowly travels up
the poker. How fast or slow heat travels through an object depends on many things. You know
that certain materials conduct heat better than others. Touching a cold piece of wood or a cold
piece of metal tells you this straight away – wood conducts heat poorly, and therefore the cold
sensation is only passing, but metals transport heat much better – the heat from your fingers is
used to heat up the entire piece of metal, and if you’re not careful the metal might freeze to
your fingers! The extent to which materials conduct heat can be quantified by a parameter
known as the thermal conductivity, symbol k. Heat conduction is not only determined by the
material, but also by its shape, and by the temperature difference between the two ends. You
will probably guess straight away that the higher the temperature difference between the ends,
the more heat will flow. If you were to grab a longer poker and stick it into the fire, it would
take longer for the end you hold in your hands to get warm. However, if you made the poker
wider it would be easier for the heat to get across. Finally the heat input is important as well:
the more heat you put into one end of the bar, the more heat will flow to the other end. From
these considerations it follows that in order to measure the thermal conductivity of a certain
material, we need to measure the heat input, its length, its diameter and the temperature
difference. In its simplest form, an experiment might look like this: one end of the bar will be
heated by means of a steam chamber or power supply, and you measure the amount of energy
(heat) going in per second. You measure the length and diameter of the rod, and the
temperature difference between the two ends of the rod. There is however one difficulty with
this approach: eventually, the heat will spread out throughout the bar, and the entire bar will
attain the same temperature. To circumvent this problem we keep the other end of the bar
cooled.

Experimental Set-up:
The Searle's apparatus to measure the thermal conductivity of a solid is shown in Fig. 1. The
solid is taken in the form of a cylindrical rod A B. One end A of the rod goes into a steam
chamber through which steam is passed from a boiler. A copper tube is coiled around the other
end B of the rod. This end B is cooled by circulating a steady flow of water maintained in the
copper tube by constant water level tank. The flow of water is adjusted using pinch cork such
that water comes drop by drop from the exit side. Water enters the tube at the end away from
the steam chamber and it leaves at the end nearer to it. Thermometers T3 and T4 are provided
to measure the temperatures of the outgoing and incoming water. Two holes are drilled in the
rod and the temperature of the rod is also measured at these places with the help of
thermometers T1 and T2. The whole apparatus is covered properly with layers of an insulating
material like wool or felt, so as to prevent any loss of heat from the sides. Steam is passed into
the steam chamber and a stream of water is maintained. The temperatures of all the four
thermometers rise initially and ultimately become constant when the steady state is reached.
The readings θ1, θ2 , θ3 and θ4 are noted in steady state.

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 EXPERIMENT-I
Object:
To determine the thermal conductivity of copper using Searle’s Apparatus

Apparatus Used:
Searle’s Thermal Conductivity Apparatus, 04 Thermometers, Steam Boiler, Measuring Cylinder,
Constant Water Level Tank, Pinch cork, Stop watch , Rubber tube and Hot Plate.
Formula Used:
The coefficient of Thermal Conductivity K for a material is given by
𝑚𝑑 (𝜃 − 𝜃 )
K= 𝐴 (𝜃 3− 𝜃 4) cal/gm./ oC/sec (1)
1 2

Where A = Area of cross section of the rod ( πr2 where r is the radius of the copper rod (D/2)
θ1 & θ2 = Steady temperatures at the two fixed point of the rod in steady state.
d = Distance between two thermometer T1 and T2
m = Mass of water collected per second
θ3 & θ4 = Steady temperatures of water at exit and at entrance respectively.

Method:
1. Make the set-up as shown in Fig. 1

2.Fill the steam generator with water up to about 2/3rd height. Keep it on a Hot plate and
switch ‘ON’ the Hot plate then steam is being formed in the steam generator . Pass a steady
current of steam from the boiler through the rubber tube into the steam chamber to heat the
end ‘A’. Place a tray below the outlet 0 of the stem chamber to collect the condensed water.

3. Allow the water to flow through the copper coil by adjusting the height of constant level tank
or by the use of a pinch cock adjust the rate of flow of water through copper coil so that water
comes out as a trickle through the outlet end

4. Insert all the 04 thermometers in their respective places as shown in Fig. 1

5.Attain the steady state i.e. reading of temperature of all the four thermometers should be
constant and there should not be any further increase in temperature.

6. After steady state when the readings of all the four thermometers remain constant for nearly
05 minutes, note the thermometer.

7. Now place a clean and dry measuring cylinder below the outlet of the copper coil and
collect the water flown for a known time. Calculate the mass of water flowing per second.

8. Repeat the above procedure 3 to 4 times.

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9. Measure the distance between the two fixed point where the thermometer T1 and T2
inserted.

10. Measure the diameter of the rod and calculate the value of K using formula as given above.

Observations and Tabulations:

(i) The distance ‘d ‘ between the points along the bar or between the Thermometer T 1 and T2 .

(ii) Determination of the diameter of the experimental rod.

Least count of the vernier calipers = cm.
Zero error of the vernier calipers if any =+ cm.

S. Observed diameter in cm. Mean Corrected

No. In one direction 𝒂+𝒃 diameter diameter
In other direction
𝟐
X in cm. d in cm.
M.S. V.S. Total M.S. V.S. Total 𝒂+𝒃
Reading Reading a cm Reading Reading b cm 𝟐
1
2.
3.

(iii) Table for mass of water collected:

S. No. Time in Thermometers readings Mass Time of Mass of
Minutes θ1 θ2 Θ3 θ4 of water water water
collected collected collected
after steady per
state second
1. 2.
2. 4.
3. 6.
4. 8.

11. Calculate mean value of mass of water collected per second from table (iii).
12. The steady state temperatures as noted from table (iii)

o o
θ1 = C θ2 = C

o o
θ3 = C θ4 = C

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Calculations:
Calculate the value of K using equation (1) given above.

Results:
1.The Thermal conductivity K of Copper obtained experimentally = cal/gm./ oC/sec
2.The standard value of Thermal conductivity K of Copper = 0.918 cal/gm./ oC/sec
The experimentally observed value of K is always with in + 10% on the standard value

Precautions:
1.Water should always flow from constant water level tank
2. A number of observations of the rate of flow of water should be made and their mean
value Should be used for calculations.
3. The steady state position should be attained correctly.
4. Water should be collected only when steady state attained.
5. Water should be collected 3 to 4 times and mean value of water collected per second
be used in calculations.

Pinch cork
Constant water
To Boiler level tank

θ3 θ4

θ1 θ2 Water

To sink

Fig. 1 Searle’s Conductivity Apparatus

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Error Calculation

1. There is an error in assuming that no heat lost along the bar, but no correction has been
made for this, although this will obviously affect the values of T2 and T1.
2. The absolute error in each of the temperature differences and is the sum
of the absolute errors in reading the two thermometers.
3. Errors in m arise from errors in determining the mass of water collected.
4. Errors in the time t depend on the accuracy of the stop-watch.
5. Errors in measuring with the Vernier calliper are at least 0.05 mm, but may be bigger
(estimate how precisely you can measure D and d).

6. The fractional error in k is given by: ,

hence determine the absolute error k.