Thermal Container Design — Heat Transfer Simulator

NGSS MS-PS3-3

Engineering Challenge: Design an insulated container that either minimizes heat transfer (keep ice frozen) or maximizes it (cool a hot drink fast). Choose your wall material, wall thickness, surface area, ambient conditions, and contents. Predict before testing. Iterate.

1. Design

Wall Material (thermal conductivity, k)

Lower k = better insulator.

Thicker walls slow heat transfer.

3.0 cm
Container Size (surface area)

Larger surface = more area for heat transfer.

2. Test Conditions

25 °C
Initial Contents

Ice → goal is to minimize transfer. Coffee → choose: keep it hot, or cool it down fast?

Ice Schematic — not to scale

3. Predict

Run is locked until you submit a prediction.

4. Run the Test

Sim Time
0:00
Ice Mass
50.0 g
Heat Flux
0.0 W
Status
Ready
Data Table (updates every simulated 5 minutes)
Time (min) Ice Mass (g) Heat Flux (W) Interior Temp (°C)
No data yet — submit a prediction and press Run.

5. Observe

(After the run finishes, your results will appear here.)

6. Explain

You'll copy this answer into the Day 1 Google Form.