Results and Discussion

When heat flows from one region to another per unit time, the condition for heat current is used,

kA (T H T C )
H= ,(1)
L

where A is the cross-sectional area of the rod, L is the length of the rod, TH and TC are the temperature of its
hotter and colder ends, respectively, and k is a constant known as thermal conductivity, which is the property of the
material that describes its ability to conduct heat. Hence, when heat flows through two different materials that are in
thermal contact, the equation of the heat current at the junction becomes,

k H A H (T H T J ) k C AC (T J T C )
H j= = ,(2)
LH LC
From the equation given the thermal conductivity of a metal, we can compute for the thermal conductivity
of an unknown metal,
k C A C L H ( T J T C )
k H= , ( 3)
LC A H ( T H T J )
For the experiment, the group assumes that the thermal expansion and contraction for each of the material
will be insignificant. The metals used were Brass and Copper with Copper having a thermal conductivity 385
W/m*K and kH is for brass. In this experiment the computed value for the thermal conductivity of Brass can be
compared to the theoretical value of thermal conductivity of Brass using,

|Dexperimental Dtheoretical|
P ercent error= ,( 4)
Dtheoretical

Table 1: Temperature Measurments

Trial TH( C) TC( C) TJ( C)
1 96.3 3 25.6
2 96.3 6 25.7
3 96.2 5 29.2
4 96.2 3 21.7
5 96.3 2 20.4

Table 1 above shows the temperature measurements of the Copper and Brass rod extremities, with T J as the
temperature at their junction.

Table 2: Thermal conductivity of Brass

Trial KH
1 114.41
2 99.87
3 129.28
4 89.84
5 86.77

Table 2 above shows the thermal conductivity of brass based on five different trials, all of which are computed
through equation 3.
Table 3: Computed Thermal conductivity of Brass
Average kbrass 104 W/m K
Theoretical kbrass 109 W/m K
 Percent error 4.56%

Table 3 above shows the average thermal conductivity of Brass from five trials and the comparison between the
experimental value of the thermal conductivity of Brass and its theoretical value using equation 4. Hence, we get a
4.56% error from the theoretical value of thermal conductivity of Brass which is 109 W/m K. This is because by
assuming steady state, thermal expansion and contraction was neglected. Also the metal holding the rods in place
may have played a part in conducting heat and thus contributing to the error. Lastly, the drastic fluctuations in
temperature because of the environment might also contribute while measuring the temperature of the rods.

Acknowledgements
This experiment was done with the help of lab instructor, Mr. Hernanie Salazar.