Aim: The aim of this experiment is to investigate how groups of animals conserve heat in cold climates. Hypothesis: I hypothesis e that a huddled group will lose less heat than an isolated animal. This is because the exposed surface area of a group of animals is less for each animal than an isolated animal (as shown below).
S. area of 1: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40 cm S.
area of 4: 40 x 4 = 160 cm However… S. area of 4 huddled: 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 80 As you can see the surface area doesnt increase as much when the animals are huddled. Plan: We will use the same amount of water (35 ml) and take the temperature at regular intervals. All water will start at the same temperature. We will continue the experiment for 5 minutes.
Apparatus: This is how the boiling tubes (used to represent the animals) will be set up. Other apparatus: kettle, stop clock, measuring cylinder. Method: Collect all equipment and boil the kettle. Assemble huddle and pour water in all of the tubes on the outside. When ready, start the clock and pour water into the centre of the huddle and into the isolated tube.
Take the temperature of the isolated tube and the tube at the centre of the huddle ever minute until the desired time is up. Record results. Results: Temp. Isolated Huddle 00: 003737 01: 003838 02: 003638 03: 003637 04: 003637 05: 003537 06: 003437 07: 003436 08: 003336 09: 003236 10: 003236 11: 003235 12: 003235 13: 003235 14: 003135 15: 003035 16: 003035 17: 003035 18: 003035 19: 003034 20: 003034 Conclusion: The results show that an isolated animal will lose heat faster than an animal in the middle of a huddle. As I predicted, a huddled animal will conserve more heat than an isolated animal. The exposed surface area of a huddled animal is less than an isolated one.
The Essay on Animal Behaviour
Animals and their behaviour has been fascinating to behold and even more incredible to experience. Humans have been intrigued at how the most basic creatures can do the most complex things. Ethology or the scientific study of animal behaviour is responsible for numerous breakthroughs in the understanding of the animal world, and in turn the human one. Animal behaviour can range from being ...
Evaluation: fell the results werent very convincing but do show a pattern. At first we would take the temperature every 30 seconds but our results werent changing enough so we took the temperature every minute. Originally, we were going to continue the experiment for 10 minutes but the results were quite inconclusive so the experiment ran on for 20 minutes. Next time we could use a different number of test tubes or vary the starting temperature of the water. A different amount of water will also be a variable we could change. lee blair.
