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Lesson Plan: Thermal Convection Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe the origins and effects of thermal convection currents in liquids and gases.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recognize the qualitative relationship between the proximities of different parts of a fluid to a heat source and the temperatures of those parts,
- recognize the qualitative relationship between the temperature of a fluid and the density of a fluid,
- recognize the qualitative effect of the relative densities of different parts of a fluid on the motions of those parts,
- describe qualitatively how a constant heat source applied to a fluid from below results in circulatory bulk motion of the fluid,
- qualitatively compare the kinetic and gravitational potential energies of particles within different parts of fluids that are undergoing thermal convection.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the definition of density,
- the qualitative relationship between the kinetic energy of a particle in a fluid and the temperature of the fluid.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- any fluid dynamics equations.
