Colour and sunlight heat absorption with quinto (data): By Elena

Elena did this experiment on a hot sunny day.  Her students recorded how much the temperature of water increased when they left it outside in different coloured cups.  The students had lots of practice at reading thermometers and they recorded their temperature rises in data tables.  They compared their results with predictions that they had made before doing the experiment. 

A digital thermometer gives more accurate temperatures, but using a real thermometer is really good for giving the students a sense of a physical measurement and practice in reading a scale.