Q: What is heat?

Ans:

 Heat is a form of energy. It makes a substance hotter.

 We can feel the heat by the temperature effect it produces.
 When heat is given to a substance, its temperature increases and it becomes hotter.

For example: When a utensil is kept on a gas burner, it gets heat, its temperature increases
and it becomes hot. When heat is removed from a substance then its temperature decreases
and it becomes cold.

Q: How is temperature measured?

Ans:

 Temperature is measured by using a device (or instrument) called thermometer.

 A thermometer has a scale marked on it which is used to read the temperature.
 The most common temperature scale marked on thermometers for measuring
temperatures is the Celsius scale.
 So, the temperature is expressed in the unit of ‘degree Celsius’ (which is written in
short form as °C). In the unit °C, the small circle at the top denotes the term ‘degree’
and the letter C denotes Celsius. So, the unit C is read as ‘degree Celsius or
just degree C’.

In the Celsius scale of temperature, the temperature of melting ice is

given a value of 0°C (zero degree Celsius) and the temperature of boiling
water is given a value of 100 °C (hundred degrees Celsius).

Q: What is a thermometer? Name two types of thermometers?

Ans:

 Temperature is measured by using a device (or instrument) called thermometer.

A thermometer has a scale marked on it which is used to read the temperature.
 There are two common types of thermometers:
1. Laboratory thermometer and
2. Clinical thermometer
 The laboratory thermometer as well as clinical thermometer are mercury
thermometers.
  When heat is supplied to the thermometer bulb containing mercury, the mercury
expands and rises in the glass tube of thermometer.

Q: What is clinical thermometer? What is its range? Why it is not used to measure high
temperature?

Ans: Clinical thermometer

Figure 1 Clinical thermometer

 It is a device that is used to measure the body temperature of a person.
 It is made up of a glass tube of uniform thickness.
 The glass tube contains a bulb at one end which is filled with Mercury.
 The Mercury level in the thermometer rises up in the thread-like portion of the
thermometer which therefore indicates the temperature of the body.
 The level of the Mercury can be measured by reading the scale given on the
thermometer.
 The scale of the thermometer records the temperature in degree Celsius, generally,
35 o C to 45 o C, which is the range of human body temperature.
 On an average, the temperature of the human body is around 37 o C.
 The clinical thermometer has a small sharp curve (kink) present near the bulb. This
prevents the Mercury level from falling down on its own in the thermometer.

Q: What is the function of kink in clinical thermometer?

Ans:

 A clinical thermometer has a kink (or constriction) in its glass tube just above the
bulb containing mercury.
 The kink is to prevent the back flow of mercury into the thermometer bulb when the
thermometer bulb is removed from the mouth of a patient.
  The kink prevents the mercury level in the thermometer tube from falling on its own.
 When the thermometer bulb is removed from the mouth of a patient, the mercury
thread will keep standing at the maximum level reached.
 Due to this we can read the correct body temperature of the patient even after
removing the thermometer bulb from his mouth.

Q: Name the two temperature scales in clinical thermometer? What is their range?

Ans:

 A clinical thermometer has usually two temperature scales marked on its glass
tube on the two sides of the mercury thread:
1. Celsius scale of temperature and
2. Fahrenheit scale of temperature.

The scale of temperature marked on the clinical thermometer has a range of 94°F to 108°F.

The normal temperature of human body on Fahrenheit scale is 98.6 °F.

Q: Write a short note on Laboratory thermometer?

Ans: Laboratory Thermometer

A laboratory thermometer is used for measuring the temperature in a science laboratory.

(1) A laboratory thermometer is made up of a long glass tube having a thin bore in it.

(2) There is a glass bulb containing mercury which is joined at the lower end of the glass
tube.

(3) The top end of glass tube is sealed (after removing air)

(4) The whole length of thermometer glass tube is graduated (or calibrated) in degrees
Celsius.
(5) The graduations marked on the tube of a commonly used laboratory temperatures are
from, -10°C to 110°C. This is called the range of thermometer. Thus, the range of
a laboratory thermometer is generally from, -10°C to 110°C.

(6) If we look at the temperature markings of say, 0°C and 10°C on the thermometer tube, we
will find that there are 10 small divisions in-between them. Now, since 10 small divisions on
this laboratory thermometer tube represent a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, therefore, 1
small division on the laboratory thermometer will represent a temperature of 1 degree
Celsius.

(7) There a thin silvery thread of mercury in the narrow glass tube of the thermometer. The
upper end of this mercury thread (or column) tells us the temperature of the object in which
the thermometer bulb is placed.

Q: What precautions should be taken while using laboratory thermometer?

Ans: Precautions in Using a Laboratory Thermometer

(1) The laboratory thermometer should be held vertically (or upright) while measuring
temperature. It should not be tilted.

(2) The thermometer bulb should be surrounded from all sides by the substance whose
temperature is to be measured.

(3) The thermometer bulb should not touch the sides or bottom of the container in which the
substance is taken.

(4) Read the thermometer while its bulb is still in touch with the substance whose
temperature is being measured.

(5) Read the thermometer by keeping the level of mercury along the line of sight.

(6) Do not hold the thermometer by the bulb.

(7) Handle the thermometer with care. It can break if hit against any hard object.
Q: What is the normal temperature range of laboratory thermometer?

Ans:
 The laboratory thermometer is used to find out the temperature of the other
objects such as water rather than human body temperature. It can measure the
temperature from -10 o C to 110 o C.

Q: Explain the reason why Mercury is used instead of water in thermometres?

Answer:
Due to following reasons, mercury is used in the thermometers instead of water

1. When the thermometer breaks, the mercury can be easily collected.

2. Mercury has more expansion than the water.
3. Also, mercury do not stick on the walls of thermometer like water.
 Q: Name the three ways in which heat can flow?
Ans: Heat can be transferred from a hot object to a cold object in three different ways:

(1) By Conduction
(2) By Convection and
(3) By Radiation

 In solids, heat is transferred by conduction.

 In liquids and gases, heat is transferred by convection.
 In empty space or vacuum (having no medium like solid, liquid or gas), heat is
transferred by radiation.

Q: Define the term conduction?

Ans:

 A transfer of heat from the hot part of a material to its colder part (without the
movement of material as a whole) is called conduction.
 The transfer of heat by conduction takes place within the same object.
 Conduction is the transfer of heat from the hotter part of a material to its colder part
without the movement of material as a whole.
 Some objects can conduct heat while others cannot.

1. If we heat one end of a metal spoon by keeping it over a gas burner, we

find that its other end also becomes hot after a while. Heat is transferred
from the hot end of the metal spoon to its cold end.
2. A cold metal spoon dipped in a hot cup of tea gets heated by conduction
3. A cold metal spoon dipped in a hot cup of tea gets heated by conduction
Q: How are metals classified on the basis of Conduction of Heat?

Ans: On the basis of conduction of heat, all the materials are classified into two groups:

1. Good conductors of heat, and

2. Poor conductors of heat.

 Good conductors of heat are called conductors of heat.

 Poor conductors of heat are also called insulators (of heat).

Q: What are good conductors of heat? Give examples?

Ans:
 The objects that can allow the heat to flow through them are called Conductors.
 All the metals are good conductors of heat
 Metal alloys (such as brass, steel and stainless steel) are also good conductors of heat.
 Example: metals such as copper and aluminium.
 Silver metal is the best conductor of heat

Figure 7 Conductors

Q: What are bad conductors of heat? Give examples?

Ans:
  The objects that do not allow the flow of heat from them are called poor
conductors of heat.
 The materials which are poor conductors of heat are called Insulators.
 Water is a poor conductor of heat and air is a very poor conductor of heat. Air is a very
good insulator of heat.
 The materials which trap air (such as cotton, wool, fur, feathers, fibreglass and plastic
foam) are very poor conductors of heat.
 If one end of an object is made of insulator material is heated, then its other end does
not become hot. It either remains almost cold or becomes only slightly hot.
 Example: Wood and Plastic.

Figure 8 Insulators
Q. How do birds keep themselves warm during winters?
Ans:

 The feathers of birds keep them warm in cold weather due to air trapped in
them.
 Air being a poor conductor of heat, prevents the body heat of birds from escaping to
the cold surroundings and hence keeps the birds warm in cold weather.
 The animals having fur (such as polar bear) keep warm in cold weather because their
fur traps a lot of air.
Q: Why do we wear cotton and light coloured clothes in summers?
 Cotton clothes are obtained from the plant fibres. The cotton clothes are
generally light in colour and are worn in summer season so that we can feel
cool.

Q: A circular metal loop is heated at point O as shown in figure.

(a) In which direction, would heat flow in the loop?

(b) In which order, the pins at points P, Q and R fixed with the help of wax fall if points O, P,
Q and R are equidistant from each other?

Answer:
(a) Heat will flow in both the directions from O to P and from O to R.
(b) First of all pin at P and R will fall simultaneously after that pin at Q will fall.

Q: Explain what is convection and how transfer of heat takes place through
Convection?
Ans:
 The transfer of heat in liquids and gases is called Convection.
 The transfer of heat by convection can take place only in liquids and gases because the
particles in liquids and gases can move about freely
 The molecules of the liquid or gases that are near the source of the heat get heated
first.
 They become lighter due to the heat and move upwards.
 The colder particles being heavier take the place and this process continues until
the whole liquid or the gas gets heated.
 That is why the area above the flame of a candle always feels hot but the area on
the sides of the candle does not.

The transfer of heat by convection also cannot take place in empty space
(called vacuum) because there are no particles of any kind in empty space
which can move and transfer heat.
  The circulatory
movements of water in
the beaker in which hot
water rises and cold
water sinks again and
again, are
called convection
currents.
 These convection
currents transfer heat

What happens when the liquid vessel is heated from

the top?

The heating element of an electric kettle (used for boiling water to make tea) is
also fixed at the bottom of the kettle. If the water taken in a vessel is heated by
a burner at the top, then the hot water (being lighter) stays at the top of the
vessel. Since no hot water from top can sink downwards towards the bottom of
the vessel, the water at the bottom of such a vessel (which is being heated at

Q: Give a brief account of how heat transfer takes place in Air.

Ans:

 Air is a very poor conductor of heat.

 It transfers heat from its hotter parts to colder parts by the process of convection (by
moving itself).
 In order to heat air in a room during winter, we keep the heater on the
floor (usually in a corner of the room).Though the heater is placed on the floor at the
bottom of the room but it still heats all the air in the room. When air is heated by the
heater in one part of the room, it transfers heat by convection.
 When the heater kept on the floor in a room is switched on, the air near the heater gets
heated, expands and become lighter.
 This hot air (being lighter) rises above the top of the heater and carries its heat along
with it.
 The cold air from above (being denser) sinks downwards to the bottom of the heater
to take the place of hot rising air. This cold air also gets heated by the heater and rises
upwards carrying its heat upwards.
 And more cold air sinks downwards towards the heater.
 This process of hot air rising upwards and cold air sinking downwards takes
place again and again due to which all the air in the room gets heated uniformly after
 some time. A room heater heats all the air in a room by setting up convection currents
in the air.

Q: The freezer is located at the top of the refrigerator. Explain why.

Answer:

 The freezer is located at the top of the refrigerator.

 It is because the air inside and around the compartments of freezer gets cool and move
downwards and on the other side, the lesser cool air moves upward to get cooled.
 So, as a result of this, convection of heat are setup in the air and the tower section of
the . refrigerator also gets cooled faster. .
 Q: Explain the reason for the general fitting of air conditioner at higher level on the wall of
the room.
Answer:
As a fact that warm air is much lighter than the cold air, so being heavier the cold air from air
conditioner moves downwards while the hot air moves upwards at the lower level and gets
cooled and come downwards once again. So, due to this convection of heWWat are set in the
Why do the kites and eagles fly without flapping their wings.
As it is a fact that the hot air during the day time surrounds the land gradually and
rises up, due to which a convection air of heat develops. So, kites and eagles start
moving along this rising current of heat without flapping the wings to fly high up in
the sky.

air and room gets warmer faster.

Q: Why do we wear woollen clothes in winters?

Ans:
 Woollen clothes keep us warm during cold winter days.
 Wool is a poor conductor of heat due to which woollen clothes stop the flow of heat
from our warm body to the cold surroundings.
 There is air trapped in-between the fibres of the woollen clothes. Air is a very poor
conductor of heat.
 So, the air trapped in fibres of woollen clothes also stops the flow of heat from our
warm body to the cold surroundings.
 Since our body does not lose its heat, we feel warm on wearing woollen clothes in
winter..

 We should prefer two thin woollen blankets joined together.

 This is because the two thin woollen blankets joined together will have
a layer of air trapped in-between them.
 And this extra layer of trapped air (being a very poor conductor of
heat) will prevent our body heat from going away to the cold air more
efficiently and hence keep us more warm.
 The single, thick woollen blanket does not have this extra layer of air in
it.
 Wearing more layers of clothes keeps us warmer in winter than
wearing just one thick piece of clothing.
Q: Explain the concept of sea breeze and land breeze in coastal areas?

Ans:

 Gentle wind is called breeze.

 The people living in coastal areas (sea-side areas) experience interesting phenomenon
called sea-breeze and land-breeze which are based on the transfer of heat in air
by convection currents.

Q: Why do sea breeze blow in day times?

Ans:

 During day time, when the sun shines, the solid land gets heated to a higher
temperature much more quickly than liquid sea-water.
 The hot air over the land rises upwards and cooler air from over the sea moves
towards the land in the form of a cool breeze.
 The breeze blowing from the sea towards the land is called sea-breeze.
 The cool sea-breeze blows only during the day time when the land is hotter than the
sea.
 To receive the cool sea-breeze during the day, the windows of houses in coastal
areas are-made to face the sea.

Q: Why do sea breeze blow in day times?

Ans:

 At night time, the hot land cools much faster than the warm sea-water.
 Due to this, the land becomes cool very quickly but the sea-water remains warm for a
much longer time.
 So, during night, the hot air over the warm sea rises upwards and cooler air from the
land blows in towards the sea in the form of a breeze (to take the place of hot rising
air).
 The breeze blowing from the land towards the sea is called land-breeze. Land breeze
blows only during the night when the sea-water is hotter than the land.

Q: Define radiation?

Ans:
 It is a process of transfer of heat in the form of waves.
 Every hot object emits (gives out) invisible heat rays in all directions.
 Hence, many times an object gets heated just by being near to a hot object.
 These heat rays carry heat energy.
 When these heat rays fall on a cold object, the cold object receives heat energy and
gets heated.
 In this way, heat energy is transferred from hot object to cold object by means of heat
rays.
 Method of transfer of heat energy by heat rays is called radiation. Heat can be
transferred from a hot body to a cold body by radiation even if there is no material
medium (like solid, liquid or as) between them.
 Example of radiation is the transfer of heat energy of the sun to the earth. When we
come out in the sunshine, we feel hot. This means that the heat from the sun is
 being transferred to us which makes us feel hot.

Q: Why the Sun’s heat does not reach earth by conduction or convection? What are
infra-red radiations?

Ans:

 The sun is very far away from the earth and there is mainly empty space (vacuum)
between the sun and the earth.
 Heat from the sun cannot reach the earth by conduction or convection because both
these processes require a material medium (like solid, liquid or gas) to transfer heat,
they cannot take place in empty space (or vacuum).
 Heat from the sun reaches on the earth by the process of radiation.
 The sun is an extremely hot object. The sun emits heat radiations (or heat rays) in all
directions.
 These heat radiations travel through vacuum between the sun and the earth at a very
high speed and reach us on the earth. When the sun’s radiations fall on the earth and
its objects, they receive heat energy and hence get heated.

The invisible heat rays which transfer heat by radiation are called infra-red rays.

In our day to day life we have many situations where heat is

transferred by radiation through a medium called air:

(1) When we stand next to a burning fire, we can feel the heat of the
fire falling on our face. The heat is transferred from the fire to our
face by the process of radiation.

(2) When we sit in front of a room-heater, we get heat directly by the

process of radiation.

(3) A hot utensil kept away from the flame cools down by transferring
its heat to the surroundings by radiation.
 (4) Depending on the temperature of surroundings, our body too

Q: In summer we prefer light-coloured clothes and in winter we usually wear dark-

coloured clothes. Why is it so?

Answer:

 Dark surfaces absorb more heat and, therefore, we feel comfortable with dark
coloured clothes in the winter.
 Light coloured clothes reflect most of the heat that falls on them and, therefore, we
feel more comfortable wearing them in the summer.

Q: What type of objects are considered to be good & bad emitters of radiation?

Ans:

 The amount of heat which a hot object can emit (give out) by radiation also depends
on the colour of the object.
 The hot objects having dark colours emit more heat radiations than the hot objects
having light colours.
 Dark coloured objects absorb heat better and also emit heat better than light coloured
objects.
 Dark coloured objects are poor reflectors of heat but light coloured objects are good
reflectors of heat.

Importance of Colour of Objects in

Everyday Life
We use dark coloured objects where we want to absorb more heat and
light coloured objects where less heat is desired.

(1) Colour of Clothes: People prefer to wear white clothes (or light
coloured clothes) in the hot summer days because white clothes (or
light coloured clothes) absorb less heat from the sun. White clothes (or
light coloured clothes) reflect most of the sun’s heat rays which fall on
them and keep us cool and comfortable in hot weather.

People prefer to wear dark coloured clothes in the cold winter days.
This is because dark coloured clothes absorb more heat rays from the
sun and keep us warm in winter season.

(2) Colour of Houses: The houses in hot, sunny countries are usually
painted white or with light colours from outside. This is because a
house painted white or with light colours absorbs very little sun’s heat
rays, it reflects most of the sun’s heat rays. This keeps the house cool
in the hot days of summer.

(3) Solar Cooker (and Solar Water Heater): The box of solar
Q: At a camp site there are tents of two shades. One made with black fabric and the
other with white fabric. Which one will you prefer for resting on a hot summer
afternoon? Give reason for your choice. Would you like to prefer the same tent during
winter?

Answer:

 We will prefer white fabric tent in case of summer because it reflects all the radiations
from the sun and keeps us cool inside the tent.
 But in case of winter, we should not use white fabric tent, we should use black fabric
tent as it absorbs all colours of light from the sun and keeps us warm inside the tent.

Q: Prove with the help of an experiment that heat radiation can travel through vacuum.

Answer:

 First of all, take a flat bottom flask and fix a rubber stopper having two holes in the
mouth of the flask.
 Shift a thermometer through one hole and a glass tube with stopper through the other
hole.
 Now, with the help of a vacuum pump, remove the air from the flask and try to record
the temperature from the thermometer.
 Put a flask in the bright sunlight and we will observe that the thermometer records a
rise in temperature.
 So, on this basis, we can say that this experiment proves that the heat radiation can
travel through vacuum.
Q: Describe in detail about the occurrence of oceanic currents.

Answer:

 Since, it is a fact that the water present in the ocean (near the equator) is heated by the
sun to a very higher temperature than the water near the poles of the earth.
 It is due to the falling of the sun rays perpendicularly in the equatorial region. So, in
the equatorial region, the ocean water expands and becomes lighter.
 While on the other side, the water in the polar region remains cold and heavy. It leads
to the flow of convection currents of heat of warm water from the equator towards the
poles.
 Heat of the cold water flow from the poles towards the equator just below the surface
of ocean.
 So, these types of currents are known as oceanic currents.