As the temperature really starts to drop, here in Laramie especially, everyone is starting to drink hot beverages. These drinks consist of coffee, tea, hot cocoa, apple cider, and any other concoction that might be drank when hot. Some people chose to make these drinks at home or pick them up on their way to work, school, or any other place that they might be going and want to have their drink hot when they get there. The biggest concern is how do they keep their drink hot? Does it matter when you add the sugar and/or creamer? When is the best time to stir the drink and do you leave the spoon in the cup? Does it matter what the spoon is made of? Does it matter what color the cup is or what it is made out of? There are so many factors that go into play with keeping your beverage hot and the following physics will help explain what it is you should do.
First thing to be tackled is when should you add your sugar and/or creamer? Both of these two substances will decrease the temperature of the drink. When adding the sugar to your drink you are cooling it at the same time. When the sugar is being dissolved, it takes energy to break down those particles which cools the drink. Also when you add creamer to your drink you are also dissolving it into the drink and when you are adding creamer that is liquid and needs to be refrigerated cools it more than if you are to use a powder creamer. The drink still had to do work to dissolve the creamer that you put into the drink but when the substance is already colder it decreases the temperature of the drink.
Another concern that needs to be evaluated is when to stir your drink? In stirring your drink you are making the warmer fluids come to the surface and also making those fluids be in contact with the walls of the cup. By making those fluids move around so much, this is cooling decreasing the temperature of the drink itself. The hottest fluids are in the middle of the cup and when you are stirring the drink you are forcing those fluids to move and mix with colder fluids making the temperature decrease faster than it regularly would if you were to not stir the drink. If you do chose to stir your drink even though it cools your drink faster what type of stirring device should be used? In the article Insulator vs. Conductor the author states "an insulator is material that does not easily allow energy, such as heat to pass through it" where as "a conductors easily transmit energy. This means that energy is able to move through a conductor" (JVC's Science Fair Projects). If you were to use a metal spoon, which is a really good conductor, to stir the drink the metal spoon will absorb the heat from the drink and conduct the heat out of the drink which would then be released out of the drink and into the air. The longer you leave the spoon in the drink you are also forcing the heat from the drink out of the fluid which is then released into the air. When making your drink wait as long as possible before you stir the drink and if you are using a metal spoon to stir don't leave the spoon in the drink or you will have a colder drink.
It might sound crazy but it matters to what color your cup is and what it is made out of. "Light colors do reflect heat better than dark colors. But what you are looking for is more heat radiation, and dark colors are better for that" (Mitchell). Black object radiate more heat than white objects and this then means that white objects will cool more slowly than black objects.The Encyclopedia of Science says that "radiation is sometimes used to describe the transfer of heat from a hot object to a cooler one that is not touching the first object"(Radiation). Also when it comes to considering what type of container your beverage should be carried in you should try to carry it in an insulated thermo or a coffee mug. An insulated thermo is designed by putting a layer between the outside of the container and what actually holds the beverage. This layer has nothing in it other than air and by having air in this location is so that the heat from the beverage heats the trapped air but does not heat the outer layer of the container. This slows down the cooling of the beverage because those warm fluids are not in constant contact with cold walls.
This article goes into detail about what are insulators and what are conductors. Also this article describes what types of things are considered good insulators or conductors. This helped in stating that when stirring the hot beverage to not use a metal spoon because metal is a good conductor. Taking the heat form the drink and cooling the temperature of the drink because the heat is transferred out of the drink and into the air around the spoon. This article was very useful for my question. It helped me in figuring out the physics behind what to stir your drink with. It was focused on the differences of insulators and conductors which was information that I really needed. From the website that I obtained this article from is a credible source. This site is for students learning and understanding science. There is information that is easily understandable for students so they can do their own experiments and get ideas. The information is to educate them so they can learn what it is they need to for full comprehension.
This article was found in the one of the databases that is offered through the University, Gale Science. It went into great detail about what radiation is and different types of radiation. I did not need all of the detailed examples of radiation but I did need to understand what radiation is and how id effects different things. I found that it was very useful. It helped me understand how radiation came into play when talking about the heat of a drink. There are so many different things that need be understood before I could understand how radiation works and why it is important. This source is credible because it was obtained from one of the online databases that are offered from the University. When researching for information I chose the option of "peer reviewed" which makes the article gain most of its credibility. It is not just an article that someone has thrown together but is an article that others have read and recognized as factual information.
The content of this article talks mostly about what color of paint radiated the most heat. The paint section of this article does not pertain to my question but the color aspect does. I think that this source was useful for the information that I needed because I was unable to find any other information that included radiation and color. This source was also found from a database and the articles that are from the databases are more credible than those from the web. These articles are peer reviewed which also helps in making them more credible.