Investigating

Newton’s Law of Cooling

Suhaas Reddy Sura
Introduction
While studying differential equation in mathematics, I came across Newton’s law of cooling
because the derivation of Newton’s law of cooling is modelled using differential equations. I
was very interested by the derivation but I wanted to verify if the mathematical model was true
when compared to real world data. As we learned thermal physics in physics class, I decided
to investigate Newton’s law of cooling.
The aim of this experiment is to verify the Newton’s law of cooling, which states that the rate
of loss of heat of a body is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the body
and its surroundings (Wikipedia). The law only applies if the nature of the radiating surface
remains the same and temperature difference is small.
A beaker of hot water with temperature, T, is placed in a room of lower temperature, Troom. The
heat is transferred from the water to the room because heat travels from warmer to colder bodies
before reaching thermal equilibrium (temperature at which there is no transfer of energy
between the water and room). In this investigation, I will mathematically model Newton’s law
of cooling and verify it by comparing it with my data.

Research question
How does the temperature of the water vary with time?
Hypothesis
According to the second law of thermodynamics, heat always flows from a hot body to a colder
body until thermal equilibrium is reached. Therefore, I think that the temperature of water
decreases as the time passes because the initial temperature of the water is greater than the
room temperature. In other words, I think the Newton’s law of cooling should be true.
In theory below, I have derived the expected equation. According to the derived equation, the
relationship between the temperature of the water and time is expected to be decreasing
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exponential. The slope represents the rate of heat loss with respect to time. According to the
!#
derived equation, the expected intercept is the room temperature, Troom, which is 24.4 degrees
Celsius (297.4 K).

Theory:
The Newton’s law of cooling states that rate of heat loss is directly proportional to the
temperature difference, Tdiff, between the water and the room. (Note k, c and C are constants).

𝑑𝑇
= −𝑘𝑇!*++
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑇
= −𝑘(𝑇 − 𝑇-../ )
𝑑𝑡
(By separation of variables)
𝑑𝑇
= −𝑘 𝑑𝑡
𝑇 − 𝑇-../
𝑑𝑇
= −𝑘 𝑑𝑡
𝑇 − 𝑇-../
ln 𝑇 − 𝑇-../ = −𝑘𝑡 + 𝑐
(By changing from logarithmic to exponential form)
𝑇 − 𝑇-../ = 𝑒 78#9:
(By laws of exponents)
𝑇 − 𝑇-../ = 𝑒 78# ×𝑒 :
𝑇 − 𝑇-../ = 𝐶𝑒 78#
Therefore,
𝑇 = 𝑇-../ + 𝐶𝑒 78#
The preceding equation is the mathematical representation of Newton’s law of cooling and it
shows that the relationship between temperature and time is exponential.
The experiment is based on an assumption: the temperature difference, Tdiff, is assumed to be
small.

Variables:
Independent variable: The time. The time is varied in 1 minute intervals up to 20 minutes and
the time is automatically recorded by a software called Logger Pro.

Dependent variable: The temperature of the water. The temperature of the water is measured
using a temperature probe/ sensor and the data is collected aby a software called Logger Pro.

S.no Control Variable How it is controlled?

1 The volume of water (cm3)
2 Initial temperature of water
3 Temperature of room
4 Nature of radiating surface
The volume of water is kept constant
throughout the experiment for all trials. The
volume of water was measured to be 200
cm3 using a measuring cylinder
The initial temperature of water was kept
constant throughout the experiment. The
sample collection was started when
temperature of water is 75 degrees Celsius
(348 K) for all trials.
The Temperature of the room remained
constant throughout the experiment. There
was no sunlight in the area where the
experiment was conducted. Within the
duration of the experiment the room
temperature couldn’t have changed by a
significant amount
The same beaker was used throughout the
experiment for all the trials. Therefore, the
nature of the radiating surface was kept
constant throughout the experiment.

Apparatus:
• Water (1000 cm3)
• Temperature sensor/ probe
• Logger Pro software
• Laptop
• Beaker
• Measuring cylinder
 • Beaker cover
• Electric kettle

F IGURE 1: E XPERIMENTAL A PPARATUS (V ERNIER )

Procedure:
The first step is to gather all the required materials. Then start the Laptop and open the Logger
Pro software (Download from following link if your laptop doesn’t have the software). After
running the software, connect the temperature probe/ sensor to the laptop using the USB port.
The Logger Pro interface should show a temperature if the temperature probe is working. Wait
10-15 seconds for the temperature of the water to appear. If the interface doesn’t show any
temperature, check if the USB cable is connected properly, otherwise, use another temperature
probe. Then you need to set up data collection on the software so that results are collected after
every minute till 20 minutes. Click “experiment” at the top left and scroll down to data
collection. Click “data collection” and a tab will open. Once the tap opens, change the unit of
measurement to minutes and enter a sampling rate of 1 minute/ sample.

The next step is to heat the water to a temperature above 75 degrees Celsius (348 Kelvin). Take
the measuring cylinder and measure 200 cm3 of water and then pour the water into the electric
kettle in order to heat the water. Connect the electric kettle to a power source and flip the switch
on the top of the kettle. The kettle will stop automatically and you will hear a “click” sound
when the water is heated. Immediately, pour the water into the beaker and place the beaker
cover on the mouth of the beaker. Then place the temperature probe into through the hole in
the beaker cover and ensure that it doesn’t touch the surface of the beaker as this would affect
measurements. Carefully, monitor the temperature on the Logger Pro interface until the
temperature reaches 75 degrees Celsius. As soon as the temperature drops to 75 degrees
Celsius, start the data collection by clicking the green start icon on the top right of the interface.
Then the software will automatically collect Temperature data. Stop the data collection at 20
minutes because this will give 20 data points of temperature. Record the data in a spreadsheet
or save the logger pro file and then repeat 2 more trials. The data collection and temperature
probe don’t need to be set up again, so these steps can be skipped in the next 2 trials.
The interval of data collection is every 1 minute. If I measure the temperature per every second,
there is no significant change in the temperature. Therefore, I have chosen to collect data at a
1 minute at interval because there is a significant change in temperature per every minute. The
minimum value of time is 0 minutes because the initial temperature of the water has to be
measured and kept constant. Also, time can’t be negative so 0 minutes is the minimum value.
The maximum value chosen is 20 minutes because 20 data points will be sufficient to reliably
model a relationship between the temperature of the water and time.

Uncertainties and Errors:

(Uncertainty of trials)
/=>7 /*?
Uncertainty of trials =
@
(Uncertainty of measuring cylinder)
A A
Uncertainty of measuring cylinder = ×𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 = ×1 = ± 0.5 cm3
@ @

(Uncertainty of Temperature probe)

Uncertainty of Temperature probe = ?
Raw data:

Temperature (Celsius)
Time Uncertainty in
(mins) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Mean Temperature

0 74.99951665 74.98451667 74.99845663 74.99416332 0.00749999065

1 74.89951665 74.87451667 74.68701665 74.82034999 0.1562500023
2 73.49951663 73.24951665 74.68701665 73.81201664 0.8250000028
3 72.18701661 71.68701662 72.43701661 72.10368328 1.500000012

4 70.87451659 70.1870166 70.99951659 70.68701659 1.125000007

5 69.56201657 68.87451658 69.93701658 69.45784991 1.062500006
6 68.31201655 67.56201656 68.49951655 68.12451656 1.187500007
7 67.31201654 66.24951654 66.93701653 66.83284987 1.125000007
8 66.24951652 65.06201652 65.99951652 65.77034985 1.125000007
9 65.1870165 63.93701651 64.43701649 64.52034984 1.156250007
10 64.12451649 62.87451649 63.31201648 63.43701649 1.156250007
11 63.18701648 61.87451648 62.12451646 62.3953498 1.125000007
12 62.24951646 60.87451646 61.24951645 61.45784979 1.156250007
13 61.43701645 59.93701645 60.31201643 60.56201644 1.156250007
14 60.56201644 58.99951643 58.99951641 59.52034976 1.218750018
15 59.81201642 58.12451642 58.0620164 58.66618308 1.250000019
16 58.99951641 57.24951641 57.37451639 57.8745164 1.281250009
17 58.2495164 56.43701639 56.93701638 57.20784973 1.281250009
 18 57.43701639 55.68701638 55.87451637 56.33284971 1.281250009
19 56.74951638 54.87451637 55.06201635 55.56201637 1.281250009

20 55.99951637 54.18701636 54.24951634 54.81201636 1.281250009

Average
uncertainty 1.082797626

Processed data
Note: The uncertainty is not affected by the temperature unit conversion because the difference
between Celsius and Kelvin is cancelled out when calculating the uncertainty.
Time Mean Temperature Uncertainty in Temperature
(Seconds) (Kelvin) (Kelvin)
0 347.9941633 0.00749999065
60 347.82035 0.1562500023
120 346.8120166 0.8250000028

180 345.1036833 1.500000012

240 343.6870166 1.125000007
300 342.4578499 1.062500006
360 341.1245166 1.187500007
420 339.8328499 1.125000007
480 338.7703499 1.125000007
540 337.5203498 1.156250007
600 336.4370165 1.156250007
660 335.3953498 1.125000007
720 334.4578498 1.156250007
780 333.5620164 1.156250007
840 332.5203498 1.218750018

900 331.6661831 1.250000019

960 330.8745164 1.281250009
1020 330.2078497 1.281250009
1080 329.3328497 1.281250009

1140 328.5620164 1.281250009

1200 327.8120164 1.281250009
Average uncertainty 1.082797626
Graph

The equation of the best fit: 𝑇 = 44.12𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP# + 304.9

(where t is time and T is temperature of water)
Note: The error bars for temperature are not visible because the error is insignificant when
compared to the magnitude of the temperature in Kelvin, but they have been plotted.
𝑑𝑇 𝑑
= (44.12𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP# + 304.9)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑇
= −0.024204232𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP#
𝑑𝑡
Linearization: (Note: I am not sure if my linearization is correct due to the intercept in
my best fit curve)
𝑇 = 44.12𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP# + 304.9
𝑇 − 304.9 = 44.12𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP#
ln(𝑇 − 304.9) = ln 44.12𝑒−0.0005486𝑡 (By Laws of logarithms)
ln(𝑇 − 304.9) = ln 𝑒−0.0005486𝑡 + ln 44.12
ln(𝑇 − 304.9) = ln 𝑒−0.0005486𝑡 + ln 44.12
ln(𝑇 − 304.9) = −0.0005486𝑡 + 3.789 (Linearization)
t ln (T - 304.9)
0 3.763387566

60 3.759346072
120 3.735572579
180 3.693958615
240 3.658085567

300 3.625882409
360 3.589736143
420 3.553427644
480 3.522539996

540 3.484936322
600 3.451161982
660 3.417574207
720 3.386349353

780 3.355572777
840 3.318552811
900 3.287139265
960 3.257115919

1020 3.231114613
1080 3.195928527
1140 3.163871078
1200 3.131661505
Conclusion:
My initial hypothesis and theory is verified to be true as the data supports my predictions.
According to my equation of best fit, the mathematical relationship between is 𝑇=
!"
44.12𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP# + 304.9 and the slope is = −0.0242𝑒 7L.LLLMNOP# , which
!#
!"
supports my prediction that the relationship is decreasing exponential (When < 0,
!#

𝑇 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ). Also, the expected intercept was predicted to be room temperature, 297.4
Kelvin, and the obtained intercept is 304.9 ± 3.341. The expected intercept varies from the
obtained intercept by just a few Kelvin when compared with uncertainty in consideration.
Therefore, Newton’s law of cooling is verified to be to true by my data. The linearization
ln(𝑇 − 304.9) = −0.0005486𝑡 + 3.789 also indicates that the relationship between the
temperature of the water, T, and time t is a decreasing exponential relationship.

Evaluation:
In this investigation, there are some strengths, weaknesses as well as limitations. One strength
is that the uncertainty in Temperature is insignificant when compared to the actual temperature,
which indicates that there is low systematic error and that the results are accurate.
However, one limitation is that the temperature difference between the water and the room is
assumed to be small enough to obey newton’s law of cooling. However, the temperature
difference was about 50.6 degrees Celsius. Next time, I think I should select an initial
temperature of 50 degrees Celsius or slightly lesser, so that the temperature difference is
smaller. This affects the accuracy and reliability of my results to a certain extent.
Another strength is that I have taken the mean for 3 trials, which reduces the random error
associated with the data points. I think next time I should I take 5 trials in order to obtain more
accurate results and minimize the random error. On the whole, I think the results of my
experiment are reliable, however, I feel that there is still scope for improvement as I have
mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.
Bibliography:
• “Newton's Law of Cooling.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2018,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_cooling
• Heat Flows from Hot to Cold.” Properties of Waves,
https://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_tech/node79.html
• Allain, Rhett. “Tools: Error Bars on Graphs.” Science Blogs, ScienceBlogs, 12 Jan.
2009, https://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/2009/01/12/tools-error-bars-on-graphs
• Vernier. “Newton's Law of Cooling Experiment.” Newton's Law of Cooling, Vernier,
www2.vernier.com/sample_labs/PWV-30-COMP-newtons_law_cooling.pdf.