Experiment - 3 - Thermal Conductivity of Cu - Searle's Apparatus

Determination of the coefficient of thermal conductivity
Of copper by Searle’s Apparatus

Experiment No. 3
Physics Lab 3: Thermal Physics & Statistical
Mechanics
Department of Physics, School of Physical
Sciences,Central University of Karnataka,
Kalaburagi.
1 Aim of the experiment

To determine the coefficient of thermal conductivity of copper by using
Searle’s Apparatus.
2 Apparatus
1. Searle’s apparatus,
2. Four sensitive (1/10) thermometers,
3. Graduated measuring cylinder,
4. A metre scale,
5. vernier callipers,
6. Bunsen burner and
7. An accurate stop watch.
3 Theory
Conduction is a mode of transfer of heat in which actual movement of atoms does not
occur. If you take a metallic rod and heat it at one end, you will experience that the
other end of the rod gets hot after some time. This happens because heat has travelled
from the hotter end to the colder end via the vibrations of the atoms about their
respective mean equilibrium positions. In fact, these atoms transfer energy to atoms in
their immediate neighbourhood. This process continues till such time that a steady
state is reached.
Fig.1 Heat flow through a rectangular block.
Let us consider a rectangular block, as shown in Fig. 1 The heat flowing through
the block in time , when its opposite faces, having cross-sectional area are
maintained at temperatures and , is given by
Here is the distance between the two faces of the block and is the coefficient of
thermal conductivity of the material.
From Eqn.1 can be written as
Note that the value of is large for good conductors like metals and low for poor
conductors like air, asbestos and ebonite. In Eq. (2) if we take
then
In other words, the coefficient of thermal conductivity of a material is the quantity of

heat that flows in one second through the opposite faces of a block of the material
having a cross-sectional area of when the distance between the opposite faces is
and they are maintained at a temperature difference of 1 . Note that the value of
will be different for different materials. The SI unit of is
4 Experimental procedure(Searle’s Apparatus)
The coefficient of thermal conductivity of a good conductor like copper, brass, etc. is
determined by using Searle’s apparatus. We would first like to familiarize you with
the apparatus that you will use.
1. Description of the apparatus:
Fig. 2 shows Searle’s apparatus used to determine thermal conductivity of a good
conductor only. The essential parts of the apparatus are:
i) a rod/bar whose coefficient of thermal conductivity is to be determined
ii) a steam chamber with an inlet and an outlet for steam. One end of the rod is
inserted in this chamber
iii) a coil C of a copper tube, wound around the cold end to maintain a steady
flow of water
iv) a few, normally four holes/sockets along the length of the tube to insert
thermometers and record temperatures. The temperature of incoming and
outgoing water is recorded with the help of thermometers and ,
respectively
v) a beaker used to collect water.
vi) The specimen rod and Searle’s apparatus are wrapped around in a non-
conducting material like wool to minimize loss of heat by radiation. Now
follow the steps listed below to determine .
Fig. 2 Searle’s Apparatus
2. Determination of from Searle’s Apparatus:

When steam is passed through the steam chamber S, one end (A) of the specimen is
heated. The heat absorbed at the hot end A is conducted to the cold end B of the
specimen bar. Due to the insulation, no loss of heat energy is assumed to take place
from the specimen bar. Some of heat energy which reaches B is absorbed by the water
flowing in the copper tube C. The flow of water in the copper tube C is regulated till a
steady state is reached. This will be reflected by the constant temperatures shown by
thermometers , . In steady state, the total heat energy absorbed at end
A of the specimen bar will be exactly equal to the heat loss at B due to absorption of
heat by water circulating in tube C.
Let and be the temperature recorded by thermometers and placed at a
distance from each other. The heat conducted from to in time is therefore
given by
where is the area of cross-section of specimen bar. If and are the temperatures
recorded by and of water flowing into the inlet and coming out from the outlet,
then the amount of heat absorbed by gram of water is given by
where is the specific heat capacity of water. Since it is assumed that there is no loss
of heat energy from the apparatus, we can write
then
The coefficient of thermal conductivity can be calculated using Eq. (5) if the mass m
of the water collected in unit time is known.
Now follow the steps listed below to determine .
1. Place Searle’s apparatus shown in Fig. 2 on a horizontal table.
2. To ensure good contact between the rod and thermometer bulb, place small amount of
mercury in each hole made along the length of the rod and insert thermometers and
. Make sure that the rod is thermally insulated.
3. Half fill the steam generator with water and start heating. When steam is formed
freely in steam generator, connect it by a rubber tube to the inlet of the steam
chamber.
4. Start a steady flow of cold water through the copper tube C. Place thermometers
and at the inlet and outlet, respectively as shown in Fig. 2. You should start with
very low flow. Connect one end of coil C to constant level tank so that water is
available at all times.
5. Note readings of thermometers, at regular intervals of, say 60s, till
the thermometers show constant temperatures, , respectively. This
defines steady state and may take about half an hour to reach. Record the readings in
the Observation Table 1.
6. Once steady state has been attained, start collecting the water coming out of the outlet
for say 5 minutes. Note the volume of water collected using a graduated measuring
cylinder. Record your readings in the Observation Table 2. Calculate mass m by
multiplying volume and density of water
Table 1. Steady state

The steady state temperatures are ……. , ……. , ……. , and ……. .
Table 2. Measurement of volume of water

Least count of stopwatch ……………………
Least count of Graduated Cylinder ………………
7 Repeat step 5 by changing the rate of flow at least three times and note the
corresponding steady state temperatures. You can take more observations, if time
permits.
8 Next you have to measure distance d between the pair of holes where
thermometers and have been inserted. You can use a pair of dividers or
simple metre scale.
9 You should also determine area of cross section of the specimen rod/bar. For
this you have to measure diameter of the rod. You can work with vernier callipers.
Measurements should be taken along mutually perpendicular directions as shown
in Fig. 3 and at different points along the length of the rod. In this way, you can
minimise lack of uniformity, if any, in the rod. Record your readings in
Observation Table. 3.
10 By substituting the measured values of calculate the
value of thermal conductivity using Eq. (5).
11 You must make sure that the rod is thermally insulated so that there is no loss of
heat to the environment. Moreover, the flow of water should be regulated so that
the steady state temperature is not affected.
Fig.3 Measurement of specimen radius
Table 3 Area of cross section of the specimen

Distance between the centres of the holes where
thermometres are placed = …….
Least count of vernier calipers……………..
S.No. Reading along AB Reading along CD Mean

Main Vernier Reading Main Vernier Reading
scale scale scale scale
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Area of cross section of the specimen =……………

5 Result
The value of thermal conductivity of the given copper rod is
=……………… .

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Determination of the coefficient of thermal conductivity

Of copper by Searle’s Apparatus

1 Aim of the experiment

In other words, the coefficient of thermal conductivity of a material is the quantity of

Fig. 2 Searle’s Apparatus

2. Determination of from Searle’s Apparatus:

Table 1. Steady state

Table 2. Measurement of volume of water

Fig.3 Measurement of specimen radius

Table 3 Area of cross section of the specimen

S.No. Reading along AB Reading along CD Mean

Area of cross section of the specimen =……………

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