Module Activity 2

SIF 1003
(Thermal Physics)

Name Mohd Fadzil bin Abdullah

Matric no. U2103268
Lecturer’s Name Dr. Woo Hao Jiunn
Date of submission 13 May 2022
Question 1

a) From the first video, explain the following statement of fire walking stunt: “you won't get badly
burned if you walk fast and don't stay in contact with the coals very long”.

What we can learn from the statement is that coal and embers of the coal has a low thermal
conductivity which the stuntman utilize to demonstrate his “fire-walking” ability. It is also worth
to note that the coal has been lit up for a certain amount of time before the stunt is performed
so the stuntman isn’t exactly walking on fire per se, more to walking on embers and non-
flaming coal.
Lastly, we can see that the demonstrator takes a light footstep when walking on the burnt coal.
This detail is significant because if he run on the ember and coal, it will push his feet through
the layer of ember and ash which is the insulator for his feet. We can also observe that he walk
for a short amount of time roughly 20 seconds at most which means only a few second of
contact between his feet and the burnt coal which is not an enough time for the heat from the
burning coal to transfer to his feet because has embers and ashes that has a low thermal
conductivity which means it would take a longer amount of time to transfer heat.

b) Provide the scientific explanation of the superhero-hand as shown in the second video or third
video
The “invincible” hand is an example of the Leidenfrost effect. The phenomenon happen when a
liquid is near a much hotter surface, a surface that has a temperature much greater than the
liquid boiling point, which then causes the liquid to evaporate producing an insulating vapor
layer that keeps the liquid from boiling rapidly. We can see from the video that the hand is
covered with batter which is mostly water. The water from the batter evaporates rapidly as
soon as it comes in contact with the hot oil producing an insulating vapour layer that protects
the hand.
 The “invincible hand” covered in batter dipped in hot oil.

The illustration of the Leidenfrost effect.

c) This trick can actually be explained by first understanding the composition of the hand sanitizer.
According to WHO, hand sanitizers by their guideline will contain roughly 18% to 23% distilled
water and 96% to 99% alcohol (ethanol or isopropyl alcohol). So, when the demonstrator light
up the sanitizer on his hand, the heat from the fire is actually mostly absorbed by the water as
we know water is both has low thermal conductivity and also has a high specific heat capacity.
We can also note that while the alcohol burning is an exothermic process that releases heat, the
evaporation of water is an endothermic process. When the hand sanitizer is light up, the large
amount of heat is released which then used on evaporating the water contained in the hand
sanitizer mixture which covered the hand. But when a big portion of the water has evaporated,
the demonstrator will quickly feel the heat of the fire on his hand which explain why he need to
put out the fire after an amount of time.
d) Can you relate any magic trick(s) using similar concept(s) or mixture of physics concept?
Elaborate your finding with figures/diagram and youtube link/other resources.

One magic trick that I found is the “Indestructible Balloon"

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvYUW1ND81c). In this magic trick, when we blow up a
balloon then put it above a flame, the balloon will immediately pop as the rubber burnt off.
However when the balloon is filled up with water, the balloon does not pop when it is above
the flame for a significant amount of time.
At first glance, it seems like magic (sort of) but it can be explained using specific heat capacity.
When water is absent from the inside of the balloon, all the heat from the flame would be used
to burn of the rubber of the balloon. But when water present, the heat from the flame would
be used up to warm up the water. And because of the high specific heat capacity of water,
which is 4190 J 𝑘𝑔−1° 𝐶 −1, it would take longer for the rubber to melt which is at 6000 𝐶.

e) Write a reflection on what you have learnt.

I learnt about heat conductivity and different material have different heat conductivity. I also
learnt about the Leidenfrost effect. The phenomenon happens when a liquid is near a much
hotter surface, a surface that has a temperature much greater than the liquid boiling point,
which then causes the liquid to evaporate producing an insulating vapor layer that keeps the
liquid from boiling rapidly. Next, I learnt about the specific heat capacity and water has a high
specific heat capacity which makes it a good insulator. I also learnt that every material will need
to absorb a specific amount of heat to increase the temperature of 1 kg mass of its body by
10 𝐶.
Part 2

a) Tell us what you learn about heat transfer from steak cooking. Elaborate your answer.

I learn that to cook a steak, there’s two certain temperature that will be needed to
achieve for a medium rare steak. First is 600 𝐶 internal temperature of the steak for the perfect
texture where the protein just briefly starts to unfold and then 1200 𝐶 where the Mallard
reaction begin, or as we say browning on the outer layer of the steak that gives its flavour to the
steak. One of the obstacle that we will face to do this is the difference in temperature for the
outer layer and the internal layer. It will be rather difficult to get the temperature of the outer
layer of the steak to 1200 𝐶 because steak contains water which has 1000 𝐶 boiling point. One
way to overcome this is to evaporate all the water on the outer layer and on top of that we can
wipe and pat dry the surface of the steak right before we cook it. This will remove a big portion
of water on the outer layer of the steak which can help us speed up the Mallard reaction and get
the browning layer that we want.

Second difficulties in cooking a steak is difficulties in estimating the time needed for the
heat to reach the centre of the steak which is important because we want the internal
temperature of the steak to be exactly 600 𝐶 which is the perfect internal temperature for a
perfect medium rare steak. We can resolve this problem by first understanding the heat transfer
through conduction in the steak. The thicker the steak, the longer it take for the centre of the
steak to reach the temperature of 600 𝐶. So let’s take a look a the equation
𝐿 = √4𝐷𝑡
L= length of the object
D= heat diffusion constant
t= time
For the sake of explanation, let’s assume the heat diffusion constant for our steak is the same as
water assuming it consist mostly of water which has the heat diffusion constant of 1.4 ×
10−3 𝑐𝑚2 ∕ 𝑠𝑒𝑐 and the L is length of the steak

Steak

But heat transfer the fastest by the shortest distance so the L in this equation can be assumed as
the thickness of the steak. By simply plugging in the heat diffusion constant and the thickness of the
steak, we can estimate the exact time needed to cook the steak on a skillet by first measuring the
temperature of the surface of the skillet.
b) Read the notes on “Heat” and “Kinetic theory of Gas”, choose a device (different from your
friend) or an application at your home or other place, write a reflection about the physics
behind it, related to thermal physics.

After some reading, I would like to explain the physics behind cooling system of a
computer. It utilize the characteristic of heat which is heat can transfer its heat by conduction
and also convection. (Heat can also transfer by radiation but it is not exactly significant in this
explanation) The primary component in a motherboard that needs constant cooling is the
processor. The processor is usually wiped with a layer of thermal paste that has a high heat
conductivity (roughly 3 to 8 W/m·K) on one of its surface. It is attached to a heat sink that has
multiple fins to increase its contact with the air surrounding. This contraption would help to let
the heat transfer from the processor to the heat sink through the thermal paste which then the
heat would transfer from the fins to the air surrounding all through conduction.

Thermal paste applied on processor and then attached with a heat sink.

The air surrounding the heat sink now has become hot and a way to dispose these hot
air is needed. So, every home computer would have a cooling fan that will dispose the hot air
out of the PC case. The placing of these fans would need to be strategic. This is where the
understanding of convection comes in hand. It is known that hot air rises while moving away
from the heat source which then push the cold air away and toward the heat source. So most PC
would put a fan relatively higher in the PC casing so that the fan would move the hot air out.

The yellow circle indicates the position of the cooling fan in a PC.
 References:

1. How do people walk on fire without getting burn? Science ABC. (2022, January 22).
Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/how-do-some-
people-firewalk.html
2. Kuntzleman, T. (2019, August 19). Holding fire in the palm of your hand. Chemical
Education Xchange. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from
https://www.chemedx.org/blog/holding-fire-palm-your-hand
3. Fiery hand. MEL Science. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2022, from
https://melscience.com/US-en/articles/fiery-hand/
4. Rufián-Henares, J. A., & Pastoriza, S. (2016). Maillard reaction. Encyclopedia of Food
and Health, 593–600. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-384947-2.00435-9
5. Heat is generated whenever current flows through a resistive element. (2021, February
28). Thermal paste – a critical tool for heat management. Arrow.com. Retrieved May 14,
2022, from https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/thermal-paste-a-
critical-tool-for-heat-
management#:~:text=The%20product%20is%20electrically%2Dinsulating,suspended%2
0in%20a%20silicone%20medium.