THERMAL PHYSICS

LEE AND CHARTON’S

EXPERIMENT

By
20/6689 PRAMOD
MOURYA
 AIM
TO determine the coefficient of thermal
conductivity of a Bad conductor by lee and
Charlton's method.
 APPRATUS
• Lee and Charlton’s apparatus
• Circular disk of a Bad Conductor (mica)
• Two thermometer
• steam generator
• Stand and threads
• A stop watch
• A screw gauge
• Vernier callipers
• A balance
 THERORY
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPRATUS

The apparatus consist of a solid metal slab B of copper which is suspended horizontally by means
of string from a stand.

There is a hollow cylindrical metal vessel A with in let and outlet for steam.

A thin disk of the material, whose coefficient of thermal conductivity is to be found, is place
between A and B. when steam is passed, heat from A passed to B through the disk D of the bad
conductor.

The surfaces of A and B are nickel coated uniform and good emissivity.

Two thermometers are inserted in the holes one in the solid bottom of a and other in the solid
metallic slab B.
• When the steam is passed through the hollow chamber A, it flows to
the metallic slab B through the Bad conductor D.
• thermometer(T2) level of B rises due to this heat flow simultaneously,
it is loosing heat from the curved surface and the bottom surface of
area A due to radiation.
• When the heat gain per second, by the slab B, equal to the heat lost by
it per second, steady state is reached and temperatures level in T1 and
T2 remains constant after steady state.
Heat gain per sec = heat lost per sec

On simplification for K

K—Thermal conductivity
d, A—Thickness and area of disk
M—Mass of slab B
S—Specific heat of material B
 PROCEDURE
• Weight slab B
• Measure diameter and thickness of the Disk
• Arrange apparatus in the proper way,
• Turn on the steamer and pass steam through A,
• Wait to get steady state level, and note down thermometer levels.
• To find temp. gradient, heat B till T2 +10 °C .
• Place disk above it .Allow to cool and not the temp. of slab after every 30 sec.
till 10 °C.
• Plot the graph between time and temp. . And draw a tangent to the curve at T=
T2 °C.
 OBSERVATIONS
Specific heat of the material of B ,s = 910 JKg-1°C-1
.
Mass of the slab B ,M = 0.27130 Kg .

Diameter of Disk D, D = 8 cm .
Radius of disk D, r = 4 cm .
Circular area of disk A = 50.265 Cm2
.
Thickness of the disk, d = 1 mm .

Steady state temp. T1 = 100 °C .

T2 = 87.85 °C .
Least count
Thermometer LC = 0.01 °C .
Stop watch LC = 1 Sec. .
 OBSERVATION TABLE
S.No. Time (t) Temperature of B (T)
(Second) (C)
1. 0 97.8
2. 10 94.2
3. 20 92.1
4. 30 90.4
5. 40 88.9
6. 50 87.1
7. 60 85.3
8. 70 83.8
9. 80 82.2
10. 90 80.6
GRAPH
 CALCULATIONS
Slop of the graph at T= T2 °C = 87.85 °C

Slop is = = 0.18 °C s-1

Coefficient of thermal Conductivity K

Js-1m-1K-1

Coefficient of Thermal Conductivity K= 0.7277 Js-1m-1K-1

 RESULT
The coefficient of thermal conductivity of the given material (mica)
K= 0.7276 Js-1m-1K-1

Standard value(mica)=0.75 Js-1m-1K-1

ERROR
Error= standard value – experimental value
=± 0.75-0.7276 Js-1m-1K-1
Error = 0.0224

Percentage error=(error/standard value)x 100

=(0.024/0.72)100
%error = 2.98%
 PRECAUTIONS
• The diameter of the disk should be equal to the diameter of the material
slab.
• The steady state temperature should be judged carefully, for this wait for
at least 10 min.
• The thermometer should be sensitive and capable of reading up-to at
least 1/5 of a degree.
• The thermometer should be place close to the faces of the experimental
disk.
• The environmental conditions should be constant during the experiment
• Steam flow should be constant.
• The thickness of the bad conductor should be not very large or very small
 DISCUSSION
• The Lee’s and Charlton’s disk method is design only for bad
conductors. The sample material should be have some
conductivity also.
• The method is useful to select the material for making a heat
resistance components. Such as handles of cooking utensils,
electrical heating components.
• The working principle is as same as that of Searle’s method.
Only Heat Reservoirs and arrangement are different.
THANK YOU