13 July 2011 Why Are Those Arctic Oven Tents Yellow? - The Results Are In (and the Igloo is Complete!)

Wow, what a beautiful morning. For the last few days, we have had total cloud cover. Finally, we have a sunny day to test our 6th grade experiment!

If you read my July 12, 2011 journal, you know that we were trying to figure out why the tents that we sleep in are yellow and not black.

We had many hypotheses. Many sixth graders thought that the Arctic Oven tents were not black because they would get too hot. I tested this hypothesis today.

Here is what I did.

First, I made a model of a yellow tent and a black tent using black and yellow nylon material.

The models were exactly the same except for the color of the fabric. I wrapped the fabric around a light bulb box. I cut away most of the box so that all that was left was a frame to support the fabric. I wanted most of the tent to be the fabric, and not cardboard. I built the models inside the “Tomato”.

I then took the tents outside and put a thermometer in each tent. I made sure that each thermometer was placed on a piece of foam so it would not be touching the ice.

Before I put the thermometers in each tent, I recorded the temperature of each thermometer and the time.

The thermometer for the black tent started at 0 degrees Celsius. The thermometer for the yellow tent started at .5 degrees Celsius.

The time was 1:55 p.m.

We waited 1 ½ hours. At 3:25 p.m. , I checked the temperatures.

What do you think happened?

After 1 ½ hours in the sunlight (from 1:55 p.m. until 3:25 p.m.):

Yellow tent = 22 degrees Celsius (about 72 degrees Fahrenheit). Black tent = 22 degrees Celsius (about 72 degrees Fahrenheit)

Wow, that surprised me. Sometimes when you perform an experiment, you end up with more questions than when you started.

I wonder if I made some type of mistake? It is very possible. Do you think it would be a good idea for me to repeat the experiment a few more times to see if I get the same result.

Hannah wonders if we would get the same result if we tried it later in the evening when it is colder.

What do you think? You can let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the “Ask The Team” section.

I will redo the experiment tomorrow. I will change one thing to see if that makes a difference. Can you figure out what I will change?

Oh, I almost forgot. We finished the igloo today after we completed our work!