APS Excellence in Physics Education Award
November 2019
Science SPORE Prize
November 2011
The Open Source Physics Project is supported by NSF DUE-0442581.
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Newton's Law of Cooling Model Documents
This material has 7 associated documents. Select a document title to view a document's information.
Main Document
written by
Wolfgang Christian
The Newton's Law of Cooling model computes the temperature of an object of mass M as it is heated by a flame and cooled by the surrounding medium. The model assumes that the temperature T within the object is uniform. This lumped system approximation is valid if the rate of thermal energy transfer within the object is faster than the rate of thermal energy transfer at the surface. Users can select the mass or volume of the object and the type of material, and the model computes the temperature as a function of time. The model plots this temperature as a function of time as the user heats and cools the object. It is a supplemental simulation for an article by William Dittrich, Leonid Minkin, and Alexander S. Shapovalov "Measuring the Specific Heat of Metals by Cooling" in the The Physics Teacher 48 (8), 531-533 (2010).
The object heats and cools by exchanging thermal energy with the surrounding fluid by convection and this energy exchange is proportional to the difference between the object's surface temperature Ts and the temperature of the fluid Tf. Inside the object the thermal energy is transported by diffusion. The temperature inside is uniform if thermal energy transfer within the object is faster than thermal energy transfer at the surface.
The Newton's Law of Cooling model was created using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool. It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive. Double clicking the ejs_heat_NewtonLawOfCooling.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.
Last Modified June 10, 2014
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Supplemental Documents (4)
A customizable heating and cooling simulation that allows teachers to set the display parameters. The customized simulation is automatically saved with associated curricular in a new jar file that can be redistributed.
Last Modified June 9, 2012
This file has previous versions.
A pdf file that provides additional documentation regarding customization of this simulation.
Published July 12, 2012
Last Modified August 9, 2012
 This file is included in the full-text index.
This file has previous versions.
A middle school science lesson plan that uses to Newton's Law of Cooling model to explain why we must continually heat our houses in winter and cool them in summer.
Released under a Copyright by Barbara Christian. Free for non-commercial use with attribution.
Published October 10, 2010
Last Modified October 12, 2010
This file is included in the full-text index.
This file has previous versions.
Answer key with screen shots for the middle school science lesson plan.
Released under a Copyright Barbara Christian. Free for non-commercial use with attribution.
Published October 10, 2001
Last Modified October 12, 2010
This file is included in the full-text index.
Source Code Documents (2)
The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Newton's Law of Cooling model. Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.
Last Modified June 24, 2010
This file has previous versions.
The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Customizable Heating and Cooling Model. Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.
Last Modified June 9, 2012
This file has previous versions.
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Newton's Law of Cooling Model
