Here are some things to think about as we begin the unit on energy transformations.

1. Choose a piece of thermal sensing sheet that you are able to cause to change color by touching it (if you can't do this at all, your workspace is too cool). Make a "handprint" on some surface -- a desktop, a book, the floor -- by holding your palm against the surface for about half a minute. Remove your hand and then immediately cover the region with the thermal sensing sheet, to see if you can detect the energy you have left behind. Which kind of surface will work best for making a thermal handprint?
2. Rub a surface with a pencil eraser for a few seconds, as if you were trying to erase a mark. Then place the thermal sensing sheet on over the region, to see if you can detect a temperature change. What effect did the erasing have?
3. Unbend a paperclip to make a large U-shaped piece of wire (a few corners are OK), with the opening almost as wide as a flashlight battery is long. Place it on the thermal sensing sheet, and wait until it returns to room temperature. Then without touching the wire too much, clip it on to the battery and observe what happens to the temperature of the wire, according to the thermal sensing sheet. (Your fingers may be able to detect the effect, too).
4. Place a scrap board on the floor or a firm surface, and give the board a mighty whack with a hammer. Then promptly lay a piece of the thermal sensing sheet over the place you hit, and watch what happens over the next half minute. What happened to the energy of the moving hammer?

Check the box when you are done:  

Next activity: Different methods to transfer heat