Math IA
Question -Modelling: how does a cup of tea cool?
Introduction:
Tea, a beverage cherished for its variety of flavours and comforting warmth. Feeling this warmth
every time, I had tea during cooler seasons is the reason I would be faced with a burnt tongue,
leading to me lose my tastebuds for the next few days. Tea is often enjoyed in many different
countries around the world in a variety of ways as they contain different ingredients, toppings,
and compositions. As a tea enthusiast, I often find myself making and enjoying a cup of tea, and
I’ve always been intrigued as to how its temperature changes over time. Furthermore,
understanding the rates of heat transfer and cooling down rates can have practical applications
such as in cooking and food preservation.
Overtime I have noticed that waiting for a certain amount of time can help cool down the
temperature of the tea, so it’s not scalding hot, allowing the tea to be enjoyable and palatable.
However, due to the different flavours of tea containing different ingredients and compositions
may affect their cooling down rate. I will only be testing black tea as it is the most popular
flavour of tea (The 5 Most Famous Teas in the World, n.d.). Furthermore, tea is highly popular
during the winter season/ cooler seasons thus meaning that the rate of cooling down will differ
based on initial temperature contributed by the environment and will be investigated too.
Aim:
The aim of this investigation is to determine the ideal time required for tea to reach a temperature
of 40C at differing environmental temperatures of 24C, -15C,9C.
Hypothesis:
The time taken for the ideal temperature to be reached will increase as the starting temperature
increases. This is due to the increased kinetic energy of molecules in the surroundings which
transfer their energy to the molecules within the tea. The rate at which a cup of tea cools can be
modelled by Newton's Law of Cooling, which states that the rate of temperature change of an
object is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the object and its
surroundings. Factors such as initial temperature, ambient temperature, surface area of the cup,
and insulating materials may significantly influence the cooling rate of the tea.
Raw data:
The X -variable is time in minutes in intervals of 5 minutes from 0-60 (0 ≤ x ≤ 60). The Y-variable
is the temperature of the tea in C. The tables below (table 1,2,3) show these changes in
temperature over 60 minutes with different environmental temperatures.
3.s.f (significant figures) were chosen for degree of accuracy as the thermometer used for the
experiment uses 0.01C as a measurement.
Table 1 -change in temperature over time of tea at 24C room temperature
Tea 1 at 24C room temperature
Time (Minutes) Temperature (C)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
0 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0
5 54.2 54.8 54.7 54.6
10 48.7 48.8 48.6 48.7
15 45.3 45.1 44.8 45.1
20 41.3 42.3 41.5 41.7
25 38.3 39.1 38.0 38.5
30 36.0 36.7 35.3 37.0
35 34.3 35.7 34.2 34.7
40 33.6 34.8 33.6 34.0
45 33.0 34.0 32.7 33.2
50 32.5 33.7 32.2 32.8
55 32.3 33.6 31.9 32.6
60 31.7 32.6 30.9 31.7
Table 2- change in temperature over time of tea at -15C room temperature
Tea 1 at -15C room temperature
Time (minutes) Temperature (C)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
0 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0
5 55.1 55.5 56.2 55.6
10 44.3 46.0 44.4 44.9
15 37.1 38.8 37.2 37.7
20 32.0 33.3 31.1 32.2
25 26.7 27.3 26.6 26.9
30 23.1 24.3 22.6 23.3
35 19.4 21.5 20.8 20.6
40 17.2 16.4 16.6 16.7
45 13.4 13.9 12.8 13.4
50 11.5 11.6 11.6 11.6
55 10.0 09.6 10.0 09.9
60 07.1 06.2 06.6 06.6
Table 3- change in temperature over time of tea at 9C room temperature
Tea 1 at 9C room temperature
Time (minutes) Temperature (C)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
0 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0
5 63.2 62.9 65.5 63.7
10 47.6 55.7 59.1 54.1
15 37.8 53.8 53.4 53.6
20 47.4 49.0 48.8 48.4
25 44.0 43.6 43.3 43.6
30 40.4 40.6 41.1 40.7
35 38.1 37.9 38.0 38.0
40 35.6 35.5 35.7 35.6
45 33.0 33.0 32.9 33.0
50 30.9 30.6 30.7 30.7
55 28.8 28.2 28.9 28.6
60 27.0 26.7 27.1 20.3
*Anomaly of the data is highlighted in blue in the table(s) above.
Modelling the change in temperature over time:
Figure 1- data of temperature change over time with 24C showing a negative graph
Figure 2- data of temperature change over time with -15C showing a negative graph
Figure 3- data of temperature change over time with 9C showing a negative graph
Formulating a suitable equation
Using the modelled graphs above, an equation for the line of liner regression will be calculated at
each condition using the methods such as.
At 24C (All units in 3.s.f)
Form of: y=ax+ b
y=ax+ b
y=ax+ b
y=−0.57 x+59.0
Pearson’s product (PMCC)
Product moment correlation coefficient (PMCC) also commonly known Pearson’s product.
Bibliography
The 5 most famous teas in the world. (n.d.). The 5 Most Famous Teas in the World.
https://www.zestaceylontea.com/blog/tea-benefits/the-5-most-famous-teas-in-the-world/
#:~:text=most%20beloved%20teas.-,Black%20Tea,one%20of%20the%20finest
%20brews.
