Key Idea: Conduction is the transfer of energy that occurs when a warmer object (or quantities of a solid, liquid or gas) comes in contact with a cooler object (or quantities of a solid, liquid or gas) without a transfer of matter.
Students should know that:
- Two objects (or quantities of a solid, liquid or gas) must be in contact with each other for energy to be transferred by conduction. Energy can also be
transferred from one part of an object to another by conduction.
- There must be a temperature difference between the objects or samples of matter in contact or there must be a temperature difference within a single object for
energy to be transferred by conduction. The greater the temperature difference the greater the amount of energy that can be transferred by conduction and the
faster the transfer occurs (assuming the material making up the objects and their masses are held constant). As the temperatures of the two objects get closer
together, the rate of energy transfer slows down.
- The energy transferred by conduction goes from the warmer matter to the cooler matter not from the cooler matter to the warmer matter.
- As energy is transferred from the warmer to the cooler matter by conduction, the thermal energy (and temperature) of the warmer matter will decrease and the
thermal energy (and temperature) of the cooler matter will increase until the objects or samples are at the same temperature. [This sub-idea assumes that
neither object or sample of matter changes state, in which case the temperature would not increase or decrease while the change of state was occurring.]
- During conduction, energy is transferred without the transfer of matter. This is unlike convection, where matter and its energy move from one location to
another together.
Boundaries:
- Assessment items do not assess the idea that conduction occurs through collisions of atoms. This idea is covered under the advanced conduction idea.
- Items do not ask students to make calculations about how much energy is transferred by conduction (e.g. they will not be asked to make calculations given mass,
heat capacity, and temperature).
- Assessment items assume a net transfer of energy from the warmer object to the colder object without referring to it as a net transfer.
- Contexts of assessment items will be limited to those that do not involve changes of state.
Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)
Item ID
Number |
Knowledge Being Assessed |
Grades
4–5 |
Grades
6–8 |
Grades
9–12 |
Select This Item for My Item Bank |
NG061003
|
When cold butter is placed on top of hot corn, thermal energy is transferred from the corn to the butter but not from the butter to the corn.
| 67% | 67% |
74% | 
|
NG025004
|
While a student holds a cold piece of metal in her hand, the metal will get warmer because thermal energy is transferred from the student's hand to the metal.
| 44% | 55% |
64% | |
NG062003
|
A hot cookie will transfer more thermal energy to a cold plate than a cookie that is at room temperature because the temperature difference between the hot cookie and the cold plate is greater than the temperature difference between the cookie at room temperature and the cold plate.
| 47% | 51% |
62% | |
NG047005
|
When a ball that is 50ºF is placed in a bucket of water that is 80ºF, thermal energy is transferred from the water to the ball until they are both the same temperature.
| 34% | 50% |
57% | |
NG026004
|
While a student holds a cold piece of metal in her hand, the metal will get warmer because thermal energy is transferred from warm objects to cold objects when the objects are touching each other.
| 39% | 44% |
53% | |
NG024003
|
When a warm plastic block is in contact with a cold metal block, thermal energy will be transferred from the warm block to the cold block until they reach the same temperature.
| 31% | 43% |
47% | |
NG027003
|
When a cold object is in contact with a warm object, thermal energy is transferred from the warm object to the cold object.
| 32% | 47% |
43% | |
NG031004
|
If a hot frying pan is placed on the counter, after a while the frying pan, the counter, and the air will be at the same temperature because thermal energy will be transferred from the frying pan to the counter and from the frying pan to the air.
| 39% | 35% |
40% | |
NG046004
|
The air inside a glove will be at the same temperature as the air outside the glove throughout the day because the glove and the air inside of it started out at the same temperature as the air outside the glove and no thermal energy was transferred between them.
| N/A | 30% |
43% | |
NG063006
|
When a cold bottle is placed in a cabinet, the temperature of the bottle will increase and the temperature of the air in the cabinet will decrease because energy will be transferred from the air to the cold bottle.
| 31% | 32% |
40% | |
NG028003
|
When a warm can of soda is in contact with ice, thermal energy is transferred from the can of soda to the ice so the can of soda gets cooler and the ice gets warmer.
| 30% | 34% |
37% | |
NG022004
|
When water that is 40ºF is poured into a cup that is 70ºF, thermal energy is transferred from the cup to the water until they reach the same temperature.
| 19% | 36% |
36% | |
NG101002
|
When a warm can of soda is in contact with cold water, thermal energy is transferred from the can of soda to the water so the can of soda gets cooler and the water gets warmer.
| 23% | 31% |
35% | |
NG023003
|
When cold water is poured into a cup that is at room temperature, thermal energy is transferred from the cup to the water until they are both at the same temperature.
| 21% | 30% |
34% | |
RG186001
|
When a student holds a snowball in her hand, her hand will get colder because some energy is transferred from the student’s hand to the snowball.
| 14% | 23% |
35% | |
NG048004
|
A can of juice in contact with an ice pack will be colder than a can of juice that is not in contact with an ice pack because thermal energy was transferred from the can of juice to the ice pack.
| 12% | 17% |
31% | |
Frequency of selecting a misconception
Misconception
ID Number |
Student Misconception |
Grades
4–5 |
Grades
6–8 |
Grades
9–12 |
NGM010 |
Energy can be created (Kruger, 1990; Lovrude, 2004; Papadouris et al., 2008). | 39% | 36% |
34% |
NGM016 |
When two objects at different temperatures are in contact with each other, thermal energy is transferred from the warmer object to the cooler object and “coldness” or ”cold energy” is transferred from the cooler object to the warmer object (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 29% | 36% |
37% |
NGM021 |
Insulation warms things (Newell & Ross, 1996; Lewis & Linn, 1994). | N/A | 39% |
29% |
NGM067 |
Energy is spontaneously transferred out of colder regions or objects and into hotter ones. | 31% | 29% |
26% |
NGM015 |
When a cold and a warm object are placed in contact with each other, the warm object gets colder and the cold object gets warmer because “coldness” is transferred from one object to the other (Brook, Briggs, Bell, & Driver, 1984; Newell & Ross, 1996). | 29% | 28% |
21% |
NGM014 |
Objects at different temperatures that are made of different materials will never reach the same temperature when they are brought in contact with each other (Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Kesidou & Duit, 1993; Wiser, 1986). | 24% | 25% |
24% |
NGM054 |
Only hot or warm objects transfer thermal energy (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 33% | 25% |
17% |
NGM058 |
Energy is transferred mechanically whenever one object pushes or pulls on another, even if the objects do not move (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 22% | 24% |
21% |
NGM013 |
Thermal energy will continue to be transferred by conduction even after objects in contact with each other reach the same temperature; the temperature of the object getting warmer will continue to increase and the temperature of the object getting cooler will continue to decrease (Kesidou & Duit, 1993). | 28% | 21% |
19% |
NGM066 |
When objects are in contact an equal amount of energy is transferred between them, this causes no change in temperature (AAAS Project 2061, 2017). | 22% | 20% |
19% |
RGM058 |
Objects that are typically used to warm or cool other objects (e.g. hot water bottles and cold packs) change the temperature of objects without changing temperature themselves. | 23% | 17% |
14% |
NGM018 |
Two objects in contact must have very different temperatures in order for them to transfer thermal energy by conduction (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 19% | 12% |
12% |
NGM029 |
An object transfers thermal energy by conduction even when it is not in contact with a cooler object (Kesidou & Duit, 1993; Wiser, 1986). | 15% | 11% |
9% |
NGM025 |
Students are reluctant to consider that thermal energy can be transferred away from your body by conduction (Brook et al., 1984; Newell & Ross, 1996). In Brook et al., students were not able to explain why a piece of metal feels colder than a piece of plastic (Students thought that if the metal feels cold, it cannot be conducting thermal energy.). In another study, students thought that the metal feels colder because they attract cold or lose their heat to the surrounding air (Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Lewis & Linn, 1994). | 11% | 8% |
8% |
NGM060 |
Energy can be destroyed (Kruger, 1990; Trumper, 1998). | 5% | 7% |
10% |
Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
