Abstract:
The purpose of this work was to design and construct an experimental setup for measuring the thermal conductivity of copper and aluminum rods. To determine the thermal conductivity, one end of each rod was heated until the temperature reached a constant level. Subsequently, the temperature at different distances along the rods was measured using an Arduino microcontroller and a DS18B20 temperature sensor. The temperature values were displayed using the Data Streamer program. These temperature readings at different locations were then used to calculate the thermal conductivity of metal rod. The results showed that the thermal conductivity of copper was 382.85 W/m°C, with an error of 3.56% compared to the standard value. The thermal conductivity of aluminum was found to be 253.93 W/m°C, with an error of 6.69% compared to the standard value. This experiment demonstrated that the apparatus, based on Fourier's law of heat conduction, can be used for educational purposes to determine the thermal conductivity of metals.