Heat

For my investigation, I chose to use aluminum foil, saran wrap, and a styrofoam plate.  I used things that are commonly found in the kitchen since we wanted to keep the water hot.  There are many times I need to keep food hot while waiting for my husband to get home from work, so I wanted this experiment to also be useful.  I expected the foil or the saran wrap to keep the water hot.  The winner was the aluminum foil!  I think this is because it has a reflective surface and also because it conducts heat better than saran wrap.

If I were trying to keep hot dogs hot, I would think that if we started with the same temperature as the water that they would be cooler than the water after 30 minutes.  I think this would be the case because there is more surface area exposed to the air (even when covered) than the water.