Thermal Insulation Comparison of Sleeping Bag and Blanket Combinations

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective was to see how much a sleeping bag's temperature rating and the type of blanket that a person uses while camping effects the amount of heat transfer that takes place. Methods/Materials Three forty-five degree Fahrenheit rated sleeping bags, a thirty degree farenieght sleeping bag, a fifteen degree farenieght bag, a zero degree fareneight bag, a reflective blanket, and a traditional blanket were used in the experiment. One of the forty-five degree farenieght rated sleeping bags was wrapped in a reflective blanket while another forty five degree bag was wrapped in the more traditional blanket. Then three gallon jugs of water at about human temperature were placed in each sleeping bag. A cooking thermometer was used to check the temperature of the water in each gallon throughout the night. Results When comparing the heat transfer with a sleeping bag's rating, the sleeping bag with the lowest temperature rating was the best insulator. When comparing the type of blankets, the more traditional blanket was a better insulator then the reflective blanket. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion is that a sleeping bag with a lower temperature rating is a better insulator then a bag with a higher temperature rating. In this experiment, the traditional blanket was a better insulator then the reflective blanket. However, considering the reflective blanket's thickness and weight to that of the traditional blanket, the reflective blanket was a better insulator for its weight.

Competition history

• CSEF 2009 Product Science (Physical) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J2230

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Physical Sciences projects
• CSEF Physical Sciences projects
• Every CSEF 2009 project