STEMonstrations: Thermal Energy Transfer

Maintaining a comfortable temperature through thermal energy transfer plays a large role in sustaining life, both aboard the International Space Station and on Earth. In this STEMonstration, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara explains three different ways thermal energy can be transferred from object to object to help maintain homeostasis: conduction, convection, and radiation. Learn how astronauts aboard the space station observe changes in ocean life and send their observations to scientists on Earth.

In the corresponding classroom connection, students will conduct their own experiments and classify natural phenomena into one of the three types of thermal energy transfer.

Visit www.nasa.gov/stemonstrations for more videos like this, along with corresponding classroom connection lesson plans.

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