Year 7 · Science · beta

Heating and cooling

This unit explains energy transfer between objects due to temperature differences, through conduction or radiation, the role of insulators, and thermal equilibrium. It covers particle arrangements and motions in solids, liquids, and gases and Brownian motion.

This is an attributed Oak National Academy lesson sequence, not a completed or academically approved DASKEREL course. Supporting transcripts may depend on video, images, practical equipment or teacher explanation. Follow each lesson’s supervision guidance. For religious education and RSHE, follow the school’s syllabus, policy and safeguarding procedures.

Prior knowledge

  • Almost everything is made of particles.
  • Solids have a fixed shape, cannot usually be squashed and do not flow.
  • Liquids usually cannot be squashed, they flow and will take the shape of the container they are in.
  • Gases can be squashed, they flow and will fill the container they are in.
  • In a solid, particles are very close together, have a regular arrangement, are vibrating and are bonded together.
  • In a liquid, particles are close together, they do not have a regular arrangement and can move over each other, they are loosely bonded together.
  • In a gas, particles are spaced apart and move quickly in straight lines, bouncing off other particles or the walls of their container.
  • Between particles there is empty space.

Source curriculum references

  • Make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements
  • Heating and thermal equilibrium: temperature difference between 2 objects leading to energy transfer from the hotter to the cooler one, through contact (conduction) or radiation; such transfers tending to reduce the temperature difference; use of insulators
  • Similarities and differences, including density differences, between solids, liquids and gases
  • Brownian motion in gases
  • The differences in arrangements, in motion and in closeness of particles explaining changes of state, shape and density; the anomaly of ice-water transition
  • Atoms and molecules as particles
  • Changes with temperature in motion and spacing of particles
  • Internal energy stored in materials

Oak source metadata. DASKEREL has not independently verified school-level coverage.

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