compare insulated drink beakers

An investigation with insulated and un-insulated beakers – reloaded

“I bought a metal mug to carry my coffee for my daily trip to the train station. But twenty minutes down the road, I wasn’t impressed by the temperature of the drink. “The thing must be broken” I told the place where I bought it. I took pity on the chap and I decided to buy a different mug. On my next commute I was still not impressed by a mug’s insulating ability. After two weeks of failure I’d acquired enough different mugs to conclude that a thermal mug might hold coffee well, but it leaks heat. I’d also acquired some questions:”

• Could I devise a way to compare the effectiveness of each mug?
• Could I invent a really useful ‘unit’ that tells the consumer how good a mug is at retaining heat. (How about “it keeps your coffee warm for twice as long” or “it keeps your coffee above drinking temperature for x minutes”).
• Is a tog a useful unit?

Get some mugs and answer those questions.