The Heller Project: Heat Exchange in Animals

Heat Flow teaches the student that heat and temperature are different. Students who complete this program should be aware that heat can flow from an object of lower total heat content to an object of higher total heat content, and that objects at thermal equilibrium have equal temperature, not equal heat content.

Cooling provides a graphing tool to the student and allows him/her to explore the factors which affect rate of cooling. The student derives Newton's Jaw of cooling and investigates the effect of insulation (fur) on rate of cooling. The last part of the program Jets the student
investigate the effects caused by ambient temperature on a chipmunk's metabolic rate.

Energy Budget lets the student control an animal's body temperature by moving the animal within the animal's environment. Animals currently available are a lizard and a chipmunk. The student also can change the characteristics of the environment, and save newly created environments for reuse. The student cannot alter the files which contain the four basic environments which accompany Energy Budget (these can only be altered by the instructor, using the Grid program).

Grid is a program which allows the instructor to modify the environmental data used by Energy Budget.