Heat shield
Evaluating materials for a heat shield to prevent a piece of chocolate from melting.
The Solar Orbiter has to get very close to the Sun’s surface to observe how it works. It needs a heat shield, so its systems do not get too hot and melt. Can you design a heat shield from a suitable material?
This fun activity focusses on selecting the material to make a heat shield to stop a piece of chocolate from melting. Learners will make use of the theme of the future of flight to design, make and test a heat shield to prevent a piece of chocolate from melting. They will test different materials to see which protects the chocolate the best and discuss their results.
You will need:
- Polystyrene cups
- Scissors
- Materials for heat shields (e.g. milk bottle plastic, cardboard, metal foil, metal mesh)
- Chocolate pieces
- Hairdryer
- Stopwatch or timer
Additional equipment that could be used:
- Thermometer
- Ruler
- Heat mats to place polystyrene cups on
- Oven gloves/cloths/tongs
And please do share your learning highlights and final creations with us on social media @IETeducation or send them via email to IETEducation@theiet.org to be featured in our online gallery.
Available Downloads
Related resources
We’re upgrading our systems, and this includes changes to our customer and member account log in, MyIET. It’s part of our big picture plan to deliver a great experience for you and our wider engineering community.
Whilst most of our websites remain available for browsing, it will not be possible to log in to purchase products or access services from Thursday, 17 April to Wednesday, 30 April 2025. Our Member Relations team is here to help and for many of our services, including processing payments or orders, we’ll be able to support you over the phone on +44 (0)1438 765678 or email via membership@theiet.org.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.
For further information related to specific products and services, please visit our FAQs webpage.