If we are going to help prevent incidents like the one described in the newspaper article 'Child dies in car', we need to better understand what is happening. We need to understand the answers to questions such as:

• Why did the car get so hot on a mild day?
• Would the colour of the car have had an effect on the death of the child?
• What effect did the partly closed windows have?
• How quickly did the temperature in the car change?
• Would tinted windows have helped?
• Would the car have got hot if it was in the shade?

You could investigate scientifically several aspects of the hot cars problem. Your group could choose the effect of one of the following aspects of the problem to investigate:

• the colour of the car
• having the windows open or closed
• tinting on the windows
• being in the shade or in the sun.

Get a copy of the 'Investigation planner' sheet.