I asked a question earlier about a thermometer in a can containing a substance that is being heated.Temperature remains the same for minutes, then start to rise. Without looking in the can, how does student know whats occurring in the can?I was told a phase change what kind of phase change is it?

Do you know what a phase change is? Ice changing from a solid to a liquid (melting) is a phase change (solid to liquid). water boiling and changing from a liquid to a gas (steam) is a phase change. Either of these phase changes could have caused the behavior you describe.

To determine the kind of phase change occurring in the can, the student can make an inference based on the information provided.

The fact that the temperature remains the same for minutes indicates that there is a change happening in the can. During a phase change, the energy being applied to the substance causes the temperature to remain constant until all of the substance has undergone the phase change.

In this case, since the temperature begins to rise after a few minutes, it suggests that the substance in the can is undergoing a phase change from its solid state to its liquid state. As heat is applied, the solid substance absorbs the thermal energy and melts into a liquid, which is signaled by the increase in temperature.

Therefore, the phase change occurring in the can is the melting of the substance from a solid to a liquid.