A 20 gram piece of metal is added to a sample of 100 grams of water inside a calorimeter. If the metal is at a temperature of 125° Celsius and the water is at 20° Celsius, which of the following best describes what will occur inside the calorimeter?
Inside the calorimeter, heat will transfer from the metal to the water until thermal equilibrium is reached.
To determine what will occur inside the calorimeter, we need to understand the concept of heat transfer and thermal equilibrium.
Heat transfer occurs when there is a temperature difference between two objects. The heat always flows from the object with higher temperature to the object with lower temperature until they reach thermal equilibrium, where both objects are at the same temperature.
In this scenario, we have a metal at 125° Celsius and water at 20° Celsius. Since the metal has a higher temperature, heat will flow from the metal to the water until they reach thermal equilibrium.
To calculate the heat transfer, we can use the formula:
q = m * c * ΔT
where:
q is the heat transfer
m is the mass of the object
c is the specific heat capacity of the object
ΔT is the change in temperature
First, let's calculate the heat transfer from the metal to the water:
q_metal = m_metal * c_metal * ΔT_metal
q_metal = 20g * c_metal * (125°C - 20°C)
Next, let's calculate the heat transfer from the water to the metal:
q_water = m_water * c_water * ΔT_water
q_water = 100g * c_water * (20°C - 125°C)
Since the metal is at a higher temperature, q_metal will be positive, indicating heat transfer from the metal to the water. On the other hand, q_water will be negative, indicating heat transfer from the water to the metal.
Therefore, what will occur inside the calorimeter is that heat will flow from the metal to the water, increasing the temperature of the water while decreasing the temperature of the metal until they reach thermal equilibrium.