Question:

I have a chemistry question?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

A chemist watches the temperature of a vat of liquid and notices that it decreases over time. What can the chemist conclude from this observation?

i dont really get it. we're talking about heat, work, energy, temperature.. but i dont get at all what he's asking.

 Tags:

   Report

1 ANSWERS


  1. Assuming there's no other chemical or physical reaction going on - the only thing you can really conclude from the statement is that the temperature of the liquid is greater than the ambient temperature (air temp) of the room.  

    The laws of thermodynamics say that two bodies in contact with each other will seek to find equilibrium in their temperature - meaning when a hot item and a cold item are put in contact/near each other the hotter one gets cooler and the cooler one gets warmer.   This is why a body cools when the person is killed - it's also how coroners determine time of death.  

    In the problem, the hot thing is the vat of liquid.  And the cooler thing is the air in the room - so the liquid cools.  Incidentally, the greater the difference between the two sources, the faster the change in temperature of both bodies.  So if the liquid is cooling rapidly, it must have been quite hot to begin with.  

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 1 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.
Unanswered Questions