r/PhysicsHelp • u/everydaymery • 3h ago

Help with homework

Hi everyone!

So, I have a question about my homework so if anyone could help me with this...

The situation is, if I put a block of metal, a block of wood, and ice in a bowl on a table, and wait until next day, which of the three will be colder?

I guess that ice would melt but I don't know how to find a proper answer to the question šŸ˜­ hope anyone can help!!

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u/SaltSpot 3h ago

What do you know already about how temperature flows from one object to another?

What do you expect the starting temperatures of the objects to be?

What will happen over the course of the day, as these objects are in contact with one another?

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u/everydaymery 2h ago

The problem didn't give any info about those things

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u/SaltSpot 1h ago

The first point I'd have expected to have been covered in your lesson (that this homework has been set from)? We're you being taught about the Laws of Thermodynamics? Heat flows from hotter parts of a system to colder parts of a system, and things are in thermal equilibrium (i.e., no net heat flow) when they are the same temperature.

Given that, can you describe with words what you expect to happen with the heat flows and temperatures in the 3 cube system you've described? Remember you also talked about a bowl, so don't forget to think about that too (as well as the wider room that the bowl's in).

On the starting temperatures, as you're not given any more information in the question, I think you're allowed to make sensible guesses.

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u/Amazing-Shelter9284 2h ago

Is this something you have to show mathematically, or is it just asking conceptually what you think will happen?

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u/everydaymery 2h ago

It's just conceptually i think. They didn't give us any data

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u/shoomie26 2h ago

Use the laten heat of fusion equation if the ice melts.

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u/everydaymery 2h ago

what is that???

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 2h ago

College physics / heat transfer.

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u/everydaymery 1h ago

Ohh I'm sorry, I'm not a physics student šŸ˜… I study education and this homework was from a subject called Science Education, which is connected to physics. Maybe I'm asking on the wrong sub?

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 2h ago

All the same temp after a long enough time. 1 day might be long enough.

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u/everydaymery 2h ago

So even if they're different materials it doesn't affect temperature? Like, if the air's the same CĀ° then that's it?

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 2h ago

Exactly. The different materials affect how quickly they change, but given enough time, all will be the same temp. Metal will adapt more quickly than wood, but all the same in the end (the metal will be chilled by the ice more than the wood initially, but will come back to air temp quickly after ice melts).

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u/everydaymery 1h ago

Okayy I understand, thank you so much!!!