The Physics of Heating/Cooling

Team Maverick
10-31-2012
ME 223
All members present:
Austin Tanner
Steven Elsbury
Christian O'Bryan
Kelsey Rayborn

The Physics of Heating/Cooling

Present State:  Container of liquid at a certain temperature (around room temperature) in which a cube of ice has just been placed.

Goal State:  What is the final temperature?  Explain the general Physics involved.

Ideas:  The initial state of the container with liquid and a just-added ice cube is a "system".  Likewise, the final state of the container with slightly cooler liquid and melted ice cube is also a "system".  In both of these "systems" we will use the Law of Conservation of Energy and assume the ideal, i.e. that no energy is lost to the surroundings.   Using the law of conservation of energy, it becomes apparent that energy present in the initial system must equal the energy present in the final system.
     Temperature is the measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a substance.  Since temperature is in essence a measure of kinetic energy, we should be able to relate it to our idea of conservation of energy in our systems.
     With the ideas of conservation of energy and what temperature is in mind, it appears that, for us to measure what the final temperature of the liquid will be (i.e. after the ice has melted), we would only have to measure the initial thermal energy of the ice cube and the initial thermal energy of the liquid, sum these two energies and the result would be the total thermal energy present in the final state.  From this, one could determine the temperature of the liquid after the ice has melted.


Written and posted by: Austin Tanner