Question

Betsy was stirring a pot of hot soup with a large, metal spoon. The phone rang, so she left the spoon in the soup to go answer it. When she came back, the spoon felt very hot.

Explain why the metal spoon felt hot. Would a wooden spoon left in hot soup feel warm too? Why or why not? Use the terms insulator and conductor in your response.

Answer 1

The metal spoon felt hot because metal is a good conductor of heat. When the spoon was left in the hot soup, heat from the soup was transferred to the spoon through conduction. Conductors, like metals, allow heat to flow easily through them, causing the spoon to quickly reach a high temperature.

In contrast, a wooden spoon would not feel as warm, even if it were left in the same hot soup for a similar period of time. Wood is an insulator, meaning it does not conduct heat very well. As a result, heat would not transfer as efficiently from the soup to the wooden spoon, so it would remain relatively cool to the touch compared to the metal spoon. This is due to the properties of insulators, which minimize heat flow, keeping the wooden spoon safer to handle.