Wanda planted two identical seeds in separate pots of soil. On a cold night, she put both pots outside and covered one with a thick plastic sheet. This table shows how the temperature of each seed changed over 2hours.

Question

Seed Initial temperature (°C) Final temperature (°C)
Seed in the covered pot 10 6
Seed in the uncovered pot 11 6
The next time Wanda leaves a seed in a pot of soil outside, she does not want the seed to cool down quickly. What should she do to minimize the rate of thermal energy transfer out of the seed?

cover the pot
leave the pot uncovered
either the rate of thermal energy transfer is the same whether or not the pot is covered

Answer 1

To minimize the rate of thermal energy transfer out of the seed, Wanda should cover the pot.

The table shows that the covered seed had an initial temperature of 10 °C and a final temperature of 6 °C, while the uncovered seed started at a slightly higher temperature of 11 °C but also ended at 6 °C. This indicates that the uncovered seed cooled down more slowly than the covered one despite starting at a higher temperature; however, the key aspect here is that covering the pot typically helps to reduce heat loss due to air movement and conduction, helping to maintain the seed’s temperature for a longer period of time.

Thus, covering the pot effectively minimizes the rate of thermal energy transfer out of the seed.