Asked by A

A student heats 100 g of aluminum to 60°C. He places it in 100 g of water at 20°C. Over time, what will most likely happen?

The water's temperature will increase slightly, and the metal's temperature will decrease a lot.

The water's temperature will increase a lot, and the metal's temperature will decrease slightly.

The water's temperature will decrease slightly, and the metal's temperature will increase a lot.

The water's temperature will increase by about the same amount as the metal's temperature decreases.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Choice 1.

Reason: water has a much larger heat capacity than aluminum (cAl ≈ 0.90 J/g·°C, cwater = 4.18 J/g·°C). For 100 g each the heat capacities are 90 J/°C (Al) and 418 J/°C (water). Conservation of energy gives

Tfinal = (90·60 + 418·20)/(90+418) ≈ 27.1 °C.

So the aluminum cools from 60 → ~27 °C (ΔT ≈ −33 °C) while the water warms from 20 → ~27 °C (ΔT ≈ +7 °C): the water increases slightly and the metal decreases a lot.