Flori has one bucket of paint outside and one bucket of paint in her garage. Both paint buckets are the same size and have the same number of molecules. She brings the bucket in from outside and is going to stack it on top of the bucket in the garage. The diagram above shows the buckets now, before they touch. Use the information in the diagram to answer the question.

Question

How does the temperature of the garage bucket compare with the temperature of the outside bucket before the buckets touch? What will happen after the buckets have been touching for a while?

Responses

a
Before the buckets touch, the two buckets are different temperatures. Once the buckets are touching, both kinetic energy and cold energy will transfer between the molecules of the two buckets until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures
Before the buckets touch, the two buckets are different temperatures. Once the buckets are touching, both kinetic energy and cold energy will transfer between the molecules of the two buckets until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures

b
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is hotter than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the cooler outside bucket will gain kinetic energy until the molecules of both buckets have an energy of 18, because hotter things increase the temperature of cooler things.
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is hotter than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the cooler outside bucket will gain kinetic energy until the molecules of both buckets have an energy of 18, because hotter things increase the temperature of cooler things.

c
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is cooler than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the hotter outside bucket will transfer kinetic energy to the molecules in the cooler garage bucket until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures.
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is cooler than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the hotter outside bucket will transfer kinetic energy to the molecules in the cooler garage bucket until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures.

d
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is hotter than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the garage bucket will transfer kinetic energy to the molecules in the cooler outside bucket until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures.
Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is hotter than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the garage bucket will transfer kinetic energy to the molecules in the cooler outside bucket until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures.

Answer 1

To determine which response is correct, we need to consider the likely temperatures of the two buckets based on their locations: one bucket is outside and possibly exposed to the elements (likely cooler), while the other bucket is inside the garage (likely warmer).

Therefore, before the buckets touch:

• The garage bucket is likely hotter than the outside bucket.

Once the two buckets are touching, heat transfer will occur from the hotter bucket (garage bucket) to the cooler bucket (outside bucket) until both reach thermal equilibrium at a temperature that is between their initial temperatures.

Based on this reasoning, the correct response is:

d: Before the buckets touch, the garage bucket is hotter than the outside bucket. Once the buckets are touching, the garage bucket will transfer kinetic energy to the molecules in the cooler outside bucket until both buckets reach the same temperature, which will be in between their starting temperatures.