Jacob has a bucket of ice. He covers the bucket with a lid and sets it in the sun. The ice melts into liquid water. How does the mass of the ice compare with the mass of the water?

Question

Jacob has a bucket of ice. He covers the bucket with a lid and sets it in the sun. The ice melts into liquid water. How does the mass of the ice compare with the mass of the water?
 A. 
The mass of the ice is the same as the mass of the water.
 B. 
The mass of the ice is less than the mass of the water.
 C. 
The mass of the ice is more than the mass of the water.
 D. 
There is no way to determine this from the information given.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct answer is A. The mass of the ice is the same as the mass of the water.

When ice melts into water, the total mass remains unchanged, assuming there are no losses to the environment. The mass of the solid ice will equal the mass of the liquid water produced from it, as mass is conserved in this process.