You place ice cream on a metal surface that is at a room temperature of 25 degrees Celsius . Which will happen when the ice cream and metal surface interact?

1 answer

When the ice cream is placed on a metal surface at 25 degrees Celsius, several thermal interactions will occur:

  1. Heat Transfer: The metal surface, being at a higher temperature than the ice cream (which is typically much colder), will transfer heat to the ice cream. This process occurs because heat flows from warmer objects to cooler ones until thermal equilibrium is reached.

  2. Melting: As the ice cream absorbs heat from the metal surface, its temperature will begin to rise. If the ice cream is at or below freezing point (0 degrees Celsius), the heat transfer may cause some of the solid ice cream to melt into liquid.

  3. Cooling of the Metal: Conversely, the metal surface will lose some of its thermal energy as it heats up the ice cream. This may cause a slight decrease in the temperature of the metal surface, although the change may not be significant depending on the mass and thermal properties of the metal.

  4. Condensation (if applicable): If there's moisture in the air, the cooling of the metal surface in contact with the cold ice cream might also lead to the condensation of water vapor, forming droplets on the surface.

In summary, the ice cream will start to melt as it absorbs heat from the warmer metal surface, and the temperature of the metal surface will decrease slightly as it loses heat.