Why does coffee get cold and drinks become warm?

Question

is there a scientific explanation for this?

Answer 1

In your example it is called convection. There is also conduction and radiation methods of heating.

Your coffee is hotter then the surrounding air temperature, so the heat will be transferred to the air by convection. Eventually their temperatures will match, and the heat transfer will stop.

The rate of heat transfer is dependent on the difference between the 2 temperatures. The bigger the difference in temperatures, the faster the heat will be exchanged. e.g. your coffee stays warmer for a longer period in the coffee shop, then if you go outside with it in the winter.

For the same reason, a cold drink will warm up. It is being heated through convention by the surrounding air which is warmer. It is not noticeable, but because the room is loosing heat to the cold drink, it gets colder.

Check out the wiki referenced for more details.

Answer 2

Cold is just the absence of heat. Since your drink has more heat than the surrounding temperature, the heat is tranfering to the air around it. The heat doesn't dissapear, it actually warms up the air, but the change is so miniscule because there is so much air and just a small amount of heat.

Answer 3

Heat is just vibrating particles, so when the fast moving particles of the coffee hit the slower moving air particles, they lose some of their energy and don't move as quickly, making it cool. And it's basically the opposite with the warming drinks, only the faster moving air particles hit the slower drink particles, so the drink particles speed up, and become warmer.

Answer 4

heat transfer.

the driving force behind heat transfer is temperature differences

for heat transfer via conduction, as in this case, the equation for amount of heat transfered (q) is

q = k A dT / s
k is a constant, A is area, and s is wall thickness

dT is temperature difference.

Answer 5

good question and I do not have an answer. But I hate when my coffee gets cold

Answer 6

Coffe and hot drinks are warmer than room temperature. Cold drinks are colder than room temperature. They both come to room temperature.

Answer 7

because they earn heat from reservoir (the air)
and since coffee is hot it give heat to the reservoir and become colder
in the other hand drinks are colder than the reservoir so they earn heat and become hotter

Answer 8

Becuase coffee is hot and it loses its heat.

Cold drinks gain heat.

Answer 9

its all relative. matter in all forms will move in a temperature direction of homeostasis.