I asked why when ice crean melts it gets warm, but when soup gets cold, it gets very cold. He explained that they both reach a plateau of room temperature, which makes sense. But personal experience tells me that I am not completely incorrect (cold things get warm and warm things get cold). His argument appeased me at the time, but I cannot remember the details. Can anybody use science to prove me right or wrong? (My original major was physics, so feel free to use as much scientific jargon as you please!) Thank you so much!!!
2007-06-15 12:18:42 · 5 answers · asked by Kate v.7.0 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Well, he is right that it reaches room temperature. When the ice cream melts in gains heat energy from its atmosphere or what ever it is in. The system(ice cream) and the surroundings have an inverse relationship. The ice cream gains energy until it has reached equilibrium with its surroundings and vice versa. If cold things get warm and warm things get very cold, this could make sense but only in certain conditions. The reason soup would get very cold is because there is so much heat that the soup releases into the atmosphere at room temperature. This is why the air around the soup is hot. Ex: When ice melts, does it get warm? There are some cases in which the substance can change phases without a temperature difference ocurring. Your assumption is correct, however, it leaves out some minor details that some substances undergo. Does this make sense? :) The main goal of temperature change is to reach the closest temperature for an equilibrium to exist among substances :)
2007-06-15 12:49:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
hot soup is usually a little below boiling, while ice cream is usually a little below freezing.
from boiling to room temp is quite a change and so the soup seems ridiculously cold, and the ice cream to go from freezing to room temp is also quite a big leap and so when ice cream melts it seems stupidly warm. maybe an experiment with some hot soup and cold ice cream left in a room and then take the temperature of both after a certain time (a couple of hours maybe?)
i could be wrong but i think it is merely our perception of the temperature instead of the actual temperature that causes the cold soup and warm ice cream.
2007-06-15 12:29:06 · answer #2 · answered by Tim C 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It might be as simple as you're eating ice cream on warm days and soup on cold days, so the ambient room temperature is different.
Ice cream is also pretty heavily amended these days - it's whipped to introduce air, has gums, starches, and other stuff added to it - to give creaminess and make it softer when frozen. All that might reduce it's thermal conductivity compared to soup (which is still mostly water, and water has a high thermal conductivity). That'd make it feel warmer to the touch, even at the same temperature.
2007-06-15 12:29:33 · answer #3 · answered by B.Kevorkian 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is actually a thermal physics discussion. Imagine you have boxes. One box has two particles in it, and thus only one possible state. You introduce a second box to the system. This box has no particles in it, but particles can flow to it from the other box. By introducing this box you have created 3 possible states (2 particles in one, 2 in the other, one in each). The particles can be considered energy. If you have a hot object (the one with the particles) and a cold object (the one without) and you bring them together you create more possible states. It's called entropy. Now imagine you have 50,000 particles. The likelihood of finding all of the particles in one box is extremely small. The particles, based on probability, will generally be distributed evenly between the boxes. Therefore, the likelihood of your soup getting colder than the surrounding air is about as likely as the surrounding air getting hotter than the soup. The energy has to go somewhere.
2007-06-15 12:40:47 · answer #4 · answered by Joe T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
track-communicate approximately track with close friends video clips-many times communicate approximately video clips with friends faith-attempt to no longer argue approximately faith at school (i'm openminded and it upsets human beings), communicate approximately it with kin and specially situations with friends politics-communicate/debate it at school, communicate approximately it with cousins specially situations the opposites intercourse-communicate approximately it with the different intercourse and friends
2016-12-13 04:05:20 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋