Question

A student heats 100 g of aluminum to 60°C. He places it in 100 g of water at 20°C. Over time, what will most likely happen?

Answer 1

-- Heat will flow out of the warm aluminum and into the cool water.

-- The temperature of the aluminum will fall and the temperature of the water will rise.

-- Eventually, everything in the container will settle at the same temperature, and temperatures will stop changing.

-- The final "equilibrium" temperature will be a little less than 40°C (the average of 60° and 20°), because the specific heat of the aluminum is about 8% less than the specific heat of the water. So when some quantity of heat flows from the aluminum to the water, the temperature of the water rises a little less than the temperature of the aluminum falls.