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Urgent help please!

Two blocks of silver have a temperature of 175°C. One block has a mass of 33g, the other block has a mass of 300g. Do the blocks have the same amount of thermal energy? Why or why not?

asked
User Olesya
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7.5k points

1 Answer

2 votes

No, the blocks do not have the same amount of thermal energy.

Thermal energy is proportional to both the mass and the temperature of an object. The formula for thermal energy is:

thermal energy = mass x specific heat capacity x temperature

where specific heat capacity is a property of the material that relates the amount of heat needed to change the temperature of a unit mass of the material by one degree Celsius.

Since the two blocks have different masses, they will have different amounts of thermal energy even if they have the same temperature. The block with a mass of 300g will have more thermal energy than the block with a mass of 33g, assuming they are both made of the same material and have the same specific heat capacity.

Therefore, the amount of thermal energy of each block will be:

Thermal energy of 33g block = 33g x specific heat capacity x 175°C

Thermal energy of 300g block = 300g x specific heat capacity x 175°C

Since the masses are different, the thermal energy of the two blocks will be different.


\sf \: good \: luck

answered
User ChrisZZ
by
7.8k points
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