Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Heat Loss 
Name: Glenn
Status: educator
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
Here is a question from a student in my class:

I would like a scientist's opinion and results for my question. How fast do room temperature liquids lose heat over a 90 second span depending on the thickness of the liquid and the amount of ice cubes in the liquid?

Replies:
I don't have any results, but I'm stuffed to the gills with opinions!

1) The more ice cubes, the faster, because more surface area is available for heat exchange.

2) The thicker the liquid (I assume you mean thick like syrup is thick, not the thickness--depth--of a layer of liquid) the slower, because a thick liquid will tend to insulate the ice cubes with a layer of cold liquid that doesn't move away to make room for fresh warm liquid.

There's an important factor you didn't mention that might play in your results: how much energy does it take to raise a given liquid's temperature. Water is phenomenal in its ability to absorb a large amount of energy with a small change in temperature.

Tim Mooney


Click here to return to the Physics Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory