Question

A student has two identical glasses of milk except that the temperature of the milk in one glass is 40ºF

and the temperature of the milk in the other glass is 80ºF.
At which temperature does the milk have more thermal energy? Explain

Answer 1

`80^oF`

Step-by-step explanation:

We may only compare thermal energy of the two objects when they have identical masses. In this case, this is true: the two objects have equal masses.

The first glass of milk is at a lower temperature, while the second glass of milk is at a higher temperature. Remembering the second law of thermodynamics, heat spontaneously flows from hotter objects to colder ones. This means, the higher the temperature of an object, the greater the thermal energy.

Think about it this way: the higher the temperature, the higher the kinetic energy of the particles (since
`E_k = (3)/(2)kT`). The greater the kinetic energy, the greater the velocity. This means a greater amount of energy will be transferred by the object of the same mass but with a higher temperature, as particles are more likely to collide.