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When a car is parked in hot sunlight the tempature of the car seatts and the thermal energy of the seats?

a) Decreases
b) Remains constant
c) Increases
d) Reaches absolute zero

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The temperature and thermal energy of car seats increase when parked in sunlight, exemplifying an increase in entropy due to the absorption of sunlight and heat energy conversion within the car. Calculating entropy change requires knowledge of the heat transfer and temperature change.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a car is parked in hot sunlight, the temperature of the car seats and the thermal energy of the seats increases. This occurs because light energy from the sun passes through the windows and is absorbed by the car's interior surfaces, including seats, which convert the light energy into heat energy, thus increasing the car's internal temperature.

The increase in entropy of the car due to this heat transfer can be calculated if the amount of heat transferred and the temperature change are known. With a heat transfer of 4.00×106 J and a temperature increase from 35.0°C to 45.0°C, you would use the formula for entropy change ΔS = Q/T, where Q is the heat transferred and T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin.

Additionally, the entropy of any isolated system not in thermal equilibrium always increases when heat is transferred into the system. This is a fundamental concept in thermodynamics, reflecting the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time.

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