Question

Imagine that 920 J of thermal energy spontaneously moved from cool air (at 20 °C) to a warm cup of coffee (at 50 °C). Which of the laws of thermodynamics, if any, would this process violate?

Answer 1

Transferring 920 J of thermal energy from cooler air to warmer coffee would violate the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy must increase during spontaneous processes.

Step-by-step explanation:

If 920 J of thermal energy spontaneously moved from cool air (at 20 °C) to a warm cup of coffee (at 50 °C), this process would violate the second law of thermodynamics. This law dictates that heat cannot spontaneously transfer from a cooler object to a hotter one because it would decrease the overall entropy of the system, which goes against the natural direction of increasing entropy. Such a process does not occur naturally because it would result in energy flowing against its natural gradient without external work being performed, which is contrary to our observation and understanding of spontaneous thermodynamic processes.