Final answer:
The substance with the lowest specific heat capacity will show the greatest temperature change when absorbing heat. Among water, iron, ethanol, and mercury, mercury has the lowest specific heat capacity and would therefore experience the greatest temperature change when absorbing 2.35 kJ of heat.The correct answer is d. Mercury
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine which substance would show the greatest temperature change upon absorbing 2.35 kJ of heat, we must consider the specific heat capacity of each substance. Specific heat capacity is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius. The substance with the lowest specific heat capacity will experience the highest temperature change for a given amount of absorbed heat.
Typically, substances like water or alcohols with light atoms like hydrogen have higher heat capacities, which means they would show a smaller temperature change compared to substances like metals. In the listed options, iron and mercury, which are metals, generally have lower specific heat capacities. Therefore, one of these metals would likely experience the greatest temperature change. Among these, mercury has a much lower specific heat capacity than iron, and thus it would show a significantly greater temperature change upon heating.
Without the specific values of the specific heat capacity for ethanol, it's not as straightforward to conclude its behavior relative to the metals; however, it is generally higher than that of metals. Assuming we are comparing the substances at the same mass, we can infer that mercury would exhibit the greatest temperature change when 2.35 kJ of heat is absorbed.