Question

Describe what happens, in terms of the movement of heat energy, when a hot object is in thermal contact with a cold object. Explain how this process could be reversed.

Answer 1

The transfer of heat goes from the hot object to the cold object.

Explanation:

By the second law of thermodynamics we have that if we put a hot object in contact with a cold object, we observe that the hot object cools and the cold object heats up until an equilibrium is reached, which means there is a transfer of heat goes from the hot object to the cold object.

The process could be reversed by returning the hot object to its hot place and the cold object to its cold place.

The spontaneous process will always be that the heat energy is transferred to the object with less heat energy until equilibrium is reached.