Warm water? Cold Water? More? less? Eh?

AlienGav

Howdy folks,

Just wondering if some budding scientists could help me with this weird question I thought up while having a wee wee.

If I had two identicle bathtubs, Bathtub A & Bathtub B. And fill both tubs with water (at say 35 degrees C each), Bathtub A I fill to it's full volume, and Bathtub B, I fill to eaxactly half of A's Volume... in other words A has exactly double the amount of water as B

After say 5 mins... Which bathtub would have the warmest water? And why?!

mathias

The answer is bathtub A because it has more heat ! It has more heat /energy because it has more volume , and this will take more time to dissipate to room temp than the volume of water in B.

I remember this question coming up in the Junior cert once , only it was a cup of water at 100 degrees and a bath of water at 100 degrees and the question was which one contained the most heat.

You'd be surprised at how many people automatically assumed a trick question and jumped for the " both the same" answer.

Son Goku

mathias is right, it would be bathtub A. Particularly since you picked, which has a high specific heat capacity, so the difference would be pretty noticeable.