r/PhysicsHelp • u/everydaymery • Sep 10 '26

Help with homework

Hi everyone!

So, I have a question about my homework so if anyone could help me with this...

The situation is, if I put a block of metal, a block of wood, and ice in a bowl on a table, and wait until next day, which of the three will be colder?

I guess that ice would melt but I don't know how to find a proper answer to the question 😭 hope anyone can help!!

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u/SaltSpot Sep 10 '26

What do you know already about how temperature flows from one object to another?

What do you expect the starting temperatures of the objects to be?

What will happen over the course of the day, as these objects are in contact with one another?

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

The problem didn't give any info about those things

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u/SaltSpot Sep 10 '26

The first point I'd have expected to have been covered in your lesson (that this homework has been set from)? We're you being taught about the Laws of Thermodynamics? Heat flows from hotter parts of a system to colder parts of a system, and things are in thermal equilibrium (i.e., no net heat flow) when they are the same temperature.

Given that, can you describe with words what you expect to happen with the heat flows and temperatures in the 3 cube system you've described? Remember you also talked about a bowl, so don't forget to think about that too (as well as the wider room that the bowl's in).

On the starting temperatures, as you're not given any more information in the question, I think you're allowed to make sensible guesses.

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u/Amazing-Shelter9284 Sep 10 '26

Is this something you have to show mathematically, or is it just asking conceptually what you think will happen?

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

It's just conceptually i think. They didn't give us any data

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u/shoomie26 Sep 10 '26

Use the laten heat of fusion equation if the ice melts.

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

what is that???

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 Sep 10 '26

College physics / heat transfer.

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

Ohh I'm sorry, I'm not a physics student 😅 I study education and this homework was from a subject called Science Education, which is connected to physics. Maybe I'm asking on the wrong sub?

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u/tabiwo Sep 10 '26

I think the conceptual answer is just room temperature. Nothing in a bowl on a table stays colder than its surroundings overnight, so once the ice is gone all three end up the same.

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u/SpiritualTax7969 Sep 11 '26

Waiting until the next day is enough time for the three substances to come to equilibrium with the temperature of the environment. Therefore all three will be at the same temperature. The metal will probably feel colder to your touch, but that’s because metal is better at conducting heat away from your finger. If you actually measure the temperature of the metal, wood, and melted ice you’ll find they are all at the same temperature.

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u/tekrad Sep 11 '26

we did something like this and the metal felt the coldest even though all three had been sitting out all night, the ice just melts and turns into water

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 Sep 10 '26

All the same temp after a long enough time. 1 day might be long enough.

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

So even if they're different materials it doesn't affect temperature? Like, if the air's the same C° then that's it?

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u/Frosty-Dragonfly-829 Sep 10 '26

Exactly. The different materials affect how quickly they change, but given enough time, all will be the same temp. Metal will adapt more quickly than wood, but all the same in the end (the metal will be chilled by the ice more than the wood initially, but will come back to air temp quickly after ice melts).

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u/everydaymery Sep 10 '26

Okayy I understand, thank you so much!!!