Skip to main content
Ch.7 - Thermochemistry

Chapter 7, Problem 47

We pack two identical coolers for a picnic, placing 24 12-ounce soft drinks and five pounds of ice in each. However, the drinks that we put into cooler A were refrigerated for several hours before they were packed in the cooler, while the drinks that we put into cooler B were at room temperature. When we open the two coolers three hours later, most of the ice in cooler A is still present, while nearly all of the ice in cooler B has melted. Explain this difference.

Verified Solution
Video duration:
1m
This video solution was recommended by our tutors as helpful for the problem above.
1120
views
Was this helpful?

Video transcript

Hey everyone for this practice problem. We're given a situation where we have two coolers. So we have cooler, number one, which has refrigerated beer plus solid ice packs, And cooler # two, which has room temperature beer plus melted ice packs. Now, our question here wants us to explain why the ice packs in cooler one were still solid while they were all melted in cooler too, by the time the camping site was reached. So for this question, we know that our room temperature beer released more heat than our chilled beer. And we know this because the heat gained by our eyes, which would be our ice packs is equivalent to the heat lost by our drinks. And so since we had a higher change in temperature In Cooler # two, we had a bigger heat game by our ice packs. And conversely, since we had a lower Change in temperature by cooler, number one we had a smaller he gained by our ice. And this is the reason why cooler number one had solid ice packs. By the time they're camping site was reached. So I hope this made sense. And let us know if you have any questions