Heat from pancakes flows into the whipped cream and melts it, not the reverse.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics explains that heat will always flow from a hot item or environment to a cold item or environment until the two objects or spaces have balanced with equal temperature. The word "thermodynamics" breaks down into "thermo," meaning heat, and "dynamic," meaning power and the concept is known as "Increased Entropy." School teachers will often get questions from students about the direction of the flow, specifically wondering if it is always heat that flows to cold environments and never the reverse. Simple experiments can provide a better understanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Instructions
Hot Drink
1. Note the temperature of the room and set a cup containing a hot beverage on a table. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the hot beverage for a starting point.
2. Hold a hand near the cup but not touching to observe the hot beverage releasing its heat into the room over time and cooling to match the temperature of the room. You can feel heat around the cup as it is released.
3. Test the temperature of beverage at intervals with thermometer. Observe how the drink temperature comes closer to room temperature the longer it cools. The room is a big area and is significantly cooler than the contents of the cup.
Cookies
4. Remove fresh baked cookies from the oven, using pot holders, and place them and the cookie sheet on top of the stove. They will be extremely hot, probably in the range of 375 F degrees. The room temperature will likely be between 70 and 75 F, if an air conditioner is running.
5. Observe the cookies resting at room temperature. Feel the heat coming off them and the baking sheet by moving a hand near but not touching. The cookies and sheet will eventually slow their release of heat as they near room temperature.
6. Wait 24 hours and take the temperature of cookies and the room. They will be the same, demonstrating the cookies have cooled to match their environment. If the flow was reversed and cold flowed into hot environments instead, the heat would not have been felt coming off the hot cookies and baking sheet.
Ice Cubes
7. Place ice cubes in a pan a place on top of the stove. Water freezes at 0 C or 32 F.
8. Turn the stove on.
9. Observe the ice beginning to melt into water as heat moves into the cold items. If cold moved into hot items, instead of hot into cold, the ice would stay solid and the pan would become colder.
Ice Cream
10. Prepare a serving of ice cream in a bowl. If desired, record the temperature of the ice cream. The average temperature, when taken orally, of a human being is 98.6 F.
11. Take a spoonful of ice cream, but do not swallow it. Allow the ice cream to stay in the mouth for several moments.
12. Observe the ice cream cooling the mouth, even freezing it. Heat is moving from the mouth, tongue, and body into the cold ice cream and bringing it to a balanced temperature. This is why ice cream melts and becomes warmer when left on the counter or held in the mouth.
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