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Grade 11Thermal Physics

A block of wood and a block of metal are at same temperature When the block feel equally hot or cold?

Profile image of Simran Bhatia
11 Years agoGrade 11
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1 Answer

Profile image of Aditi Chauhan
11 Years ago
Heat energy will transfer by using three modes; conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is defined as that mode of transmission of heat, by which heat travels, through an unequally heated body, from the hot end to cold end, from particle to particle, the particles themselves remaining at their position.
Energy is transferred by thermal conduction. A substance with large value of thermal conductivity is a good thermal conductor and which has small value of thermal conductivity is a poor thermal conductor. The thermal conductivity of metal is much greater than the thermal conductivity of wood. Since the thermal conductivity of metal is much greater than the wood, that is why, when the blocks feel cold, the metal feels colder than the wood; when the blocks feel hot, the metal feels hotter than the wood.
According to Zeroth law of thermodynamics, at your body temperature, the two blocks and our body will be in the thermal equilibrium. Therefore, at your body temperature, the blocks will feel equally hot or cold.