In an insulated container, liquid water is mixed with ice. What can you conclude about the phases present in the container when equilibrium is established?

There would be ice only.

There would be liquid water only.

There would be both ice and liquid water.

There is no way of knowing the phase composition without more information

Question

Physics

Charlie Allison

25 June, 20:44

In an insulated container, liquid water is mixed with ice. What can you conclude about the phases present in the container when equilibrium is established?

There would be ice only.

There would be liquid water only.

There would be both ice and liquid water.

There is no way of knowing the phase composition without more information

+1

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Helen Forbes · Answer 1

There is no way of knowing the phase composition without more information

Explanation:

For equilibrium to be established quantity of heat loss by the water must equal to the quantity of heat gain by the ice since the container is insulated which rules out loss of heat to the environment. To be able to the determine the phases present we need the temperature of the water as well as the temperature of the ice, mass of the water present and the mass of the ice. These two are not given, we therefore do not have enough information to determine the phases present even when we can easily get the values of specific heat capacity and latent heat of fusion.