Question

Describe (IN WORDS) what happens to the temperature of a water-ice mixture originally at 0°C when heat energy is transferred to it at a constant rate.

Answer 1

For a particular time (that depends upon the mass of ice present), the temperature remains the same at 0 ^oC since the energy added will be used for the conversion of ice at 0 ^oC to water at 0 ^oC. Conversion of ice to water is a phase change and during phase changes, the temperature remains constant.

Once all the ice is converted to water at 0 ^oC, further addition of heat energy will raise the temperature of the water according to the equation, Q = mCdT
Where Q is the energy added, m is the total mass of water, C is the specific heat of water and dT is the change in temperature.