Cooling things down and the method of mixtures

These things can all be explained by thinking about the "sharing out" of heat energy. Lets think about the coffee and the milk.

When you add the cold milk to the coffee the coffee gives some of its heat energy to the milk. The coffee cools down and the milk warms up. They will both end at the same temperature of course.

So if we mix together something that is hot and something that is cold and as long as no heat is lost to the outside:



Water is a very good liquid for cooling things down, for one thing there is plenty of it and it has also got a high specific heat capacity. This means that it can absorb a large amount of heat energy without getting too hot.

Fire walkers can walk on the red hot embers because the embers are light and have a low specific heat capacity. Your feet and body are heavy and so can absorb the heat energy without the temperature of your skin getting too hot.


THIS IS A DANGEROUS PRACTICE – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRY WALKING ON ANY HOT MATERIALS.