Temperature, particle motion, and how much the temperature changes
Grade 8 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer, or write your answer on the line.
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Two samples with the same energy (rounded values)
sample material mass (g) energy to warm 1 g by 1 °C (J) temperature rise (°C) A sand 100 0.84 15 B water 200 4.2 ? Samples A and B get the same energy. How many °C does sample B rise, Ari?
A heater gives samples A and B the same energy. How many °C does sample B rise, Bo?
Samples A and B get the same energy. How many °C does sample B rise, Esme?
Equal masses of two liquids get energy from identical heaters. Which liquid needs more energy per degree, Jun?
- Liquid B: the same energy raised its temperature less, so each degree takes more energy
- Liquid A: its steeper line shows it absorbed more energy during the ten minutes of heating
- Neither: both lines start at 20 °C, so the two liquids need equal energy per degree
- Liquid A: it reached the higher temperature, so it needed more energy to get there
Two 200 g samples of water are heated by identical heaters. What does the graph show, Luz?
Temperature-time graph (example data). Time (min) across, 0 to 10, a mark every 2 min. Temperature (°C) up, 20 to 80, a mark every 10 °C. Line A joins (0 min, 20 °C) and (10 min, 44 °C) with a straight piece. Line B joins (0 min, 50 °C) and (10 min, 74 °C) with a straight piece. Temperature-time graph (example data). Time (min) across, 0 to 10, a mark every 2 min. Temperature (°C) up, 20 to 80, a mark every 10 °C. Line A joins (0 min, 20 °C) and (10 min, 44 °C) with a straight piece. Line B joins (0 min, 50 °C) and (10 min, 74 °C) with a straight piece. 0 2 4 6 8 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Time (min) Temperature ( degC) A B - Line B warms faster, since water that starts out hotter takes in energy from its heater more quickly than cooler water does
- Line B gained more thermal energy from its heater than line A did, since it ends at a higher temperature on the graph
- Line A warms faster, since water that starts out cooler has more room to take in energy from its heater than warmer water has
- They warm at the same rate, so the starting temperature does not change the rise from a given energy
Pots of water poured onto ice (example data)
pot mass of water (g) temperature (°C) grams of ice melted Small 200 60 150 Big 2000 60 1500 Milo says the big pot has more thermal energy because it is hotter. Which reply uses the table?
- The small pot's particles move faster, since less water gave the ice a larger share of the energy per gram melted
- Both pots are at 60 °C, but the big pot has ten times the mass and melted ten times the ice, so it holds more energy
- The big pot is hotter, since it melted more ice than the small pot did from the same starting temperature of 60 °C
- Both pots hold equal thermal energy, since both pots started at 60 °C and both melted ice that was at 0 °C
Three 100 g samples with the same energy (example data)
sample temperature rise (°C) X 10 Y 18 Z 25 Noah claims material Z has the greatest specific heat because it reached the highest temperature. Does the table support that?
- Yes: Z rose the most, so each degree of Z's rise took in more energy than each degree of X's
- No: Z rose the most for the same energy, so it needs the least energy per degree, and X has the greatest
- Yes: Z reached the highest temperature, and a higher temperature means more thermal energy in each gram
- No: the three samples cannot be compared with each other, since each of them warmed by a different amount
Two samples with the same energy (example data)
sample mass (g) temperature rise (°C) Sand 200 30 Water 100 20 Both samples get the same energy. Pia says water has the greater specific heat because it warmed less. Which reply is best?
- Yes: water warmed 20 °C and sand warmed 30 °C, so water needs 30 ÷ 20 = 1.5 times the energy per degree, which still makes it the greater
- No: sand warmed more, so sand absorbed more energy and has the greater specific heat of the two samples, even though its mass is larger
- Yes, once mass is allowed for: water had half the mass and two thirds of the rise, so it needs about 3 times the energy per gram per degree
- No: the samples have different masses, so they cannot be compared until a new test makes both masses match exactly
The same energy warms 50 g of water by 12 °C but 150 g by only 4 °C. Which explanation fits the particle model, Tala?
- The energy is shared among three times as many particles, so each speeds up by about a third as much
- The extra particles absorb the energy faster, but each one still gains the same speed as in the small sample
- The larger sample loses its extra energy to the air before the thermometer has time to show any warming
- Particles in the larger sample are bigger than those in the small one, so each needs more energy before it speeds up
Two cups of water, each at 50 °C, are poured together. Why is the mixture at 50 °C and not 100 °C, Zee?
- Temperature adds up like mass does, but the mixture loses half of its energy to the air as the two cups mix
- Temperature measures total thermal energy, which stays equal here since the two cups' energies cancel each other out
- Temperature is an average particle speed, so equal samples keep the same average while the thermal energy adds
- The particles slow down as they collide, so each cup gives up half of its particle speed to the other cup