In your own words, describe the process that causes a cold glass of ice water to 'sweat.' Include a discussion of the flow of energy through this system, and use appropriate vocabulary

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Heat will always flow from where there is more to where there is less. In the case of a glass of ice water, the least amount of energy is in the ice. Conduction causes energy to flow from the drink into the ice, cooling the drink. This in turn causes energy to flow from the warmer glass into the cold drink, cooling the glass. Finally, heat flows from the warmer air molecules colliding with the glass into the cooler glass, so that the air near the glass also cools down. Eventually, this entire process causes the air near the glass surface to be cooled to its dew point. Once this happens, the air becomes saturated and ambient humidity is forced to start condensing out of it, forming the 'sweat' on the side of the glass.