test question 5

[Melissa Per 2J]

Why are the CONTENTS of an ideal cooler at 3 degrees Celcius an isolated system?

[Mitch Mologne 1A]

Because neither energy nor matter can be added to system, nor can it leave the container. Just because a system is isolated does not mean that it cannot have heat or energy already in the system, but rather that it cannot be lost/gained.

[juchung7]

I think the idea is that an ideal cooler will not let and heat or matter in or out (thus isolated) and in turn because the contents are inside, they will not be able to change from their original state either.

[Christina Cen 2J]

So in this question, is the system considered the contents of the cooler as well as the cooler itself, rather than just the contents being the system?

[Anne 2L]

So in this question, is the system considered the contents of the cooler as well as the cooler itself, rather than just the contents being the system?

In this question, the contents of the cooler alone should be considered the system. The cooler itself should be considered the surrounding. Since the cooler is "ideal" however, we would assume that the cooler is adiabatic, meaning heat cannot enter and leave through it. As a result, any heat in the system (contents of cooler) stays solely inside the system.

[Kaelie Blanes-Ronda 2L]

I think that part of it is that the cooler is most likely an electric one that works like a fridge rather than a styrofoam cooler which is more likely to be affected by the temperature of the environment.