Positive and Negative Signs 8.21

[Ammarah 2H]

For questions like 8.21 on the homework, how do we know which side will be positive and which will be negative? Is the one with the lower initial temperature always the negative one?

[SantanaRodriguezDis1G]

it doesn't matter which side has the negative. either way it would turn out to be the same answer

[Brigitte Phung 1F]

I think it would also help to look at it in terms of the objects themselves. q is positive when heat has been absorbed by the system, whereas q is negative when heat has flowed from the system. Hope this helps!

[Meredith Steinberg 2E]

It ends up not mattering which side gets the negative. What's important to know (as seen in the solutions manual) is that
heat lost=-(heat gained).