Discover the Most Likely Room Temperature for Jack's Heat Experiment

[klng]

Homework Statement

Jack took two glass bottles containing water at 20 degC and wrapped them separately in washcloths. One of the washcloths was wet and the other was dry. Twenty minutes later, she measured the water temperature in each bottle. The water in the bottle with the wet washcloth was 18 degC, while the water in the bottle with the dry wash-cloth was 22degC. The most likely room temperature during this experiment was:

Homework Equations

Choose one of the following options:
a) 26 degC
b) 21 degC
c) 20 degC
d) 18 degC

The Attempt at a Solution

My predicted ans: 26 deg C. Heat has to go from a hotter environment to a cooler environment (i.e. 20 degC) to make one of the bottles (i.e. wrapped in dry cloth) attain a moderate temp of 22 deg C. For the one wraped in wet cloth, my guess is that water in the cloth is cooler than 20 deg C. Hence this wet wash cloth will absorb heat both from the environment, and the water, facilitated by water's high heat capacity.

Opinions on my reasoning?

 

[rl.bhat]

Your reasoning is correct.

 

[klng]

Thanks.