Section 2: Critical Thinking Questions 4. You buyan iced coffee on a hot summer day. Explain what happens to the frozen iced coffee as it melts. You must use the words thermal energy and kinetic energy in your explanation.

## Step 1The problem involves the concept of thermal energy and kinetic energy. Thermal energy is the total kinetic energy of all the particles in a system. It is the energy that comes from heat. This heat is generated by the movement of tiny particles within an object. The faster these particles move, the more heat is generated.## Step 2Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is the energy that an object possesses due to its motion. It is given by the formula:### where is the mass of the object and is its velocity.## Step 3When you buy an iced coffee on a hot summer day, the iced coffee is at a lower temperature than the surrounding environment. This means that the thermal energy of the surrounding environment is greater than that of the iced coffee.## Step 4As the iced coffee is exposed to the higher thermal energy of the surrounding environment, the particles in the iced coffee begin to move faster. This increase in the speed of the particles increases their kinetic energy.## Step 5As the kinetic energy of the particles increases, they begin to move faster and faster, which causes the iced coffee to melt. This is because the increased kinetic energy of the particles causes them to move faster and faster, which in turn causes the iced coffee to melt.