Chapter 5, Problem 38R

To determine

To explain: Whether a kitchen’s temperature be decreased while keeping the refrigerator door open.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Temperature is the degree measure of hotness or coldness of a body and to decrease the temperature of our surroundings, some work needs to be done to extract excess heat and to throw it somewhere else.

The internal system of a refrigerator works on the second law of thermodynamics by transferring the thermal energy from a cooler body to a hotter body. However, we might have observed that when it is in operation, the back portion of the refrigerator is heated up and the entire surrounding air is warm. It means that they are designed in such a way that they expel the heat of its internal body to its outer metallic body at the back and not out of the kitchen or the room where it is kept. It clearly explains that if we left open the door of the refrigerator, it will extract the heat from its surroundings and expel it towards its back only not outside the kitchen making the temperature of the kitchen higher. The kitchen on the whole, as a result, will not get cooler.

Conclusion:

Hence, the temperature of the kitchen would not decrease if the door of the refrigerator is kept open.