Figbox
Sign up

Heating ice to steam sim

The 200 W heater supplies 200 J every second.

Heating ice to steam · covers the GCSE, IGCSE, O-Level topic

Live, not a video. Anyone can unlock 2 figures free; a free account unlocks up to 5 and keeps them in your dashboard.

What the sim shows

The 200 W heater supplies 200 J every second. First the ice warms from -20 °C: E = m c Δθ = 0.2 × 2100 × 20 = 8.4 kJ, 42 s. Then the temperature stays at 0 °C while the ice melts: the energy goes into breaking the forces between the particles, not into making them move faster. E = m L = 0.2 × 334 000 = 66.8 kJ, which takes 334 s. The water then warms to 100 °C (84 kJ) and stays there while it boils; boiling all of it would take 452 kJ, much more than melting. No energy is taken to be lost to the surroundings. Shown 60 times faster than real time.

  • The thermometer's reading
  • Right: temperature against time

Use it in your lessons

  • Try it here: anyone can unlock 2 figures free, and a free account unlocks up to 5. Runs on a laptop, a Chromebook or a phone; nothing to install.
  • Present it and share student links with the teacher plan, from US$5 a month, billed yearly.
  • Put it on your own website or LMS for US$9, paid once, or every sim from US$29 a month.

Free guide: 12 practicals as sims, and how to run one in a lesson →

Need a version for your exact set-up? Have one made: US$49 a figure in an order of 5.

More physics sims