Answer :
Final answer:
The warmth from the hot spoon is conducted to the ice cream, making it softer around the spoon and easier to scoop. This is due to heat conduction, the direct transfer of thermal energy through contact.
Explanation:
Jordan places a hot spoon into a container of ice cream, which helps him scoop out the ice cream because the warmth of the spoon is conducted to the ice cream, making it easier to scoop out. In this process, heat is transferred from a hot object to a cooler one until thermal equilibrium is reached, resulting in the ice cream around the spoon melting slightly. This phenomenon is known as heat conduction, which is the transfer of thermal energy through direct contact. Radiative transfer of heat, as mentioned in options 3 and 4, refers to energy transferred through electromagnetic waves and is not how the heat is transferred from the spoon to the ice cream in this context.
