Heat Transfer in Nature MCQs for UPSC Prelims

105 practice questions covering Heat Transfer in Nature, organised into 0 topics. 105 questions include a written explanation. Pick a topic below, or try the samples first.

Sample questions

Q1
medium

Read these two statements about a room being warmed by a heater standing on the floor. (i) Air warmed by the heater rises towards the ceiling. (ii) Cooler air moves in near the floor to take its place. Which of these is correct?

  1. A Only (ii)
  2. B Neither (i) nor (ii)
  3. C Both (i) and (ii)
  4. D Only (i)
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C - Both (i) and (ii)

Both statements describe the two halves of the same convection current. Warm air is lighter for its size and climbs, and the cooler air near the floor slides in to replace it, only to be heated and rise as well. Rejecting either statement would break the circulation that actually warms the room.

Q2
medium

Assertion (A): A person standing beside a bonfire can feel its heat on the exposed skin. Reason (R): Air is a poor conductor of heat.

  1. A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
  2. B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
  3. C A is true, but R is false
  4. D A is false, but R is true
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B - Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Both statements are true on their own. The warmth is felt because the fire sends out radiation, which crosses the gap in straight lines. That air conducts heat poorly is a fact, but it explains why conduction is not the route rather than why the warmth is felt, so R does not explain A.

Q3
medium

The same wax-and-rod demonstration is repeated using a wooden rod of the same size and the same flame. What is most likely to happen?

  1. A The wax pieces fall in the reverse order, from the far end first
  2. B All the wax pieces fall together as soon as the flame is lit
  3. C The wax pieces hardly melt, because wood conducts heat poorly
  4. D The wax pieces fall much sooner than they did on the metal rod
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C - The wax pieces hardly melt, because wood conducts heat poorly

Wood is a poor conductor, so heat crawls along it and very little reaches the wax pieces further down. They therefore stay in place while the wood near the flame chars. Heat cannot travel faster through wood than through metal, and it never skips to the far end first or arrives everywhere at once.

Q4
easy

Standing a little away from a glowing tandoor oven, a person feels the heat on the face at once. The main mode of heat transfer here is

  1. A insulation
  2. B conduction
  3. C convection
  4. D radiation
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D - radiation

Heat that crosses a gap of air and is felt immediately on the exposed side of the body is radiation, which travels in straight lines like light. Conduction through air is far too slow to be felt at a distance. Convection carries warm air upward rather than sideways to the face, and insulation is the blocking of heat.

Q5
easy

A woollen sweater keeps us warm in winter mainly because

  1. A wool pulls heat out of the cold air outside
  2. B wool and the air trapped in it are poor conductors, so body heat escapes slowly
  3. C wool produces heat as soon as it is worn
  4. D wool is at a higher temperature than the body
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B - wool and the air trapped in it are poor conductors, so body heat escapes slowly

Wool and the still air caught between its fibres both conduct heat badly, so the warmth made by the body leaks away slowly. No cloth makes heat of its own, and heat never flows from cold outside air into a warmer body. A sweater lying on a chair is at room temperature, not above body temperature.

Q6
hard

A lighted candle stands at the bottom of a tall box that has two open chimneys on its top. A smoking incense stick is held over one chimney. The smoke is drawn down that chimney and later streams out of the other one. This shows that

  1. A hot air sinks to the bottom while cold air rises to the top
  2. B the candle flame attracts smoke towards itself
  3. C the empty box sucks in anything held near its openings
  4. D cool air sinks down one chimney and warm air rises out of the other, making a moving current
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D - cool air sinks down one chimney and warm air rises out of the other, making a moving current

The candle warms the air above it, that warm air rises and escapes through one chimney, and cooler air is drawn in through the other to replace it, carrying the smoke with it. The smoke simply traces this circulation. A flame does not attract smoke, an open box does not suck air in by itself, and hot air rises rather than sinks.

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