A basketball is at rest on the floor. It is heated with a Bunsen burner to make it warmer. A student argues that the thermal energy in the basketball could be converted to kinetic energy and the basketball will

spontaneously move upwards. This claim violates which law of nature?

Newton's first law of motion - The law of inertia

Explanation:

The student's claim violates Newton's first law of motion which states that a body will continue in its state of rest or uniform motion except a force is applied to change that state of rest or uniform motion.

In the case of the student, no external force is applied to the basketball, so as to change its inertia, so it continues to stay in the same position. But, the student assumes that the kinetic energy of the ball will change as its thermal energy can be converted to kinetic energy.

This is incorrect because, the thermal energy only raises the temperature of the basketball and thus the energy of the molecules of the ball, it cannot cause the kinetic energy of the basketball to change since it applies NO FORCE to be basketball so as to change its inertia.

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