Question

A battery is connected in series to a resistor, which is immersed in water (to prepare a nice hot cup of tea). Would you classify the flow of energy from the battery to the resistor as "heat" or "work"? What about the flow of energy from the resistor to the water?

Short answer

We can say work is done when energy flows from battery to resister and heat flows from resister to water.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

A battery is connected in series to a resistor, which is immersed in water .

Explanation

In electric circuit work done is defined as the Work = Potential diff X charge

We can say it is due to the work done by the voltage difference across the terminals of the battery on the electrons in the wire.

So the transfer of energy from the battery to the resistor is work.

The transfer of energy from the resistor to the water is heat. That's because the transfer of energy is driven by the temperature difference between the resistor and the water.