The temperature of a clay ball is 80ºF and the temperature of the water in a bucket is 50ºF. A student places the clay ball into the bucket of water. Which of the following describes how thermal energy is transferred between the ball and the water?

a. energy is absorbed in the reaction.

if in a given reaction the energy of products is greater than the energy of reactants it means that reaction is endothermic and during the reaction, the energy is absorbed by reactants. in an endothermic reaction, the products have more stored chemical energy than the reactants. and in this reaction the reactants are more stable than products before the compounds with less energy are always more stable.