Hot drinks are often served in plastic (styrofoam) cups. Why are these easier to hold than a paper cup?

Asolid cylinder and a cylindrical shell have the same mass, same radius, and turn on frictionless, horizontal axles. the cylindrical shell has light-weight spokes connecting the shell to the axle. a rope is wrapped around each cylinder and tied to blocks of equal masses that are held the same height above the ground. both blocks are released simultaneously. the ropes do not slip. which block hits the ground first? or is it a tie?

Two conductors, a and b, are each in the shape of a tetrahedron. but of different sizes. they are charged in the following manner: 1. tetrahedron a is charged from an electrostatic generator to charge q. 2. tetrahedron a is briefly touched to tetrahedron b. 3. steps 1 and 2 are repeated until the charge on tetrahedron b reaches a maximum value. if the charge on tetrahedron b was q/4 after the first time it touched tetrahedron a. what is the final charge qbmax on tetrahedron b?

An ideal otto cycle has a compression ratio of 8. at the beginning of the compression process, air is at 95 kpa and 27°c, and 750 kj/kg of heat is transferred to air during the constant-volume heat-addition process. assuming constant specific heats at room temperature, determine (a) the pressure and temperature at the end of the heat-addition process, (b) the net work output, (c) the thermal efficiency, and (d) the mean effective pressure for the cycle. (4390 kpa, 1730 k; 423 kj/kg; 56.4%; 534 kpa)