Suppose a cup of hot chocolate is sitting a table. A woman puts her hand close to the cup on its right side, but not touching (as in the image). Nonetheless, her hand begins feeling a bit warmer. When she grasps the cups, she feels her hand warming up even more rapidly. The energy diagrams below right demonstrate the mechanisms involved in making her hand warmer.
(Note that these diagrams are incomplete, because both the cup and hand also transfer energy to the surroundings through heat interactions. These interactions are not shown because they are not needed for answering this question.)
Now consider the primary mechanism(s) behind the first interaction and energy transfer (left diagram). Which of the following best explains why her hand begins to feel warmer before she touched the cup?
Question options:
Charged particles in the hot chocolate and the cup vibrate more rapidly than the charged particles in her hand, emitting higher-intensity infrared radiation than her hand does, so that the hand absorbs more IR radiation than it emits.
Vibrating molecules in the hot chocolate move faster than the vibrating molecules in her hand, producing a wave of energy that travels through the air and is absorbed by her hand.
Collisions between high-speed, vibrating molecules in the hot chocolate and the cup generate more infrared radiation than collisions between the (relatively) low-speed molecules in her hand, so that the hand absorbs more IR radiation than it emits.
Collisions between particles in the hot chocolate and the cup with air particles transfer energy to the air particles, causing the air near the cup to warm up. Interacting with the cool air around it, the warm air rises upward through the cool air until it touches the hand. Collisions between air and hand particles then cause the hand to warm up