I’ve seen hot food get cooler when left out, and I’ve seen cold food get warmer when left out. Would it be possible for warm food to get cooled, and then warmed back up just from being left out?
In: Physics
Not unless the room becomes warmer than the food through some process. It’s a fundamental law of thermodynamics that heat transfers from hot things to less hot things until both are equal. Nothing can spontaneously gain more heat unless some energy is added to the system, so once that pie on the counter has cooled to room temperature, it’s not getting warmer again unless some energy is added, e.g., putting it back in the oven.
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