One thing that does not change is the chemical composition of water, which is still H2O. And maybe mass, if all of the particles remain inside the beaker, which was never mentioned in the question so I am not sure.
Energy can accomplish work
<em>From the above options, the best </em><em>Thermal insulator </em><em>will be a </em><em>Plastic cup.</em>
Option (b);
<u>Explanation</u>
Thermal insulators resist to conduct energy or reduction of heat transfer when objects come across in contact with radiation or higher heat object. To conduct energy we need metal or those materials which contain free electrons in it to move from one metal to another.
Plastic doesn't have metallic character so it will resist the heat up to some threshold. Mostly this material is used in separating two current-conducting material. There are many other examples of thermal insulator such as Rubber, fabrics, paper, wood, wool.
It is because in that time science was not established. This is, the experimentation to test hypotheses, which is a fundamental part of the scientific method, was not applied.
Atoms can not be seen, then they could only reflect or philosophize on this matter. This method is not able to give good answers to so complicated scientific matters.
