Your course instructor claims that energy is not really conserved. He or she uses the example of a spring that is compressed and then tied with a nylon string. When the compressed spring is put into a jar of acid, the spring dissolves and the energy it contained is lost. How do you react?

a. Ignore him or her and follow the established theories in the text.

b. Go to the department chairperson and complain that the instructor is incompetent.

c. Say nothing, but make detailed statements about the quality of the instructor on the course evaluation at the end of the term.

d. Respectfully suggest that the energy in his or her spring example really is conserved by measuring the temperature change of the acid as it dissolves the spring.