Here's an interesting question that came to my mind today:
Suppose I have two containers of water. I heat Container $A$ to $60°C$ and Container $B$ is chilled to $-20°C$. If I leave them both in rooms, which container of water will reach $20°C$ first (room temperature)? Assume every variable is controlled except the temperature of the water.
Container $A$ and Container $B$ are both $40°C$ from room temperature. Clearly Container $A$ needs to lose some thermal energy while Container $B$ needs to gain some. In both situations the water wants to reach thermal equilibrium at $20°C$, but which container will do it faster?