I understand that when an environment gets colder, atoms and molecules slow down and compact and the matter becomes a solid. When it heats up, atoms and molecules speed up and spread out and the matter becomes a gas. But how exactly does the temperature cause the atoms to speed up or slow down?
In: 2
>But how exactly does the temperature cause the atoms to speed up or slow down?
It’s kind of the opposite. What we perceive as temperature IS how fast or slow the atoms are.
As for how we heat things up? The faster-moving atoms will knock into slower-moving atoms and transfer from that speed into the slower atom.
Think of a billiards/pool/snooker. You take the white ball and smack it into one or more other balls to make them move. This is basically what’s happening a nearly uncountable number of times within a substance when you heat it up.
Latest Answers