when a cold water bottle (like from a fridge, etc.) cools down, why does it become wet on the outside of the bottle?
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There is water in the air around you.
Heat is energy.
Cold is the absence of heat.
When water has a lot of energy, it is a gas.
When water has less energy, it becomes a liquid.
The water in the glass has very little heat. That is, it has very little energy.
The water in the air has a lot of energy.
When the water molecules in the warmer air hit the side of the colder glass, they transfer some energy into the water in the glass and slow down. Some slow down enough to “stick.”
Those “stuck” water molecules make it easier for other water molecules to stick.
As more and more water molecules hit the glass and transfer their heat into the glass, they lose so much energy that they can’t be a gas anymore and so start to become liquid water on the side of the glass!
This is also why you see “fog” when you open the freezer. The cold air falling out of it meets the watmer air 8n the room and some of the water tries to squeeze out of the air for a moment, the lack of energy making some of the water molecules just start to stick to themselves and become heavy.
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