Why does air compressed to a high pressure create heat?

Question

Why does air compressed to a high pressure create heat?

In: 5

Answer 1

Because “temperature” is just another way of saying “how fast the particles of a substance are moving, on average”. For example, in hot water, the individual H2O’s are bouncing around off each other faster than they are in cold water.

When you compress a gas, imagine a room full of flying bouncy balls and suddenly the walls move inwards. The balls will end up bouncing around faster, right? That’s the same thing as ending up at a higher temperature, which means it “created heat”.