I get that hot air is less dense, because the molecules are moving faster. But given random Brownian motion of the molecules, why do they move up? What causes the molecules with higher kinetic energy to sort themselves to the top of an air column?
In: Physics
Basically think of air as a box sponge balls. When the box gets wet (warm/hot). The sponge balls get bigger and bounce around much more. When they dry out (cold) the balls shrink and slow down.
Have you ever seen men in black? That little ball that J touches in MIB head quarters. That’s 1 of countless hot air molecules. When k catches it with the glove that when air is cold.
Since hot air molecules expand and move around faster. The same amount of air takes up more space. So colder air that takes up less space is heavier. So cold air sinks and hot air rises. This process is called convection. It’s responsible for a lot of interesting things.
Latest Answers