Molecules interact with each other. Energy is transferred as they bump around. If you were to follow a single molecule it would move around randomly. What we can measure is usually the average of many molecules.
Molecules interact with each other. Energy is transferred as they bump around. If you were to follow a single molecule it would move around randomly. What we can measure is usually the average of many molecules.
scarabic@lemmy.world 1 week ago
So it’s less of vibrating and more about smashing around into things?
This is easier to envision with a gas: like a chamber of balks all ricocheting like mad. It’s harder to envision for a solid. But I guess a molecule will be up smack against its neighbors, getting repelled, not so much bounding freely?
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 1 week ago
So in a solid, you can imagine each atom connected to each other by springs (bonds). They can vibrate on these springs. If they vibrate too much (by heating) then they can break the bonds and escape as a gas. Gasses basically have too much energy to bond again.
GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Even solids are mostly nothing. This is why neutron stars are so dense - there is a lot less nothing between the neutrons, largely due to gravity.
Here’s another way to think about it. A gas is like a bunch of balls bouncing around a room, hitting the walls and occasionally each other. A solid is like a ball pit, but the balls are vibrating. There is still a lot of bouncing, but most of themstay together.