Explain what happened to the balloon when you placed it in hot water and in the freezer.
The correct answer and explanation is:
Answer:
When you place a balloon in hot water, the balloon expands and gets bigger. When you put the same balloon in the freezer, it shrinks and gets smaller.
Explanation:
The behavior of the balloon when placed in hot water and in the freezer can be explained by the properties of gases and how temperature affects gas molecules inside the balloon.
A balloon contains air, which is made up of gas molecules moving around inside it. The air inside the balloon pushes outward against the balloon’s elastic surface, making it inflate.
When placed in hot water:
The heat from the water increases the temperature of the air molecules inside the balloon. When air molecules get warmer, they move faster and spread out more. This increases the pressure inside the balloon because the molecules hit the balloon’s inner surface with more force and more often. Since the balloon’s surface is elastic (stretchy), it expands to accommodate the increased pressure, causing the balloon to inflate and get bigger.
When placed in the freezer:
Cold temperatures cause the air molecules inside the balloon to slow down. Slower molecules take up less space because they don’t push outward as much. This reduces the pressure inside the balloon, so the balloon’s elastic surface contracts and the balloon shrinks or gets smaller.
This behavior is an example of Charles’s Law in physics, which states that the volume of a gas changes directly with temperature when pressure is constant. In simpler terms, as the temperature of a gas increases, its volume increases, and as the temperature decreases, its volume decreases.
In summary, heating the balloon causes the gas inside to expand, making the balloon bigger, while cooling causes the gas to contract, making the balloon smaller. This shows the direct relationship between temperature and volume in gases.