3 ms·

Hot molecules move faster, it’s just kinetic energy.

• jvanderbot 3y ago
  And heating/cooling is just transfer of kinetic energy? Seems strange if so.
• aeonik 3y ago
  If this were the case, then how can a solid have a temperature at all? Especially crystalline solids, where all the molecules/elements are bound in a lattice?
  • LeegleechN 3y ago
    The molecules in a crystal still vibrate kinetically. A solid with no molecular motion would be at absolute zero temperature.
    • aeonik 3y ago
      Wouldn't a fair amount of the thermal energy be hanging out in the bonds themselves? The stress in the system has to count for something. I'm imagining a bunch of potential energy being stored in the fields at any given moment.
      • ivalm 3y ago
        Absolutely, but that’s not heat. Things like heat produced from burning wood is an example of potential energy of binds getting released as kinetic energy + photons.