Free Essay: How Temperature Affects Volume
Scientists and many researchers have established that there is a very close relationship between temperature and volume. Temperature affects volume causing either an increase or a decrease in capacity. When there is an increase in temperature, hot air rises. This explains why warm air always collect near the ceiling and why hot air balloons always ascend through the atmosphere.
Because of such behaviors, heating equipment and registers should be placed near or on the floor. Vents that are used for air conditioning however should be placed near or on the ceiling. These behaviors means that gases tend to expand with an increase in temperature and vice versa.
When gas expands, the same amount of substance will therefore occupy a greater space or volume. This is based on the fact that hot air is less dense compared to cold water. Any substance with low density as per the example given above is hot air and it rises through the substance that has high density, which is the cooler air.
Additionally, high temperatures cause changes in the volume of an object. They cause fast movement of molecules and they will start to spread even further apart. Water for example is one of the elements that have a greater volume when exposed to high temperatures. For this reason, it turns from liquid to gas form.
When water is exposed to extremely low temperatures, it freezes and it also expands. For example, when a plastic bottle of water is frozen, the plastic is more likely to break because of changes in temperature and movement of molecules therein. Ice on the other hand has a larger volume compared to water. Therefore, with an increase in temperature, water will evaporate, turn into water and the gas will expand. With low temperatures, water will turn into ice and expand.
For gases, an increase in temperature causes an increase in its volume. This is based on the fact that gases expand. Decreasing temperatures contracts gas thus reducing it volume as in the case of frozen balloon or plastic. It is also good to note that gas is one of the best examples used to determine how temperature affects volume because it has a greater volume in its solid state compared to its liquid state.
Therefore, to understand the effect of temperature on volume, the gas law is applicable where PV=n RT where R and n are constant. Often, any change in temperature has a direct effect on the volume as well as the state of substance it is in where the lower the temperature, the more the volume and vice versa.
Similarly, an increase in temperature causes an expansion of matter or molecular content in an object. As temperature decreases, the matter or molecular content in an object decreases. This means that when an object is heated, its volume increases. However, temperature can also decrease the volume of your mixture or solutions when heated because evaporation occurs.
In conclusion, an increase in temperature leads to an increase in volume in ice, water as well as vapor. The level in which the changes occur however depends on the intensity of heat in a given environment.
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Sources
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_relationship_between_temperature_and_volume
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/4309?e=averill_1.0-ch10_s03#