How to Explain the Shrinking of a Balloon when Placed Inside a Freezer
What is the most likely explanation for the shrinkage of a balloon when placed inside a freezer?
A balloon is filled with warm air and placed inside a freezer. After a few minutes, the balloon shrinks. Which of the following most likely happened during the transition?
Option A: Warmer air inside the balloon pushes on the walls of the balloon and the air escapes into the surroundings.
Option B: The warm air molecules inside the balloon lose energy to the cold air molecules, they move slower, and condense.
Option C: As the temperature drops, the warm air molecules gain energy and become more attracted to each other.
Option D: The balloon transfers energy to the cold air, and the cold air gains energy to compress the balloon.
Answer: Option B
The warm air molecules inside the balloon lose energy to the cold air molecules, they move slower, and condense.
When a balloon filled with warm air is placed inside a freezer, the overall temperature of the air inside the balloon decreases rapidly due to the cold environment of the freezer. As a result, the warm air molecules lose energy to the cold air molecules present in the freezer. This process causes the warm air molecules to slow down and eventually condense, leading to a reduction in the volume of the air inside the balloon.
As temperature is essentially a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance, the warm air molecules, which were moving faster due to their higher energy levels, transfer some of their energy to the slower-moving cold air molecules. This energy transfer causes the warm air molecules to slow down and come closer together, resulting in the balloon shrinking as the volume of the warm air decreases.
Therefore, the most likely explanation for the shrinkage of a balloon when placed inside a freezer is that the warm air molecules inside the balloon lose energy to the cold air molecules, causing them to move slower and condense, leading to the overall reduction in the size of the balloon.