Exciting Science Experiment: The Effect of Warming a Sealed Glass Jar in the Sun

What will happen to the pressure inside the jar when it warms up in the sun?

How do particle collisions play a role in this scenario?

Answer:

The pressure inside a glass jar increases when warmed because the trapped air molecules move faster and collide with the jar walls more frequently and forcefully, leading to higher pressure.

When a glass jar is sealed and traps air inside and then warms up after being left outside in the sun, the pressure inside the jar will increase. This is because the increased temperature gives the air molecules more kinetic energy, causing them to move faster and collide with the walls of the jar more frequently and with greater force. These increased collisions result in a higher pressure, because the walls of the jar do not expand significantly to accommodate the increased volume of moving air.

The concept is explained by the kinetic-molecular theory, which illustrates how temperature changes affect the pressure exerted by a gas due to particle collisions.