KMT Hot Seat Questions
1) What is an elastic collision? And what would happen if the collisions between molecules were
not perfectly elastic?
2) Why is it possible that gases can expand but also be compressed? (Squish a balloon)
3) Why would the baking instructions on a box of cake be different for high and low elevations?
(Atmospheric pressure) Longer or shorter cooking time?
4) Explain why dew forms on cool mornings.
5) Why does a pile of snow slowly shrink even on days when the temperature never rises above
the freezing point of water?
6) Why would a basketball that is bouncy during the heat of the day feel flat in the morning after a
cool night?
7) Why would a coke bottle that is left out in the sun explode when you try to open it?
8) Which evaporates faster, 10° water or 70° water?
9) Why does an open bottle of water slowly evaporate when a sealed one does not evaporate at
all?
10) Why might two different liquids at the same temperature evaporate at different rates?
11) Why do solids like plastics get more brittle when they are very cold?
12) Why do race car tires not leave black marks on the track when they are cold but they do leave
black marks when they are very warm in the middle of a race?
13) Since some liquids evaporate faster than others, would it be possible to have a liquid evaporate
fast enough that you could see bubbles just like boiling?
14) Why would it take so much longer to air dry your hands after washing with water that when you
use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer?
15) Why would putting an aerosol can in the fire be potentially dangerous?
16) If you had two containers, one that is twice the size of the other, that contained the same
number of particles at the same temperature, which container would have the greater
pressure? Why?
17) When you boil an open pot of water in the kitchen on a cold day condensation can form on the
kitchen window, even if it is on the other side of the room. Why?