Question

The smell of hot sizzling food reaches you several meters away, but to get the smell of cold food you have to go close. Explain.

Answer 1

1. The smell of hot, sizzling food can be detected from a distance of several metres, but in order to smell cold food, you must get close to it.
2. This is because hot, sizzling food particles have high kinetic energy, which allows them to diffuse quickly in the air and travel a distance of several metres, as opposed to cold food particles, which have low kinetic energy and cannot travel a distance of several metres.

Properties:

1. Matter particles have kinetic energy and are always in motion.
2. Particles with little kinetic energy travel slowly at lower temperatures.
3. Due to the low temperatures, the particles in cold food have little kinetic energy.
4. The particles of hot vapours from hot meals travel quicker because they have larger kinetic energy at higher temperatures.