Question

Why is the smell of the perfume of incense stick filled the whole room in few minutes, when lighted ?

Answer 1

• When the incense stick is lighted, the heat energy makes the particles of the perfume move rapidly. Thus, they easily drift through the air in the room and hence we can smell them anywhere in the room.
• The fragrance of burning incense sticks spreads all around due to the diffusion of its smoke into the air.
• Diffusion is the process whereby gaseous atoms and molecules are transferred from regions of relatively high concentration to regions of relatively low concentration
• Gases have the ability to expand through this diffusion process
• Hence, the smell of incense stick moves continuously in all directions.
• It spreads around the room quickly because of the kinetic energy acquired by the molecules through the heat energy.
• During this process, since the interparticle distance is high, it can easily occupy the spaces of the others.