The Effect of Temperature on the Solubility of Gases
Have you ever opened a soda and had it do this?
This can happen if you open a can or bottle of soda that is warm or has been shaken. If you didn't watch the video it shows me opening three different bottles of carbonated water. One was chilled so that it was ice cold, another was at room temperature and another had been sitting in water that was near boiling.
Gases become less soluble in liquids as the temperature of the liquid goes up. There are a number of reasons why this happens but I think we can imagine the gas molecules (carbon dioxide) moving faster and faster as the liquid they are dissolved in (water) gets warmer and warmer. The faster the gas particles move, the more likely they are to escape the liquid into the surrounding air.
So why is this important?
A great example would be thermal pollution. This can occur if factories take water from a body of water which is used to cool machinery and is later returned to the body of water it was taken from. The water will be warmer when it's returning, so this will gradually increase the temperature of the lake, river or reservoir the water is coming from. The increase in temperature of the water will mean that gases are less soluble in the water. This means the amount of dissolved gases such as oxygen in the water will decrease over time. Not good news if you are a fish!
Read more about it...
This can happen if you open a can or bottle of soda that is warm or has been shaken. If you didn't watch the video it shows me opening three different bottles of carbonated water. One was chilled so that it was ice cold, another was at room temperature and another had been sitting in water that was near boiling.
Gases become less soluble in liquids as the temperature of the liquid goes up. There are a number of reasons why this happens but I think we can imagine the gas molecules (carbon dioxide) moving faster and faster as the liquid they are dissolved in (water) gets warmer and warmer. The faster the gas particles move, the more likely they are to escape the liquid into the surrounding air.
So why is this important?
A great example would be thermal pollution. This can occur if factories take water from a body of water which is used to cool machinery and is later returned to the body of water it was taken from. The water will be warmer when it's returning, so this will gradually increase the temperature of the lake, river or reservoir the water is coming from. The increase in temperature of the water will mean that gases are less soluble in the water. This means the amount of dissolved gases such as oxygen in the water will decrease over time. Not good news if you are a fish!
Read more about it...
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