Use diffusion to explain what happens when you drop a sugar cube into a mug of hot tea
When you drop a sugar cube into a mug of hot tea, the process of diffusion takes place. Diffusion is the movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration until equilibrium is reached.
Here's how diffusion works in this scenario:
1. Initially, the sugar cube is made up of tightly packed sugar molecules. Meanwhile, the hot tea consists of water molecules.
2. As the sugar cube dissolves in the hot tea, the sugar molecules start to separate from each other as they interact with the water molecules. This results in an area of higher concentration of sugar molecules around the cube.
3. However, due to the random motion of molecules, the sugar molecules begin to spread out from the higher concentration area, moving into the surrounding tea. This movement is driven by the natural tendency of molecules to achieve a state of equilibrium.
4. Over time, the sugar molecules continue to move and spread out in the tea, eventually reaching a state of equal concentration throughout the mug. At this point, diffusion has reached equilibrium, meaning the concentration of sugar molecules in the tea is the same everywhere.
In summary, when a sugar cube is dropped into hot tea, diffusion occurs as the sugar molecules disperse from areas of higher concentration to areas of lower concentration until the concentration becomes uniform throughout the mug.