Question

When you open a solid room air freshener, the solid slowly loses mass and volume. How do you think this happens?

Answer 1

A solid room air freshener loses mass and volume through sublimation. The solid transitions directly to a gas, with molecules dispersing throughout the room due to an increase in entropy and redistribution of matter and energy.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a solid room air freshener is opened, it loses mass and volume as the solid material undergoes sublimation, which is the transition from the solid phase directly to the vapor phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase. This happens because the equilibrium vapor pressure of the solid is not zero, meaning that even as a solid, some molecules possess enough energy to escape into the gaseous phase. Over time, these molecules disperse throughout the room, which contributes to the air freshener losing mass and volume.

This process is analogous to other phenomena such as the disappearance of snow or ice cubes in a freezer without a trace of liquid water, or the creation of 'smoke' from dry ice, which is solid carbon dioxide. The entropy of the molecules in the air freshener increases as they spread out into the room, as matter and energy are redistributed to achieve a uniform concentration, in accordance with Graham's Law of diffusion.

Answer 2

well, this is an educated guess, but i would say that some chemical reacts with air and breaks down the things that make the sense, but before this reaction, there is no sense, remember that, so after the chemical breaks down the stuff, a chemical reaction occurs, giving off the sense

hope it helps!