Question

You put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Eventually, you see steam (water vapor) rising from the pot. Steam is produced at higher temperatures, but not at lower temperatures, because:

A. heat energy speeds up the movement of molecules
B. diffusion requires energy in order to occur
C. only gases are able to move by osmosis
D. selective permeability prevents it at lower temperatures

Answer 1

Steam is produced at higher temperatures because heat energy increases the movement of water molecules, breaking the hydrogen bonds and allowing them to turn into gas.

Step-by-step explanation:

You put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Eventually, you see steam (water vapor) rising from the pot. Steam is produced at higher temperatures, but not at lower temperatures, because: A. heat energy speeds up the movement of molecules. This answer is correct as higher temperatures increase the energy and therefore the movement of the molecules, which leads to higher rates of diffusion. At a molecular level, this increased kinetic energy allows the water molecules to break free from the attractive forces that keep them in a liquid state, leading to vaporization and the formation of steam.

When you heat a pot of water, the temperature of the water increases as it absorbs the heat energy, making the molecules move more vigorously until they can overcome the intermolecular hydrogen bonds that hold them together. At the boiling point, these bonds are disrupted enough for the molecules to escape into the air as steam.