Question

The morning after a massive snowstorm, Michaela gets into her car to drive to work. The storm caused her windows to freeze, so she first needs to defrost the car. While the engine is running, she checks the thermometer. It shows the air inside of her car has a temperature of 0 °C. Does this mean the air inside of her car has no kinetic energy? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

No, the air inside of Michaela's car still has kinetic energy even though it has a temperature of 0 °C.

Step-by-step explanation:

No, the air inside of Michaela's car still has kinetic energy even though it has a temperature of 0 °C. Kinetic energy is associated with the movement of particles, so even at low temperatures, the air molecules inside the car are still moving. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance. In this case, the temperature being 0 °C means that the particles in the air have less kinetic energy on average compared to when the temperature is higher, but they are still moving.