Properties of Matter

Molecular Buffeting - Model

True randomness is not chaos. In this model, the balls represent molecules and the white cup represents something much larger than a molecule. Faster balls are hotter molecules, while the slower balls are cooler molecules. The agitators are like heaters, turning slow moving "cold " molecules into fast moving "hot" molecules. The hotter (faster) molecules cause the white cup to jiggle back and forth more than the colder (slower) molecules did. Just like these balls, real molecules knock into things harder and faster when they're hotter. When the far agitator was turned off, the molecules clumped nearby. In general, molecules clump together when they're cooler. An example is the way water molecules from the air clump together on the outside of a cold drink.