Saturday 29 November 2008

Annoyed or confused?

On the first day of Materials Science lecture, the professor was explaining how some materials could help further prevent fatal car accidents.

He showed us a video of a car without the "protective material", and how the car was smashed into pieces. Then, he showed us a second video of a car with the "protective stuff", and how the shape of the car was still conserved.

The "unprotected" car was white, and the "protected" car was red.

So I started telling K,

"Do you know why the white car was smashed into mush but the red car was still intact? (To which K rolled his eyes; he was all ready to listen to my nonsensical ramblings) The car's condition has nothing to do with the presence of the 'protective material'. It's the colour of the car that affects it's damages. The white car was more badly damaged because it reflects all light. Therefore, the atoms vibrate more coz it needs more energy to reflect the light, hence, its kinetic energy increases. As the atoms vibrate more, the interatomic bonding distance increases and the interatomic bonding forces are easier to overcome, hence, the material is easier to be broken. The white car then turns to mush."

"The red car, on the other hand, absorbs the red light, hence, it has more internal energy coz it gains energy from light. Since it has more internal energy, its potential energy increases and its interatomic bonding forces become stronger, hence, its material is more difficult to break and it's shape is retained."

*BIG grin*

K rolls his eyes.

Are you annoyed, or confused?

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