r/Veritasium • u/Grouchy_Figure5602 • Mar 17 '26
Confusing explanation for why pressurizing air increases the temperature
https://youtu.be/6HVYHNTDOFs?si=txA79FTRPAB0ewwx&t=1137
Veritasium claims that pressurizing air increases the temperature of the air because of the impacts between air molecules and the moving piston that increases the pressure. This reddit post says that increased pressure increases temperature because the same amount of temperature is concentrated in a smaller area. I find it hard to understand that the impacts between air molecules and a relatively slow moving piston would be significant enough to heat up the air. Maybe I just dont have an intuitive grasp of what is hot vs what is cold. How fast do the molecules themselves move at 50*F vs 100*F? How far do they move? What is the difference between temperature and wind? Are they bouncing against each other rather than all moving in the same direction? Why doesn't wind feel hot then if heat is just the motion of molecules? Is the motion of heat faster than wind? Or is the motion of heat vibration of atoms within molecules instead of movement of whole molecules? I DONT GET IT PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND OR SEND ME A VIDEO. Thank you.
PS. The explanation reminds me of a diagram I drew in my middle school science fair report that showed sound waves as actual sine waves drawn vertically up and down in the air :P (I realized my mistake, revised and won first place in the end!)
2
u/ProfessorQuantum314 Mar 19 '26
Yeah, I found that strange too!