Protons for Breakfast

WELCOME TO PROTONS FOR BREAKFAST

AUTUMN 2009

WEEK 4: GLOBAL WARMING

1 PfB11 Week 4 These are the feedback questions & comments from Week 3 along with my responses. For everyone’s sake, I have removed any mention of people’s names.

Understood & Not Understood Michael says… I understand better the Excellent. Heat is the total energy of the microscopic difference between heat and jigglings and Temperature is a measure of the average temperature. speed of those jigglings. I don’t understand how the various Which bits? bits of kit work! Understood: Absolute Exactly correct about temperature! zero = no motion, so The fundamental interaction between particles is electrical. If two there is no “below” stationary particles – let’s say two electrons - interact then there absolute zero. Hence its interaction is purely electrical and described by the same rules as name! governed our experiments with balloons and sausages. If either electron is moving then the interact is still described as electrical. Did not understand: The However, if both electrons are moving, then in addition to the difference between an electric force, we describe their interaction as having an additional electric field and the component that we call magnetic. Clearly this can’t be fundamental magnetic field. In fact, because, as first elucidated by Einstein, if one travelled at the right are they different or speed, then one of the electrons would be stationary relative to us the same, or similar…? and the interaction would then be described as purely electrical again. So Einstein discovered that magnetic fields are just ‘what an electric field looks like’ when we observe moving charged particles. Does that help?

2 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… Reversible and non-reversible magnets All magnetic materials lose their magnetic order at high I’m sure when I was at school we temperatures – as we saw with Terbium and Iron. You were told that some materials, once are talking about how a material behaves in an applied magnetic could not be reversed (you magnetic field. The reversible or non reversible showed us reversible magnetism in the behaviour is too complex to explain here, but it is not iron paperclip…). Maybe it was steel fundamental. Iron atoms are always magnetic, but some they talked about? Don’t remember. types of steel are easily magnetised (i.e. are attracted to the magnet) and others are not. The difference in Glare of lights I noticed last week behaviour arises from the way magnetism of the atoms on the way home the glare of street is able to change in an applied field. This is controlled lights and car lights !" is this like by the number of crystalline defects put into the a diffraction pattern? Is this caused magnet. by the glass plate or the air particles, or both? Glare can be diffraction, but also arise from scattering. One thing I understand: That the Scattering is when particles (which can be atoms or weight of molecules affects the small droplets) absorb light and re-radiate it in all energy it has to vibrate ∴ affects the directions. energy it emits. One thing I didn’t understand: So IR Yes. The heavier the object, the slower it vibrates and visible are the radiations we give under a given force. And if it vibrates more slowly it off and use all the time ….. how about emits a lower frequency electromagnetic wave. the others … is it a case of these are the only range of wavelengths/ All the ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum are frequencies our molecules can make ‘used’ naturally – and we have developed technological use of. tricks to use some ranges. Obviously radio waves and microwaves (Week 5) are very helpful. Infra red and visible light are used for a huge number of activities. Ultra violet light is used too, as are X-rays and Gamma rays. I think we have found ways to measure and exploit almost all of the electromagnetic spectrum! I really enjoyed the dry Excellent. ice! I am glad you enjoy them – they take ages! Great slide shows. I remember the pumpkin-weighing well : what a lovely day that was. *Remember I was at the pumpkin allotment 2nd It depends on what is known as the heat transfer coefficient place. *The camera man! between the object and my hand. The heat transfer coefficient I understand magnets and between my hand and the liquid nitrogen is exceptionally low (for a nitrogen. short time) because of the Leidenfrost effect. Similarly the heat I don’t understand how you transfer coefficient between my hand and the balloon is low have to wear gloves for because of the poor heat transport in the balloon. So when my nitrogen but sometimes fingers touch the rubber of the balloon, I warm up a thin layer of you don’t. rubber and that stays insulated even from very cold rubber nearby. But if I touched a metal object which has been cooled by liquid nitrogen, then I would need gloves.

3 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… I understood that there are atoms Excellent! everywhere. I also understood what happens Mmmm. Not sure I understand what you mean – to the atoms when they heat up and cool down. how ‘it works’? I didn’t understand how the liquid nitrogen works. I am glad you found it interesting and happy It was very interesting!! that you liked the ice cream. (Lowed the ice-cream – great idea)! I understand that there are atoms everywhere. Excellent! I didn’t understand how liquid nitrogen works. Did you speak to the person above? Very enjoyable and informative evening. I am glad you found it enjoyable Really good – surprise, surprise! I am glad you enjoyed it and the Another interesting and fun discussion. ice cream. The ice-cream was ACE! “A must-have at parties!” Absolutely! 1. Atoms move faster 1. Yes, atoms do move faster when heated, but I am not sure that is when heated. This must the reason for body movement. However the chemical reactions which be a reason for the need activate our muscles are slowed down when we are cold, and so it is for body movement. A certainly true that we need a certain level of atomic motion in order static posture would be to move. unhelpful. 2. Tricky. Light is certainly absorbed and emitted in quanta – small 2. Does light move in packages as you put it. No one know exactly how it moves except that quanta – i.e. discrete it must be wavelike otherwise there could not be interference as we packages? saw in Week 2. 1. Temperature Absolutely! related to The centre of the Earth is very hot because the outer pat of the Earth is a atoms jiggling. very good thermal insulator. The current high temperature of the centre of 2. Why is the Earth arises from the original high temperature of the Earth. Once the centre of earth crust had formed, the hot inner Earth was no longer exposed directly to the very hot? cool space around it. On average, only 0.1 Watts of power reaches each square metre of the Earth’s surface from below. This compares with (on average) 240 Watts per square metre input from the Sun. Also, the decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements has heated the Earth. The expanding and contracting balloon It is indeed fascinating is fascinating. If we’re made up of We don’t expand and dilate in that way because the atoms etc why do we not dilate when atoms in our bodies are in a mixture somewhere we’re cold and inflate when we’re hot. between the solid and liquid state. We do expand a I like the way you use the word little bit when we get hot, but not very much. balance now and again because I think Yes, there are a great many processes around us which that God made such perfect balance. appear to be in balance, which makes one think… Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, no wonder we are Indeed. Everything seems to be busy, busy, busy at the such frantic creatures. moment.

4 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… By demonstrating the heating of the Excellent. It’s the jiggling of the atoms that destroys paper clip I could understand how it the ‘ordered’ state of the magnetism. lost its magnetism. Look in the notes or download the PowerPoint slides: I wish I could remember all that was they may help you remember. demonstrated! Don’t worry we will do that again this week. And I couldn’t get to grips the information possibly the next week. about the molecular model and what they are/do. Heat is atoms jiggling around – the Exactly. more they jiggle the higher the temperature. We use to liquid nitrogen cool things for all kinds of What is liquid nitrogen used for? reasons. When we came up with an idea do the When we think, we metabolise glucose, and yes, our atoms in our brain jiggle faster and brains will heat up. therefore give off more heat? I love it that the world It is indeed wonderful. is made up of atoms or stuff as you call it. How Yes. The amount of damage done depends on how cool your body gets, wonderful. not on how cold the cold object is. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. Would dry ice or liquid When one touches dry ice, the atoms in ones hands are slowed down ice give freezer burn or dramatically very quickly – this can damage the cells resulting a cold damage your body more burn. I think you mean liquid nitrogen not ‘liquid ice’. When I touched seriously. the liquid nitrogen, I instantly evaporated a layer of gas, and the gas Understand: I density was around 1000 times less than the liquid. This low density understand the dry ice gas can’t heat my hand very quickly. If I left my hand in the liquid, making water cold. the vapour layer would collapse in a couple of seconds and I would be Don’t: However, why very badly burned very quickly. doesn’t it melt like normal ice? That’s right, the ‘dry ice’ (solid carbon dioxide) was at –79 °C and so it cooled the water in the glass and turned it into ice. The explanation for why carbon dioxide doesn’t melt is somewhere below (sometimes I answer these questions from the back first ☺) Understood: It’s all about how jiggly Almost word for word what I would have said ☺ atoms are – e.g. magnetism is altered That is the nature of the Leidenfrost effect. Because by over-jiggly atoms and slowed the liquid water does not touch the hot frying pan jiggle – e.g. terbium. directly – i.e. the surface atoms in the liquid do not Didn’t understand: Why water interact direct directly with the surface atoms in the globule lasted so long – I know it was frying pan – the rate of evaporation is slowed by a factor on a carpet of gas – but it seemed to 1000 or so i.e. the droplets last for ages. evaporate too slowly.

5 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… Understood: Yes and no. - atoms move all the time! • Yes, atoms move all the time and that energy of vibration is - energy (moving atoms) are what we call heat. light and heat. • But light (visible and infra red) is waves emitted by atoms as - we only “see”/perceive they jiggle. same as colours. • Physics is fun? – It is when it makes some kind of sense! - physics is really fun Tricky questions. (thanks!) • It is a flow of electric charges – an electric current – that Don’t understand: makes things magnetic. - positive and neg charges • Sound is pressure wave in the air. The density and pressure making things magnetic of the air increases and decreases a tiny amount a few - what sound is (vibrating hundred times every second. molecules oscillating bones in Assume the hairdryer is set to COLD so there is no heater. Does our ears?) it heat the air? Yes. Firstly the motor will heat the air a little Question: Hairdryer – because it will not be frictionless. But also the sheer fact of blowing hot air at your hair – making the air molecules move a little faster heats the air. does it get hotter when it blows (more energy?) So why do fans make you feel cooler? Mmmm Thank you again” You are welcome My head doesn’t hurt that much Good. It should get better as the weeks go on. this week. The ice cream was Yes: atoms move all the time yummy. Nearly all substances get smaller (denser) as they get Understand: Atoms move all the colder. There are one or two important exceptions, most time. particularly water between 0 °C and 4 °C and when it turns Don’t understand: Does everything from liquid water to ice. get smaller as they get colder? You understood everything? I will have start being more This is the first week where I obscure! actually understood everything you said. Good presentation!

6 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… What temperature ‘Cold’ and ‘hot’ are terms we colloquially and don’t have exact definitions. does something have Actually our sense of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ is not very reliable: it varies from to reach before it person to person and depends a lot whether you have previously been stops being “cold”? hotter or colder. Why is it quicker to Great question. The effect is called the Mpemba effect. You can read heat things up than about it on wikipedia here: cool things down? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpemba_effect e.g. kettle and How could this possibly be true!? Well, consider two containers of water freezer and hand on placed in a freezer. Imagine one contained water at 50 °C and the other wall. contained water at 5 °C. The hotter container would evaporate *I’m going to freeze considerably more water and lose weight thus reducing the amount of hot water and cold water to be frozen. water to see if the hot one freezes Now quicker,. What’s with • The heat capacity of water is 4.2 Joules per °C per gram. that! Why does it do • The latent heat of freezing for water is 333 joules per gram. it!? • The latent heat of evaporation for water is 2200 joules per gram. What’s that massive silver canister filled So if one can evaporate 1 gram of water, then (a) it requires 333 fewer with? …. dead jelly joules of energy to freeze it and (b) the evaporation of water removes babies?!?! 2200 joules. This is the basis of the effect. It is very variable and I’m sorry I ask so depends a lot on the exact cooling conditions and whether evaporation is much stuff. possible. If the containers are sealed this can never happen. Where can I buy liquid nitrogen from? The silver container is an insulated container called a ‘dewar’ and is used to store liquid nitrogen. The container is named after Sir Edmund Dewar who invented it and of whom it was said Edmund Dewar Is better than you are, ‘cause none of you asses Can liquefy gases You can’t buy liquid nitrogen easily. If you are a teacher and have a bone fide reason for using it NPL will train you to use it and supply it free of charge. [email protected] Why do lots of physicists have huge bushy Most physicists I know don’t have beards – and beards (that you could probably hide a badger certainly not ones in which you could hide even in)? Is it so they have something to mutter a hamster! Since badgers are typically 75 cm into? long – that must be quite some beard you have Motion motion everywhere. in mind! So … everything is either stuff or not stuff, Beautifully put. I would just alter the last and the stuff that is stuff is nearly always statement to “..All this jiggling is the cause of jiggling?!? heat and causes light!?! All this jiggling is the cause of heat and light!?!

7 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… I understand that atoms Yes. Yes. Yes. are constantly moving – Burn is a word we use to describe a tissue injury in which the cells created heat. are damaged or destroyed. We can ‘burn’ someone with heat – the cell Temperature is the walls are made of lipids (like butter) and melt when heated – measurement of how destroying the cell. We can ‘burn’ someone with cold – (frostbite) in fast that movement is. which the water expands as the cell freezes and when it warms up How is it that really cold again the punctured cell leaks its contents. Or we can ‘burn’ someone things can ‘burn’ you with chemicals – in which the cell wall is attacked and destroyed when you touch them? chemically by acids or alkalis or solvents. I understood that everything YES! was made from atoms. Most magnetic things contain iron, but not all. There are four In primary school my teachers elements which are ferromagnetic (i.e. magnetic like iron) at always said magnetic things room temperature and they are iron (obviously) cobalt, nickel contain iron does terbium and Gadolinium. When one cools elements down, many more contain iron if not is there any become magnetic. Terbium does not contain iron at all – it is a other metals or ores like that. completely different type of atom. 1. How does heat 1. Short question – complicated answer! But at its simplest, atoms bash travel through liquid, into one another. As we saw – faster moving atoms bash slower moving solid and gas. atoms and then slow down, while the slower moving atoms speed up. 2. How does a hot air 2. The air pressure around us varies with height. The air pressure at balloon work? your head is around 20 pascals (20 newtons per square metre) higher WOW! This is so than at your feet. This means there is a force (which we normally call cool! buoyancy) trying to lift you up. It is caused by there being more gas molecules underneath you than there are above you. Normally the gravitational force on objects is much larger and we don’t notice this uplift. But if the density of the object is low enough – then the buoyancy force is enough to lift it off the ground. A hot air balloon is a device with very low density that exploits this effect. You referred to Mmmm I feel one of my metaphors has got mixed up. When I hit the ‘constrained’ and glass by itself it rang with a clear tone (a single frequency of vibration). ‘unconstrained’ The glass vibrated ‘unconstrained’ because its walls could move in and out movement, but a with constraint. When I put it next to another glass, the vibrations of glass is made of a the first glass were constrained by bashing into its neighbour. When I mixture of elements; hit the first glass, it did not ring with a clear tone. I meant this to be how does this work? seen as analogous to the way atoms vibrate. In a gas there are large gaps between atoms so when the atoms hit each other, they can ‘ring’ at their natural frequency of vibration. The are unconstrained. The spectrum of light they emit just a few particular frequencies – we called it a discrete spectrum in Week 2. In a solid, the atoms are right next to each other and so cannot vibrate freely. They emit a range of frequencies, but we don’t see the discrete emissions characteristic of the type of atom.

Is that any better? Understood: Atoms are always moving, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, they speed up when they get hotter. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, We understood everything! Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!

8 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… I understood about jiggling Ahhh. Yes I know that effect. May you have some low temperature – my class must be days with calm and ordered motion of your ‘molecules’ molecules – they are always Understanding that a change of state is really just a speeding up jiggling. Male molecules and a slowing down of molecules was a profound insight that took a jiggle more than female long time for people to come to believe. If you have even half molecules! (in my classroom grasped it, well done. anyway!) Thermal cameras work in a similar way to a normal camera. The lens I understand ‘change of at the front is made from a substance which is transparent to state’ much better than infra red light (silicon). Normal glass (silicon dioxide) is before. transparent to visible light but opaque to infra-red light. The I don’t really understand detector inside a normal camera is a ‘chip’. The detector inside an how thermal cameras work. infrared camera is a different type of chip which is cooled to –200 This was a great session – °C. easier to get my brain http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/ round than last week. Look up this link and others at Thank you for making http://links.protonsforbreakfast.org/ learning about science so much fun. Q. Where can I find the songs? Does gravity have an effect Yes. Gravity is a weak attraction between all atoms. Its not until on the individual atoms as one gets planet size clusters of atoms that their collective they are jiggling around too? gravitational effect become significant.! Another great evening. Thank You are welcome. Its actually a personality defect rather than you so much for devoting your a virtue. I find it difficult to stop! spare time to awaken peoples’ I don’t think I could, unless someone had an unusually hot or interest in science. cold bottom – perhaps they might be smuggling radioactive How would you link the heat in substances in their underwear? a chair with a particular Our perception of hot and cold varies from person to person person? and depends on what one is wearing, and also where one has Why do I feel cold in here been: if you were cold before you came in it probably feels tonight when others feel warm. It was cooler than last week because the air conditioning warm? was working My local church is celebrating I am sure that no one really believes their lighting somehow a new lighting system. Should comes from a ‘heavenly body’ trapped inside a tube. As I think we explain that their new about it, it all depends on what we mean by the word ‘heaven’. system is the result of a Which is probably a good point at which to stop. physical interaction that has nothing to do with a heavenly body?

9 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… How do you measure There are a number of ways to do it, but none are exactly simple: how fast the Technique 1: Some of my colleagues at a laboratory in France have made molecules are a thermometer in which they measure the temperature by firing a laser moving? through a gas. They measure the frequency at the light is absorbed. If a 1. (Understand): molecule is moving towards the light it absorbs light at a slightly higher How the molecules frequency and if it is moving away from the light it absorbs light at a jiggling created slightly lower frequency. They can tune the frequency of their laser with heat. exquisite precision and by measuring the spread of frequencies at which 2. (Don’t light is absorbed they can measure the distribution of molecular speeds in understand): How a gas. Complicated I know, but you did ask. you can measure An alternative is to calculate the force exerted on a surface by a known how fast they move. number of molecules of known mass hitting the surface: this force (which we call pressure) is directly related to the speeds of molecular motion. 1. Excellent 2. See above I understand the difference between heat and temperature. Hurray! I don’t understand a lot of things but I did understand the Excellent! issues/topics tonight! Thank you. How many ice cubes were hurt during the making of this! About 1000 Ahahahah! Ahahaahaha! Evil doctor!!! Indeed Magik! No. Science I was convinced by Convinced of what?? the ice cream? It is not easy. People put known amounts of gas in a container and How was absolute measured how the pressure changed with temperature. They then zero calculated? extrapolated the graph to find out at what temperature the pressure would fall to zero. The answer came out close to –273.15 °C. Amazingly, the same temperature came out for completely different gases. In fact the pressure never does to fall to zero – because the gases turn into liquids and solids before that happens. An amazing session and You are welcome experiments. Thank you. Excellent. The fact that we understand how substances can Solids, liquids, gases and the change from being solids to liquids and gases simply by changing transition and change of each the speed of their motion means we can explain this amazing (or sometimes just solids and qualitative change in terms of one simple quantitative parameter. gases). Yes. It is relatively easy to grasp intellectually, but rather a Still find it difficult to disturbing idea personally! comprehend all these atoms around us jiggling and we not being aware of them.

10 Understood & Not Understood Michael says…

1. I saw a news article on Its not N1H1 but H1N1 and the H and N are not chemical symbols. swine flu (atichoo) and Flu virus has several different types of molecules on its surface. when it said “If you are One class of molecules are called the HA and another are called worried…” (yawn) and it NA. Each type of HA and NA molecule has several variants that came up with “Swine flu affect how the virus interacts with our bodies. The particular sub-

(N1H1)” and I thought it type of influenza is labelled by the variations in the HA and NA might be the chemical molecules. HA1 NA1 is shortened to H1 N1 formula of swine flu but I remembered my chemistry teacher’s favourite saying “Chemists are lazy so don’t bother with the tiny “1”s.

So what does the N1H1 mean? 2. My physics teacher confuzuled me about electricity because of only one thing: the size of electrons compared to the nucleus of an atom. Which is bigger>

I now understand how http://data.gate2biotech.com/editor_images/Triple- infrared light is created. reassortant_swine_influenza.jpg Electrons are tiny. In the same tunnel at CERN where they have just built the large hadron collider (LHC) there used to be a machine called LEP in which people have bashed together electrons to see if they have any internal structure: none was found. They behave like point-like particles down to a size of 10-17 metre – one hundredth of the diameter of a nucleus (10-15 metre). Within an atom electrons move very fast and there is a fair chance of finding electrons anywhere within the volume of the atom which has a diameter 100,000 times larger than a nucleus.

You understand that infrared light comes form the jiggling of atoms and molecules? Great! Understand: What EXCELLENT! heat is. This explanation is an approximation. Electrons move in a ‘circuit’ around an Didn’t understand: atom and act like a tiny molecular electromagnet. Electrical, not magnetic, Why do terbium interactions between neighbouring atoms cause them to line up their and iron have electromagnets parallel to each other. In terbium, the atomic bar magnets different Curie are 10 times stronger than in iron. But in iron the interactions between temperatures? neighbouring atoms are stronger than in terbium. So at absolute zero terbium will be a stronger magnet than iron. But the magnetism of terbium is destroyed more easily by jiggling atoms – and so above –170 °C or so, the magnetism of terbium is destroyed. Ice cream is really really really really really really really really Mmm. I see. really really cool!

11 Understood & Not Understood Michael says…

Leidenfrost Excellent. The Leidenfrost effect reduces the heat transfer from the effect. I knew liquid to my hand and makes liquid nitrogen much safer to handle than dry solid CO2 would ice. ‘burn’ and What distinguishes a liquid from a solid is that a liquid can easily change wondered why shape. This requires the molecules of the substance to change position with liquid nitrogen, at respect to their neighbours. Carbon dioxide is a linear molecule: the C and much lower temp, the O atoms are all lined up and held very rigidly (by electrical forces) in did not. that shape. You can imagine something like this . Packing these together to make a solid is easy: The molecules stick weakly together Do not understand something like this. why CO2 does not go through liquid state as that state seems intermediate in a behaviour of And when they are heated they can form a gas easily. The gas might look moles. Iodine also? something like this:

However to form a liquid the molecules would have to be randomly oriented and because of their shape that means the molecules would not be very tightly packed together.

What happens is that the rotation of the CO2 molecules weakens the electrical attraction between neighbouring molecules so much that the molecules fly off and form a gas before the liquid can form. Things are more complicated than this in three dimensions. One can force carbon dioxide to become a liquid by pressurising it. It forms a liquid above 5 atmospheres of pressure and can be stored in liquid form at room temperatures at pressures of a few hundred atmospheres

Today I have learned a lot with heat and cold. Thank you for the Excellent ice cream it was delicious. Fresh ice cream! Woo!! You are welcome The info you gave, I understood everything so I don’t have any You understood everything? questions to ask you! Wow! Thanx….

12 Understood & Not Understood Michael says… Understood: I am glad you enjoyed the ice cream 1. How to make great ice cream! and that slow atoms taste super as they Why does such a thin layer of water vapour insulate the get faster. blob from the frying pan? Basically in the vapour there Not quite sure: are 1000 (one thousand) times fewer atoms than in the 1. Why such a thin layer of water liquid – and so the thermal conductivity is about 1000 vapour keeps the blob of water from times worse and the blob lasts for 1000 seconds (20 boiling away on a really hot pan. minutes) rather than 1 second. Thank you – all the team! Absolutely terrific. I understood that heat movers all the Mmmm. I am not sure I follow that. Atoms are moving time but what infra red light is when all the time, and whenever they move they emit infra you have cold things and hot things, red light. If they move faster they emit more infra red together. light. I like the ice cream! Excellent. I understood that the ice Excellent! cream was delicious. Infra red (IR) cameras work at a distance because the How infra red cameras work atmosphere is transparent at the frequencies of IR light at at great distance? which they work. The nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere do not absorb infra red light. Water molecules and carbon dioxide molecules do absorb infra red light, but the camera works at frequencies which are not absorbed. More on this tonight. One thing I understood was temperature is a measure of speed Absolutely! of atoms and molecules. Almost everything!? Wow!! I understood almost everything. I understand infrared light and how it Infra red light does not ‘detect’ heat as such. All detects heat, objects emit infra red light and hotter objects emit but what I don’t understand is why do more. atoms and electrons move in the first That is such a profound question. As we understand it - place. I understand that to emit light the motion of particles now is a continuation of the and heat they have to move but what first motion of particles in the big bang. The particles makes them move? have cooled down a bit – i.e. they are moving slower. The energy of ordinary motion of an object always degrades due to friction – which is heating of the object. The energy of the molecular motions is never lost – it can be moved from one atom to another.