Question

Your roommate is becoming more and more malodorous every day. You decide to adjust your thermostat to try to slow down the movement of her "fragrance" through your apartment. Will you turn on the heat or the air conditioning? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

The 'fragrance' consists of gaseous molecules of smelly substance directly emitted from a person's body. These molecules posses kinetic energy by the means of which they move around the room and as they enter our nose, we get the bad smell.

To restrict the movement of these molecules, we have to lower their kinetic energy. We know that energy of molecules is directly proportional to their temperature. If the temperature of molecule is higher, then its kinetic energy will be higher and it will move around faster and we get the smell faster. If the temperature of molecule is lower, then its kinetic energy will be lower and it will move around slower and we get the smell slower.

In short, we have to decrease the temperature to slow down the smell. To decrease the temperature, we will have to increase air conditioning.