Space Shuttle, thermal energy transfer, book makes no sense

[Herman Trivilino]

The compressed molecules would appear as liquid. The non-compressed as a gas.

I don't think the compressed air below the shuttle liquefies during reentry.

I'm so confused now that I don't even know which parts of my answers have been correct ... maybe none?

Sorry. These issues are filled with conceptual pitfalls.

I'll tell you the answer to the compression of the air riddle. The molecules themselves don't get compressed. The molecules just move closer together.

 

[rcgldr]

During the process of compression, the molecules bouncing off the surface responsible for the compression (in this case the tiled surface of the shuttle), end up with a higher average speed , higher density (due to compression), higher pressure (due to higher average speed and higher density), and higher temperature (higher average kinetic energy of the affected air).

 

[Barclay]

I'm really struggling with this High School physics problem. I need to know what happens to the transferred energy when the shuttle enters the atmosphere.
My answer : the air is compressed by the rapid arrival of the shuttle and heat up. The air molecules collide with the shuttle and transfer thermal energy to the shuttle. Shuttle is protected by the black tiles that absorb the heat and do not melt.
I think I need to mention friction somewhere but don't know where ... my theories have been battered for two pages and I daren't make any new suggestions about friction. I just need an answer please.

Also I don't know if the fast arrival of the shuttle causes the molecules to heat and then they move faster OR the molecules are made to move faster by being pushed by the shuttle and then they heat OR kinetic energy of the shuttle is transferred to the molecules who move faster and then they heat up? ??

 

[rcgldr]

Wiki article, include a section on the relationship between temperature and kinetic energy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_theory

 

[Herman Trivilino]

I think I need to mention friction somewhere but don't know where ... my theories have been battered for two pages and I daren't make any new suggestions about friction. I just need an answer please.

It may help you to think about macroscopic considerations as opposed to microscopic considerations. For example, temperature is a macroscopic concept, kinetic energy of molecules is a microscopic concept. They are connected because when you make a measurement of the temperature with a thermometer you are measuring the average kinetic energy per molecule. Is there something about temperature that's not related to average kinetic energy per molecule? No. Is there something about average kinetic energy per molecule that's not related to temperature? No. So what is the difference between the two? Is one the cause of the other?

Think about friction, a force exerted on one object by another, and what's going on with the molecules that make up those objects.

Also I don't know if the fast arrival of the shuttle causes the molecules to heat and then they move faster OR the molecules are made to move faster by being pushed by the shuttle and then they heat OR kinetic energy of the shuttle is transferred to the molecules who move faster and then they heat up? ??

What do you mean when you refer to molecules heating up?

 

[Barclay]

What do you mean when you refer to molecules heating up?

Okay the molecules are not heating up. They are gaining some potential energy so traveling faster as a result of the sudden arrival of the shuttle) and some energy is thermal heat energy. The kinetic energy I understand because the molecules have been shoved by the shuttle. Don't know where heat comes from or what creates heat or what heat is. heat just exists. The more I read and analyse the more confused I'm beginning. A few posts ago I didn't care what heat was ... it just was ... just existed ... it is a thing ... now I don't know what anything is.

 

[Herman Trivilino]

You're not sorting microscopic and macroscopic concepts. Heat is a macroscopic concept. And I think you meant kinetic energy in that first sentence when you wrote potential energy.

I have to disagree with your self assessment. I think you're learning a lot and are on the verge of a break through.

Part of the problem is that the word heat has a precise technical meaning that is different from the everyday meaning. So it's easy to get mixed up. The 1800's was the century during which all this got sorted out. The fact that it took that long is an indication of the complexity involved.

 

[Barclay]

I have to disagree with your self assessment. I think you're learning a lot and are on the verge of a break through.

I know you're trying to do a good thing by leading me to the answer and learn lots along the way BUT some minds are not meant to make discoveries. I'm pretty sure a Eureka moment is not going to happen.
Thanks for all your guidance anyway.
I just need some answers to my original questions now please. Or some very big clues ... like FILL THE GAPS.

E.g Isaacs Newton had an ... drop on his head when he discovered a theory on ...

Einstein formula is ... = mc2

It's High School level physics I need

 

[Barclay]

I'm thinking a simple satisfactory answer will be: kinetic energy of the shuttle is transferred into friction with the air molecules and compression energy (the air molecules are compressed). Thermal energy results from friction that heats the shuttle. Thermal energy results from the compression that heats the shuttle.

In summary heat is transferred from shuttle kinetic energy to the atmosphere