Welcome to the FIZZICS Molecular Simulator. This interactive app will help you understand the principles of carbonation from a molecular level, based on the kinetic theory of gases.

Press one of the four buttons to run a demo. On mobile, use landscape mode for best results. With your phone in landscape mode, you can scroll your screen by touching the white part of the page to the left or right of the application space.

Below are brief instructions on the things you can do with this app. Full documentation is here.

Demo 1: Kinetic Theory of Gases

This demonstration shows that temperature is a manifestation of the speed of molecules, and pressure is a manifestation of the collective impact of molecular collisions. Add some gas molecules to the balloon with the "+" sign and watch it inflate. Raise the temperature with the slider, and watch the balloon grow.

Demo 2: Equilibrium of Gases

Add some molecules to one side of the left side of the container, then open the door between the two chambers. Watch the molecules reach equilibrium, with approximately the same number on both sides. Now start over, and add the same amount of molecules to both sides, and then open the door. Note that the proportions stay about the same--the two sides are in "equilibrium." Now add 10 red molecules to one side and 10 blue to the other, and open the door. Note that no amount of blue molecules will "hold" the red molecules on their side. Only red molecules can keep red molecules in equilibrium (Dalton's Law).

Demo 3: Solubility of CO2 in Liquids

Add some molecules to the liquid with the temperature turned down low. Most of the molecules stay in solution. Now raise the temperature, and watch the molecules come out of solution and into the headspace. Now lower the temperature again, and watch the Van der Waals forces capture the slow moving molecules and "drag" them back into solution. Can you keep red molecules in place in solution with blue molecules in the headspace? No--not even with a greater number of blue molecules. If you want to keep CO2 in solution you need CO2 pressure in the headspace--no other gas will do. This is an expression of Henry's Law.

Demo 4: Bubbles and Nucleation

All bubbles need a place to start. When you pour liquid into a glass, there will always be tiny places on the glass, maybe on a scratch, that don't get completely wetted by the liquid. These tiny trapped bubbles, often too small to be seen, will then get "inflated" by CO2 dissolving into them, until the buoyant force is so great that the bubble tears away from its mooring and rises to the surface. But the bubble leaves a little bit of itself behind on the scratch in the glass, and the process repeats. This is called a nucleation site. Add some CO2 to the glass with the "+" sign and watch the bubbles form.

 

App design by Andrew McEniry.