ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Desorption

Desorption is like when you have stickers on your shirt and you want to take them off. When you peel them off, you are desorbing them from your shirt.

In science, desorption is when molecules or particles that are stuck to a surface, like a piece of metal or a rock, are removed from that surface. This happens when something, like heat or a chemical, is added to the surface to make the molecules or particles come loose.

Think about it like playing with magnets. You have a magnet and a piece of metal. When you stick the magnet to the metal, it stays there because the metal is attracted to the magnet. But when you pull the magnet away, the metal comes off because it's no longer attracted to the magnet. That's kind of like desorption!

Desorption can happen in many different situations, like in chemical reactions or when water is evaporating from a surface. Scientists use desorption to study how particles interact with surfaces and how they can be used in different industries, like making computer chips or cleaning polluted water.