ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Free expansion

Have you ever blown up a balloon and then let all the air out? That's kind of like free expansion.

Basically, free expansion happens when a gas (like the air in the balloon) is allowed to expand into a bigger space without any outside help or pressure.

When you blow up a balloon, you're putting air into it and making it really tight. But when you let the air out, it goes everywhere because there's no more pressure inside the balloon holding it in.

In the same way, when a gas is allowed to expand freely, it will move into any available space without anyone or anything pushing or pulling it.

So free expansion is basically when a gas expands by itself, without any kind of external force helping it along.