ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Joule expansion

Okay kiddo, I'm going to tell you about something called Joule expansion. Imagine you have a balloon filled with air. When you let go of the balloon, the air inside the balloon rushes out really quickly and the balloon gets smaller. This happens because the air is trying to spread out and take up more space.

Joule expansion is when a gas (like the air in the balloon) is allowed to spread out and take up more space in a container. When we let the gas spread out, it uses energy to do so. This energy is called Joule energy, named after James Prescott Joule, who discovered it.

Let's say we have a container with gas inside and we open a valve to release some of the gas. The gas will start to move from the higher pressure inside the container to the lower pressure outside the container. As the gas moves out, it will spread out and take up more space. This requires energy, which is called the Joule energy.

So, Joule expansion is basically when gas spreads out and takes up more space, and uses energy to do so. It happens naturally in many situations, like when we open a valve or when gas is released from a canister. It's an important concept in physics and helps us understand how energy is transferred in different systems.