ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Pearson–Anson effect

The Pearson-Anson effect is a phenomenon that happens when you mix two liquids together and they change the temperature. Imagine you have a glass of hot water and a glass of cold water. When you pour the hot water into the cold water, you might expect that the temperature will become hotter or colder, right? But in some cases, something interesting happens.

The Pearson-Anson effect happens when the mixing of two liquids actually makes the temperature stay the same or even change in a weird way. It's like a magic trick that the liquids play on us!

To understand this effect, we need to talk about something called "exothermic" and "endothermic" reactions. Don't worry, those are just big words to describe what happens when things get hotter or colder.

When two liquids mix together, they can have reactions that release heat, which makes them hotter. This is called an exothermic reaction. On the other hand, some reactions need heat from their surroundings to happen, which makes them colder. This is called an endothermic reaction.

Now, let's get back to our hot and cold water example. If the hot water and cold water were normal, they would mix together and the temperature would become somewhere in the middle. But with the Pearson-Anson effect, the reaction between the liquids can either release heat or absorb heat in a strange way.

Imagine that the hot water has an endothermic reaction, which means it absorbs heat from the surroundings. When you mix it with the cold water, the hot water takes some of the heat from the cold water, making it colder. So instead of the hot water making the cold water hotter, the opposite happens!

In some cases, the reaction between the hot and cold liquids can release just enough heat to keep the temperature the same. It's like they cancel each other out, like when you have two opposite numbers that add up to zero.

So, the Pearson-Anson effect is basically when two liquids mix together and the reaction between them makes the temperature stay the same or change in a surprising way. It's like a little magic trick that happens with certain liquids!