Explanation:
Whether you know it or not, compressed air is involved in every aspect of our lives, from the balloons at your birthday party to the air in the tires of our cars and bicycles. It was probably even used when making the phone, tablet or computer you’re viewing this on.
The main ingredient of compressed air is - you guessed it! - air. Air is a gas mixture, which means it consists of many different gases. Primarily these are nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%).
The temperature of the air is directly proportional to the mean kinetic energy of these molecules. This means that the air temperature will be high if the mean kinetic energy is large (and the air molecules move faster). The temperature will be low when the kinetic energy is small.
Compressing the air makes the molecules move more rapidly, which increases the temperature. This phenomenon is called “heat of compression”. Compressing air is literally to force it into a smaller space and as a result bringing the molecules closer to each other. The energy that gets released when doing this is equal to the energy required to force the air into the smaller space. In other words, it stores the energy for future use.
