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Tea Spirit by Maciej Wojciech Olszewski

3rd Place - Natural Category

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School: Evanston Township High School

Teacher: Daniel Dubrow

Just another ordinary autumn morning, the sun shines through the windows of my living room and lights up the room. Waking up in this beautiful weather I prepare myself a cup of green tea. Getting ready to school I set the tea on a table near one of the windows. When I come back I am astonished by the view of the evaporating water from the tea and being highlighted by the sunbeams. Although this seems like any other ordinary cup of tea set on a table there is a phenomenon taking place that happens many times every day, but is rarely noticed. The just boiled water has reached a point at which a lot of the particles with the high enough kinetic energy have enough energy to ?overcome? the inter molecular forces present in the water and change states by reaching their boiling point. The particles that are able to escape are now in the gas state and due to the amount of energy they have, the particles move faster causing them to proceed upwards. Acknowledging the fact that the air present is at about room temperature, the particles are cooled down and they now condense changing sates back to a liquid. The condensed particles are now present in the form of a cloud, which is visible by the human eye. The cloud is seen distinctly due to the fact that the light coming in brightens the particles making it easier to see and capture with a camera.

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