Misty SilhouetteRuojin Emma WuAward: Top 100
School: friends academy I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and set it on my desk. After a while, water droplets had formed all over its exterior. This phenomenon, known as condensation, occurred because the bottle was extremely cold. When the water vapor in the air met the chilly surface of the bottle, it condensed into liquid water droplets. On a microscopic scale, condensation happens because the temperature change decreases the average distance between water molecules, prompting them to transition from gas to liquid. This principle applies to all forms of phase changes: they occur as a result of molecular distances increasing or decreasing, altering the state of matter. We can observe similar phase change events in our daily lives. When our windows freeze over on winter mornings, we observe deposition, the transition from gas to solid water. Similarly, when we see gas emanating from dry ice, we witness sublimation, the transition from solid carbon dioxide to gas. In these examples, the direct transition from gas to solid or solid to gas requires a much more significant change in molecular distance. 
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